firebase.auth().createUserWithEmailAndPassword Undefined is not a function

Question

I am following the firebase documentation on user management

var firebase = require('firebase');

// Initialize Firebase
firebase.initializeApp({
    serviceAccount: "./<mysecreturledittedout>.json",
    databaseURL: "https://<mydatabaseurljusttobesafe>.firebaseio.com"
});

router.get('/create', function(req, res){
    var email = req.email;
    var password = req.password;
    firebase.auth().createUserWithEmailAndPassword(email, password).catch(function(err){ // LINE 27 CRASH
        var errorCode = err.code;
        var errorMessage = error.message;
        console.log("ERROR");
        console.log(errorCode, errorMessage);
    });
});

I get the following error

undefined is not a function

TypeError: undefined is not a function
    at d:\Users\Kitty\Code\Practice2\routes\index.js:27:21

From doing a little bit of research, I think undefined is not a function is basically a javascript version of a null pointer exception (could be wrong)

I have configured my service account and project on firebase. I am running this on localhost. Thanks. I am looking primarily for debugging tips, as I'm not sure how to test what isn't working.

Answer 1

If you haven't fixed the problem yet, I found out why it's giving such an error and that's because it really isn't a function.

You're using the Web reference as your guide when you need to be using the Server reference: https://firebase.google.com/docs/reference/node/firebase.auth.Auth.

As you can see, firebase.auth.Auth is a lot different on the Node.js API when compared to the Web API as there's not a lot in there. Now you have to deal with tokens, which I haven't looked deep into, if using the Server API. On the other hand, you can just use the Web API, which does things you intended to do.