Show posts from the users you are following - swift - ios

Question

I have made a following feature where users can follow each other. The problem is that it is not being used the way it should. At the moment when a user is writing a post it will be saved in my Firebase database under this reference:
FIRDatabase.database().reference().child("feed-items").childByAutoId()
The feed-items is where all posts are. I am changing that however now, so when a user is posting something it will be saved here:
FIRDatabase.database().reference().child("Users").child(UserID).child("Posts").childByAutoId()
I do that because it somehow tells me that would be easier to only show the posts of the people you follow in my apps feed.
At the moment I am getting all the posts for my feed (from feed-items) like this:
func startObersvingDB() {
FIRDatabase.database().reference().child("feed-items").observeEventType(.Value, withBlock: { (snapshot: FIRDataSnapshot) in
var newUpdates = [Sweet]()
for update in snapshot.children {
let updateObject = Sweet(snapshot: update as! FIRDataSnapshot)
newUpdates.append(updateObject)
}
self.updates = newUpdates.reverse()
self.tableView.reloadData()
}) { (error: NSError) in
print(error.description)
}
}
And then I call startObservingDB() in the viewDidLoad.
If you want to see my Sweet struct here it is:
import Foundation
import FirebaseDatabase
import FirebaseAuth
import UIKit
struct Sweet {
let key: String!
let content: String!
let addedByUser: String!
let profilePhoto: String!
let itemRef: FIRDatabaseReference?
init (content: String, addedByUser: String, profilePhoto: String!, key: String = "") {
self.key = key
self.content = content
self.addedByUser = addedByUser
self.profilePhoto = profilePhoto
self.itemRef = nil
}
init (snapshot: FIRDataSnapshot) {
key = snapshot.key
itemRef = snapshot.ref
path = key
if let theFeedContent = snapshot.value!["content"] as? String {
content = theFeedContent
} else {
content = ""
}
if let feedUser = snapshot.value!["addedByUser"] as? String {
addedByUser = feedUser
} else {
addedByUser = ""
}
if let feedPhoto = snapshot.value!["profilePhoto"] as? String! {
profilePhoto = feedPhoto
} else {
profilePhoto = ""
}
}
func toAnyObject() -> AnyObject {
return ["content":content, "addedByUser":addedByUser, "profilePhoto":profilePhoto!]
}
}
And in my TableViewController I am using this to display name etc. in the custom cell:
var update = updates[indexPath.row]
cell.nameLabel.text = update.addedByUser
etc. etc.
My question is:
How do I change that to only show posts from the people I am following?
Sorry for the long post

Answer 1

Assuming that you are saving your followers list as an dictionary in other parent node like this :-
user_followed_by :{
userID2 : {
userID1 : true,
userID5 : true,
userID6 : true,
userID12 : true,
userID99 : true,
}
}
users :{
userID2 :{
post :{
postAutoID1 : {...},
postAutoID2 : {...},
...
}
}
}
postsToShowToUser :{
userID1 : {
postAutoID1 : true, //These are the post's autoID's of all the users whom
// your current user is following
postAutoID5 : true,
postAutoID3 : true,
},
}
/* // If you choose to declare a separate section of the post Details in your Database.
posts_Of_The_User :{
userID1 : {
postAutoID1 : {...//DETAILS},
postAutoID2 : {...//DETAILS},
postAutoID3 : {...//DETAILS},
....
},
} */
The idea is that whenever a user whom your current user is following makes a post. That post's autoID gets appended in the postsToShowToUser/userID.
That is, if userID2 will make a post then a call will be made to append that post's autoID in all users postsToShowToUser/userID who are following the userID2.
PS:- I strongly suggest that you move your post details out of post section. Make it a separate parent node consisting of multiple postAutoID's as key and there post data as value. It might come in handy later on, also would avoid nesting data, which would help you navigate through your Database.