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In this video, you will be introduced to the Realtime Messaging app that you’re going to create in this workshop! We’ll show you what the finished product will look like, introduce you to the starter files, and make sure that they’re ready to go on your computer so you can follow along.
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[MUSIC]
0:00
Hello, everyone.
0:04
My name is Michael Lustig and in this
workshop we're going to create a realtime
0:06
messaging app using
the Firebase Realtime Database.
0:09
If you're curious about what exactly
Firebase is in depth and what other
0:13
features Firebase offers please check out
the workshop linked in the teachers notes.
0:16
In this particular workshop,
we're going to focus on using FireBase
0:22
in an Android application, rather than
going over its entire feature set.
0:25
As I mentioned, we'll be creating a real
time messaging application for Android.
0:29
In the app,
you'll be able to create a username,
0:33
and then send messages to everyone
else that has your app installed.
0:35
Since you'll be creating your own FireBase
project, on the FireBase console.
0:40
You'll only see the messages from the
people that you've shared your app with.
0:44
In other words,
0:48
you won't see the messages from everyone
who goes through this workshop.
0:49
That would certainly be possible, but
0:52
we thought that might scale
way out of hand too quickly.
0:55
When I'm learning,
0:59
I like to see what the finished product
will look like before I get started.
1:00
That helps to give me a clear view
on the end goal of what the lesson's
1:04
going to teach.
1:07
So let's go ahead and
check out the app in action.
1:08
As you can see, when I first install
the app I need to create a username.
1:12
In this workshop, we don't perform any
logic for verifying usernames, but
1:15
try to pick something unique to you.
1:19
Firebase provides great user
authentication but in this workshop,
1:21
we're going to stick with just learning
about the real time database capabilities.
1:25
Stay tuned for workshops covering
Firebase's other great features.
1:28
Once I've chosen the username,
1:33
I can log in where I'm taking
the screen full of messages.
1:34
I'll bring up another emulator to
show you how cool this truly is.
1:38
As well as my Firebase console
open to the database page so
1:41
that you can see that all of this
is truly happening in real time.
1:44
I've already logged in
on this other emulator.
1:48
So once I send a message it should almost
instantly appear in both the Firebase
1:50
console as well as on the list
of messages on both emulators.
1:53
Let's go ahead and give that a try.
1:57
I'll type a message, Treehouse is
super rad, and click the send button.
1:59
Viola, the messages appear
on both the emulators and
2:08
our database flashes green I know
that this app is fairly simple.
2:11
But every time I use Firebase, I'm amazed
by how much complexity they've alleviated
2:16
by handling all of the issues that arise
from an app with a real time requirement.
2:20
Now that you've got a better idea of
exactly the project that you'll be
2:23
creating in the workshop.
2:26
I'm going to show you how to set up
the starter files on your machine to
2:28
follow along.
2:30
While it isn't vital that you follow
along, writing the code along with me will
2:32
be the best way to truly
understand how everything works
2:35
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