firestation

A simple, configurable, realtime admin interface for Firebase, built on React.

See a live demo here (and view the source here).

Global Dependencies

• npm
• webpack

Installation

Clone this repository.

Setup packages:

npm i

Example

You need to add a firestation.config.js file in the root of the project. This is where you configure your dashboard. Here's an example:

import {ImageCell, TextCell, SelectCell} from 'components/cells.jsx';

export default {
    auth: myAuthMethod,
    title: 'Pet Owners Database'
    refs: [
        {
            ref: myFirebaseRef.child('pets'),
            title: 'My Favorite Pets',
            orderBy: 'size.height',
            orderByDirection: 'desc',
            children: [
                {
                    key: 'picture',
                    title: 'Profile Pic',
                    cell: ImageCell,
                    cellProps: {
                        width: '120',
                        height: '120'
                    },
                    canFilter: false
                },
                {
                    key: '_key',
                    cell: TextCell
                },
                {
                    key: 'name',
                    cell: TextCell
                },                    {
                    key: 'size.height',
                    title: 'Height',
                    cell: TextCell
                },
                {
                    key: 'size.weight',
                    title: 'Weight',
                    cell: TextCell
                },
                {
                    key: 'species',
                    cell: SelectCell,
                    cellProps: {
                        options: [
                            {
                                value: 'cat',
                                title: 'Cat'
                            },
                            {
                                value: 'dog',
                                title: 'Dog'
                            }
                        ]
                    }
                }
            ]
        },
        {
            ref: myFirebaseRef.child('owners').orderByChild('lazy').equalTo(true) // Full ref chaining support
            title: 'Lazy Owners',
            resolve: function (key, val, callback) {  // Custom firebase resolve method
                val.calculatedLaziness = Math.random();
                callback(val);
            },
            children: [
                {
                    key: 'surname',
                    cell: TextCell,
                    canWrite: true
                },
                {
                    key: 'lazy',
                    cell: TextCell
                },
                {
                    key: 'calculatedLaziness',
                    cell: TextCell
                }
            ]
        }
    ]
}

That's it. The ref array contains configuration for each firebase ref you want to render in the dashboard, and each of the objects in children represent a column that will be rendered for a key on that ref, and defines how to render them.

Configuration API

firestation.config.js contains the configuration for your firestation. It's important to do your exports using ES6, as shown in the example above. You'll need to export an object containing your configuration.

Firestation works by rendering a table for each ref you're interested in, with each column representing a key for the objects in that ref.

Top-level

The top level defines how to connect to your firebase:

• auth (function) - an authentication method to authenticate with your firebase server. It's up to you to implement that, but is should take a callback.
• title (string) - the title of your database. This will render in the top left.
• refs (array) - an array of ref configuration that will describe how to render your firebase. See Refs for more.

Example:

var myFirebaseRef = ...;

// Custom authentication method. Up to you to implement.
var myAuthMethod = function (callback) {
  ...
  callback();  
};

export default {
  auth: myAuthMethod,
  refs: [...]
}

Refs

Each item in the top-level refs renders to a table. It defines a firebase ref for your database, and configuration for how it should be rendered:

• ref (Firebase) - a full firebase reference for the child you want to create a table for. Supports full chaining, such as orderByChild.
• children (array) - an array of configurations that define how each key should be rendered. See Cell API for cell configuration.
• resolve (function, optional) - a custom method for running custom resolves before rendering the item (see Resolves)
• title (string, optional) - human-readable title for this ref configuration
• orderBy (string, optional) - the default key to order your
• orderByDirection (string, optional) - the direction (asc or desc) for the ordering of your orderBy value
• rangeStart (integer, optional) - the initial index of the first item in rendered range. Defaults to 1
• rangeEnd (integer, optional) - the initial index of the last of the rendered range. Defaults to 10

Example:

{
    ref: myFirebaseRef.child('pets'),
    title: 'Pets',
    orderBy: 'age',
    orderByDirection: 'asc',
    resolve: function (value, callback) {
        value.myExtraField = 'Wohoo!';
        callback(value);
    },
    rangeStart: 1,
    rangeEnd: 25,
    children: [
        ...
    ]
}

Cell API

Cells render your firebase values depending on their type and how you want to display them. For example, there's an ImageCell which loads an image from a URL, or just a lowly TextCell. Many of them have both read and write states, making them extremely powerful for managing your data. They are all built on React, which makes defining custom cells extremely easily.

