I have a nested loop of sending the request.
-(void) download
{
for(NSString *id in array)
{
//init with request and start the connection
NSMutableURLRequest *request = [NSMutableURLRequest requestWithURL:url cachePolicy: NSURLRequestUseProtocolCachePolicy timeoutInterval:60.0];
NSURLConnection *conn = [[NSURLConnection alloc] initWithRequest:request deletegate:self];
[conn start];
}
}
-(void) connection:(NSURLConnection *) connection didReceiveData:(NSData *) data
{
//enter here secondly
}
-(void) connectionDidFinishLoading:(NSURLConnection *) connection
{
//enter here last, after finish the for loop
//my intention is use the downloaded data to do something before sending a new request.
}
The problem is that I want to enter "-(void) connectionDidFinishLoading:(NSURLConnection *) connection" first before send the request again in the for loop.
But currently it will finish the for loop and sent all the request before enter to "-(void) connectionDidFinishLoading:(NSURLConnection *) connection".
You Should Try This NSURLConnection is deprecated in iOS9
for (NSString *URL in URLArray) {
NSMutableURLRequest *request = [NSMutableURLRequest requestWithURL:URL];
NSURLSessionTask *task = [[NSURLSession sharedSession] dataTaskWithRequest:request completionHandler:^(NSData *data, NSURLResponse *response, NSError *error) {
// check error and/or handle response here
}];
[task resume];
}
and use dispatch_group_t group = dispatch_group_create();
add line to for loop dispatch_group_enter(group); will call
dispatch_group_notify(group, dispatch_get_main_queue(), ^{
// Request Finish
});
for your goal
In your case you need to try block function because as per your requirement you want response of the first connection for another request.
for(NSString* url in array)
{
// Generate a NSURLRequest object from the address of the API.
NSURL *url = [NSURL URLWithString:urlLink];
NSURLRequest *request = [NSURLRequest requestWithURL:url];
// Send the request asynchronous request using block!
[NSURLConnection sendAsynchronousRequest:request
queue:[NSOperationQueue mainQueue]
completionHandler:^(NSURLResponse *response, NSData *data, NSError *error) {
if (error) {
NSLog(#"Error in updateInfoFromServer: %# %#", error, [error localizedDescription]);
} else if (!response) {
NSLog(#"Could not reach server!");
} else if (!data) {
NSLog(#"Server did not return any data!");
} else {
[self doStuffWithData:data];
}
}];
}
URL loading is not a synchronous operation (or at least should never be done synchronously), because it can take up to 90 seconds just for a DNS lookup failure, and almost infinitely long if the server keeps dribbling out data. If you block the main thread for even a fraction of that amount of time, iOS will kill your app.
Instead of scheduling the requests in a loop and waiting for them to finish, you need to schedule the first request (and only the first request). Then, in your connectionDidFinishLoading: method (and maybe your connection:DidFailWithError: method), schedule the next request.
With that said, unless you still need to support iOS 6/10.8 and earlier, you should probably be using NSURLSession. (The same general advice applies; the delegate method names are changed to protect the guilty.)
Related
I am a beginer in iOS programming. I have some problem with NSURLConnection: I have installed SWRevealViewController https://github.com/John-Lluch/SWRevealViewController and when my app is loading Data from server, I can't use interaction with screen. I can't open my SWR-menu while Data is loading.
Here is my SWR in viewDidLoad:
SWRevealViewController *revealViewController = self.revealViewController;
if ( revealViewController ) {
[self.openMenyItmet setTarget: self.revealViewController];
[self.openMenyItmet setAction: #selector( revealToggle: )];
[self.view addGestureRecognizer:self.revealViewController.panGestureRecognizer];
}
After that, I called Get method in viewDidLoad:
[self GetQUIZ];
Method detail:
- (void)GetQUIZ {
NSMutableURLRequest *request = [[NSMutableURLRequest alloc] init];
NSString *url = [NSString stringWithFormat:#"http://stringlearning.com/api/v1/user-quiz?token=%#",[[NSUserDefaults standardUserDefaults] stringForKey:#"token"]];
[request setURL:[NSURL URLWithString: url]];
[request setHTTPMethod:#"GET"];
[request setValue:#"application/x-www-form-urlencoded" forHTTPHeaderField:#"Content-Type"];
[request setValue:[UIDevice currentDevice].name forHTTPHeaderField:#"device"];
NSURLConnection *conn = [[NSURLConnection alloc] initWithRequest:request delegate:self];
NSLog(#"Left menu, User details: %#", [[NSString alloc] initWithData:[request HTTPBody] encoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding]);
NSLog(#"%#", [request allHTTPHeaderFields]);
if(conn) {
NSLog(#"Connection Successful");
} else
NSLog(#"Connection could not be made");
And then I use data in connectionDidFinishLoading:
- (void)connectionDidFinishLoading:(NSURLConnection *)connection {
NSError *deserr = nil;
NSDictionary *responseDict = [NSJSONSerialization JSONObjectWithData:responseData options: 0 error: &deserr];
I read that i should use async methods, but I never use it before. Would you write some detail solution ?
