CodableFirebase

Use Codable with Firebase

Overview

This library helps you to use your custom types that conform to Codable protocol with Firebase. Here’s an example of a custom model:

struct Model: Codable {
    enum MyEnum: Int, Codable {
        case one, two, three
    }
    
    let stringExample: String
    let booleanExample: Bool
    let numberExample: Double
    let dateExample: Date
    let arrayExample: [String]
    let optionalExample: Int?
    let objectExample: [String: String]
    let myEnumExample: MyEnum
}

Firebase Realtime Database usage

This is how you would use the library with Firebase Realtime Database:

import Firebase
import CodableFirebase

let model: Model // here you will create an instance of Model
let data = try! FirebaseEncoder().encode(model)

Database.database().reference().child("model").setValue(data)

And here is how you would read the same value from Firebase Realtime Database:

Database.database().reference().child("model").observeSingleEvent(of: .value, with: { snapshot in
    guard let value = snapshot.value else { return }
    do {
        let model = try FirebaseDecoder().decode(Model.self, from: value)
        print(model)
    } catch let error {
        print(error)
    }
})

Firebase Cloud Firestore usage

This is how you would encode a model with Firebase Cloud Firestore:

import Firebase
import CodableFirebase

let model: Model // here you will create an instance of Model
let docData = try! FirestoreEncoder().encode(model)
Firestore.firestore().collection("data").document("one").setData(docData) { error in
    if let error = error {
        print("Error writing document: \(error)")
    } else {
        print("Document successfully written!")
    }
}

And this is how you would decode the same model with Firebase Cloud Firestore:

Firestore.firestore().collection("data").document("one").getDocument { document, error in
    if let document = document {
        let model = try! FirestoreDecoder().decode(Model.self, from: document.data())
        print("Model: \(model)")
    } else {
        print("Document does not exist")
    }
}

How to use GeoPoint, DocumentRefence, FieldValue, Timestamp in Cloud Firestore

In order to use these types with Cloud Firestore, you need to add the following code somewhere in your app:

extension DocumentReference: DocumentReferenceType {}
extension GeoPoint: GeoPointType {}
extension FieldValue: FieldValueType {}
extension Timestamp: TimestampType {}

and now they become Codable and can be used properly with FirestoreEncoder and FirestoreDecoder.

PLEASE NOTE that as FieldValue is only used to setData() and updateData(), it only adopts the Encodable protocol.

Integration

CocoaPods (iOS 9+)

You can use CocoaPods to install CodableFirebase by adding it to your Podfile:

platform :ios, '9.0'
use_frameworks!

target 'MyApp' do
  pod 'CodableFirebase'
end

Note that this requires CocoaPods version 36, and your iOS deployment target to be at least 9.0:

Carthage (iOS 9+)

You can use Carthage to install CodableFirebase by adding it to your Cartfile:

github "alickbass/CodableFirebase"