What is an alternative to updating an image in firebase storage bucket than deleting and uploaded? - node.js

Question

I'm storing blog posts in a firebase database. Blog post can have an image. I have a storage bucket where I store the images, and I save the url to the image with the post in the database. Now I'm working on editing posts. Part of this involves uploading a different image. I don't want the images to pile up indefinitely in my storage bucket. I'd prefer to replace the old image with the new one. This is how I'm doing it:
const bucket = fbAdmin.storage().bucket('***');
if (fields.filename) {
await bucket.file(fields.filename).delete();
}
const result = await bucket.upload(files.image.path, {metadata: {contentType: files.image.type}});
In other words, I delete the old file then upload the new one.
But I've got to think there must be a simpler way of doing this. Rather than delete and upload, isn't there an update function? Something like:
bucket.update(files.image.path, {name: oldFileName});
Thanks

Answer 1

You can just write to the same path in the bucket without first deleting the file.
const bucket = fbAdmin.storage().bucket('***');
const result = await bucket.upload(files.image.path, {metadata: {contentType: files.image.type}});
If the file already exists, this will overwrite it.

Answer 2

While Frank's solution does technically work, if you have any metadata associated with your object, his approach removes it.
I found that I was able to maintain the metadata by using a similar approach. This also preserves custom metadata.
const bucket = admin.storage().bucket('***');
const destObjPath = 'some-path.jpg';
const fileRef = bucket.file(destObjPath);
// Get the object's existing metadata
const existingMetadata = (await fileRef.getMetadata())[0];
// Delete checksum and other calculated metadata fields
delete existingMetadata.crc32c;
delete existingMetadata.etag;
delete existingMetadata.md5Hash;
delete existingMetadata.size;
delete existingMetadata.timeCreated;
delete existingMetadata.timeStorageClassUpdated;
delete existingMetadata.updated;
// Provide the copied metadata along with the object update
await bucket.upload(files.image.path, {
destination: destObjPath,
metadata: existingMetadata
});