Maybe, does have different path?
I would be very grateful for the help!
I'd suggest starting with NSURLSession, which is a modern API that will accomplish the same thing, asynchronously.
To use NSURLSession, you need a few piece of the puzzle:
A web address to reach, and optionally any payload or custom headers.
An instance of NSURL: where you're downloading from and an NSURLRequest to wrap it in.
An NSURLSessionConfiguration, which handles things like caching, credentials and timeouts.
The session itself.
You need an NSURLSessionTask instance. This is the closest object to your NSURLConnection. It has callbacks via delegate or a completion block, if you just need to know when it finishes.
Here's how this would look in code:
// 1. The web address & headers
NSString *webAddress = [NSString stringWithFormat:#"http://stringlearning.com/api/v1/user-quiz?token=%#",[[NSUserDefaults standardUserDefaults] stringForKey:#"token"]];
NSDictionary <NSString *, NSString *> *headers = #{
#"device" : [UIDevice currentDevice].name,
#"Content-Type" : #"application/x-www-form-urlencoded"
};
// 2. An NSURL wrapped in an NSURLRequest
NSURL* url = [NSURL URLWithString:webAddress];
NSURLRequest *request = [NSURLRequest requestWithURL:url];
// 3. An NSURLSession Configuration
NSURLSessionConfiguration *sessionConfiguration = [NSURLSessionConfiguration defaultSessionConfiguration];
[sessionConfiguration setHTTPAdditionalHeaders:headers];
// 4. The URLSession itself.
NSURLSession *urlSession = [NSURLSession sessionWithConfiguration:sessionConfiguration];
// 5. A session task: NSURLSessionDataTask or NSURLSessionDownloadTask
NSURLSessionDataTask *dataTask = [urlSession dataTaskWithRequest:request completionHandler:^(NSData * _Nullable data, NSURLResponse * _Nullable response, NSError * _Nullable error) {
}];
// 5b. Set the delegate if you did not use the completion handler initializer
// urlSession.delegate = self;
// 6. Finally, call resume on your task.
[dataTask resume];
This will run asynchronously, allowing your UI to remain responsive as your app loads data.
When you send a request on the main thread, like you are doing now, your UI, which is always performed on the main thread, is blocked, waiting for the request to finish and process. So you should perform all your network on a background thread, asynchronously. I would recommend first to check the networking library AFNetworking , it could simplify most of your networking problems.
Welcome to SO. You should know that NSURLConnection was deprecated in iOS 9. You should be using NSURLSession instead. The approach is very similar. You can take the NSURLRequest you've created and pass it to the sharedSession object, which is set up for async requests. The simplest way to deal with it is to use the call dataTaskWithRequest:completionHandler:, which takes a completion block. In your completion block you provide code that handles both success and failure.
I am trying to create an xls sheet programmatically. To fill the sheet, I am making the multiple NSURLConnection around 100. Right now, my approach is :
Make a connection and store the data into an array . This array has 100 objects.
Now take the first object and call the connection . Store the data. And make the second connection with 2nd object in the array. This continues till the last object in the array.
It takes on average 14 seconds to finish the 100 connections. Is there any way to implement the NSURLConnection to get the response in a faster way?
Till yesterday I followed the basic approach like:
Declaring the properties:
#property (nonatomic,strong) NSURLConnection *getReportConnection;
#property (retain, nonatomic) NSMutableData *receivedData;
#property (nonatomic,strong) NSMutableArray *reportArray;
Initializing the array in viewDidLoad:
reportArray=[[NSMutableArray alloc]init];
Initializing the NSURLConnection in a button action :
/initialize url that is going to be fetched.
