🔥📱 Flutter x Firebase CRUD Masterclass • Create / Read / Update / Delete

Summary

In this Flutter and Firebase master class, the instructor guides viewers through creating a simple notes app to demonstrate the four essential database operations: Create, Read, Update, and Delete (CRUD). The tutorial starts by setting up a Firebase project and connecting it to a new Flutter app. It then covers adding the Firebase Core and Firestore packages, initializing Firebase in the app, and setting up Firestore rules. The instructor shows how to create a Firestore service for CRUD operations, implement a UI with a floating action button, and use a StreamBuilder to display notes. The video concludes with adding, updating, and deleting notes, providing a comprehensive introduction to using Flutter and Firebase for database interactions.

Takeaways

• 🚀 The video is a Flutter and Firebase masterclass focused on teaching CRUD (Create, Read, Update, Delete) operations for databases.
• 🔑 The tutorial demonstrates creating a simple notes app to explain CRUD operations, allowing users to manage notes stored in a Firebase database.
• 💻 The process starts by setting up a new Firebase project and connecting it with a Flutter project using the Firebase CLI tools.
• 📝 Firebase Firestore is used as the database, and rules are configured to allow read and write access for demonstration purposes.
• 🛠️ The video guides through adding the Firebase core and Cloud Firestore packages to the Flutter project for database interactions.
• 📱 A Flutter UI is created with a floating action button to add new notes, and a stateful widget is used to manage UI state changes.
• 📑 CRUD operations are encapsulated in a `FirestoreService` class, with methods for creating, reading, updating, and deleting notes.
• 🔄 The read operation uses a stream to listen to real-time updates from the database, ensuring the app UI reflects the latest data.
• ✍️ The update and delete operations require the document ID, which is used to identify the specific note to modify or remove.
• 🔗 The video concludes by demonstrating the complete functionality of the notes app, showcasing the successful implementation of CRUD operations with Flutter and Firebase.

Q & A

What are the four most important operations when it comes to databases?

The four most important operations when it comes to databases are Create, Read, Update, and Delete (CRUD).

How do you create a new project in Firebase?

To create a new project in Firebase, go to the Firebase console, click on 'Add project', and follow the on-screen instructions.

What is the purpose of the 'flutterfire_cli' tool?

The 'flutterfire_cli' tool is used to configure Firebase in a Flutter project, including setting up dependencies and initializing Firebase services.

How do you connect a Flutter project to Firebase?

To connect a Flutter project to Firebase, use the 'flutterfire_cli' tool with the 'configure' command, select the Firebase project, and follow the prompts to set up the necessary configurations.

What does the 'Firebase.initializeApp' method do in a Flutter app?

The 'Firebase.initializeApp' method in a Flutter app initializes Firebase services and ensures that Firebase is set up and ready to use.

How do you add a new note to the Firestore database in the example app?

To add a new note to the Firestore database, use the 'add' method on the collection reference, passing in a map containing the note content and a timestamp.

What is a StreamBuilder and how is it used in the Flutter app?

A StreamBuilder is a Flutter widget that listens to a stream and rebuilds its child based on the latest snapshot from the stream. In the app, it's used to listen to changes in the Firestore database and update the UI with the latest notes.

How do you update a note in the Firestore database?

To update a note in the Firestore database, use the 'update' method on the document reference, passing in a map containing the fields to update.

How do you delete a note from the Firestore database?

To delete a note from the Firestore database, use the 'delete' method on the document reference corresponding to the note you want to remove.

What is the purpose of the 'FloatingActionButton' in the Flutter app?

The 'FloatingActionButton' in the Flutter app serves as a UI element that, when clicked, opens a dialog for the user to input a new note, which can then be added to the Firestore database.

Outlines

00:00

📚 Introduction to Flutter and Firebase CRUD Operations

The video begins with an introduction to a Flutter and Firebase master class focused on teaching the four essential database operations: Create, Read, Update, and Delete (CRUD). The instructor demonstrates these operations by building a simple notes app. The app will allow users to create new notes, read from a database, update, and delete notes. The process starts with setting up a Firebase project called 'crud-tutorial' and connecting it to a new Flutter project. The instructor guides viewers on how to install the Firebase CLI, log in, and configure the project for both Android and iOS platforms. The video also covers the initial setup in the Flutter app, including adding Firebase dependencies and initializing Firebase in the main function.

