Firebase 2, accesing child values in snapshot produces nulls - swift

Question

I've been attempting to utilize firebase's snapshots, but when I try to access specific children, the output is a null.
var ref = FIRDatabaseReference.init()
func loadData {
ref = FIRDatabase.database().reference(
ref.child("Posts").child(postId).observeSingleEventOfType(.Value, withBlock: { snapshot in
print(snapshot.value?["PostText"] as! String) // Optional(<null>)
print(snapshot)
for child in snapshot.children {
if child.childSnapshotForPath("PostText").value == nil {
self.postText.text = ""
} else {
self.postText.text = child.childSnapshotForPath("PostText").value as? String // Optional(<null>)
print(child.childSnapshotForPath("PostText").value)
}
}
})
}
Output of print(snapshot)
Snap (84844) {
Author = lGAV1KUhSCP8hnFiKY1N9lBPrmmst1;
CommentsCount = 1;
Group = 665555;
ImageUrl = "http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/03589/Wellcome_Image_Awa_3589699k.jpg";
PostText = "I like cakeh, but theijijijijijij truth is, it's too sweet. So SOMETIMES I dont eat it, but i LIKE CAKE.";
}

Answer 1

It looks like your snapshot is a Dictionary. Then you have to cast it as a Dictionary:
func loadData {
ref = FIRDatabase.database().reference(
ref.child("Posts").child(postId).observeSingleEventOfType(.Value, withBlock: { snapshot in
print(snapshot.value?["PostText"] as! String) // Optional(<null>)
print(snapshot)
let dict = snapshot.value as! Dictionary<String, AnyObject>
if let author = dict["Author"] as? String, commentsCount = dict["CommentsCount"] as? Int, group = dict["Group"] as? Int {
print("author \(author) commentsCount \(commentsCount), group: \(group)")
}
})
}
Do the same for ImageUrl and PostText, they should be cast as String