Setting arrays in Firebase using Firebase console - arrays

Question

I am using Firebase console for preparing data for a demo app. One of the data item is attendees. Attendees is an array. I want to add a few attendees as an array in Firebase. I understand Firebase does not have arrays, but object with keys (in chronological order). How do I do that for preparing sample data? My current Firebase data looks like the below.

Answer 1

The Firebase Database doesn't store arrays. It stores dictionaries/associate arrays. So the closest you can get is:
attendees: {
0: "Bill Gates",
1: "Larry Page",
2: "James Tamplin"
}
You can build this structure in the Firebase Console. And then when you read it with one of the Firebase SDKs, it will be translated into an array.
firebase.database().ref('attendees').once('value', function(snapshot) {
console.log(snapshot.val());
// ["Bill Gates", "Larry Page", "James Tamplin"]
});
So this may be the result that you're look for. But I recommend reading this blog post on why Firebase prefers it if you don't store arrays: https://firebase.googleblog.com/2014/04/best-practices-arrays-in-firebase.html.
Don't use an array, when you actually need a set
Most developers are not actually trying to store an array and I think your case might be one of those. For example: can "Bill Gates" be an attendee twice?
attendees: {
0: "Bill Gates",
1: "Larry Page",
2: "James Tamplin",
3: "Bill Gates"
}
If not, you're going to have to check whether he's already in the array before you add him.
if (!attendees.contains("Bill Gates")) {
attendees.push("Bill Gates");
}
This is a clear sign that your data structure is sub-optimal for the use-case. Having to check all existing children before adding a new one is going to limit scalability.
In this case, what you really want is a set: a data structure where each child can be present only once. In Firebase you model sets like this:
attendees: {
"Bill Gates": true,
"Larry Page": true,
"James Tamplin": true
}
And now whenever you try to add Bill Gates a second time, it's a no-op:
attendees["Bill Gates"] = true;
So instead of having to code for the uniqueness requirement, the data structure implicitly solves it.

Answer 2

To add arrays manually using Firebase Realtime DB console:
Use double " " instead of single ' ' quotes
Which provides this structure:

Answer 3

After writing my other answer I realized that you might simply be looking how to add push IDs in the console.
That's not a feature at the moment. Most of is either use different types of keys when entering test data or have a little JavaScript snippet in another tab to generate the keys and copy/paste them over.
Please do request the feature here, since you're definitely not the first one to ask.

Answer 4

firebase array ?yeah, i have same problem with you few weeks ago, but i found it in here. Finally i can use it with my ChartJS.
function jamToArray(snapshot) {
const returnArr = [];
snapshot.forEach(function(childSnapshot) {
const item = childSnapshot.val().time;
returnArr.push(item);
});
return returnArr;
};
firebase.database().ref('sensor').limitToLast(10).on('value', function(snapshot) {
const jam = jamToArray(snapshot);
});