Writing to DB failed? - ios

Question

I'm trying to write 2 data to db.
#IBAction func show(button: UIButton) {
let userRef = self.dataBaseRef.child("users/\(FIRAuth.auth()!.currentUser!.uid)")
userRef.observe(.value, with: { (snapshot) in
let user = User(snapshot: snapshot)
let currentUser = user.email
let request = Requests(requestBy: user.email!,
requestTo: self.email!)
let contactRef = self.ref.child(currentUser! + "--" + self.email!)
contactRef.setValue(request.toAnyObject())
self.items.append(request)
print(request)
}) { (error ) in
print(error.localizedDescription)
}
self.dismiss(animated: true, completion: nil);
}
items is an array
var items: [Requests] = []
user.email and self.email! isn't empty I printed it.
request file looks
struct Requests {
let key: String
let requestBy: String
let requestTo: String
let ref: FIRDatabaseReference?
init(requestBy: String, requestTo: String, key: String = "") {
self.key = key
self.requestBy = requestBy
self.requestTo = requestTo
self.ref = nil
}
init(snapshot: FIRDataSnapshot) {
key = snapshot.key
let snapshotValue = snapshot.value as! [String: AnyObject]
requestBy = snapshotValue["requestBy"] as! String
requestTo = snapshotValue["requestTo"] as! String
ref = snapshot.ref
}
func toAnyObject() -> Any {
return [
"requestBy": requestBy,
"requestTo": requestTo
]
}
}
and I'm getting error - unexpectedly found nil while unwrapping an Optional value

Answer 1

According to what I'm seeing in your posted code, you create a request but never assign a value to the ref property. However, it is not clear since we cannot see where it crashes or when is it really used.
Also, assuming self.ref is an optional (as you've been handled that way in your visible code) then this could be the problem:
let contactRef = self.ref.child
you should first check if you can unwrap that optional, like:
if let realRef = self.ref {
realRef.child(currentUser! + "--" + self.email!)
}

Answer 2

let currentUser = user.email //this is not an optional
let request = Requests(requestBy: user.email!,
requestTo: self.email!)
contactRef = self.ref.child(currentUser! + "--" + self.email!)
currentUser! doesn't need to be unwrapped.