Iterate over snapshot children in Firebase - ios

Question

I have a Firebase resource that contains several objects and I would like to iterate over them using Swift.
What I expected to work is the following (according to the Firebase documentation)
https://www.firebase.com/docs/ios-api/Classes/FDataSnapshot.html#//api/name/children
var ref = Firebase(url:MY_FIREBASE_URL)
ref.observeSingleEventOfType(.Value, withBlock: { snapshot in
println(snapshot.childrenCount) // I got the expected number of items
for rest in snapshot.children { //ERROR: "NSEnumerator" does not have a member named "Generator"
println(rest.value)
}
})
So it seems there is a problem with Swift iterating over the NSEnumerator object returned by Firebase.
Help is really welcome.

Answer 1

If I read the documentation right, this is what you want:
var ref = Firebase(url: MY_FIREBASE_URL)
ref.observeSingleEvent(of: .value) { snapshot in
print(snapshot.childrenCount) // I got the expected number of items
for rest in snapshot.children.allObjects as! [FIRDataSnapshot] {
print(rest.value)
}
}
A better way might be:
var ref = Firebase(url: MY_FIREBASE_URL)
ref.observeSingleEvent(of: .value) { snapshot in
print(snapshot.childrenCount) // I got the expected number of items
let enumerator = snapshot.children
while let rest = enumerator.nextObject() as? FIRDataSnapshot {
print(rest.value)
}
}
The first method requires the NSEnumerator to return an array of all of the objects which can then be enumerated in the usual way. The second method gets the objects one at a time from the NSEnumerator and is likely more efficient.
In either case, the objects being enumerated are FIRDataSnapshot objects, so you need the casts so that you can access the value property.
Using for-in loop:
Since writing the original answer back in Swift 1.2 days, the language has evolved. It is now possible to use a for in loop which works directly with enumerators along with case let to assign the type:
var ref = Firebase(url: MY_FIREBASE_URL)
ref.observeSingleEvent(of: .value) { snapshot in
print(snapshot.childrenCount) // I got the expected number of items
for case let rest as FIRDataSnapshot in snapshot.children {
print(rest.value)
}
}

Answer 2

I have just converted the above answer to Swift 3:
ref = FIRDatabase.database().reference()
ref.observeSingleEvent(of: .value, with: { snapshot in
print(snapshot.childrenCount) // I got the expected number of items
for rest in snapshot.children.allObjects as! [FIRDataSnapshot] {
print(rest.value)
}
})
A better way might be:
ref = FIRDatabase.database().reference()
ref.observeSingleEvent(of: .value, with: { snapshot in
print(snapshot.childrenCount) // I got the expected number of items
let enumerator = snapshot.children
while let rest = enumerator.nextObject() as? FIRDataSnapshot {
print(rest.value)
}
})

Answer 3

This is pretty readable and works fine:
var ref = Firebase(url:MY_FIREBASE_URL)
ref.childByAppendingPath("some-child").observeSingleEventOfType(
FEventType.Value, withBlock: { (snapshot) -> Void in
for child in snapshot.children {
let childSnapshot = snapshot.childSnapshotForPath(child.key)
let someValue = childSnapshot.value["key"] as! String
}
})

Answer 4

ref = FIRDatabase.database().reference().child("exampleUsernames")
ref.observeSingleEvent(of: .value, with: { snapshot in
for rest in snapshot.children.allObjects as! [FIRDataSnapshot] {
guard let restDict = rest.value as? [String: Any] else { continue }
let username = restDict["username"] as? String
}
})

Answer 5

Firebase 4.0.1
Database.database().reference().child("key").observe(.value) { snapshot in
if let datas = snapshot.children.allObjects as? [DataSnapshot] {
let results = datas.flatMap({
($0.value as! [String: Any])["xxx"]
})
print(results)
}
}
Firebase 7.3.0
Database.database().reference().child("key").observe(.value) { snapshot in
if let datas = snapshot.children.allObjects as? [DataSnapshot] {
let results = datas.compactMap({
($0.value)
})
print(results)
}
}
If you have multiple keys/values, and want to return an array with dictionary elements, declare an array:
var yourArray = [[String: Any]]()
then change block body to this:
let children = snapshot.children
while let rest = children.nextObject() as? DataSnapshot, let value = rest.value {
self.yourArray.append(value as! [String: Any])
}