05:02

🔧 Setting Up Firestore Database and Creating Notes

The video continues with setting up the Firestore database within the Firebase console, choosing a location, and adjusting the database rules to allow read and write access. The instructor then demonstrates how to add the Cloud Firestore package to the Flutter project and create a service class to handle database operations. The class includes methods for creating new notes, which involves adding a note to the database with a timestamp. A FloatingActionButton is set up in the UI to open a dialog box for users to input new notes. The instructor explains how to use a TextEditingController to capture the user's input and a button to trigger the addition of the note to the database. The video concludes with a demonstration of successfully adding a note and viewing it in the Firebase console.

10:03

📝 Implementing Read, Update, and Delete Features

The third paragraph delves into the implementation of reading notes from the database using a Stream and StreamBuilder in Flutter. The instructor sets up a method to retrieve notes ordered by timestamp, with the newest notes appearing first. The UI is updated to display notes in a ListView. The video also covers the creation of an update feature, which requires a document ID and new note text. An IconButton is added to each note in the UI to open a dialog box for updating the note's text. Lastly, the delete functionality is introduced, which also uses a document ID to identify the note to be deleted. The UI is modified to include a delete button for each note. The video concludes with a brief mention of the potential for using these CRUD operations to build more complex apps with Flutter and Firebase.

Keywords

💡CRUD

CRUD stands for Create, Read, Update, and Delete—four essential operations when working with databases. In the context of the video, these operations are demonstrated through a simple notes app where users can add, retrieve, modify, and delete notes. The video is a tutorial on how to implement CRUD functionality using Flutter and Firebase.

💡Firebase

Firebase is a platform developed by Google for creating mobile and web applications. In the video, Firebase is used as a backend service to store and manage the data for the notes app. The instructor guides viewers through connecting Firebase with a Flutter project and performing CRUD operations using Firestore, Firebase's database service.

💡Flutter

Flutter is an open-source UI software development kit created by Google for building natively compiled applications for mobile, web, and desktop from a single codebase. The video demonstrates how to build a notes app using Flutter and connect it to Firebase to perform database operations.

💡Firestore

Firestore is a NoSQL cloud database from Firebase that allows for real-time data synchronization. In the video, Firestore is the database where notes are stored, retrieved, updated, and deleted. The video shows how to set up Firestore within a Flutter app and perform CRUD operations using Firestore's methods.

💡FlutterFire CLI

FlutterFire CLI is a command-line tool for configuring Firebase projects in Flutter apps. The video mentions using this tool to integrate Firebase with a Flutter project, specifically during the setup process where the instructor configures Firebase for both Android and iOS platforms.

💡StreamBuilder

StreamBuilder is a widget in Flutter that builds itself based on the latest snapshot of interaction with a stream. In the video, StreamBuilder is used to listen to the real-time changes in the Firestore database, allowing the app to continuously update the displayed notes as they are created, updated, or deleted.

💡TextController

A TextController in Flutter is used to control and interact with a TextField, allowing developers to retrieve and manage user input. In the video, TextController is employed to capture what users type into the text box when creating or updating a note. This data is then passed to Firestore.

💡Asynchronous functions

Asynchronous functions allow tasks to run in the background without blocking the main thread, essential for tasks like network requests. The video highlights this when initializing Firebase in the main function with asynchronous code to ensure Firebase services are ready before performing any operations.

💡Future

A Future in Flutter represents a potential value or error that will be available at some point in the future. In the video, Future is used for operations like adding a note to Firestore, as these tasks are not completed immediately and need to be awaited for completion.

💡Stateful vs Stateless Widgets

Stateful widgets can maintain state (data that might change) over time, whereas stateless widgets cannot. The video transitions from using a stateless widget to a stateful widget when creating the note input dialog, allowing the app to handle dynamic interactions, like opening a box for user input and updating notes.

Highlights

Introduction to the Flutter and Firebase master class focusing on database operations.

Demonstration of creating a simple notes app to illustrate CRUD operations.

Instructions on creating a new Firebase project named 'crud tutorial'.

Connecting Firebase to a Flutter project using terminal commands.

Explanation of installing and using the FlutterFire CLI for Firebase integration.

Authentication with Firebase using the correct email account.

Enabling Firebase services like Firestore and setting up Firestore rules for read/write access.

Adding Firebase Core to the Flutter project and initializing it.

Creating a Firestore service class to handle database operations.

Adding a collection reference for notes in Firestore.