Each configuration takes the following properties:

• key (string) - The firebase key for this column
• cell (object) - The cell to render the value with (see below)
• cellProps (object) - Cell-specific attributes which are passed to the cell
• title (string) - A human-readable name for this key
• canFilter (boolean, optional) - Whether this column can be filtered using column searching
• canWrite (boolean, optional) - Whether the cells can be used in write-mode (currently only partial support)
• width (string or integer, optional) - Width of the cell column (passed directly to <th>)

key can also take some special values, indiciated by a _ prefix:

• _key - The key (id) for this object

Firestation provides various cells for common use cases:

• TextCell
• LongTextCell
• NumberCell
• BooleanCell
• ImageCell
• SelectCell
• TimeSinceCell
• DateCell
• CurrencyCell
• ButtonCell
• DropdownCell

We're adding to this (see Future Cells), but you can write custom react cells if you need anything fancy.

TextCell

Renders the value as simple text. Does not require any cellProps.

This cell does support the canWrite method.

LongTextCell

Renders the value as text in a mulitline textarea. Does not require any cellProps.

This cell does support the canWrite method.

Number

Renders the value as number. Does not require any cellProps.

This cell does support the canWrite method.

BooleanCell

Renders a boolean value as a checkbox. Takes the following cellProps:

• label (string, optional) - inline label for the checkbox

Example:

{
    key: 'likesChicken',
    cell: BooleanCell,
    cellProps: {
        label: 'Chicken Lover?'
    }
}

This cell does support the canWrite method.

ImageCell

Renders the value as an image. Takes the following cellProps:

• width (string) - width of the image
• height (string) - height of the image

Example:

{
    key: 'species',
    cell: SelectCell,
    cellProps: {
        width: '50',
        height: '50'
    }
}

This cell does not support the canWrite method.

SelectCell

Renders value as an option in a list of options, with human-readable counterparts. Takes the following cellProps:

• options (array) - contains objects with the key and title for each possible value for this key

Example:

{
    key: 'species',
    cell: SelectCell,
    cellProps: {
        options: [
            {
                value: 'cat',
                title: 'Cat'
            },
            {
                value: 'dog',
                title: 'Dog'
            }
        ]
    }
}

This cell does support the canWrite method.

DateCell

Renders a date in seconds or ISO format to a human-readable date. Write mode uses a datepicker to make date selection easy. Formats for your locale and handles daylight changes.

• dateFormat (string) - date format. Defaults to UK format, i.e. DD/MM/YY. Follows the moment.js format
• timeFormat (string) - time format. Also follows the moment.js format
• saveFormat (string) - the format to save to firebase. Either numeric (in ms) or iso. Defaults to iso.

Example:

{
    key: 'startAt',
    cell: Start,
    cellProps: {
        dateFormat: 'MM/DD/YY',
        saveFormat: 'numeric'
    },
    canWrite: true
}

This cell does support the canWrite method.

TimeSinceCell

Renders a date in seconds or ISO format to a time since string, for example "2 days ago".

This cell does not support the canWrite method.

CurrencyCell

Renders a number as a currency. Takes the following cellProps:

• symbol (string) - object containing the key and title of each option

Support for adding trailing zeros will be added.

Example:

{
    key: 'price',
    cell: CurrencyCell,
    cellProps: {
        symbol: '£'
    }
}

This cell does not support the canWrite method.

ButtonCell

Renders a button. Takes the following cellProps:

• title (string) - title of the button
• type (string) - type of the button. Options are primary, success, warning and danger. Defaults to primary
• disabled (string) - whether the cell is disabled. Defaults to false
• action (function) - method to call when the button is clicked. You can modify title, type and disabled in the callback.

