PyFirebase

Easy to use Firebase Python Plugin. Built as a wrapper around the Firebase REST HTTP API. Syntax is reminiscent of the simple syntax available in Javascript. Inspired by the python-firebase library by ozgur.

Installation

Get started using the PyFirebase library by installing it:

pip install pyfirebase

Usage

Using the PyFirebase library is extremely easy. This is a sample books library built with it.

from pyfirebase import Firebase

firebase = Firebase(YOUR_FIREBASE_URL)

# Create a Firebase reference
ref = firebase.ref('books')

# Get the contents of the reference
books = ref.get()

# Payload data can be declared using native python data types
payload = {'name': 'Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban', 'pages': 780}

# The push operation pushes a new node under this node
book = ref.push(payload)

# We can get the new node id using the name key
id = book['name']

# We can navigate to child nodes
bookref = ref.child(id)

# We can update specific records in this ref
bookref.update({'pages': 600})

# We can also just outright replace the content
bookref.set({'name': 'Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix', 'pages': 980})

# We can obviously simulate an update with a set
bookref.child('pages').set(790)

# We can delete the book once we're done
bookref.delete()

# Create a reference to the root by not passing in paramters to the ref function
root = firebase.ref()

# This function will be called everytime an event happens
def print_data(event, data):
    print event
    print data

# We can the event listener to the root ref. We also specify that print_data should be called on event
root.on('child_changed', callback=print_data)


# Extra logic to turn on listener when we quit
def signal_handler(signal, frame):
    print "Trying to exit"
    root.off()
    sys.exit(0)

# Binding Ctrl + C signal to signal_handler
signal.signal(signal.SIGINT, signal_handler)
signal.pause()

Firebase Methods

__init__(url)

Creating a new Firebase object is simply done using the Firebase constructor.

firebase = Firebase(FIREBASE_URL)

ref(reference)

Calling the ref() method on the firebase object creates and returns a new FirebaseReference object. We can use this object to manipulate that reference.

ref = firebase.ref(ref_name)

FirebaseReference Methods

get()

This method returns all the content in that ref. An error is thrown if there are issues with permissions or any other HTTP error.

results = ref.get()

push(payload)

This method creates new data under this ref. A random id is generated as the key and the payload is set as the value. The id is stored in the name key of the returned dictionary.

record = ref.push(payload)
id = record['name']

set(payload)

This method sets the value of the ref to payload. If there was data in this ref before, it replaces it with payload. If this ref does not exists, it is created and then stored against the payload.

ref.set(payload)

update(payload)

This method updates the keys in the ref with data specified in the payload. If we had payload with data {'name': 'Egor'}, it will replace the name key in the ref with the value Egor. This is the same things as doing ref.child(name).set('Egor').

ref.set(payload)

delete()

This method deletes the ref.

ref.delete()

Streaming Methods

on(event_name, callback=callback_func)

Called on FirebaseReference objects. This method adds a new event listener to the ref. The callback_func is called every time the event specified by event_name happens.

Currently supported events are child_changed and child_deleted.

# Simple function to print event and data passed in by the on function
print_data(event, data):
  print event
  print data

ref.on('child_changed', callback=print_data)

off()

This method stops listening on all events for this ref.

ref.off()

TODO

Some of the pending functionality that needs to be implemented include:

• Authentication
• Support more events on Streaming API
• Result Filtering
• Priority
• Server Values