Query data from firebase Array - angularjs

Question

My firebase users tree has this structure:
users:
{
{
'userName': 'abc',
'userEmail' : 'abc#abc.com',
'userPreferences':
[
0:'Cinema',
1:'It'
]
},
{
'userName': 'abc',
'userEmail' : 'abc#abc.com',
'userPreferences':
[
0:'Cinema',
1:'Music'
]
}
}
Then, I try to find all users that their preference list contain 'Cinema'.
I try this code:
var ref1 = new Firebase("https://event-application.firebaseio.com/users");
$scope.user = $firebaseArray(ref1.orderByChild("userpreferences").equalTo('Cinema'));
console.log($scope.user);
But I don't get the best result. I get this record:

Answer 1

Your JSON structure shows preferences as userPreferences, so wouldn't the following work?
var ref1 = new Firebase("https://event-application.firebaseio.com/users");
$scope.user = $firebaseArray(ref1.orderByChild("userPreferences").equalTo('Cinema'));
console.log($scope.user);
However I think there is also another problem with your code, you're called an .equalTo('Cinema') however you're comparing it to an array, correct me if i'm wrong but I don't think the behaviour of .equalTo('Cinema') is to loop through each of the values and compare them, I think it's just a straight up comparison
If this is the case, you may need to build a custom query by reading the data from firebase and manipulating it via function available to a snapshot

Answer 2

In NoSQL you'll often end up with a data model that reflects the way your application uses the data. If you want to read all the users that have a preference for Cinema, you should model that in your tree:
users: {
'uid-of-abc': {
'userName': 'abc',
'userEmail' : 'abc#abc.com',
'userPreferences': [
0:'Cinema',
1:'It'
]
},
'uid-of-def': {
'userName': 'def',
'userEmail' : 'abc#abc.com',
'userPreferences': [
0:'Cinema',
1:'Music'
]
}
},
"preferences-lookup": {
"Cinema": {
"uid-of-abc": true,
"uid-of-def": true
},
"It": {
"uid-of-abc": true
},
"Music": {
"uid-of-def": true
}
}
Now you can find out what users prefer cinema with:
ref.child('preferences-lookup/Cinema').on('value', function(snapshot) {
snapshot.forEach(function(userKey) {
console.log(userKey.key()+' prefers Cinema');
});
});
This is covered in this blog post on denormalizing data with Firebase, in the Firebase documentation on structuring data and in dozens of answers here on Stack Overflow. A few:
Storing Relational "Type" or "Category" Data in Firebase Without the Need to Update Multiple Locations
Get Firebase items belonging to category
Retrieve data based on categories in Firebase
How to query firebase for property with specific value inside all children