Fetch first key from firebase database with swift 4 using ChildAdded - ios

Question

I'm trying to fetch the first key from my firebase database but for some reason nothing is being printed out. How can I get the first key from my firebase database using .childAdded
let userMessagesRef = Database.database().reference().child("user-message").child(uid).child(userId)
userMessagesRef.observe(.childAdded, with: { (snapshot) in
guard let first = snapshot.children.allObjects.first as? DataSnapshot else { return }
print(first)

Answer 1

This in incredibly easy if you literally are asking how to only ever get the first child of a node. Here's how to only get the first child of a /users node
func getFirstChild() {
let usersRef = self.ref.child("users")
usersRef.observeSingleEvent(of: .childAdded, with: { snapshot in
print(snapshot)
})
}
or
print(snapshot.key)
if you just want the key.
Or, if you want to use a query to do the same thing
func getFirstChildAgain() {
let usersRef = self.ref.child("users")
let query = usersRef.queryOrderedByKey().queryLimited(toFirst: 1)
query.observeSingleEvent(of: .value, with: { snapshot in
print(snapshot)
})
}

Answer 2

The child_added event is typically used when retrieving a list of items from the database. Unlike value which returns the entire contents of the location, child_added is triggered once for each existing child and then again every time a new child is added to the specified path. The event callback is passed a snapshot containing the new child's data. For ordering purposes, it is also passed a second argument containing the key of the previous child.
From: Read and Write Data on iOS
Per your requirements, this is possible in .value and childAdded.
var child_array = [String:String]
let userMessagesRef = Database.database().reference().child("user-message").child(uid).child(userId)
userMessagesRef.observe(.childAdded, with: { (snapshot) in
let value = snapshot.value as? String ?? "Empty String"
let key = snapshot.key
child_array[key] = value;
}) { (error) in
print(error.localizedDescription)
}
then:
if let first = child_array.first?.key {
print(first) // First Key
}
Big NOTE: child_added randomly collects this data, you should never use it to sort your data