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Filter collection by lastModified

I need to fetch sub-set of documents in Firestore collection modified after some moment. I tried going theses ways:
It seems that native filtering can work only with some real fields in stored document - i.e. nevertheless Firestore API internally has DocumentSnapshot.getUpdateTime() I cannot use this information in my query.
I tried adding my _lastModifiedAt 'service field' via server-side firestore cloud function, but ... that updating of _lastModifiedAt causes recursive invocation of the onWrite() function. I.e. is does also not work as needed (recursion finally stops with Error: quota exceeded (Function invocations : per 100 seconds)).
Are there other ideas how to filter collection by 'lastModifiedTime'?
Here is my 'cloud function' for reference
It would work if I could identify who is modifying the document, i.e. ignore own updates of _lastModified field, but I see no way to check for this
_lastModifiedBy is set to null because of current inability of Firestore to provide auth information (see here)
exports.updateLastModifiedBy = functions.firestore.document('/{collId}/{documentId}').onWrite(event => {
console.log(event.data.data());
var lastModified = {
_lastModifiedBy: null,
_lastModifiedAt: now
}
return event.data.ref.set(lastModified, {merge: true});
});

I've found the way to prevent recursion while updating '_lastModifiedAt'.
Note: this will not work reliably if client can also update '_lastModifiedAt'. It does not matter much in my environment, but in general case I think writing to '_lastModifiedAt' should be allowed only to service accounts.
exports.updateLastModifiedBy = functions.firestore.document('/{collId}/{documentId}').onWrite(event => {
var doc = event.data.data();
var prevDoc = event.data.previous.data();
if( doc && prevDoc && (doc._lastModifiedAt != prevDoc._lastModifiedAt) )
// this is my own change
return 0;
var lastModified = getLastModified(event);
return event.data.ref.set(lastModified, {merge: true});
});
Update: Warning - updating lastModified in onWrite() event causes infinite recursion when trying to delete all documents in Firebase console. This happens because onWrite() is also triggered for delete and writing lastModified into deleted document actually resurrects it. That document propagates back into console and is tried to be deleted once again, indefinitely (until WEB page is closed).
To fix that issue above mentioned code has to be specified individually for onCreate() and onUpdate().

How about letting the client write the timestamp with FieldValue.serverTimestamp() and then validate that the value written is equal to time in security rules?
Also see Mike's answer here for an example: Firestore Security Rules: If timestamp (FieldValue.serverTimestamp) equals now

You could try the following function, which will not update the _lastModifiedAt if it has been marked as modified within the last 5 seconds. This should ensure that this function only runs once, per update (as long as you don't update more than once in 5 seconds).
exports.updateLastModifiedBy = functions.firestore.document('/{collId}/{documentId}').onWrite(event => {
console.log(event.data.data());
if ((Date.now() - 5000) < event.data.data()._lastModifiedAt) {return null};
var lastModified = {
_lastModifiedBy: null,
_lastModifiedAt: now
}
return event.data.ref.set(lastModified, {merge: true});
});

Keeping Count of Child Objects

I am trying to come up with some sort of a solution to keep a count of a node with many child nodes... I thought of just keeping a field and increment it as stuff is added to the parent node
My one concern is multiple users adding to the node at the same time, is there a way I could safely incriment without worrying about overrighting if other users icriment the count at the same time
Thanks to #FrankVanPuffelen for pointing me in the right direction.. How exactly would you go about callling it for a simple counter? Heres what I wrote up but dosen't seem to be working the way I expected
var ref = firebase().database().ref('Counter');
export function toggleStar(postRef) {
postRef.transaction(function(post) {
if (post) {
post++;
}else{
post = 0;
}
return post;
});
}
//then to Call it:
toggleStar(ref);
Tried to keep it minimal so it could help someone else trying to implement a counter system. The field Counter in this case would just be my spot where I would like to store it. I tried to add a case where if it was false or NULL to set it to 0.
EDIT 2:
Also did this:
export function toggleStar(postRef) {
postRef.transaction(function(post) {
if (post) {
post.go++;
}else{
post = {};
post.go = 0;
}
return post;
});
}
ANd called ti with the same method above. This does appear to be working... However I am worried that this isn't accomplishing the process in the right way so I just want to be sure... I don't want to overwrite other users data and having inaccurate numbers

How do I display the followers count in real time using firebase?

I have an application where users can follow other users. I want to have a real-time update system, display the total count of followers a user has.
I've just started playing around with Firebase and Pusher, but I don't understand one thing - will each user have their own 'channel'? How would I handle such thing as a follower counter update?
I followed the tutorial and saw that push method can create lists, so one solution I can see is having a list of all the users, each user being an object something like this:
{ username: 'john_doe', follower_count: 6 }
But I don't understand how would I actually track it on the front end? Should I have a filter, something like this?
var user = users.filter(function(user) { return user.username === 'john_doe'; });
// code to display user.follower_count
Or is there a different way that I'm missing?

Most of Firebase logic is based on listeners, you can add a listener to events happening in your collections and when those events happen, you do something.
One way to go about this would be:
var myFollowerListRef = new Firebase(PATH_TO_YOUR_COLLECTION);
myFollowerListRef.on("value", function(snapshot) {
console.log(snapshot.length);
});
This way, every time your follower collection changes, the asynchronous function fires and you can do what you want with the fresh data.
For more information:
https://www.firebase.com/docs/web/guide/retrieving-data.html
Hope this helps, I'm still a beginner in Firebase.

