| summary | Use the Firebase-based plugins Analytics, Crashlytics, and Performance to implement common development patterns in your mobile apps. |
|---|---|
| tags | article-page; runtime-mobile; support-application_development; support-Mobile_Apps; support-Mobile_Apps-featured |
| locale | en-us |
| guid | 188c9757-ce29-4f78-9717-4e42226e0a4d |
| app_type | mobile apps |
Applies only to Mobile Apps.
Firebase is a Google mobile development platform. It speeds up development of many development patterns for mobile apps. You can use Firebase in the OutSystems mobile through the following Firebase-based plugins:
To migrate your app from the unsupported Firebase Mobile plugin, see Migrating to the supported Firebase-based mobile plugins.
To use the Firebase plugins you meet the following requirements:
-
You set up a Firebase project in the Google Firebase console.
-
You added an Android and an iOS app in Firebase and downloaded the configuration files:
- GoogleService-Info.plist for iOS
- google-services.json for Android
Install Firebase Mobile Sample App from Forge and open the app in Service Studio. The demo app contains logic for common use cases, which you can examine and recreate in your apps. If you want to build the app and run it, check the prerequisites in the Forge page.
To add a Firebase plugin to your module, follow these steps:
-
Install the plugin and reference it in your module. See Adding plugins for detailed instructions.
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Add the Google services configuration file to the module.
You need to add Google services configuration file only for the first Firebase plugin in your module. The next Firebase plugin you add uses the same configuration files.
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In Service Studio, go to Logic > Client Action > your Firebase plugin and use the actions in your logic.
An app with a Firebase Plugin requires the plugin configuration files in the app file resources. Follow the steps to add the Firebase configuration to your module:
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In Service Studio, go to the Data tab.
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Right-click the Resources folder and select Import Resource. The Import Resource dialog opens.
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Select the google-services.zip firebase configuration file and confirm the selection. Service Studio adds the file under the Resources folder.
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Select the google-services.zip resource and configure the following:
- In the Deploy Action list, select Deploy to Target Directory.
- In the Target Directory, enter the target directory for your environment.
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Repeat steps two and four for each environment, each time using a different configuration and target directory.
Add the files GoogleService-Info.plist and google-services.json in a zip file and name the zip file google-services.zip.
A Firebase Plugin requires that you supply configuration files in the app file resources. The mobile apps commonly have different identifiers in different environments, so you need to generate target directories for each environment.
To get the target directory, concatenate the app identifier and .firebase. Here are examples for three environments with different app identifiers.
| Environment | App identifier | Target directory |
|---|---|---|
| DEV | com.sample.dev.MyApp | com.sample.dev.MyApp.firebase |
| QA | com.sample.qa.MyApp | com.sample.qa.MyApp.firebase |
| PROD | com.sample.prod.MyApp | com.sample.prod.MyApp.firebase |
Use the target directory value in the Target Directory property of the Resource.
The Firebase Dynamic Links Plugin has some additional setup steps that need to be followed for it to work correctly:
-
You need to include a global preference in the Extensibility Configurations of the application using the plugin. The value for this preference needs to match the URL prefix you set in the Dynamic Links page in the Firebase console. For example:
{ "preferences": { "global": [{ "name": "FIREBASE_DOMAIN_URL_PREFIX", "value": "outsystemsfirebase.page.link" }] } } -
For iOS, you need to use a provisioning profile from Apple that contains the Associated Domains capability. For more info, see Configuring an Associated Domain by Apple.
Starting with iOS 14.5, apps on the App Store must receive the user’s permission to collect tracking data through the AppTrackingTransparency framework.
To trigger the native AppTrackingTransparency framework, use the RequestTrackingAuthorization client action from the Firebase Analytics Plugin. Apple reccomends triggering this prompt as soon as the app loads. If you want to present an alert prior to the iOS tracking permission dialog, enable the ShowInformation parameter on the action. To provide more context to app users in the dialog, set a Title and Message.
By default, the NSUserTrackingUsageDescription field is set to AppName needs your attention.. You can set your custom description by including an iOS-specific preference (USER_TRACKING_DESCRIPTION_IOS) in the Extensibility Configurations of the application, as follows:
{
"preferences": {
"ios": [{
"name": "USER_TRACKING_DESCRIPTION_IOS",
"value": "This is an example of a description."
}]
}
}You can use the RequestTrackingAuthorization action multiple times in the same app, since iOS remembers users' choice and only prompts users again after they uninstall and then reinstall the app on the device.
By default, an app using the Firebase Analytics plugin is able to trigger the native AppTrackingTransparency framework. It also contains the NSUserTrackingUsageDescription field in the app's *-Info.plist file. If you don't want to trigger the framework, and don't want to include the description field in the .plist file, you can disable this through the Extensibility Configurations like this:
{
"preferences": {
"ios": [{
"name": "EnableAppTrackingTransparencyPrompt",
"value": "false"
}]
}
}It is important to note that if your app collects user data for adversiting purposes, also know as Attribution within Firebase Analytics context, it should prompt the AppTrackingTransparency framework.