Downloading profile image string from firebase database to an uiimage - swift

Question

User upload image to firebase storage and the url string is added to the firebase database,
How can I take the string in the firebase database and convert it to uiimage to use it as an image ?
The string returned from database is like this:
https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/ichatmessage.appspot.com/o/YNoodTnOSGXl6HkPoqhOPAopb8v1?alt=media&token=738771a5-53e3-46c2-b508-ad5cfa03e74e
override func tableView(_ tableView: UITableView, cellForRowAt indexPath: IndexPath) -> UITableViewCell {
let cell = tableView.dequeueReusableCell(withIdentifier: "cellID") as! NewMessageCell
let user = users[indexPath.row]
cell.textLabel?.text = user.username
cell.detailTextLabel?.text = user.email
let currentID = Auth.auth().currentUser?.uid
let databaseRef = Database.database().reference().child("users").child(currentID!)
databaseRef.observe(.value) { (data) in
let dictinoray = data.value as? [String: AnyObject]
let profileImage = dictinoray!["profileimage"] as! String
cell.imageView?.image = profileImage.toImage()
print(profileImage)
}
return cell
}
extention
extension String {
func toImage() -> UIImage? {
if let data = Data(base64Encoded: self, options: .ignoreUnknownCharacters){
return UIImage(data: data)
}
return nil
}
}

Answer 1

I used other way by mapping and using storage downloadurl and it worked
override func tableView(_ tableView: UITableView, cellForRowAt indexPath: IndexPath) -> UITableViewCell {
let cell = tableView.dequeueReusableCell(withIdentifier: "cellID") as! NewMessageCell
let user = users[indexPath.row]
cell.textLabel?.text = user.username
cell.detailTextLabel?.text = user.email
let storageref = Storage.storage().reference().child(user.userid)
storageref.downloadURL { (imgurl, er) in
let imagedata = try? Data.init(contentsOf: imgurl!)
cell.imageView?.layer.cornerRadius = (cell.imageView?.frame.size.width)!/2
cell.imageView?.image = UIImage.init(data: imagedata!)
}

Answer 2

Another option would be to load and cache the image through Kingfisher. It's how I would usually load images within a tableView that's from an API.
import Kingfisher above your class.
Then in your cellForRowAtIndexPath, set the image with Kingfisher.
override func tableView(_ tableView: UITableView, cellForRowAt indexPath: IndexPath) -> UITableViewCell {
let cell = tableView.dequeueReusableCell(withIdentifier: "cellID") as! NewMessageCell
let user = users[indexPath.row]
cell.textLabel?.text = user.username
cell.detailTextLabel?.text = user.email
let currentID = Auth.auth().currentUser?.uid
let databaseRef = Database.database().reference().child("users").child(currentID!)
databaseRef.observe(.value) { (data) in
let dictinoray = data.value as? [String: AnyObject]
let profileImage = dictinoray!["profileimage"] as! String
cell.imageView?.kf.setImage(with: URL(string: profileImage))
}
return cell
}
Not sure if you were looking for an alternative but that's another way to do it.