The updateMetric function allows you to update metrics with multiple events at once, perfect for importing historical data, rebuilding metrics, or processing batched events.

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Function Signature

updateMetric(
  noun: string,
  action: string,
  entity: string,
  events: TrackableEvent[],
  options?: {
    startingCount?: number
    startingValue?: number
    clean?: boolean
  }
): Promise<void>

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Parameters

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Required Parameters

  • noun string: The entity type being tracked
  • action string: The action being measured
  • entity string: The specific entity ID
  • events TrackableEvent[]: Array of events to process

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TrackableEvent Structure

type TrackableEvent = {
  time: firestore.Timestamp
  count?: number  // defaults to 1
  value?: number  // defaults to 0
}

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Optional Parameters

  • startingCount number: Initial count before events (default: 0)
  • startingValue number: Initial value before events (default: 0)
  • clean boolean: Delete existing data before update (default: true)

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How It Works

  1. Retrieves metric configuration including time units and timezone settings
  2. If clean is true, deletes all existing data for the entity
  3. Sorts events chronologically
  4. Builds timeline aggregations for each configured unit using the configured timezone
  5. Executes batch update for all timeline sections
  6. Updates entity summary with final totals
Timezone Handling: All timeline aggregations respect the configured timezone, ensuring events are grouped into the correct time periods based on local time boundaries rather than UTC.

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Examples

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Import Historical Data

import { updateMetric } from '@firebridge/cloud/metrics'
import { firestore } from 'firebase-admin'

// Import purchase history
const purchaseEvents = [
  {
    time: firestore.Timestamp.fromDate(new Date('2024-01-15')),
    count: 3,
    value: 299.97
  },
  {
    time: firestore.Timestamp.fromDate(new Date('2024-01-20')),
    count: 1,
    value: 99.99
  },
  {
    time: firestore.Timestamp.fromDate(new Date('2024-02-01')),
    count: 2,
    value: 199.98
  }
]

await updateMetric('product', 'purchase', 'product-123', purchaseEvents)

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Rebuild Metrics from Existing Data

// Fetch events from your database
const events = await db.collection('orders')
  .where('productId', '==', 'product-123')
  .get()

// Transform to TrackableEvent format
const trackableEvents = events.docs.map(doc => ({
  time: doc.data().createdAt,
  count: doc.data().quantity,
  value: doc.data().totalPrice
}))

// Rebuild metrics
await updateMetric('product', 'purchase', 'product-123', trackableEvents, {
  clean: true  // Clear existing data first
})

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Append to Existing Metrics

// Add new events without deleting existing data
await updateMetric('user', 'login', 'user-456', newLoginEvents, {
  clean: false,  // Keep existing data
  startingCount: 150,  // Previous total count
  startingValue: 150   // Previous total value
})

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Process Batch Events

// Process a batch of different event types
const viewEvents = pageViews.map(view => ({
  time: view.timestamp,
  count: 1
}))

await updateMetric('page', 'view', 'homepage', viewEvents)

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Performance Benefits

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Batch Operations

updateMetric uses Firestore batch operations for efficiency: 
// Instead of 100 individual writes...
for (const event of events) {
  await incrementMetric('product', 'view', 'product-123', event)
}

// Use a single batch operation
await updateMetric('product', 'view', 'product-123', events)

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Timeline Building

The function efficiently builds aggregated timelines:
  • Groups events by time period
  • Calculates running totals
  • Creates only necessary timeline sections

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Advanced Usage

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Custom Time Units and Timezone

Configure metrics with specific time units and timezone before updating: 
import { firebridgeMetric } from '@firebridge/cloud/metrics'

// Configure hourly and daily aggregation in UTC (default)
const metric = firebridgeMetric('api', 'request')
await metric.set({
  units: ['hour', 'day'],
  dateUpdated: firestore.Timestamp.now()
})

// Configure with timezone for regional metrics
await metric.set({
  units: ['hour', 'day'],
  timezone: 'Europe/London',  // GMT/BST
  dateUpdated: firestore.Timestamp.now()
})

// Now update with events - timeline will use London timezone
await updateMetric('api', 'request', 'endpoint-1', apiRequests)

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Migration Example

Migrate from an old analytics system with timezone awareness: 
// Configure metric with appropriate timezone first
await firebridgeMetric('product', 'analytics').set({
  units: ['day', 'week', 'month'],
  timezone: 'America/Chicago',  // Central Time for this dataset
  dateUpdated: firestore.Timestamp.now()
})

// Fetch old analytics data
const oldData = await fetchLegacyAnalytics()

// Transform to events
const events = oldData.map(record => ({
  time: firestore.Timestamp.fromDate(record.date),
  count: record.hits,
  value: record.revenue || 0
}))

// Import all at once - events will be aggregated using Central Time
await updateMetric('product', 'analytics', productId, events, {
  clean: true  // Start fresh
})

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Cross-Timezone Event Processing

Handle events from multiple timezones correctly: 
// Events from different regions with explicit timezone info
const globalEvents = [
  // New York event at 9 AM Eastern
  {
    time: firestore.Timestamp.fromDate(new Date('2024-01-15T09:00:00-05:00')),
    count: 10,
    value: 1000
  },
  // London event at 2 PM GMT
  {
    time: firestore.Timestamp.fromDate(new Date('2024-01-15T14:00:00+00:00')),
    count: 15,
    value: 1500
  }
]

// Process with company headquarters timezone
await firebridgeMetric('global', 'transaction').set({
  units: ['day', 'month'],
  timezone: 'America/New_York'  // All events aggregated to Eastern Time
})

await updateMetric('global', 'transaction', 'worldwide', globalEvents)

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Error Handling

try {
  await updateMetric('product', 'purchase', 'product-123', events)
} catch (error) {
  if (error.code === 'resource-exhausted') {
    // Too many events, split into batches
    const batchSize = 500
    for (let i = 0; i < events.length; i += batchSize) {
      const batch = events.slice(i, i + batchSize)
      await updateMetric('product', 'purchase', 'product-123', batch, {
        clean: i === 0  // Only clean on first batch
      })
    }
  }
}

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See Also