Building a Mood Journal for Friend Groups with Spring Boot + Firebase

Part 1: Project Setup and Firebase Integration

Learn how to set up your Spring Boot project and integrate Firebase for backend storage and authentication.

🔧 What We’ll Cover:

• Installing Java, Spring Boot, VS Code setup

• Creating Spring Boot Project (via Spring Initializr)

• Setting up Firebase project

• Adding Firebase Admin SDK to Spring Boot

• Connecting to Firestore

• Testing Firestore connection with REST endpoint

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✅ Prerequisites

• JDK 17 or above installed

• Gradle or Maven

• VS Code with Spring Boot Extension Pack

• Firebase account

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📦 Step 1: Create a Spring Boot Project

Go to Spring Initializr:

• Project: Gradle (or Maven)

• Language: Java

• Dependencies:

  • Spring Web

  • Spring Boot DevTools

• Group: com.moodjournal

• Artifact: moodjournal

Click Generate → extract ZIP → open in VS Code

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🔌 Step 2: Set Up Firebase Project

1. Go to Firebase Console

2. Create new project: "Mood Journal"

   

3. Add a Web App (you can skip hosting)

4. In Project Settings > Service Accounts:

   • Click Generate new private key

   • Save the JSON file securely

     

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🔐 Step 3: Add Firebase Admin SDK

Add to build.gradle

implementation 'com.google.firebase:firebase-admin:9.1.1'

If using Maven:

<dependency>
  <groupId>com.google.firebase</groupId>
  <artifactId>firebase-admin</artifactId>
  <version>9.1.1</version>
</dependency>

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⚙️ Step 4: Configure Firebase SDK in Spring Boot

📁 Place your downloaded JSON in src/main/resources/firebase-service-account.json

📄 Create FirebaseConfig.java:

@Configuration
public class FirebaseConfig {
    @PostConstruct
    public void initialize() {
        try {
            FileInputStream serviceAccount = new FileInputStream("src/main/resources/firebase-service-account.json");

            FirebaseOptions options = FirebaseOptions.builder()
                .setCredentials(GoogleCredentials.fromStream(serviceAccount))
                .setDatabaseUrl("https://<your-project-id>.firebaseio.com")
                .build();

            if (FirebaseApp.getApps().isEmpty()) {
                FirebaseApp.initializeApp(options);
            }
        } catch (Exception e) {
            e.printStackTrace();
        }
    }
}

✅ Replace <your-project-id> with your actual Firebase project ID

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🧪 Step 5: Test Firestore Connection

Create TestController.java:

@RestController
public class TestController {

    @GetMapping("/test")
    public String testConnection() {
        Firestore firestore = FirestoreClient.getFirestore();
        return "Firestore is working: " + firestore.getOptions().getProjectId();
    }
}

Run the app.

Then visit: http://localhost:8080/test

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• 

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🔚 Wrap-Up

You now have:

• Connected to Firebase Firestore securely

In the next part, we’ll add user authentication and group creation. Stay tuned!

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