Simple example:

{
    key: '',
    cell: ButtonCell,
    cellProps: {
        title: 'Click me!',
        action: function (rowKey, rowValue, callback) {
            console.log('Woohoo! Performed action on', rowKey);

            callback({
              disabled: true
            });
        }
    }
}

DropdownCell

Renders a dropdown that can trigger actions. Takes the following cellProps:

• title (string) - title of the button
• disabled (string) - whether the cell is disabled. Defaults to false
• items (function) - an array of items to render, made up of actions, dividers and headers. See example below for usage.

Simple example:

{
    key: '',
    cell: DropdownCell,
    cellProps: {
        title: 'Drop it like it's hot',
        items: [
            {
                label: 'Action',
                action: function (rowKey, rowValue) {
                    console.log('Bam!', rowKey, rowValue);
                }
            },
            { label: 'Another action' },
            { label: 'Something else here' },
            { type: 'divider' },
            { type: 'header', label: 'Dropdown header' },
            { label: 'Separated link' }
        ]
    }
}

Future Cells

Cells planned but not yet implemented:

No cells are currently planned at this time.

Custom Cells

All cells are built on react. They are totally pluggable, so it is possible to write custom cells. It is not necessary to have an extensive knowledge of React to implement them. Here is a basic, read-only cell that renders an image:

import React from 'react';

var FancyImageCell = React.createClass({
    render: function () {
        return (
            <img
                src={this.props.value}
                width={this.props.extras.width}
                height={this.props.extras.height}>
            </img>
        );
    }
});

This is all basic React. The properties (this.props) that the cell will from firestation receive are:

• value - the value for the key this cell will render
• clean (bool) - whether the value of this cell is in sync with firebase. Useful for handling write state.
• rowKey - the value for the entire row
• rowValue - the key for entire row
• extras (object) - the cellProps for that configuration. These could be anything you need.
• canWrite (bool) - the canWrite for that configuration, determining if the cell should be writable
• childKey (string) - the key that this cell is rendering (e.g. age)
• valueChanged (function) - a method to inform firestation that the value has changed, enabling the Save Button which will write the changes to firebase.

Here's a more advanced example, implementing a read-and-writable cell that renders a text input:

import React from 'react';

var FancyTextCell = React.createClass({
    getInitialState: function () {
        return {
            value: this.props.value
        }
    },
    handleChange: function (event) {
        this.setState({
            value: event.target.value
        });
        this.props.valueChanged(this.props.childKey, event.target.value);
    },
    render: function () {
        // We're in sync with firebase, so ensure values of props and state match.
        if (this.props.clean) {
            this.state.value = this.props.value;
        }

        if (this.props.canWrite) {
            // Read and write
            return (
                <input type="text" value={this.state.value} onChange={this.handleChange}></input>
            )
        } else {
            // Read only
            return (
                <input type="text" value={this.props.value}></input>
            )
        }
    }
});

You can do whatever you want with the functionality of these cells, easily tailoring firestation to your specific needs.

Resolves

Resolve methods allow you to modify the value for each Firebase Snapshot before it gets rendered in the table. This greatly extends the capability of firestation, enabling you to do things calculate values or even run extra firebase calls to flatten related objects!

Calculation Example - adding a yearBorn value when we only know the age:

function (key, value, callback) {
    var currentYear = new Date().getFullYear();
    value.yearBorn = currentYear - value.age;
    callback(value);
}

Flattening (denormalizing) related objects Example - owner onto pet using the owner key:

function (key, petValue, callback) {
    myFirebaseRef.child('owners').child(petValue.ownerKey).once('value', function (ownerSnapshot) {
        petValue.owner = ownerSnapshot.value();
        callback(petValue);
    });
}

Neat, huh?

A small caveat with this method for flattening resources is that firestation will not monitor for or render changes in the flattened object, only the main resource. You could use .on('child_changed') or similar method to address this, but this is not officially supported or tested and firestation may behave unexpectedly.

Please note, since these values are calculated and do not actually exist on the firebase resource, they are intrinsically read-only. It is impossible to write to them.

Favicons

You can add favicons to your project. index.html will render favicons rendered by RealFaviconGenerator, placed in the favicons directory of your project (probably in dist).

Running locally

Just use

npm start

Now go to http://127.0.0.1:8080.

Building for distribution

Build that shiz:

webpack

Deploy dist wherever.