NSURL *url = [NSURL URLWithString:[NSString stringWithFormat:#"****/%#/crash_reasons",ID]];
//initialize a request from url
NSMutableURLRequest *request = [NSMutableURLRequest requestWithURL:url];
[request addValue:tokenReceived forHTTPHeaderField:#"**Token"];
[request setHTTPMethod:#"GET"];
[request setValue:#"application/x-www-form-urlencoded" forHTTPHeaderField:#"Content-Type"];
//initialize a connection from request
self.getReportConnection = [[NSURLConnection alloc] initWithRequest:request delegate:self];
Processing the received data:
- (void)connection:(NSURLConnection *)connection didReceiveData:(NSData*)data{
if (connection==_getVersionConnection) {
[self.receivedData_ver appendData:data];
NSString *responseString = [[NSString alloc] initWithData:data encoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding];
NSError *e = nil;
NSData *jsonData = [responseString dataUsingEncoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding];
NSDictionary *JSON = [NSJSONSerialization JSONObjectWithData:jsonData options: NSJSONReadingMutableContainers error: &e];
[JSON[#"app_versions"] enumerateObjectsUsingBlock:^(id obj, NSUInteger idx, BOOL *stop) {
if (![obj[#"id"] isEqual:[NSNull null]] && ![reportArray_ver containsObject:obj[#"id"]]) {
[reportArray_ver addObject:obj[#"id"]];
}
NSLog(#"index = %lu, Object For title Key = %#", (unsigned long)idx, obj[#"id"]);
}];
if (JSON!=nil) {
UIAlertView *alert=[[UIAlertView alloc]initWithTitle:#"Version Reports succesfully retrieved" message:#"" delegate:self cancelButtonTitle:#"Ok" otherButtonTitles: nil];
[alert show];
}
}
}
Calling the another connection after one finishes:
// This method is used to process the data after connection has made successfully.
- (void)connectionDidFinishLoading:(NSURLConnection *)connection{
if (connection==getReportConnection) {
//check and call the connection again
}
}
And today, I tried the NSURLConnection with sendAsync to fire all the connections one after other using loop,and it worked pretty well.
self.receivedData_ver=[[NSMutableData alloc]init];
__block NSInteger outstandingRequests = [reqArray count];
for (NSString *URL in reqArray) {
NSMutableURLRequest *request=[NSMutableURLRequest requestWithURL:[NSURL URLWithString:URL]
cachePolicy:NSURLRequestUseProtocolCachePolicy
timeoutInterval:10.0];
[request setHTTPMethod:#"GET"];
[request setValue:#"application/x-www-form-urlencoded" forHTTPHeaderField:#"Content-Type"];
[NSURLConnection sendAsynchronousRequest:request
queue:[NSOperationQueue mainQueue]
completionHandler:^(NSURLResponse *response,
NSData *data,
NSError *connectionError) {
[self.receivedData appendData:data]; //What is the use of appending NSdata into Nsmutable data?
NSString *responseString = [[NSString alloc] initWithData:data encoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding];
NSError *e = nil;
NSData *jsonData = [responseString dataUsingEncoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding];
NSDictionary *JSON = [NSJSONSerialization JSONObjectWithData:jsonData options: NSJSONReadingMutableContainers error: &e];
NSLog(#"login json is %#",JSON);
[JSON[#"app_versions"] enumerateObjectsUsingBlock:^(id obj, NSUInteger idx, BOOL *stop) {
if (![obj[#"id"] isEqual:[NSNull null]] && ![reportArray_ver containsObject:obj[#"id"]]) {
[reportArray_ver addObject:obj[#"id"]];
}
NSLog(#"index = %lu, Object For title Key = %#", (unsigned long)idx, obj[#"id"]);
}];
outstandingRequests--;
if (outstandingRequests == 0) {
//all req are finished
UIAlertView *alert=[[UIAlertView alloc]initWithTitle:#"Version Reports succesfully retrieved" message:#"" delegate:self cancelButtonTitle:#"Ok" otherButtonTitles: nil];
[alert show];
}
}];
}
This time it took half the time to complete the 100 requests than the old procedure, Is there any faster way exists other than the asynReq?.What is the best scenario to use NSURLconnection and NSURLConnection with asyncReq?
