Cannot retrieve data from Firebase using Swift - ios

Question

As the title says I have a weird problem to retrieve simple data from Firebase, but I really can't figure out where I'd go wrong.
This is my schema:
And this the code:
import Firebase
let DB_BASE = Database.database().reference()
class FirebaseService {
static let instance = FirebaseService()
private var REF_BASE = DB_BASE
private var REF_SERVICE_STATUS = DB_BASE.child("Service_Status")
struct ServiceStatus {
var downloadStatus: Bool
var uploadStatus: Bool
}
func getServiceStatus() -> (ServiceStatus?) {
var serviceStatus: ServiceStatus?
REF_SERVICE_STATUS.observeSingleEvent(of: .value) { (requestSnapshot) in
if let unwrapped = requestSnapshot.children.allObjects as? [DataSnapshot] {
for status in unwrapped {
serviceStatus.downloadStatus = status.childSnapshot(forPath: "Download_Status").value as! Bool
serviceStatus.uploadStatus = status.childSnapshot(forPath: "Upload_Status").value as! Bool
}
// THANKS TO JAY FOR CORRECTION
return sponsorStatus
}
}
}
}
but at the end serviceStatus is nil. Any advice?

Answer 1

I think you may be able to simplify your code a bit to make it more manageable. Try this
let ssRef = DB_BASE.child("Service_Status")
ssRef.observeSingleEvent(of: .value) { snapshot in
let dict = snapshot.value as! [String: Any]
let down = dict["Download_Status"] ?? false
let up = dict["Upload_Status"] ?? false
}
the ?? will give the down and up vars a default value of false if the nodes are nil (i.e. don't exist)
Oh - and trying to return data from a Firebase asynchronous call (closure) isn't really going to work (as is).
Remember that normal functions propagate through code synchronously and then return a value to the calling function and that calling function then proceeds to the next line of code.
As soon as you call your Firebase function, your code is going to happily move on to the next line before Firebase has a chance to get the data from the server and populate the return var. In other words - don't do it.
There are always alternatives so check this link out
Run code only after asynchronous function finishes executing