How can I check if my Firebase database has data for a certain user? (Android/Java)

Question

When a user makes an account with firebase on my android app, they then need to be directed to a screen where they can add some separate information like username, for example. The app knows to switch the activity through an AuthStateListener, so when an account is made or someone signs in the code here is executed (no intents are changed here right now, keep reading to see why):

        mAuthListener = new FirebaseAuth.AuthStateListener() {
            @Override
            public void onAuthStateChanged(@NonNull FirebaseAuth firebaseAuth) {
                FirebaseUser user = firebaseAuth.getCurrentUser();
                if (user != null) {
                    // User is signed in
                    Log.d(TAG, "onAuthStateChanged:signed_in:" + user.getUid());
                    userID = user.getUid();
                    toastMessage("User has signed in: " + user.getEmail());


                } else {
                    // User is signed out
                    Log.d(TAG, "onAuthStateChanged:signed_out");
                }
                // ...
            }
        };

In the if block where it is checking to see if user does not equal to null, this is where I need to change the intent to another activity where they will enter their username. Basically the logic is, if the user already has a username and they are just signing in then they will be directed to the home screen activity, and if they are signing up they need to be directed to the activity where they make a username. To know which activity I need to send them to I need to have the code look in the firebase database and see if their account has a username already or not. I cannot figure out how to read data from the firebase in this situation, it seems as if the only way to read from the database (according to others) is through an onDataChange methods like so:

        mRef.addValueEventListener(new ValueEventListener() {
            @Override
            public void onDataChange(DataSnapshot dataSnapshot) {
                Log.d(TAG, "This: "+dataSnapshot.getValue());
            }

            @Override
            public void onCancelled(DatabaseError databaseError) {

            }
        });

which uses dataSnapshots. the problem with this is this code is only fired when data is added to the database, therefor this method will not execute any code when a user is simply signing up and has never added a username to the database. How can I query to see data from the database just to check if a certain user has any data there?

Answer 1

OnDatachange is fired in all of cases, if user add data, remove data, change data ect.

To check is user already have username do this inside OnDatachange :

if(dataSnapshot.exists()){
//GO TO OTHER ACTIVITY
]else{
//GO TO SET USER DATA ACTIVITY
]

See this exemple of one of my implementations:

if (user !=null){
            DatabaseReference myRef = database.getReference("users").child(user.getUid()).child("user_bio");

            myRef.addValueEventListener(new ValueEventListener() {
                @Override
                public void onDataChange(DataSnapshot dataSnapshot) {
                    if (dataSnapshot.exists()){
                        bio.setText(dataSnapshot.getValue(String.class));

                    }
                }

                @Override
                public void onCancelled(DatabaseError databaseError) {

                }
            });
        }

In this exemple if user_bio exists then set text to userbio if not do nothing. In the first time that user log in in my app this method do nothing but when user add bio this method set the bio text in userbio text. but if i want to show some text if user hasnt bio i simply add na else and set text to the bio for exemple:

if (user !=null){
            DatabaseReference myRef = database.getReference("users").child(user.getUid()).child("user_bio");

            myRef.addValueEventListener(new ValueEventListener() {
                @Override
                public void onDataChange(DataSnapshot dataSnapshot) {
                    if (dataSnapshot.exists()){
                        bio.setText(dataSnapshot.getValue(String.class));
                    }else{
                        bio.setText("no user bio");
                    }
                }
                @Override
                public void onCancelled(DatabaseError databaseError) {

                }
            });
        }

Answer 2

Have you try to use addValueEventListener inside onCreate method?

If you run an activity while the listener inside onCreate method it will fired once when you open an activity. So i think you shouldn't have a problem here.