Swift - Grab data from Firebase and store it into an array - ios

Question

I am trying to grab a list of bars from a Firebase Database and store it in an array so I can display it in a table view.
I have configured Firebase and managed to get data in the app as String, AnyObject dictionary.
Here is my code :
struct Bar {
var latitude: Double?
var longitude: Double?
var name: String!
var phoneNumber: String?
var happyHour: String?
var url: NSURL?
var barLogo: UIImage?
var followers: Int?
var addedToFavorites: Int?
var zipCode: Double?
var area: String?
}
class ViewController: UIViewController {
var ref: FIRDatabaseReference!
var refHandle: UInt!
override func viewDidLoad() {
super.viewDidLoad()
ref = FIRDatabase.database().reference()
refHandle = ref.observe(FIRDataEventType.value , with: {(snapshot) in
let dataDict = snapshot.value as! [String : AnyObject]
}
)
}
Here is my JSON exported from Firebase:
{
"data" : {
"bars" : {
"bar1" : {
"addedToFavorites" : 0,
"area" : "upper east",
"follwers" : 0,
"happyHour" : "m-f 16-19",
"lattitude" : 4412334,
"longitude" : 223455,
"name" : "bar1",
"phone" : 212222,
"url" : "http://www.bar1.com",
"zipCode" : 12345
},
"bar2" : {
"addedToFavorites" : 0,
"area" : "upper west",
"follwers" : 0,
"happyHour" : "f - s 20-22",
"lattitude" : 4443221,
"longitude" : 221234,
"name" : "bar 2",
"phone" : 215555,
"url" : "http://www.bar2.com",
"zipCode" : 54321
}
}
}
}
What would be the best approach for this?
I would like to scale it and download hundreds of bars, so manually grabbing the data from the dictionary and storing it into a Bar struct variable and then appending it to an array is not a path I want to go on.
I need a solution to grab all the bars and somehow adding them to an array (or any other method to display them into a tableView).
Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

I found a way to solve this issue :
First of all I got rid of the struct and created a class :
My class file :
import Foundation
import UIKit
class Bar {
private var _name: String!
private var _area: String!
private var _latitude: Double!
private var _longitude: Double!
private var _followers: Int!
private var _happyHour: String!
private var _phone: Double!
private var _url: String!
private var _zipCode: Double!
private var _addedToFav: Int!
var name: String! {
return _name
}
var area: String! {
return _area
}
var latitude: Double! {
return _latitude
}
var longitude: Double! {
return _longitude
}
var followers: Int! {
return _followers
}
var happyHour: String! {
return _happyHour
}
var phone: Double! {
return _phone
}
var url: String! {
return _url
}
var zipCode: Double! {
return _zipCode
}
var addedToFav: Int! {
return _addedToFav
}
init(name: String,area: String! , latitude: Double, longitude: Double, followers: Int, happyHour: String, phone: Double, url: String, zipCode: Double, addedToFav: Int) {
self._name = name
self._area = area
self._latitude = latitude
self._longitude = longitude
self._followers = followers
self._happyHour = happyHour
self._phone = phone
self._url = url
self._zipCode = zipCode
self._addedToFav = addedToFav
}
init(barData: Dictionary<String, AnyObject>) {
if let name = barData["name"] as? String {
self._name = name
}
if let area = barData["area"] as? String {
self._area = area
}
if let latitude = barData["lattitude"] as? Double {
self._latitude = latitude
}
if let longitude = barData["longitude"] as? Double {
self._longitude = longitude
}
if let followers = barData["followers"] as? Int {
self._followers = followers
}
if let happyHour = barData["happyHour"] as? String {
self._happyHour = happyHour
}
if let phone = barData["phone"] as? Double {
self._phone = phone
}
if let url = barData["url"] as? String {
self._url = url
}
if let zipCode = barData["zipCode"] as? Double {
self._zipCode = zipCode
}
if let addedToFav = barData["addedToFavorites"] as? Int {
self._addedToFav = addedToFav
}
}
}
I created a DataService class with a singleton
Data service class file:
import Foundation
import Firebase
let URL_BASE = FIRDatabase.database().reference()
class DataService {
static let ds = DataService()
private var _REF_BASE = URL_BASE
private var _REF_BARS = URL_BASE.child("data").child("bars")
var REF_BASE: FIRDatabaseReference {
return REF_BASE
}
var REF_BARS: FIRDatabaseReference {
return _REF_BARS
}
}
And my modified viewController file (i did not use a tableViewController)
class ViewController: UIViewController , UITableViewDelegate , UITableViewDataSource {
#IBOutlet weak var myTableView: UITableView!
var baruri = [Bar]()
override func viewDidLoad() {
super.viewDidLoad()
myTableView.dataSource = self
myTableView.delegate = self
DataService.ds.REF_BARS.observe(.value, with: { (snapshot) in
if let snapshot = snapshot.children.allObjects as? [FIRDataSnapshot] {
for snap in snapshot {
print(snap)
if let barData = snap.value as? Dictionary<String, AnyObject> {
let bar = Bar(barData: barData)
self.baruri.append(bar)
print(self.baruri)
self.myTableView.reloadData()
}
self.myTableView.reloadData()
}
self.myTableView.reloadData()
}
self.myTableView.reloadData()
}
)
}
func numberOfSections(in tableView: UITableView) -> Int {
return 1
}
func tableView( _ tableView: UITableView, numberOfRowsInSection section: Int) -> Int {
return baruri.count
}
func tableView( _ tableView: UITableView, cellForRowAt indexPath: IndexPath) -> UITableViewCell {
let cell = self.myTableView.dequeueReusableCell(withIdentifier: "newCell", for: indexPath) as! NewCell
var baruriTabel: Bar!
baruriTabel = baruri[indexPath.row]
cell.barNameLBl.text = baruriTabel.name
cell.followersNrLbl.text = String(baruriTabel.followers)
cell.areaLbl.text = baruriTabel.area
cell.addedToFavoritesLbl.text = String(baruriTabel.addedToFav)
cell.happyHourLbl.text = baruriTabel.happyHour
cell.urlLbl.text = baruriTabel.url
cell.lattitudeLbl.text = String(baruriTabel.latitude)
cell.longitudeLbl.text = String(baruriTabel.longitude)
cell.phoneLbl.text = String(baruriTabel.phone)
cell.zipCode.text = String(baruriTabel.zipCode)
return cell
}
}