DEV Community

Cover image for Using Firebase Cloud Functions to Generate URL Preview
Paurakh Sharma Humagain
Paurakh Sharma Humagain

Posted on

Using Firebase Cloud Functions to Generate URL Preview

Using Firebase Cloud Functions to Generate URL Preview

Hello Flutter Devs,

In this article we are going to learn how to use Firebase cloud functions
to parse the URL og tags and display the URL previews
in the Flutter app.

URL Preview Demo

How this works?

  1. User adds a url in the Firestore collection urls.
  2. Cloud functions then triggers onCreate() which:

    i) Makes the request to the url

    ii) Parses the og tags from the response

    iii) Saves the og details in the Firestore collection previews

Let's get started

We are going to use FloatingActionButton to open the dialog where user can add new url.

Adding new URL

FloatingActionButton(
  onPressed: () async {
    final url = await _showUrlDialog(context);
    if (url == null) return;
    final collection = FirebaseFirestore.instance.collection('urls');
    collection.add({'url': url});

    ScaffoldMessenger.of(context).showSnackBar(
      SnackBar(
        content: Text('URL added successfully!'),
      ),
    );
  },
  child: Icon(Icons.add),
)
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

Lets implement _shorUrlDialog

Future<String?> _showUrlDialog(BuildContext context) async {
  String url = '';
  final result = await showDialog<String>(
    context: context,
    barrierDismissible: false,
    builder: (BuildContext context) {
      return AlertDialog(
        title: Text('Add URL'),
        content: SizedBox(
          width: double.maxFinite,
          child: TextField(
            onChanged: (value) {
              url = value;
            },
            decoration: InputDecoration(
              hintText: 'https://www.flutter.dev',
              border: OutlineInputBorder(),
            ),
          ),
        ),
        actions: <Widget>[
          TextButton(
            child: Text(
              'Cancel',
            ),
            onPressed: () {
              Navigator.of(context).pop();
            },
          ),
          ElevatedButton(
            child: Text(
              'Add',
            ),
            onPressed: () {
              Navigator.of(context).pop(url);
            },
          ),
        ],
      );
    },
  );

  return result;
}
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

Now, Initialize a cloud functions for your Firebase project.

Go to the functions directory.

We need to install two packages which makes requesting url and parsing the og tags easier.

npm install got cheerio
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

Now you are ready to add the cloud functions.

Add this code to your functions/index.js

// packages to make api request and parse response
const got = require('got');
const cheerio = require('cheerio');

const functions = require('firebase-functions');
const admin = require('firebase-admin'); // Cloud Firestore access
const db = admin.initializeApp().firestore();

exports.addUrlPreview = functions.firestore
  .document('urls/{urlId}')
  .onCreate(async (snapshot) => {
    var querySnapshot = await snapshot.ref.get();
    var data = querySnapshot.data();
    var url = data.url;
    if (url.trim() === '') {
      console.log('Empty string... Skipping...');
      return;
    }

    const ogData = await getOGData(url);
    console.log(ogData);

    const publicationRef = db.collection('previews');
    await publicationRef.add(ogData);
  });

/**
 * Get the og details from the URL
 *
 * @param {String} url
 * @return {Promise} of object containing site's title, description, siteName, and image.
 */
async function getOGData(url) {
  if (!url || url.length === 0) return;
  const response = await got(url);

  const $ = cheerio.load(response.body);

  const titleAttr = $('meta[property="og:title"]').attr();
  const descriptionAttr = $('meta[property="og:description"]').attr();
  const siteNameAttr = $('meta[property="og:site_name"]').attr();
  const imageAttr = $('meta[property="og:image"]').attr();

  return {
    title: titleAttr ? titleAttr.content : '',
    description: descriptionAttr ? descriptionAttr.content : '',
    siteName: siteNameAttr ? siteNameAttr.content : '',
    image: imageAttr ? imageAttr.content : '',
    url: url,
  };
}
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

Now you can display the URL previews in your Flutter app.

I am going to use StreamBuilder for this purpose.

StreamBuilder(
  stream: FirebaseFirestore.instance.collection('urls').snapshots(),
  builder: (context, AsyncSnapshot<QuerySnapshot> snapshot) {
    if (!snapshot.hasData) return Text('Loading..');

    final docs = snapshot.data!.docs;

    if (docs.isEmpty) return Text('Add urls to load their previews');

    final previews =
        docs.map((doc) => doc.data() as Map<String, dynamic>).toList();

    return ListView.separated(
      padding: const EdgeInsets.all(0),
      itemCount: previews.length,
      separatorBuilder: (context, index) => const Divider(),
      itemBuilder: (context, index) {
        final preview = previews[index];
        return ListTile(
          contentPadding: const EdgeInsets.all(0),
          leading: preview['image'].isEmpty
              ? Container(
                  height: 100,
                  width: 100,
                  color: Colors.grey,
                )
              : Image.network(
                  preview['image'],
                  height: 100,
                  width: 100,
                ),
          title: Text(preview['title']),
          subtitle: Column(
            crossAxisAlignment: CrossAxisAlignment.start,
            children: [
              SizedBox(height: 4),
              Text(preview['description']),
              SizedBox(height: 2),
              Text(
                preview['siteName'],
                style: TextStyle(
                  fontWeight: FontWeight.bold,
                ),
              ),
            ],
          ),
        );
      },
    );
  },
)
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

And you are done.

You can make further improvements to getOGData() method to make it more robust.

You can find the complete source code here: https://github.com/paurakhsharma/cloud_functions_url_preview

Happy Coding!

Top comments (0)