Day 7: Infrastructure Setup & Deployment

1

Create GCP Project & Billing

The foundation of our cloud infrastructure starts with a Google Cloud Platform project.

Go to the GCP Console.
Click New Project and enter my-variance-analysis.
Navigate to Billing in the side menu.
Click Link a Billing Account to ensure the project can use paid services like Document AI and Firebase beyond free tiers.

2

Initialize Firebase

Firebase provides our real-time database, authentication, and hosting capabilities.

A. Create Firebase Project

Go to Firebase Console and click Add Project. Select your existing GCP project from the dropdown.

B. Database & Authentication

Firestore: Click "Create Database", choose "Production Mode", and select a region (e.g., us-central1).
Authentication: Enable "Email/Password" and "Google" sign-in providers under the Build > Authentication menu.

3

FlutterFire CLI Configuration

Modern Flutter development uses the CLI to automatically generate configuration files.

A. Prerequisites

Ensure you have the Firebase tools installed globally:

                                npm install -g firebase-tools

                                dart pub global activate flutterfire_cli

B. Configuration Command

Run this in your project root to fetch configs and generate code:

flutterfire configure

Select your project (my-variance-analysis) and platforms (Android, iOS) when prompted.

C. Generated Files

firebase_options.dart: Created in lib/. Contains API keys and app IDs for initializing Firebase in Dart code.
firebase.json: Created in project root. Maps your app services (Hosting, Functions, etc.) to the project.

4

Manual App Registration (Legacy/Alternative)

If not using the CLI, register your iOS and Android applications manually to receive configuration files.

Android Setup

Register package com.example.myvarianceanalysis and download google-services.json.

iOS Setup

Register bundle ID com.example.myvarianceanalysis and download GoogleService-Info.plist.

5

Manual Project File Integration

Correct placement of the .plist and .json files is critical if manually configuring.

iOS Integration (Xcode)

Move GoogleService-Info.plist into the ios/Runner directory. Important: You must open the project in Xcode, right-click the Runner folder, and select "Add Files to Runner" to ensure the file is linked to the build target.

Android Integration

Place google-services.json in the android/app/ directory.

6

Authentication Implementation

Integrating native login flows and user verification directly within the Flutter app.

A. Dependencies

Add these packages to your pubspec.yaml:

flutter pub add firebase_auth

B. Email/Password Authentication

Standard flow for creating and signing in users with email and password:

                                // Sign up a new user

                                try {

                                  final credential = await FirebaseAuth.instance.createUserWithEmailAndPassword(

                                    email: emailAddress,

                                    password: password,

                                  );

                                } on FirebaseAuthException catch (e) {

                                  if (e.code == 'weak-password') {

                                    print('The password provided is too weak.');

                                  } else if (e.code == 'email-already-in-use') {

                                    print('The account already exists for that email.');

                                  }

                                }

                                // Sign in existing user

                                try {

                                  final credential = await FirebaseAuth.instance.signInWithEmailAndPassword(

                                    email: emailAddress,

                                    password: password,

                                  );

                                } on FirebaseAuthException catch (e) {

                                  if (e.code == 'user-not-found') {

                                    print('No user found for that email.');

                                  } else if (e.code == 'wrong-password') {

                                    print('Wrong password provided for that user.');

                                  }

                                }

C. Email Verification

Send a verification email to the current user and check their status:

                                // Send verification email

                                await FirebaseAuth.instance.currentUser?.sendEmailVerification();

                                // Check verification status (reload user first)

                                await FirebaseAuth.instance.currentUser?.reload();

                                if (FirebaseAuth.instance.currentUser!.emailVerified) {

                                  print('User is verified');

                                }