Table of Contents

• About
• Requirements
• Configuration
• Firebase Backend Architecture
• Maintaining

About:

This is a full-stack scheduling application. Users may browse and book appointments in real time. Once completed, the application handles vendor payment through Stripe.

Requirements:

Internet connection and computer (for Desktop) or smart phone (for Mobile). Credit Card required for some bookings.

Configuration:

Privacy settings available in the profile settings

Firebase Backend Architecture:

Firebase acts as a backend-as-a-service, providing an abstraction for data storage and retreival. Because this is abstracted away, we utilize firebase functions to interact with their backend and manage our data. In order to provide additional clarity, we provide a brief outline of our backend architecture below.

Database, Collections, and Documents

Firebase currently has two available databases: Cloud Firestore and Firebase Realtime Database. Cloud Firestore provides all of the features of the Realtime Database, with additional scalability, query, and development features.

Cloud Firestore provides us with a scalable, non-relational (NoSQL) database, which contains collections of documents to serve as a blueprint for each of the items in our database. Our database is structured with 3 collections (appointments, businesses, users), each of which has 1 document (appointment, business, user), which outlines the fields of each entry.

Collection -> Document -> Field

• appointments -> appointment -> startDate, endDate, company, service, cost, booked, location, uniqueId
• users -> user -> name, phone, email, bookedAppointments, pastAppointments, uniqueId
• businesses -> business -> name, phone, email, bookedAppointments, openAppointments, pastAppointments, service, street#, streetAddress, city, state, zip, ratings, uniqueId

Backend Functions

Because the database is handled directly through Firebase, our applications utilize firebase functions to instruct the firebase API to retrieve or update the data we need. Below is an example of the function we utilize to retreive all unbooked appointments and move them to state:

firebase.database().ref("appointments").orderByChild("booked").equalTo("no");
    appointmentsFilter.on('value', snapshot => {
      let appointmentsArr = snapshot.val();
      let newState = [];
      for (let appointment in appointmentsArr) {
        newState.push({
          id: appointment,
          name: appointmentArr[appointment].name,
          startDate: appointmentArr[appointment].startDate,
          zip: appointmentArr[appointment].zip,
        });
      }
      this.setState({
        appointments: newState
      });
    });

Firebase functions allow us to chain multiple filters together. For instance, we can search for all unbooked appointments for a specific service, such as haircuts:

firebase.database().ref("appointments").orderByChild("booked").equalTo("no").orderByChild("service").equalTo("haircuts");
    appointmentsFilter.on('value', snapshot => {
      let appointmentsArr = snapshot.val();
      let newState = [];
      for (let appointment in appointmentsArr) {
        newState.push({
          id: appointment,
          name: appointmentArr[appointment].name,
          startDate: appointmentArr[appointment].startDate,
          zip: appointmentArr[appointment].zip,
        });
      }
      this.setState({
        appointments: newState
      });
    });

For more information, please consult the Firebase Documentation: https://firebase.google.com/docs/functions/

Maintaining:

Our Application runs React on the front end, and handles the backend and hosting through Firebase.

This full stack-application was developed and is currently maintained by Anthony, Harrison, Henry, Jeffrey, and Mark.