#Th0rndike's approach is the simplest and works fine for relatively short lists. For longer lists, consider using a transaction. From the Firebase documentation on saving transactional data:
var upvotesRef = new Firebase('https://docs-examples.firebaseio.com/android/saving-data/fireblog/posts/-JRHTHaIs-jNPLXOQivY/upvotes');
upvotesRef.transaction(function (current_value) {
return (current_value || 0) + 1;
});
But I recommend that you read the entire Firebase guide. It contains solutions for a lot of common use-cases.

Two-way data binding for a Meteor app

I've built an app that is form-based. I want to enable users to partially fill out a form, and then come back to it at a later date if they can't finish it at the present. I've used iron router to create a unique URL for each form instance, so they can come back to the link. My problem is that Meteor doesn't automatically save the values in the inputs, and the form comes up blank when it is revisited/refreshes. I tried the below solution to store the data in a temporary document in a separate Mongo collection called "NewScreen", and then reference that document every time the template is (re)rendered to auto fill the form. However, I keep getting an error that the element I'm trying to reference is "undefined". The weird thing is that sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. I've tried setting a recursive setTimeout function, but on the times it fails, that doesn't work either. Any insight would be greatly appreciated. Or, if I'm going about this all wrong, feel free to suggest a different approach:
Screens = new Meteor.Collection('screens') //where data will ultimately be stored
Forms = new Meteor.Collection('forms') //Meteor pulls form questions from here
NewScreen = new Meteor.Collection('newscreen') //temporary storage collection
Roles = new Meteor.Collection('roles'); //displays list of metadata about screens in a dashboard
//dynamic routing for unique instance of blank form
Router.route('/forms/:_id', {
name: 'BlankForm',
data: function(){
return NewScreen.findOne({_id: this.params._id});
}
});
//onRendered function to pull data from NewScreen collection (this is where I get the error)
Template.BlankForm.onRendered(function(){
var new_screen = NewScreen.findOne({_id: window.location.href.split('/')[window.location.href.split('/').length-1]})
function do_work(){
if(typeof new_screen === 'undefined'){
console.log('waiting...');
Meteor.setTimeout(do_work, 100);
}else{
$('input')[0].value = new_screen.first;
for(i=0;i<new_screen.answers.length;i++){
$('textarea')[i].value = new_screen.answers[i];
}
}
}
do_work();
});
//onChange event that updates the NewScreen document when user updates value of input in the form
'change [id="on-change"]': function(e, tmpl){
var screen_data = [];
var name = $('input')[0].value;
for(i=0; i<$('textarea').length;i++){
screen_data.push($('textarea')[i].value);
}
Session.set("updateNewScreen", this._id);
NewScreen.update(
Session.get("updateNewScreen"),
{$set:
{
answers: screen_data,
first: name
}
});
console.log(screen_data);
}

If you get undefined that could mean findOne() did not find the newscreen with the Id that was passed in from the url. To investigate this, add an extra line like console.log(window.location.href.split('/')[window.location.href.split('/').length-1], JSON.stringify(new_screen));
This will give you both the Id from the url and the new_screen that was found.
I would recommend using Router.current().location.get().path instead of window.location.href since you use IR.
And if you're looking for two way binding in the client, have a look at Viewmodel for Meteor.

Subscribe to a count of an existing collection

I need to keep track of a counter of a collection with a huge number of documents that's constantly being updated. (Think a giant list of logs). What I don't want to do is to have the server send me a list of 250k documents. I just want to see a counter rising.
I found a very similar question here, and I've also looked into the .observeChanges() in the docs but once again, it seems that .observe() as well as .observeChanges() actually return the whole set before tracking what's been added, changed or deleted.
In the above example, the "added" function will fire once per every document returned to increment a counter.
This is unacceptable with a large set - I only want to keep track of a change in the count as I understand .count() bypasses the fetching of the entire set of documents. The former example involves counting only documents related to a room, which isn't something I want (or was able to reproduce and get working, for that matter)
I've gotta be missing something simple, I've been stumped for hours.
Would really appreciate any feedback.

You could accomplish this with the meteor-streams smart package by Arunoda. It lets you do pub/sub without needing the database, so one thing you could send over is a reactive number, for instance.
Alternatively, and this is slightly more hacky but useful if you've got a number of things you need to count or something similar, you could have a separate "Statistics" collection (name it whatever) with a document containing that count.

There is an example in the documentation about this use case. I've modified it to your particular question:
// server: publish the current size of a collection
Meteor.publish("nbLogs", function () {
var self = this;
var count = 0;
var initializing = true;
var handle = Messages.find({}).observeChanges({
added: function (id) {
count++;
if (!initializing)
self.changed("counts", roomId, {nbLogs: count});
},
removed: function (id) {
count--;
self.changed("counts", roomId, {nbLogs: count});
}
// don't care about moved or changed
});
// Observe only returns after the initial added callbacks have
// run. Now return an initial value and mark the subscription
// as ready.
initializing = false;
self.added("counts", roomId, {nbLogs: count});
self.ready();
// Stop observing the cursor when client unsubs.
// Stopping a subscription automatically takes
// care of sending the client any removed messages.
self.onStop(function () {
handle.stop();
});
});
// client: declare collection to hold count object
Counts = new Meteor.Collection("counts");
// client: subscribe to the count for the current room
Meteor.subscribe("nbLogs");
// client: use the new collection
Deps.autorun(function() {
console.log("nbLogs: " + Counts.findOne().nbLogs);
});
There might be some higher level ways to do this in the future.