database.md

Database Layout

Aims:

• Store libraries, creatures, servers and settings.
• Enable true data sync and offline support.
• Allow full interop between ASB and ASBM.
• Support a backend that provides access to libraries and authentication services.
• Allow users to have multiple libraries.
• Allow multiple users to share a library.

General limitations of synced NoSQL:

• Content within data objects is essentially unformatted and unspecified.
• IDs can never be changed due to sync support, so unique IDs must be used over names.

Google Firebase's Firestore database system is organised as collections and subcollections of documents: e.g. library/{library_id}/creature/{creature_id}

User Roles

Each library has an owner, admins, members and pending members.

Role	Meaning
Owner	Full control + only the owner can transfer a library to a different owner
Admin	Same as owner except cannot change owner or admins
Member	Creature management only
Pending Member	No rights at all - awaiting approval

Data Types

User

A single user, authenticated by one or more 3rd party services.

Key : string : assigned by Firebase Auth (uid) and unique to our server.

Contains

Field	Type	Description
libraries	string[]	A cache of library IDs accessible by the user. Not used for permissions! Only used to reduce the need to query libraries.
settings	?	User-specific settings (not device-specific, such as column layouts). Format TBD, to be useful for both ASB and ASBM
color	string	A color to use for the user's avatar when no image is available.
displayName	string	Name to use for the user when shown in member lists.
photoURL	string	URL to the user's avatar image. Should be cropped to a circle before display.

Many other user fields are managed by Firebase Auth and kept separately. The customisable fields in this document are made available to facilitate library membership management.

Subcollections

None yet.

Permissions

Action	Restricted to
Create	Only when new user_id == auth.uid
Update	Only when existing user_id == auth.uid
Delete	Only when existing user_id == auth.uid
Read	Only when user_id == auth.uid
List	Never

Library

Represents a collections of creatures on a cluster of servers, owned by one user and possibly shared with others.

Key : string : Randomly assigned unique string.

Contains

Field	Type	Description
name	string	Display name, visible to others
owner	string	Owner of the library
admins	string[]	Array of user_ids of administrators of this library
members	string[]	Array of user_ids of members of this library
pending	string[]	Array of user_ids of unapproved members of this library
settings	?	TBD, in a format useful for both ASB and ASBM

Subcollections

Name	Description
server	Server definitions
creature	Creatures data

Permissions

Action	Restricted to
Create	Only when new owner == auth.uid
Update (including owner field)	Only when existing owner == auth.uid
Update (not including owner field)	Only when existing owner == auth.uid or auth.uid in existing admins
Delete	Only when owner == auth.uid
Read	Only when owner == auth.uid or auth.uid in admins or auth.uid in members
List	Never

Server

Contains multipliers and other values related a specific server.

Key : string : Randomly assigned unique string.

Contains

Field	Type	Description
name	string	Display name
multipliers	number[][]	Nested objects acting like a 2D array of multipliers by stat then paramater (order TBD)
singlePlayer	boolean	True to enable single-player settings
IBM	number	IBM
mods	string[]	Array of Steam mod IDs, which should be applied in order

Permissions

Action	Restricted to
Create	Only when owner == auth.uid or auth.uid in admins
Update	Only when owner == auth.uid or auth.uid in admins
Delete	Only when owner == auth.uid or auth.uid in admins (reject if any creatures have this server as origin)
Read	Only when owner == auth.uid or auth.uid in admins or auth.uid in members
List	Only when owner == auth.uid or auth.uid in admins or auth.uid in members

Creature

Contains all of the data that represents a creature.

Key : string : UUID from Ark or randomly assigned unique string.

Contains

...see the Creature interface in src/data/firestore/objects.ts...

Permissions

Action	Restricted to
Create	Only when owner == auth.uid or auth.uid in admins or auth.uid in members
Update	Only when owner == auth.uid or auth.uid in admins or auth.uid in members
Delete	Only when owner == auth.uid or auth.uid in admins
Read	Only when owner == auth.uid or auth.uid in admins or auth.uid in members
List	Only when owner == auth.uid or auth.uid in admins or auth.uid in members

Invite

A record of an invite to join a particular library. Can be used by anyone, but only adds the user to the pending members list, ready for approval.

Key : string : Randomly assigned unique string.

Contains

Field	Type	Description
target	string	Library ID that the invite refers to
creator	string	UID of the user that created the invite
expires	timestamp	Time at which the invite becomes invalid
persistent	boolean	If false, allow only a single use

Permissions

Action	Restricted to
Create	Only when creator == auth.uid and (creator == library.owner
Update	Never
Delete	Never
Read	Open, even to unauthorised clients
List	Never

Mainenance

Regularly scheduled batch operations:

Weekly

• Expired invites should be deleted.
• Obsolete servers that own no creatures should be deleted.