A couple of observations:
Use NSURLSession rather than NSURLConnection (if you are supporting iOS versions of 7.0 and greater):
for (NSString *URL in URLArray) {
NSMutableURLRequest *request = [NSMutableURLRequest requestWithURL:URL];
// configure the request here
// now issue the request
NSURLSessionTask *task = [[NSURLSession sharedSession] dataTaskWithRequest:request completionHandler:^(NSData *data, NSURLResponse *response, NSError *error) {
// check error and/or handle response here
}];
[task resume];
}
If you absolutely have to issue 100 requests, then issue them concurrently like your sendAsynchronousRequest implementation (or my dataTaskWithRequest), not sequentially. That's what achieves the huge performance benefit.
Note, though, that you have no assurances that they'll completely in the order that you issued them, so you will want to use some structure that supports that (e.g. use NSMutableDictionary or pre-populate the NSMutableArray with placeholders so you can simply update the entry at a particular index rather than adding an item to the array).
Bottom line, be aware that they may not finish in the same order as requested, so make sure you handle that appropriately.
If you keep 100 separate requests, I'd suggest that you test this on a really slow network connection (e.g. use the Network Link Conditioner to simulate really bad network connection; see NSHipster discussion). There are problems (timeouts, UI hiccups, etc.) that only appear when doing this on slow connection.
Rather than decrementing a counter of number of pending requests, I'd suggest using dispatch groups or operation queue dependencies.
dispatch_group_t group = dispatch_group_create();
for (NSString *URL in URLArray) {
dispatch_group_enter(group);
NSMutableURLRequest *request = [NSMutableURLRequest requestWithURL:URL];
// configure the request here
// now issue the request
NSURLSessionTask *task = [[NSURLSession sharedSession] dataTaskWithRequest:request completionHandler:^(NSData *data, NSURLResponse *response, NSError *error) {
// check error and/or handle response here
// when all done, leave group
dispatch_group_leave(group);
}];
[task resume];
}
dispatch_group_notify(group, dispatch_get_main_queue(), ^{
// do whatever you want when all of the requests are done
});
If possible, see if you can refactor the web service so you are issuing one request that returns all of the data. If you're looking for further performance improvement, that's probably the way to do it (and it avoids a lot of complexities involved when issuing 100 separate requests).
BTW, if you use delegate based connection, like you did in your original question, you should not be parsing data in didReceiveData. That should only be appending data to a NSMutableData. Do all of the parsing in connectionDidFinishLoading delegate method.
If you go to block-based implementation, this issue goes away, but just an observation on your code snippets.
Using sendAsynchronous is a great way to improve code organization. I'm sure with some careful scrutiny, we could improve the speed at the margin, but the way to noticeably improve speed is to not make 100 requests.
If the response bodies are small, create an endpoint that answers a conjunction of the results.
If the response bodies are large, then you're requesting more data than the user needs at the moment. Hold up the UI only on what user needs to see, and get the rest silently (... or, maybe better than silently, lazily).
If you don't control the server, and the response bodies are small, and the user needs all or most of to carry on with the app, then you can start working on performance at the margins and UI tricks to amuse user while the app works, but usually one of those constraints -- usually the latter -- can be relaxed.
I am using the following method to check if my app has a connection. It's simple and works great for my needs.
+ (void)checkInternet:(connection)block
{
NSURL *url = [NSURL URLWithString:#"http://www.google.com/"];
NSMutableURLRequest *request = [NSMutableURLRequest requestWithURL:url];
request.HTTPMethod = #"HEAD";
request.cachePolicy = NSURLRequestReloadIgnoringLocalAndRemoteCacheData;
request.timeoutInterval = 10.0;
[NSURLConnection sendAsynchronousRequest:request
queue:[NSOperationQueue mainQueue]
completionHandler:
^(NSURLResponse *response, NSData *data, NSError *connectionError)
{
block([(NSHTTPURLResponse *)response statusCode] == 200);
}];
}
However, what I'd like to do is if the status doesn't return 200, I'd like to check again, at least a couple of times. What's the best way to do this with 1 second intervals?
Below is how I'm calling the above method.
[self checkInternet:^(BOOL internet)
{
if (internet)
{
// "Internet" aka Google
}
else
{
// No "Internet" aka no Google
}
}];
I use Reachability for detecting general network connection issues (See end of answer). I use the following method for executing retries.
