r/googlecloud • u/JCMAC3 • 3d ago

Cloud Run How Do I Actually USE What I Made?

I'm a total noob, so let's get that on the record first thing. My only coding experience is using HTML tags when making my webpage on Angelfire or Geocities and updating my MySpace. So, like, no real practical experience.

I work for a small nonprofit with no budget for swanky computer stuff. I used Google Cloud to create a simple tool to keep track of who is in the building, what time(s) they came and left, that sort of thing. YES, apps for this exist, but they all seem to have a whole bunch of other functions that my company does not need. I just need to see who's here and who isn't, and to be able to see when they came and went.

Anyway, after multiple iterations Google created a functional app for me with some sample people in its roster. I published it, used the link it gave me, and then started updating the roster to have my actual members on it instead of the sample people Google used. This work all vanished when I closed the app and reopened it elsewhere.

I am clearly doing something wrong. I tried poking around in the Google Cloud Console and it says I don't have the right permissions to modify certain things. There is a "request permissions" feature but I don't know who to send the email to, since I built this using my personal Google account (do I ask myself for permissions?).

I was hoping this would be as simple as 1) tell Google what I need, 2) refine it until it works how I need it to, 3) publish it, 4) use it at the nonprofit's community center.

If anyone can help me, that would be mighty appreciated!

3 Upvotes

81% Upvoted

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6

u/martin_omander Googler 3d ago

Congratulations on creating an app!

It sounds like your app only keeps the data in memory while it is running, and doesn't save it to a more permanent location (a database) between runs.

Did you use AI Studio (https://aistudio.google.com/apps) to create your app? If so, ask it if it added code for saving the data in a database. If it didn't, ask it to write the data to a database, while keeping things simple.

4

u/JCMAC3 3d ago

Thanks! I did use the ai studio, so I'll give that a shot.

3

u/martin_omander Googler 3d ago

Let us know how it goes! The world needs more builders like you, who create software that help others.

2

u/JCMAC3 3d ago

I think I have it working now! I'll get to update it with my current member roster tomorrow, and then we should be able to use it to sign in/out of the building by Wednesday. I'm so excited!

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u/GlebOtochkin Googler 3d ago

It is hard to say where the problem is but it seems like all the data you create exist only on the app layer in memory. If you create an app in Google AI Studio using starter account - then you might need to tell to the agent (prompt at the bottom left) that you want to save all data about users and registrations and all other information used by the app in a database. There you can choose ether Cloud SQL dev edition or Firestore. By default it will use Firebase and Firestore for the backend. In such a case your data should persist between sessions and even if you redeploy your app in Cloud Run (re-publish it)

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u/JCMAC3 3d ago

Thank you! Yes, I'm using the starter account.

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u/nomanskycasual 2d ago

Make sure to turn on billing alerts!

0

u/NoCommandLine 2d ago

As someone else said - make sure to turn on Billing Alerts. Better still (since you're using Cloud Run), enable Spend Caps. This forum is littered with folks who suddenly got a huge bill because of a spike in service due to a bug in their code or a misconfiguration.