Automatically Extract Images Metadata

This sample demonstrates how to automatically extract images metadata that are uploaded to Firebase Storage ImageMagick.

Functions Code

See file functions/index.js for the code.

The image metadata is provided using ImagMagick identify tool which is installed by default on all Cloud Functions instances. This is a CLI for which we use a NodeJS wrapper. The image is first downloaded locally from the Firebase Storage bucket to the tmp folder using the google-cloud SDK.

The dependencies are listed in functions/package.json.

Trigger rules

The function triggers on upload of any file to your Firebase project default Cloud Storage bucket.

Storage and Database Structure

Users upload an image to Firebase Storage to the path /<timestamp>/<filename> and in return the Function will write to the /<timestamp>/<filename> path in the database. The filename typically contains illegal characters for a Firebase Realtime Database keys (such as .) so we're replacing all these by the * character.

For example the metadata for the file at path /1477402116302/mypic.jpg will be written to the corresponding Database path /1477402116302/mypic*jpg

Setting up the sample

This sample comes with a Function and web-based UI for testing the function. To configure it:

Create a Firebase Project using the Firebase Console.
Enable the Anonymous sign-in in the Auth section.
Clone or download this repo and open the exif-image directory.
You must have the Firebase CLI installed. If you don't have it install it with npm install -g firebase-tools and then configure it with firebase login.
Configure the CLI locally by using firebase use --add and select your project in the list.
Install dependencies locally by running: cd functions; npm install; cd -

Deploy and test

To test the sample:

Deploy your project using firebase deploy
Open the app using firebase open hosting:site, this will open a browser.
Upload an image using the Web UI.
You should see the metadata displayed below after a bit.