- (void)performSelector:(SEL)aSelector withObject:(id)anArgument afterDelay:(NSTimeInterval)delay;
You could adapt your system something like the following to have a new class method which has an optional number of retries.
NB. Not tested the following. It is just to give you the general idea.
// Variable to track number of retries left. If you had a shared instance
// a property would be easier.
static NSUInteger maxConnectionTries = 0;
// New method which lets you pass a retry count.
+ (void)checkInternet:(connection)block withMaxTries:(NSUInteger)maxTries
{
maxConnectionTries=maxTries;
[self checkInternet:block];
}
// Your original code extended to retry by calling itself when code 200
// is seen on a delay of 1s. Defaults to old code when retry limit exceeded
// or non 200 code received.
+ (void)checkInternet:(connection)block
{
NSURL *url = [NSURL URLWithString:#"http://www.google.com/"];
NSMutableURLRequest *request = [NSMutableURLRequest requestWithURL:url];
request.HTTPMethod = #"HEAD";
request.cachePolicy = NSURLRequestReloadIgnoringLocalAndRemoteCacheData;
request.timeoutInterval = 10.0;
[NSURLConnection sendAsynchronousRequest:request
queue:[NSOperationQueue mainQueue]
completionHandler:
^(NSURLResponse *response, NSData *data, NSError *connectionError)
{
if ([(NSHTTPURLResponse *)response statusCode] != 200 &&
maxConnectionRetries > 0){
maxConnectionRetries--;
[self performSelector:#selector(checkInternet:) withObject:block afterDelay:1.0];
}
else{
maxConnectionRetries = 0;
block([(NSHTTPURLResponse *)response statusCode] == 200);
}
}];
}
For general detection of internet connectivity, it is best to use Reachability. See here.
I start a reachability handler from my AppDelegate code and then publish local notifications when connectivity changes occur. This allows the application to always receive connection change notification and transient view controllers within viewWillAppear and viewWillDisappear to register and deregister for local notifications if they are interested in connection changes.
FYI here is what I came up with:
+ (void)checkInternet:(connection)block withMaxTries:(NSUInteger)maxTries
{
NSURL *url = [NSURL URLWithString:#"http://www.google.com/"];
NSMutableURLRequest *request = [NSMutableURLRequest requestWithURL:url];
request.HTTPMethod = #"HEAD";
request.cachePolicy = NSURLRequestReloadIgnoringLocalAndRemoteCacheData;
request.timeoutInterval = 10.0;
[NSURLConnection sendAsynchronousRequest:request
queue:[NSOperationQueue mainQueue]
completionHandler:
^(NSURLResponse *response, NSData *data, NSError *connectionError)
{
if ([(NSHTTPURLResponse *)response statusCode] != 200 &&
maxTries > 0){
dispatch_after(dispatch_time(DISPATCH_TIME_NOW, 1 * NSEC_PER_SEC), dispatch_get_main_queue(), ^{
[self checkInternet:block withMaxTries:maxTries - 1];
});
}
else{
block([(NSHTTPURLResponse *)response statusCode] == 200);
}
}];
}
I am working with an app which is todo list organizer, where user adds notes. I am using coredata DB to store the notes. As I am providing sync feature, I am parsing JSON data to server, and also getting JSON data from server.
I am using NSURLConnection API and its delegate functions
- (void)pushData
{
loop through the notes array and send notes 1 by one
[[request setValue:#"application/json;charset=utf-8" forHTTPHeaderField:#"Content-Type"];
[request setHTTPMethod:#"POST"];
[request setHTTPBody:jsonData];
m_dataPush = [[NSURLConnection alloc] initWithRequest:request delegate:self startImmediately:YES];
[m_dataPush start];
}
- (void)connectionDidFinishLoading:(NSURLConnection *)connection
{
Process response from server, save to core DB
and again pushData if any modified and again process the response
}
I call this API, on appEnterBackground and appBecomeActive, because, I want the data to updated on multiple devices.
The problems, which I am facing is that
1) When the notes are more, app is getting stuck, when we exit and open the app and start adding notes.
