Not able to read data from Firebase realtime database - swift

Question

I have stored the comments under a post in firebase realtime database. The problem i have is that when i try to parse out the data from firebase i get an error that says Unexpectedly found nil while unwrapping an Optional value. So for example if i try to pront the data stored under degree, i get this nil error. But when i print "comments" instead of the "degree" i successfully fetch the data. My database structure looks like this.
func obeserveComments() {
// get auto-id of post
let commentKey = self.keyFound
let postRef = Database.database().reference().child("posts").child(commentKey)
var tempComments = [Comments]()
postRef.observe(.value, with: {(snapshot) in
if let dict = snapshot.value as? [String:Any] {
if let comments = dict["comments"] as? [String:Any] {
let degree = comments["reply degree"] as! String
// let name = comments["reply name"] as! String
// let text = comments["reply text"] as! String
// let university = comments["reply university"] as! String
// let photoURL = comments["reply url"] as! String
// let url = URL(string: photoURL)
// let timestamp = comments["timestamp"] as! Double
print(degree)
}
}
})
}

Answer 1

The answer by #aytroncb is a good answer, I prefer to leave Firebase data 'Firebasy' as long as possible. In other words coverting to dictionaries looses ordering and and find code like this
[String: [String: [String: Any]]]
To be very hard to read.
I prefer
let snap = snapshot.childSnapshot("comments") //snap becomes a DataSnapshot
So my solution maintains the order and leverages .childSnapshot to leave data in it's DataSnapshot form.
func readPostComments() {
let postRef = self.ref.child("posts") //self.ref points to my firebase
postRef.observeSingleEvent(of: .value, with: { snapshot in
let allPosts = snapshot.children.allObjects as! [DataSnapshot]
for postSnap in allPosts {
print("postId: \(postSnap.key)")
let commentsSnap = postSnap.childSnapshot(forPath: "comments") //will be a DataSnapshot
let allComments = commentsSnap.children.allObjects as! [DataSnapshot]
for commentSnap in allComments {
print(" commentId: \(commentSnap.key)")
let replyDegree = commentSnap.childSnapshot(forPath: "reply_degree").value as? String ?? "No Degree"
let replyName = commentSnap.childSnapshot(forPath: "reply_name").value as? String ?? "No Name"
print(" degree: \(replyDegree) by: \(replyName)")
}
}
})
}
EDIT
For a single post, remove the top part of the code that reads in and iterates over all posts.
func readCommentsForOnePost() {
let postRef = self.ref.child("posts")
let postCommentRef = postRef.child("post_0")
postCommentRef.observeSingleEvent(of: .value, with: { snapshot in
print("postId: \(snapshot.key)")
let commentsSnap = snapshot.childSnapshot(forPath: "comments") //will be a DataSnapshot
let allComments = commentsSnap.children.allObjects as! [DataSnapshot]
for commentSnap in allComments {
print(" commentId: \(commentSnap.key)")
let replyDegree = commentSnap.childSnapshot(forPath: "reply_degree").value as? String ?? "No Degree"
let replyName = commentSnap.childSnapshot(forPath: "reply_name").value as? String ?? "No Name"
print(" degree: \(replyDegree) by: \(replyName)")
}
})
}

Answer 2

Its because firebase is returning your data like this
{
"MAKFW244kdL)Cw;1": [Array of data],
"LOPSw!35pa3flAL4": [Array of data],
"ALV34VR4_A6Vn1a": [Array of data]
}
So change your initial casting of snapshot.value to this:
if let dict = snapshot.value as? [String: [String: Any]]
then loop through that new dictionary like this:
for objectJson in dict.values {
if let comments = objectJson["comments"] as? [String: [String: Any]] {
for commentJson in comments.values {
let degree = commentJson["reply_degree"] as? String
}
}
}
Update
Just read through your post again and noticed your trying to access the comments directly with a key, your first going to need to provide the PostId. Then you can use the above code to loop through the objects
let postRef = Database.database().reference().child("posts").child(postID)
alternatively I believe you can have the comments returned as a normal list by doing something like this:
let postRef = Database.database().reference().child("posts").child("\(postID)/{id}")