Implementing a function to create and add new notes to the database.

Creating a UI element, a FloatingActionButton, to trigger note creation.

Using a TextEditingController to handle user input for new notes.

Building a method to open a dialog box for note input.

Adding functionality to save notes to Firestore and clear the input field.

Implementing a method to read notes from Firestore using a stream.

Using a StreamBuilder to continuously listen to database changes and update the UI.

Creating a list view to display notes in the app's UI.

Adding an IconButton for updating notes with a gear icon.

Developing a method to open a dialog box for updating existing notes.

Integrating functionality to update notes in Firestore based on document ID.

Adding a delete button in the UI for deleting notes.

Implementing a method to delete notes from Firestore using document ID.

Completion of CRUD operations tutorial with a working notes app.

Transcripts

yo what up welcome to the flutter and

Firebase master class in this one I'm

going to teach you the four most

important operations when it comes to

databases and I'm going to show you by

cing up a super simple notes app where

you can create a new note read the notes

from a database as well as updating and

deleting so let's go to your Firebase

console and let's create a new project

I'm just going to call it crud

tutorial and I'm just going to create

this now

[Music]

cool so now what we need to do is we

need to connect our Firebase with our

flutter

project so I've opened up here a brand

new flutter project and let's open up

the terminal and if you've never used

the flutter fire C before then you're

going to need to install this one but

I've already done that so I'm just going

to skip that step and the the first

thing we need to do is to say Firebase

login to make sure that you're logged

into the same email as the Firebase

console then let's say flutter Pub

Global activate the flut fire CLI looks

like we have a little error thing I'm

just going to copy this and paste it in

sweet then let's say flutter fire

configure and let's look for our

Firebase project that we just made so

there it is crud tutorial and I'm going

to choose Android and iOS

let's say flutter Pub add Firebase

core also minut then we always need to

add this little code in the main

function just to set up so widgets

flutter binding ensure that it's

initialized and then let's change this

to an asynchronous function and await

Firebase initialize

app

cool and I always just kill the app and

restart it just to make sure

everything's working

fine and there it is and if you come

back to your Firebase console and you

refresh it you should be able to see we

connected the two apps so the Android

and the iOS awesome now the first thing

we want to do here is go to the build we

want to have the fir store database and

let's create a database hit next and you

can choose your location but I'm just

going to leave it at

us cool and then if you come to the

rules you can see it's allowing the read

and write I'm just going to change this

the write to be true and this just means

we can now save data into

it sweet now let's come back to our flut

project again and let's add in this

package for the fire store so flutter

Pub add Cloud fir

store

and now we can access our database so

I'm going to delete everything below the

main function and just create this from

scratch so I've got my app and then our

material app and I'm just going to call

it our

homepage and it's always good practice

to put your pages in a separate

folder and this can be a blank scaffold

and let's come back to our main do Dot

and then let's import this cool so we

should just have a blank scaffold sweet

and let's just set up this app just the

basics of it so the app

bar and I just want to have a floating

action button so that's the thing on the

bottom right let's give it a plus

icon cool so now I'm going to create a

new folder called services and I'm going

to have fir store. do and so I'm going

to put all the operations into this file

here

so class fire store service now the very

first thing we need to do is to get the

collection of notes from the database

and then we're going to have the four

things so create read update and delete

and specifically for us in this app

we're going to say like create means

adding a new note read is getting the

note from the database and then we want

to update notes and same thing is

deleting cool so if I start with the

first one here let's get the collection

reference of notes and let's call The

Collection just notes if I just quickly

code just the first function here for

the creating we want to have a future

and this is for adding a note so I'm

going to accept a parameter just a

string for what the note is and the bit

of code you need to know if we go to the

notes you can see after the dot the add

method and in these curly braces you can

also have multiple Fields so let's say

in the note field I want to give it the

note but let's also have a Tim

stamp cool and so let's try to test this

out with our Floating Action button so

if I click on this button here I want to

open up a small box to get the user to

type something in so if I create a

method here real quick let's open note

box and let's show the dialogue and

we're going to need the context so I'm

actually going to change this to a

stateful widget so if you hover over

this stateless widget and you press on

Mac it's command Dot and you can see you

got this option here I think on Windows

it might be control dot we can now build

this dialogue and let's just start off

with a blank text

field so just to test this out if I save

this I click on the plus and sweet

here's our little dialogue box and then

you got the text field inside where we

can type in so how do we access what the

user typed well we need a text

controller

