breaking bug with Firebase

[PierBover]

I'm not certain if this is a Firebase bug or a React Native one...

I'm building for Android. I haven't tried in iOS.

The error says:

undefined is not an object (evaluating 'a.toLowerCase')

I have started a fresh project with latest versions:

  "dependencies": {
    "firebase": "^3.0.3",
    "react": "^15.0.2",
    "react-native": "^0.26.2"
  }

I have tried putting node_modules/firebase/ in the .babelignore as suggested here. I'm not having the same error... but I tried just in case.

I'm only initialising firebase in the standard manner, otherwise the project is fresh created with react-native init MyProject:

        firebase.initializeApp({
            apiKey: "XXXXX",
            authDomain: "XXXXX",
            databaseURL: "XXXXX",
            storageBucket: "XXXXX",
        })

Here is a screenshot of the device:

[PierBover]

If I remove the firebase.initializeApp bit the project runs fine.

[PierBover]

This is the index.android.js

I've only added the firebase bit and the import.

import React, { Component } from 'react';
import {
  AppRegistry,
  StyleSheet,
  Text,
  View
} from 'react-native';

import firebase from 'firebase';

class ASC extends Component {
    constructor(props){
        super(props)
        firebase.initializeApp({
            apiKey: "XXXXX",
            authDomain: "XXXXX",
            databaseURL: "XXXXX",
            storageBucket: "XXXXX",
        })
    }
  render() {
    return (
    ...
    );
  }
}

const styles = StyleSheet.create({
...
});

AppRegistry.registerComponent('ASC', () => ASC);

[PierBover]

Same problem on iOS

[ide]

Can you debug what's going on and identify the root cause?

[PierBover]

I'm new to RN...

So I debugged in Chrome and got this.

After searching for This browser is not supported I found this on StackOverlfow:

The new Firebase Authentication currently doesn't work in React Native due to a dependency on the window object. We're looking if that's something we can improve, but no guarantees.

So it seems it's a known Firebase bug...

Closing this.

[PierBover]

So this problem makes Firebase unusable with React Native.

The "workaround" is losing FB authentication and importing this directly:

var app = require('firebase/app');
var database = require('firebase/database');

and then simply:

app.initializeApp(...)

Losing auth, analytics, etc, basically makes Firebase unusable for React Native projects.

I've complained in the Firebase Google Group and I invite anyone wanting to use Firebase on RN to do the same.

[dcworldwide]

Ok I understand your workaround now.

I do need the auth module however, only for the api and now the Oauth UI flows. I tried to un-minify the fb js code and look for a solution but It didn't seem obvious to me at first glance.

I'm pretty determined to find a solution (and at least keep politely nudging google to restore compatibility).

Danijel

[PierBover]

Yes, without auth it makes Firebase unusable for anything serious.

You also lose (at least) analytics...

[PierBover]

@dcworldwide your options are as follow...

1. Fix the JS SDK (probably impossible)
2. Make a native to JS bridge like I outlined here using the native SDKs by Firebase
3. Find another backend provider like Meteor

I'd say 2 is the best one... someone started a project but it's quite experimental and only for iOS. Also it seems abandoned.