Failed to get document because the client is offline

[REQUIRED] Step 2: Describe your environment

• Android Studio version: _____ 4.1.3
• Firebase Component: _____ Firestore
• Component version: _____ BOM 26.3.0

[REQUIRED] Step 3: Describe the problem

When network is not available, library is crashing.

Fatal Exception: q.i.c.t.l: Failed to get document because the client is offline.
       at com.google.firebase.firestore.DocumentReference.lambda$getViaSnapshotListener$1(DocumentReference.java:6)
       at com.google.firebase.firestore.DocumentReference$$Lambda$2.onEvent(DocumentReference.java:6)
       at com.google.firebase.firestore.DocumentReference.lambda$addSnapshotListenerInternal$2(DocumentReference.java:16)
       at com.google.firebase.firestore.DocumentReference$$Lambda$3.onEvent(DocumentReference.java:16)
       at com.google.firebase.firestore.core.AsyncEventListener.lambda$onEvent$0(AsyncEventListener.java:1)
       at com.google.firebase.firestore.core.AsyncEventListener$$Lambda$1.run(AsyncEventListener.java:1)
       at com.google.firebase.firestore.util.Executors$$Lambda$1.execute(Executors.java)
       at com.google.firebase.firestore.core.AsyncEventListener.onEvent(AsyncEventListener.java:2)
       at com.google.firebase.firestore.core.QueryListener.raiseInitialEvent(QueryListener.java:14)
       at com.google.firebase.firestore.core.QueryListener.onViewSnapshot(QueryListener.java:15)
       at com.google.firebase.firestore.core.EventManager.onViewSnapshots(EventManager.java:4)
       at com.google.firebase.firestore.core.SyncEngine.listen(SyncEngine.java:31)
       at com.google.firebase.firestore.core.EventManager.addQueryListener(EventManager.java:31)
       at com.google.firebase.firestore.core.FirestoreClient.lambda$listen$6(FirestoreClient.java:31)
       at com.google.firebase.firestore.core.FirestoreClient$$Lambda$6.run(FirestoreClient.java:31)
       at com.google.firebase.firestore.util.AsyncQueue.lambda$enqueue$2(AsyncQueue.java:1)
       at com.google.firebase.firestore.util.AsyncQueue$$Lambda$2.call(AsyncQueue.java:1)
       at com.google.firebase.firestore.util.AsyncQueue$SynchronizedShutdownAwareExecutor.lambda$executeAndReportResult$1(AsyncQueue.java:1)
       at com.google.firebase.firestore.util.AsyncQueue$SynchronizedShutdownAwareExecutor$$Lambda$2.run(AsyncQueue.java:1)
       at java.util.concurrent.Executors$RunnableAdapter.call(Executors.java:462)
       at java.util.concurrent.FutureTask.run(FutureTask.java:266)
       at java.util.concurrent.ScheduledThreadPoolExecutor$ScheduledFutureTask.run(ScheduledThreadPoolExecutor.java:301)
       at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor.runWorker(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:1167)
       at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.run(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:641)
       at com.google.firebase.firestore.util.AsyncQueue$SynchronizedShutdownAwareExecutor$DelayedStartFactory.run(AsyncQueue.java:15)
       at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:919)

DocumentReference class has even a TODO in a place exception is thrown: // TODO: Reconsider how to raise missing documents when offline. // If we’re online and the document doesn’t exist then we set the result // of the Task with a document with document.exists set to false. If we’re // offline however, we set the Exception on the Task. Two options: // // 1) Cache the negative response from the server so we can deliver that // even when you’re offline. // 2) Actually set the Exception of the Task if the document doesn’t // exist when you are offline.

Steps to reproduce:

It’s really hard to reproduce. Common root cause of the issue is problem with a network or DNS resolution.

Relevant Code:

Simple read of firestore snapshot e.g.

internal suspend fun readDocument(
        id1: String,
        id2: String
    ) = firestore.collection("somepath").document(id1).collection("collectionpath")
        .document(id2)
        .get()
        .await()
        .takeIf { it.exists() }

[svenjacobs]

@dconeybe Thanks for the detailed explanation of this issue. We’re facing the same exception in our app since 2018 😮

We added try ... catch around all get().await() calls however this exception still occurs for addSnapshotListener(). The stack trace is as follows:

com.google.firebase.firestore.FirebaseFirestoreException: Failed to get document because the client is offline.
       at com.google.firebase.firestore.DocumentReference.lambda$getViaSnapshotListener$1(DocumentReference.java:331)
       at com.google.firebase.firestore.DocumentReference$$Lambda$2.onEvent(DocumentReference.java:8)
       at com.google.firebase.firestore.DocumentReference.lambda$addSnapshotListenerInternal$2(DocumentReference.java:504)
       at com.google.firebase.firestore.DocumentReference$$Lambda$3.onEvent(DocumentReference.java:16)
       at com.google.firebase.firestore.core.AsyncEventListener.lambda$onEvent$0(AsyncEventListener.java:42)
       at com.google.firebase.firestore.core.AsyncEventListener$$Lambda$1.run(AsyncEventListener.java:2)
       at com.google.firebase.firestore.util.Executors$$Lambda$1.execute(Executors.java)
       at com.google.firebase.firestore.core.AsyncEventListener.onEvent(AsyncEventListener.java:39)
       at com.google.firebase.firestore.core.QueryListener.raiseInitialEvent(QueryListener.java:176)
       at com.google.firebase.firestore.core.QueryListener.onViewSnapshot(QueryListener.java:95)
       at com.google.firebase.firestore.core.EventManager.addQueryListener(EventManager.java:97)
       at com.google.firebase.firestore.core.FirestoreClient.lambda$listen$6(FirestoreClient.java:160)
       at com.google.firebase.firestore.core.FirestoreClient$$Lambda$6.run(FirestoreClient.java:12)
       at com.google.firebase.firestore.util.AsyncQueue.lambda$enqueue$2(AsyncQueue.java:436)
       at com.google.firebase.firestore.util.AsyncQueue$$Lambda$2.call(AsyncQueue.java:1)
       at com.google.firebase.firestore.util.AsyncQueue$SynchronizedShutdownAwareExecutor.lambda$executeAndReportResult$1(AsyncQueue.java:322)
       at com.google.firebase.firestore.util.AsyncQueue$SynchronizedShutdownAwareExecutor$$Lambda$2.run(AsyncQueue.java:1)
       at java.util.concurrent.Executors$RunnableAdapter.call(Executors.java:462)
       at java.util.concurrent.FutureTask.run(FutureTask.java:266)
       at java.util.concurrent.ScheduledThreadPoolExecutor$ScheduledFutureTask.run(ScheduledThreadPoolExecutor.java:301)
       at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor.runWorker(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:1167)
       at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.run(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:641)
       at com.google.firebase.firestore.util.AsyncQueue$SynchronizedShutdownAwareExecutor$DelayedStartFactory.run(AsyncQueue.java:229)
       at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:919)

Shouldn’t a snapshot listener only fire when there is actual data to be fetched? In which scenario can this exception happen inside a snapshot listener and how can it be handled on our side?

Firestore version 22.1.2.

Update: Sorry, I misread the stack trace. getViaSnapshotListener() is used internally by get() only.

[svenjacobs]

@svenjacobs Do you still have an issue to discuss? If so, could you open a new issue and tag me?

No, thank you! Now that we added try...catch there should be an improvement in stability.