so you can see in the text field we can

give it the text controller and then now

we need a button so in the actions let's

have a button to

save so I'm just going to use a elevated

button and let's say

add cool so we want to type a Noe in and

then we want to hit add to save

it so currently it's executing nothing

so inside these braces let's add a new

note and we want to access the methods

from this fire store class right so at

the top here let's get the fire store

service object at the

top and then now we can say F store

service and then we can access all of

those methods so do add note and we want

to give it the note so that's going to

be the text

controller cool and then just a couple

UI things we need to do so after you add

the note we want to clear what's in the

text controller and just leave it blank

after it's added in and then we also

want to close the box so let's try

this first note and I add it and

nothing's happening on our app because

we are not reading it yet but if I come

back to my console and I refresh it you

can see there's our notes and we got our

first document and there's our first

note there so that's the natural next

step we need to do right we you need to

be able to read now that we can create

so let's fill out the read method here

now read we're going to use a stream and

a stream Builder to sort of continuously

listen to any changes in our database so

let's call this get note

stream and we want to get the notes and

we can now order them by the Tim stamp

so descending let's say true meaning the

newest one is going to be at the

top cool so if I come back to my UI and

the the

homepage in the body of the scaffold we

want to use a stream

Builder and you can see inside here we

have to give it a stream and so we can

give it our get notes stream and so

that's what it's going to be listening

to and then we can build the UI so

firstly let's just check if the snapshot

has data then we can get the

docs so let's create a list here called

notes

list and we want to dis play it as a

list

view cool so just to have a bit of plan

about what we're doing so the first

thing is let's get the individual

document and then we want to get the

string of notes from the document and

then let's give that to a list tile to

display nicely in the

UI so the first thing is let's just get

the individual document so we're going

through the index of the notes list and

and one bit of useful information for

our other couple methods coming up is

going to be this document ID just to

keep track of the notes so I'm just

going to use this a bit later on now

let's get the note from each document

and store it in this data

variable so what we really want is just

a string for the note text and in the

data we can get this particular field

called note sweet so now let's display

it as a list tile for the

UI

and everything's all good except we can

finish off this if

else and so if there's no data then

let's just return no

noes cool and looks like we have some

range error oh that's because we didn't

specify the item count so that's just

going to be however long the notes list

is sweet so let's just save this and

rerun it and you can see now we can read

our database and we got the first note

which means we should be able to create

a second

note and there it is cool so we can

create and we can read

now the last couple is the update so

this one we need to know the doc ID so

we need to know which note we're

updating and we also need to know what

the new note is going to be so for this

one if you go to the notes let's go to

the particular doc ID and then let's

just update and you can just update the

fields so if I come back to my UI let's

just go to the trailing and let's let's

have a gear button so it's going to have

an icon button

here and let's have a settings icon yeah

it's probably

good cool there's a gear and so if I

click on this currently it's executing

nothing so what I want to do is I want

to open up another box so that the eer

can type something in now let's see if

we can recycle what we already used just

to be efficient with our code so we

already have a open note box method here

for when we add a new note now let's

just add a parameter here for the

document ID and I'm going to put a

question mark here and what that means

is this can potentially be null I made a

whole video about null safety so check

that out if you need so when we call

this method and we're giving the

parameter document ID we want a string

but it could also be a null value so the

reason why I'm doing this is because

when we hit the button to save let's put

a little if statement here so if the

document ID is null then we're going to

add a new note and then otherwise we

want to update an existing

note okay so if I come down to my button

here then we can just open the note box

and just give it the doc ID

let's H the gear we can now put in a new

text and you can see it got updated

sweet which brings us to the last one

which is the deleting same thing we need

to know which note we're deleting so

let's accept the document ID as a

parameter and once we know that let's

just go to that document in the notes

and just

delete

and then in our UI we need to have

another delete button so in the trailing

let's just put in a quick row here and

have the button so one's for the update

and let's just copy it to create another

one for the delete and for the onpress

we just want to call the delete note and

switch up the icon cool and by the way

if you save this you're going to get an

error so you need to specify the main

access size to be minimum cool so if I I

try this and if I delete it and then it

will get deleted and that's it that's

how you use the crud

operations now we can use this to make

some other cool apps using flut and

Firebase so thanks for watching and I'll

catch you guys in the next

[Music]

one