Structuring Firebase model for tableview sections - swift

Question

I have a data structure in firebase which I am showing that data on a tableview. I am getting the data from firebase. The tableview sections are hard coded like Motivation, Success etc... What is the best way to parse this data so that, when I add a new section in firebase console, it will add that section and data for the section on the tableview, without me hard coding the sections? Any help in the right direction would be appreciated, read the firebase doc but can't seem to figure it out.
Data Structure
{
"categories" : {
"motivation" : {
"one" : {
"name" : "Bob",
"title" : "Get up stand up"
},
"two" : {
"name" : "Arsitotle",
"title" : "Great philosopher"
}
},
"success" : {
"one" : {
"name" : "Les",
"title" : "You're great"
},
"three" : {
"name" : "Bob",
"title" : "One love"
},
"two" : {
"name" : "Wayne",
"title" : "You will be great"
}
}
}
}
** Retrieving the data**
ref.child("categories/motivation").observe(.childAdded, with: {(snapshot:DataSnapshot) in
if let values = snapshot.value as? [String:String] {
self.motivationDictionary.insert(values, at: 0)
}
})
}
ref.child("categories/success").observe(.childAdded, with: {(snapshot:DataSnapshot) in
if let values = snapshot.value as? [String:String] {
self.successDictionary.insert(values, at: 0)
}
})
}
I know this isn't the best way, but it works. Kind of redundant, but I am new to firebase and databases.

Answer 1

So you are having a fixed number of dictionaries where each dictionary has a name (motivationDictionary, successDictionary).
Instead you could have a dictionary of dictionaries (like in your data structure), such that the top dictionary contains categories, and under each key you have a dictionary of values for that category, i.e. the new self.categories["motivation"] is the same as the old self.motivationDictionary and so on.
This should work, but it is not the best practice to just operate on raw dictionaries and strings. This approach might be typical for some other languages (like Lisps), but not the way to go for Swift.
In Swift you should define your model classes, and parse your DataSnapshot as instances of those classes. For example if you start from:
struct Item {
let name: String
let title: String
}
class Category {
let name: String = ""
var items: [String: Item] = [:]
}
class TableDataModel {
var sections: [Category] = []
}
Then inside your observe, you can fill your TableDataModel, and then reload the table from the model. This way the Swift compiler helps you more to ensure that your program is correct, and the code is somewhat clearer.