Retrieving image from Firebase Storage using Swift

Question

I am looking for a beginning to end code example of retrieving an image from Firebase Storage, just to show an image. Either as an image view or for a table. I have looked at posts on here and various tutorials. It always feels like something is left out. If I could see the whole picture, I will be able to grasp this better.

The attached code is my current attempt to change photo1 from local to pull from Firebase Storage.

import UIKit
import Firebase
import FirebaseAuth
import FirebaseStorage
import FirebaseDatabase

class MainMenuTableViewController: UITableViewController {



var mainMenu = [Menu]()
var photo1 = UIImage()
override func viewDidLoad() {
    super.viewDidLoad()
    loadMenu()
}

func loadMenu() {

    let storage = FIRStorage.storage()
    // Create a storage reference from the URL
    let storageRef = storage.referenceForURL("https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/medicalpatientapp-7fd45.appspot.com/o/iconimages%2Ffile-medical-icons.png?alt=media&token=c95b9c51-67ae-4e93-b63c-62091015a9ff")
    // Download the data, assuming a max size of 1MB (you can change this as necessary)
    storageRef.dataWithMaxSize(1 * 1024 * 1024) { (data, error) -> Void in
        // Create a UIImage, add it to the array
        let pic = UIImage(data: data!)
        self.photo1 = pic!

    }


   //let photo1 = UIImage(named: "iconimages-file-medical-icons")!
    let menu1 = Menu(name: "My Notes", photo: photo1)!

    let photo2 = UIImage(named: "iconimages-file-medical-icons")!
    let menu2 = Menu(name: "View Patients", photo: photo2)!

    let photo3 = UIImage(named: "iconimages-add-medical-icons")!
    let menu3 = Menu(name: "Add Persons", photo: photo3)!

    mainMenu += [menu1, menu2, menu3]

}

override func didReceiveMemoryWarning() {
    super.didReceiveMemoryWarning()
    // Dispose of any resources that can be recreated.
}

// MARK: - Table view data source

override func numberOfSectionsInTableView(tableView: UITableView) -> Int {
    // #warning Incomplete implementation, return the number of sections
    return 1
}

override func tableView(tableView: UITableView, numberOfRowsInSection section: Int) -> Int {
    // #warning Incomplete implementation, return the number of rows
    return mainMenu.count
}


override func tableView(tableView: UITableView, cellForRowAtIndexPath indexPath: NSIndexPath) -> UITableViewCell {


    // Configure the cell...
    let cellIdentifier = "MenuTableViewCell"
    let cell = tableView.dequeueReusableCellWithIdentifier(cellIdentifier, forIndexPath: indexPath) as! MainMenuTableViewCell

    // Fetches the appropriate meal for the data source layout.
    let menu = mainMenu[indexPath.row]

    cell.menuLabel.text = menu.name
    cell.menuImage.image = menu.photo

    return cell
}

}

Answer 1

We highly recommend using Firebase Storage and the Firebase Realtime Database together to accomplish this. Here's a full example:

Shared:

// Firebase services
var database: FIRDatabase!
var storage: FIRStorage!
...
// Initialize Database, Auth, Storage
database = FIRDatabase.database()
storage = FIRStorage.storage()
...
// Initialize an array for your pictures
var picArray: [UIImage]()

Upload:

let fileData = NSData() // get data...
let storageRef = storage.reference().child("myFiles/myFile")
storageRef.putData(fileData).observeStatus(.Success) { (snapshot) in
  // When the image has successfully uploaded, we get it's download URL
  let downloadURL = snapshot.metadata?.downloadURL()?.absoluteString
  // Write the download URL to the Realtime Database
  let dbRef = database.reference().child("myFiles/myFile")
  dbRef.setValue(downloadURL)
}

Download:

let dbRef = database.reference().child("myFiles")
dbRef.observeEventType(.ChildAdded, withBlock: { (snapshot) in
  // Get download URL from snapshot
  let downloadURL = snapshot.value() as! String
  // Create a storage reference from the URL
  let storageRef = storage.referenceFromURL(downloadURL)
  // Download the data, assuming a max size of 1MB (you can change this as necessary)
  storageRef.dataWithMaxSize(1 * 1024 * 1024) { (data, error) -> Void in
    // Create a UIImage, add it to the array
    let pic = UIImage(data: data)
    picArray.append(pic)
  })
})

For more information, see Zero to App: Develop with Firebase, and it's associated source code, for a practical example of how to do this.