I am trying to fix an issue with a firebase snapshot that is returning a blank value due to expecting a string and it's an integer value, so it returns "".

Original code here:

let myTrString = "Translation/" + myTranslation + "/codebase"
let myRef2 = dbRef.reference().child(myTrString)
myRef2.child(String(pageIndex)).observeSingleEvent(of: .value, with: { [self] (snapshot) in
    let value = snapshot.value as? NSDictionary
    print(value)
    let oText = value?["text"] as? String ?? 0
    let oCodebase = value?["code"] as? String ?? ""
    if oText == 0 && pageIndex > 1 {
        self.navigationController?.navigationItem.hidesBackButton = false
        self.navigationController?.isNavigationBarHidden = false
        self.navigationController?.isToolbarHidden = false
        self.navigationController?.navigationItem.hidesBackButton = false
        self.navigationController?.setToolbarHidden(false, animated: true)
        self.navigationController?.popViewController(animated: true)
    } else {
        self.lblTranslated.text = oText
    }
}) { (error) in
    print(error.localizedDescription)
}

When I run this, the oText is basically an empty string; probably due to it being an Int64 type. Unfortunately that is what the data is, we're not in a position to change the json data type.

So I figured I would change the the following

let oText = value?["text"] as? String ?? 0

to

let oText = value?["text"] as? Int ?? 0

But with that I get:

Compiler is unable to type-check this express in reasonable time

This should stay as a single observable event since we are translating one sentence.

I tried to use a predefined struct but that didn't work either.

[Update]

myRef2.child(String(pageIndex)).observeSingleEvent(of: .value, with: { [self] (snapshot) in
   if let value = snapshot.value as? [String : Any] {                 
      let oText = value["text"]
      let oCodebase = value["code"]
      if Int(oText) == 0 && pageIndex > 1 {
         ...
      }
   }

I'm now getting an error on the Int(oText) == 0 line with the following:

No exact matches call to initializer 

If I take out the Int(oText) and just make it oText I get the following error which I agree with :

Cannot convert value of type 'Any?' to expected argument type 'Int'

There has to be a clean way to cast this value. I have seen all kinds of bastardized and hacked up methods to cast, but I find it hard to believe that Apple made this without an ability to cast an ANY to an Int.