Real-Time Display Solution for Liked Articles

Optimized Solution for Real-Time Display of Liked Articles Here’s a robust and efficient solution to address the challenges of merging and displaying data in real-time without relying on Cloud Functions: --- 1. Database Restructure (Recommended for Scalability) Liked Articles as a Separate Collection: Instead of relying on likedItems as an array in the Users collection, create a dedicated LikedArticles collection. This avoids unnecessary nested querying. LikedArticles Collection Structure: Document ID: Auto-generated or composite key (e.g., userId_articleId). Fields: userId: Reference to the user who liked the article. articleId: Reference to the original article in the Articles collection. modifiedFields: Object storing modified values (e.g., price, description). createdAt: Timestamp for sorting or pagination. --- 2. Real-Time Data Merging Without Cloud Functions Leverage FlutterFlow’s Firestore integration and custom actions to handle real-time data merging: Step-by-Step Implementation 1. Query Liked Articles (Main Listener): Create a real-time query on the LikedArticles collection filtering by userId. This retrieves: References to the original articles (articleId). Modified fields (modifiedFields). 2. Fetch Original Articles (On Demand): Use a secondary query on the Articles collection for all referenced articleIds. FlutterFlow supports combining multiple queries through backend functions or by nesting widgets. 3. Merge Data: Implement a custom action in FlutterFlow or Dart: For each LikedArticle, check if modifiedFields is non-empty. Merge the modifiedFields with the original article data from the Articles collection. This creates a unified object for display. 4. Display the Data: Use FlutterFlow’s ListView or GridView to render the merged list dynamically. Ensure the widget is bound to the real-time listener to reflect updates instantly. --- 3. Alternative Solutions Using Firestore Functions (Only If Necessary): Create a Firestore trigger to update a cached field in LikedArticles with merged data when a user modifies an article. This avoids real-time merging on the frontend but is slower than the direct approach above. --- 4. Benefits of This Approach Real-Time Updates: Both LikedArticles and Articles collections are updated in real-time by Firestore. No Duplication: Only modified fields are stored in LikedArticles. Efficient Queries: Using indexes on userId and articleId ensures scalability for querying large datasets. Frontend Flexibility: The merged data logic resides in the client-side, making it easier to iterate or debug. --- 5. Optional Enhancements Caching: Cache merged results locally to reduce redundant queries when navigating back to the “Liked Articles” page. Pagination: Use createdAt or lastDocId fields for efficient scrolling through a large list of liked articles. --- Would you like detailed code snippets or specific guidance on implementing these steps in FlutterFlow?