Firebase Remote Config: Can't read any values, but fetch is successful

Question

I\'m trying to have a remote config parameter using the new Remote Config feature of Firebase, and I\'m having an issue.

Here\'s my Remote Config console:

I

Answer 1

Found the problem.

After adding some logging, I found that the fetch job's onComplete() was never being called. I moved the fetch from my Application's onCreate to a fragment's, and now it works properly!

(Ian Barber, this might be something to look into or clarify, as the logs indicated that Firebase was initialized without an issue when it was in the Application, and the fetches were silent failures.)

Answer 2

You're likely hitting the caching in Remote Config. The way it works is that Config will cache incoming items locally, and return them. So your last (cached) fetch status was probably before the value was defined, and we get a cached blank value.

You can control the cache expiry, but if you fetch too often you risk getting throttled.

Because this is a common development problem though, there is a developer mode that lets you request more rapidly (for small groups of users):

FirebaseRemoteConfigSettings configSettings = 
    new FirebaseRemoteConfigSettings.Builder()
        .setDeveloperModeEnabled(BuildConfig.DEBUG)
        .build();
FirebaseRemoteConfig.getInstance().setConfigSettings(configSettings);

When you call fetch you can then pass a short cache expiration time

long cacheExpiration = 3600;
FirebaseRemoteConfig mFirebaseRemoteConfig = FirebaseRemoteConfig.getInstance();
if (mFirebaseRemoteConfig.getInfo().getConfigSettings().isDeveloperModeEnabled()) {
     cacheExpiration = 0;
}
mFirebaseRemoteConfig.fetch(cacheExpiration)
     .addOnCompleteListener(new OnCompleteListener<Void>() {
     // ...
});

That's how its done in the quickstart sample if you want a full reference.

Answer 3

I also encountered this problem. Turns out I hadn't seen the 'Publish' button in the the Firebase console. :facepalm:

Answer 4

First thing in such case is check if you have the correct firebase config and you are connected to firebase .If you have android studio 2.2 got to Tools->Firebase->RemoteConfig - Connect to Firebase and see if you get a notification saying connected.Once Connected do the following in your code: mFirebaseRemoteConfig = FirebaseRemoteConfig.getInstance();

    /** NOTE: At this point, your app can use in-app default parameter values.To use in-app
     *        default values,skip the next section. You can deploy your app without setting
     *        parameter values on the server,and then later set values on the server to
     *        override the default behavior and appearance of your app.
     */

    mFirebaseRemoteConfig.setDefaults(R.xml.remote_config_defaults);
    FirebaseRemoteConfigSettings configSettings = new FirebaseRemoteConfigSettings.Builder()
            .setDeveloperModeEnabled(true)
            .build();
    mFirebaseRemoteConfig.setConfigSettings(configSettings);

And then for fetching config do the following long cacheExpiration = 2000; // Can increase this usually 12hrs is what is recommended

    /** If in developer mode cacheExpiration is set to 0 so each fetch will retrieve values from
     * the server.*/

    if (mFirebaseRemoteConfig.getInfo().getConfigSettings().isDeveloperModeEnabled()) {
        cacheExpiration = 0;
    }

   /**  cacheExpirationSeconds is set to cacheExpiration here, indicating that any previously
    * fetched and cached config would be considered expired because it would have been fetched
    * more than cacheExpiration seconds ago. Thus the next fetch would go to the server unless
    * throttling is in progress. The default expiration duration is 43200 (12 hours).
    */

    mFirebaseRemoteConfig.fetch(cacheExpiration)//TODO Bring this from a config file
            .addOnCompleteListener(new OnCompleteListener<Void>() {
                @Override
                public void onComplete(@NonNull Task<Void> task) {
                    if (task.isSuccessful()) {
                        Log.d(TAG, "Firebase Remote config Fetch Succeeded");
                        // Once the config is successfully fetched it must be activated before newly fetched
                        // values are returned.
                        mFirebaseRemoteConfig.activateFetched();
                    } else {
                        Log.d(TAG, "Firebase Remote config Fetch failed");
                    }
                    showRemoteConfig();
                }
            });

Run your App and check in logs " Firebase Remote config Fetch Succeeded ". If you see the same your remote configs are loaded and activated.