Checkpoint
I was finally able to figure out the process of favoriting quotes. After around 4 weeks of re-learning SQL, understanding the connection to Firebase, and many hours trying to understand how the application worked, I was able to connect the local database and the Firebase database through favoriting. The process was much more convoluted than what I had originally imagined it to be but it was an adventure nonetheless. Figuring out the whole process of trying to create a new system of how users interacted with quotes was tough. The new system was that users were forced to make a decision when opening and reading a quote: share the quote with a random user, keep the quote by favoriting it, or remove the quote from the list of quotes. Though it seemed simple in retrospect, it was much more difficult.
For favoriting quotes, at first I had thought that removing the document sent to the user containing the data for the quote and saving the data locally would take the document out of circulation so that no one would be able to get the quote. However, taking the document out of circulation does nothing but make it harder, maybe even impossible, for the user to share the quote. Removing the document also removes the documents ID. If a user were to try and share a favorited quote, a new document would have to had been made and the data from the favorited quote be put into that document. However, the app would then have to find the most recent document created in Firebase that had the users userID in Firebase (since there is no way of finding a certain named document since the document names are randomized by Firebase) and, not being sure that it is even the correct document, set the data inside of it. It was much more simpler to not have to do anything with the document since removing it when favoriting the quote is meaningless.
Removing the quote was also a challenge since there was a combination of quotes from Firebase and local quotes, both of which were accessed differently. Quotes linked to Firebase had to have their documents deleted since removing the quotes from the list did not work. Even if Firebase quotes are removed from the list directly, since the document still exists in Firebase, it gets put back from the snapshot of the Firebase instance listener.
The finished version was a lot more simple. Favoriting merely saves the quote data locally and makes the quote mostly a UI change. There may be more implementation in the future, such as sharing the quote when favoriting while also keeping the quote stored locally, but that is for later work. Removing simply removes the document from Firebase so that it is no longer assigned to the user.
This upcoming week is the consolidation of everyone’s work, with Andrew’s work on streaks and Thank You counters and Vi’s work on a dark mode theme (very exciting!). I will be pushing ad implementation foreal this time and the favoriting of good vibes. I will just have to make sure the ad implementation does not get Disco Studio’s Apple account suspended!!!