Swift - How to write complex objects to Firebase realtime database - ios

Question

I'm new to the Firebase realtime database and relatively new to Swift in general. I am attempting to build a song request app in which users can create events for guests to request songs from the Spotify API. I'm trying to write an Event object to Firebase, which contains nested objects and arrays of different types. However, when it writes to the database, it only writes the strings and none of the arrays or objects. What is the best way to write all this information to the Firebase Database in a nested structure, so that whenever users add song requests, I can edit the array of requests for the given event in firebase.
Here is my code:
Event.swift
struct Event: Codable{
var code: String
var name: String
var host: String
var description: String
var hostUserId: String
var guestIds: [String]
var requests: [Request]
var queue: [Request]
var played: [Request]
//private var allowExplicit: Bool
//private var eventLocation
init(code: String, name: String, host: String, description: String, hostUserId: String){
self.code = code
self.name = name
self.host = host
self.description = description
self.hostUserId = hostUserId
self.guestIds = []
self.requests = []
self.queue = []
self.played = []
}
func toAnyObject() -> Any{
var guestIdsDict: [String:String] = [:]
for id in guestIds{
guestIdsDict[id] = id
}
var requestsDict: [String: Any] = [:]
for request in requests{
requestsDict[request.getId()] = request.toAnyObject()
}
var queueDict: [String: Any] = [:]
for request in queue{
queueDict[request.getId()] = request.toAnyObject()
}
var playedDict: [String: Any] = [:]
for request in played{
playedDict[request.getId()] = request.toAnyObject()
}
return [
"code": code,
"name": name,
"host": host,
"description": description,
"hostUserId": hostUserId,
"guestIds": guestIdsDict,
"requests": requestsDict,
"queue":queueDict,
"played":playedDict
]
}
}
Request.swift
struct Request: Codable{
private var name: String
private var id: String
private var explicit: Bool
private var album: Album
private var artists: [Artist]
private var likes: Int
init(name: String, id: String, explicit: Bool, album: Album, artists: [Artist]){
self.name = name
self.id = id
self.explicit = explicit
self.album = album
self.artists = artists
self.likes = 1
}
func toAnyObject() -> Any{
var artistsDict: [String:Any] = [:]
for artist in artists {
artistsDict[artist.id] = artist.toAnyObject()
}
return [
"name": name,
"id": id,
"explicit": explicit,
"album": album.toAnyObject(),
"artists": artistsDict,
"likes": likes
]
}
mutating func like(){
self.likes += 1
}
mutating func unlike(){
self.likes -= 1
if(self.likes < 0){
self.likes = 0
}
}
mutating func setLikes(count: Int){
self.likes = count
}
func getLikes() -> Int{
return self.likes
}
func getName() -> String{
return self.name
}
func getId() -> String{
return self.id
}
func getExplicit() -> Bool{
return self.explicit
}
func getAlbum() -> Album {
return self.album
}
func getImages() -> [Image] {
return self.album.images
}
func getArtists() -> [Artist] {
return self.artists
}
func getArtistString() -> String{
var artistString = ""
for (i, artist) in self.artists.enumerated(){
artistString += artist.name
if(i != self.artists.endIndex-1){
artistString += ", "
}
}
return artistString
}
}
Album.swift
struct Album: Codable{
let name: String
let images: [Image]
func toAnyObject() -> Any{
var imagesDict: [String: Any] = [:]
for image in images{
imagesDict[image.url] = image.toAnyObject()
}
return [
"name": name,
"images": imagesDict
]
}
}
Artist.swift
struct Artist: Codable{
let id: String
let name: String
func toAnyObject() -> Any{
return ["id": id, "name": name]
}
}
Image.swift
struct Image: Codable{
let height: Int
let url: String
let width: Int
func toAnyObject() -> Any{
return ["height": height, "url": url, "width": width]
}
}

Answer 1

As you are using Codable, you can create a dic out of it as follows:
Step 1: Add this extension to your code
extension Encodable {
var dictionary: [String: Any]? {
guard let data = try? JSONEncoder().encode(self) else { return nil }
return (try? JSONSerialization.jsonObject(with: data, options: .allowFragments)).flatMap { $0 as? [String: Any] }
}
}
Step 2: Write below code in your Struct (this you have to do in every struct or you can modify code as per your need).
func createDic() -> [String: Any]? {
guard let dic = self.dictionary else {
return nil
}
return dic
}
Now with the help of struct obj, call createDic() method and you will get a dictionary.
And you can send this dictionary to the firebase.
FULL CODE EXAMPLE:
extension Encodable {
var dictionary: [String: Any]? {
guard let data = try? JSONEncoder().encode(self) else { return nil }
}
struct LoginModel: Codable {
let email: String
let password: String
func createDic() -> [String: Any]? {
guard let dic = self.dictionary else {
return nil
}
return dic
}
}
Please comment if you have any questions.
Happy to help!