2) I tried using GCD, but then my NSURLConnection doesnot send me any response
Regards
Ranjit
Ranjit: Based on your comments in the different responses, I suspect you are sending the 1st request from the main thread. When you receive the 1st response, you process it in the background, and then send the 2nd request also from the background. The subsequent requests should be sent from the main thread
[self performSelectorOnMainThread:#selector(myMethodToOpenConnection:)
withObject:myObject
waitUntilDone:NO];
otherwise the thread exits before the delegate is called
You can use NSOperation Queue with NSURLConnection like this
//allocate a new operation queue
NSOperationQueue *queue = [[NSOperationQueue alloc] init];
//Loads the data for a URL request and executes a handler block on an
//operation queue when the request completes or fails.
[NSURLConnection
sendAsynchronousRequest:urlRequest
queue:queue
completionHandler:^(NSURLResponse *response,
NSData *data,
NSError *error) {
if ([data length] >0 && error == nil){
//process the JSON response
//use the main queue so that we can interact with the screen
NSString *myData = [[NSString alloc] initWithData:data
encoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding];
NSLog(#"JSON data = %#", myData);
NSDictionary *myDict = [myData JSONValue];
}
}];
it will do all the processing in the background.
NSURLConnection provides a convenience method called sendAsynchronousRequest: completionHandler: that does the GCD work for you. You can tell it to run the completion handler on the main thread.
Using it, your code would get simpler as follows:
// place a declaration in your .h to make it public
- (void)pushDataWithCompletion:(void (^)(BOOL, NSError*))completion;
- (void)pushDataWithCompletion:(void (^)(BOOL, NSError*))completion
{
// setup your connection request...
[[request setValue:#"application/json;charset=utf-8" forHTTPHeaderField:#"Content-Type"];
[request setHTTPMethod:#"POST"];
[request setHTTPBody:jsonData];
[NSURLConnection sendAsynchronousRequest:request queue:[NSOperationQueue mainQueue] completionHandler:^(NSURLResponse *response, NSData *data, NSError *error) {
// whatever you do on the connectionDidFinishLoading
// delegate can be moved here
if (!error) {
// did finish logic here, then tell the caller you are done with success
completion(YES, nil);
} else {
// otherwise, you are done with an error
completion(NO, error);
}
}];
}
Exactly what you pass back in the block depends on what the callers care about. It's common to make some aspect of the data you collected one of the block params.
EDIT - I left out the pointer notation (*) after NSError above.
Also, say you have an array of objects that needs to be processed by the server. This method is good for one call. To handle several, lets give it a parameter. Say that each note is an NSString *;
- (void)pushNote:(NSString *)note withCompletion:(void (^)(BOOL, NSError*))completion {
// Code is the same except it forms the request body using the note parameter.
}
If the real task is to do work for several notes, you need a method that calls this one repeatedly, then tells its caller that its done.
- (void)pushNotes:(NSArray *)notes withCompletion:(void (^)(BOOL, NSError*))completion {
// if there are no more notes, we are done
if (!notes.count) return completion(YES, nil);
NSString *nextNote = notes[0];
NSArray *remainingNotes = [notes subarrayWithRange:NSMakeRange(1, notes.count-1)];
[self pushNote:nextNote withCompletion:^(BOOL success, NSError*error) {
// if success, do the rest, or else stop and tell the caller
if (success) {
[self pushNotes:remainingNotes withCompletion:completion];
} else {
completion(NO, error);
}
}];
}
I'm relatively new to iOS development but I'm working on an application to get a better understanding of development. I'm working with a web service and want to check the credentials a user enters. To do this I am making a simple get request with their credentials and then checking the http status for 200. Here is my code below:
-(BOOL)checkCredentials:(NSString *)username withPassword:(NSString *)password{
NSString *requestString = #"SOME URL";
NSURL *url = [NSURL URLWithString:requestString];
NSURLRequest *req = [NSURLRequest requestWithURL:url];
NSData *userPasswordData = [[NSString stringWithFormat:#"%#:%#", username, password] dataUsingEncoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding];
NSString *base64EncodedCredential = [userPasswordData base64EncodedStringWithOptions:0];
NSString *authString = [NSString stringWithFormat:#"Basic %#", base64EncodedCredential];
NSURLSessionConfiguration *sessionConfig=[NSURLSessionConfiguration defaultSessionConfiguration];
sessionConfig.HTTPAdditionalHeaders=#{#"Authorization":authString};
self.session=[NSURLSession sessionWithConfiguration:sessionConfig];
__block BOOL success = NO;
dispatch_semaphore_t sema = dispatch_semaphore_create(0);
NSURLSessionDataTask *dataTask = [self.session dataTaskWithRequest:req completionHandler:^(NSData *data, NSURLResponse *response, NSError *error) {
if(!error){
NSHTTPURLResponse *httpResp = (NSHTTPURLResponse*) response;
if (httpResp.statusCode == 200) {
success = YES;
}
}
NSMutableDictionary *jsonObject = [NSJSONSerialization JSONObjectWithData:data options:0 error:nil];
NSLog(#"%#", jsonObject);
dispatch_semaphore_signal(sema);
}];
dispatch_semaphore_wait(sema, DISPATCH_TIME_FOREVER);
[dataTask resume];
return success;
}
I was going to use a semaphore to wait for the block to complete so I can check the status code and then return. But first it seems like my code just hangs, and I think that because I don't have a release, but that's not allowed with ARC. I'm not sure why it's hanging. Is there a better way to wait for the block to complete (without a semaphore) so I can return whether my credentials are valid?
