Unable to serve server rendered app due to Firebase's IDBIndex error

Question

My environment

• Operating System version:Windows 10
• Firebase SDK version: 6.0.2

Problem

I followed this tutorial for creating server side rendered app. The error occurs when I try to serve the app using npm run serve:ssr.

The error I get is:

proxyRequestMethods(Index, '_index', IDBIndex, [
                                     ^

ReferenceError: IDBIndex is not defined
    at Module.<anonymous> (C:\Users\eg\dist\server.js:343794:38)
    at __webpack_require__ (C:\Users\eg\dist\server.js:30:30)
    at Module.<anonymous> (C:\Users\eg\dist\server.js:342436:61)
    at __webpack_require__ (C:\Users\eg\dist\server.js:30:30)
    at Module.<anonymous> (C:\Users\eg\dist\server.js:341227:81)
    at __webpack_require__ (C:\Users\eg\dist\server.js:30:30)
    at Module.<anonymous> (C:\Users\eg\dist\server.js:332069:79)
    at __webpack_require__ (C:\Users\eg\dist\server.js:30:30)
    at Object.firebase (C:\Users\eg\dist\server.js:189647:18)
    at __webpack_require__ (C:\Users\eg\dist\server.js:137349:30)

Before this I was receiving an error window is not defined so I added the below code in server.ts as mentioned in this comment

const domino = require('domino');
const fs = require('fs');
const path = require('path');
const template = fs.readFileSync(path.join(__dirname, '.', 'dist', 'index.html')).toString();
const win = domino.createWindow(template);
global['window'] = win;
global['document'] = win.document;

When I build ssr app using npm run build:ssr, I receive warnings shown below

WARNING in ./node_modules/@angular/fire/firestore/firestore.js 23:21-32
"export 'SDK_VERSION' was not found in 'firebase/app'
 @ ./node_modules/@angular/fire/firestore/public_api.js
 @ ./node_modules/@angular/fire/firestore/index.js
 @ ./dist/server/main.js
 @ ./server.ts

WARNING in ./node_modules/@angular/fire/firestore/firestore.js 24:21-32
"export 'SDK_VERSION' was not found in 'firebase/app'
 @ ./node_modules/@angular/fire/firestore/public_api.js
 @ ./node_modules/@angular/fire/firestore/index.js
 @ ./dist/server/main.js
 @ ./server.ts

Also when I serve(d) app using npm run serve:ssr while I receive these warnings when I used [email protected] I received error reference: self is not defined after updating to [email protected] I receive error

var major = parseInt(firebase_app__WEBPACK_IMPORTED_MODULE_6__["SDK_VERSION"].split('.')[0]);
TypeError: Cannot read property 'split' of undefined
    at Module.<anonymous> (C:\Users\eg\dist\server.js:279474:79)
    at __webpack_require__ (C:\Users\eg\dist\server.js:30:30)
    at Module.<anonymous> (C:\Users\eg\dist\server.js:279385:68)
    at __webpack_require__ (C:\Users\eg\dist\server.js:30:30)
    at Module.<anonymous> (C:\Users\eg\dist\server.js:279341:69)
    at __webpack_require__ (C:\Users\eg\dist\server.js:30:30)
    at Object.@angular/fire/firestore (C:\Users\eg\dist\server.js:189255:18)
    at __webpack_require__ (C:\Users\eg\dist\server.js:137353:30)
    at Object../src/app/services/global-manager.service.ts (C:\Users\eg\dist\server.js:186535:19)
    at __webpack_require__ (C:\Users\eg\dist\server.js:137353:30)

I remove these warnings and errors by updating webpack.server.config.js by adding lines below

  const regex = /firebase\/(app|firestore)/;
module.exports={
externals: [/node_modules/, function(context, request, callback) {

    // exclude firebase products from being bundled, so they will be loaded using require() at runtime.
    if(regex.test(request)) {
      return callback(null, 'commonjs ' + request);
    }
    callback();
  }],
...
}

I also found out this stackoverflow question related to this error but I don't use performance module so solution is not applicable to me.

How can I solve this IDBIndex error ? Please help

Answer 1

A detailed explanation on why this happens has been commented here. They provided a workaround but a fix will also come.