title: Firebase Read to Swift NSArray / or String Swift 3.0
body: <p>I am working on a project that reads from a Dictionary .plist that is located in the documents directory. I am currently migrating to Firebase.  I have the "Write" working to -> Firebase. I also have the "Read" from &lt;- Firebase working.  The challenge that I am having is re-formatting the data the way I need it, in order to run it through my RegEx filter. I am not sure what to use to do this, a Parser or what...  Just need some direction on the best way to pull the values out from the Firebase data that I read.  I have spent about 10 hours trying different ways of formatting the Firebase data, but constantly get errors telling me that I can't change "Any" to "String" or "Any" to "Array".  If you have not noticed, I am not a seasoned coder...</p>
  
  <p>I am using Swift 3.0</p>
  
  <p>This is the code that I have.  (Note: I have the Firebase SDK installed and this code is just in the viewDidLoad func. for now). Also, I am using an NSObject Class that is outside of my viewDidLoad() for Post.</p>
  
  <p>Thank you</p>
  
  <pre><code>var posts = [Post]()
  
  class Post: NSObject {
  
  override func viewDidLoad() {
      super.viewDidLoad()
      // Do any additional setup after loading the view, typically from a nib.
  
      //This is the code that reads from FireBase
      let ref = Database.database().reference().child("List").queryOrderedByValue()
      ref.observe(.value, with: { snapshot in
          print(snapshot.value ?? "can't print Values")//snapshot.value is what prints out to the console
  
          self.posts = []
  
  
          if let snapshots = snapshot.children.allObjects as? [DataSnapshot] {
  
              for snap in snapshots {
                  if let postDict = snap.value as? Dictionary&lt;String, AnyObject&gt; {
                      let post = Post()
                      post.setValuesForKeys(postDict)
                      self.posts.append(post)
  
  
                  }
              }
          }
  
      })
  }
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>The output of the code in the viewDidLoad() produces this output to the console</p>
  
  <pre><code>{"-KmUr43ZPycmz7G3IBlA" = "Adding something";
  "-KmUr6M3F6HSEIAMbaVa" = "This is my next one";
  "-KmUr8xe2vDtLMZn84kP" = "Emoji";
  "-KmWaviTHnzD_EBatRU8" = "next definition";
  "-KmYMTqVXHhanJkkId4r" = "Rich is Cool";}
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>I would like to pull out the values of the above output two different ways
  and that is as an Array / NSMutableArray, and a String / NSMutableString</p>
  
  <p>This is what I would like the Array to look like</p>
  
  <pre><code>["Adding something", "This is my next one", Emoji", "next definition", "Rich is Cool"]
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>This is what I would like the String to look like</p>
  
  <pre><code>Adding something, This is my next one, Emoji, next definition, Rich is Cool
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>Thank you so much for taking a look at this</p>