Also is there a better way to pass the username and password so that it's not possible for someone to spoof the username and password?
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Think simple!
Make your own completionHandler so that you won't deal with the return anymore, the caller will take the responsibility of result verification instead.
There's one thing you need to keep in mind, that if you want to modify anything related to UI (User Interface), you need to dispatch your completion block to main queue or you will get unexpected behavior, see more detail here.
Change your return type to void and add a completion block:
-(void)checkCredentials:(NSString *)username withPassword:(NSString *)password completionHandler:(void (^)(NSData *data, NSURLResponse *response, NSError *error))myCompletion
{
NSString *requestString = #"http://google.com";
NSURL *url = [NSURL URLWithString:requestString];
NSURLRequest *req = [NSURLRequest requestWithURL:url];
NSURLSession *session = [NSURLSession sharedSession];
NSURLSessionDataTask *dataTask = [session dataTaskWithRequest:req completionHandler:^(NSData *data, NSURLResponse *response, NSError *error) {
// Here you return exactly what the NSURLSessionDataTask downloaded
// and pass it to the caller as an another completion block
myCompletion(data, response, error);
}];
[dataTask resume];
}
Caller's code, I assume that self is the caller:
[self checkCredentials:#"" withPassword:#"" completionHandler:^(NSData *data, NSURLResponse *response, NSError *error) {
if(!error){
// Result verification's here
NSHTTPURLResponse *httpResp = (NSHTTPURLResponse*) response;
if (httpResp.statusCode == 200) {
NSLog(#"SUCESS");
}
}
}];
You code stops waiting for a semaphore and [dataTask resume] is never executed.
dispatch_semaphore_wait(sema, DISPATCH_TIME_FOREVER); <=== waits here
[dataTask resume]; <=== never reached
I'd suggest not using the semaphore here. Do the work in your block instead.
As to username/password. If you worry about spoofing then SSL layer on top of HTTP is the answer.
This is a really dangerous pattern, because this call is going to block until the network request completes. If this is on the main thread, your app will stop responding and the watchdog may kill you.
That warning aside, the reason the block doesn't complete is because the network task is never started. You trap on your semaphore before you call resume, so your task never runs. I would also, personally use a dispatch_group to do the waiting.
To make it better, you would need to rewrite it asynchronously. Basically have your app continue to function, maybe disable the inputs, until the call completes, then run a block to re-enable them, or show an error:
// Assume your login button and whatever are exposed as properties here
self.loginButton.enabled = NO;
NSURLSessionDataTask *dataTask = [self.session dataTaskWithRequest:req completionHandler:^(NSData *data, NSURLResponse *response, NSError *error) {
if(!error){
NSHTTPURLResponse *httpResp = (NSHTTPURLResponse*) response;
if (httpResp.statusCode == 200) {
success = YES;
}
}
NSMutableDictionary *jsonObject = [NSJSONSerialization JSONObjectWithData:data options:0 error:nil];
NSLog(#"%#", jsonObject);
// Need to be back on the main queue, the call is complete
self.loginButton.enabled = YES;
}];
[dataTask resume];
Or, just to keep it the way you have it, but resolve the immediate issue, re-order your trap so that it happens after the task resumes:
[dataTask resume];
dispatch_semaphore_wait(sema, DISPATCH_TIME_FOREVER); // might want to time out here instead of waiting forever
return success;