URL Encode Alamofire GET params with SwiftyJSON - ios

Question

I am trying to have Alamofire send the following parameter in a GET request but it's sending gibberish:
filters={"$and":[{"name":{"$bw":"duke"},"country":"gb"}]}
//www.example.com/example?filters={"$and":[{"name":{"$bw":"duke"},"country":"gb"}]}
//Obviously URL encoded
This is my code:
let jsonObject = ["$and":[["name":["$bw":string], "country":"gb"]]]
let json = JSON(jsonObject)
print(json)
outputs
{
"$and" : [
{
"name" : {
"$bw" : "duke"
},
"country" : "gb"
}
]
}
This is my params request:
let params = ["filters" : json.rawValue, "limit":"1", "KEY":"my_key"]
This is what AlamoFire is sending:
KEY=my_key&
filters[$and][][country]=gb&
filters[$and][][name][$bw]=duke&
limit=1
As you can see the filter parameter is a complete mess. What am I doing wrong?

Answer 1

By default Alamofire encodes the parameters using Parameter List in the POST body. Try changing the encoding to JSON. This way Alamofire will serialize the dictionary as a JSON string as you expect:
let parameters = [
"foo": [1,2,3],
"bar": [
"baz": "qux"
]
]
Alamofire.request(.POST, "http://httpbin.org/post", parameters: parameters, encoding: .JSON)
// HTTP body: {"foo": [1, 2, 3], "bar": {"baz": "qux"}}
Or using your code:
let string = "duke"
let jsonObject = ["$and":[["name":["$bw":string], "country":"gb"]]]
let json = JSON(jsonObject)
let params = ["filters" : json.rawValue, "limit":"1", "KEY":"my_key"]
Alamofire.request(.POST, "http://httpbin.org/post", parameters: params, encoding: .JSON)
.responseString(encoding: NSUTF8StringEncoding) { request, response, content, error in
NSLog("Request: %# - %#\n%#", request.HTTPMethod!, request.URL!, request.HTTPBody.map { body in NSString(data: body, encoding: NSUTF8StringEncoding) ?? "" } ?? "")
if let response = response {
NSLog("Response: %#\n%#", response, content ?? "")
}
}
Gets the output:
Request: POST - http://httpbin.org/post
{"filters":{"$and":[{"name":{"$bw":"duke"},"country":"gb"}]},"limit":"1","KEY":"my_key"}
EDIT: URL-Encoded JSON in the GET parameters
If you want to send a URL-Encoded JSON in the GET parameters you have to generate first the JSON string and then pass it as a string in your parameters dictionary:
SWIFT 1
let string = "duke"
let jsonObject = ["$and":[["name":["$bw":string], "country":"gb"]]]
let json = JSON(jsonObject)
// Generate the string representation of the JSON value
let jsonString = json.rawString(encoding: NSUTF8StringEncoding, options: nil)!
let params = ["filters" : jsonString, "limit": "1", "KEY": "my_key"]
Alamofire.request(.GET, "http://httpbin.org/post", parameters: params)
.responseString(encoding: NSUTF8StringEncoding) { request, response, content, error in
NSLog("Request: %# - %#\n%#", request.HTTPMethod!, request.URL!, request.HTTPBody.map { body in NSString(data: body, encoding: NSUTF8StringEncoding) ?? "" } ?? "")
if let response = response {
NSLog("Response: %#\n%#", response, content ?? "")
}
}
SWIFT 2
let string = "duke"
let jsonObject = ["$and":[["name":["$bw":string], "country":"gb"]]]
let json = JSON(jsonObject)
// Generate the string representation of the JSON value
let jsonString = json.rawString(NSUTF8StringEncoding)!
let params = ["filters" : jsonString, "limit": "1", "KEY": "my_key"]
Alamofire.request(.GET, "http://httpbin.org/post", parameters: params)
.responseString(encoding: NSUTF8StringEncoding) { request, response, result in
NSLog("Request: %# - %#\n%#", request!.HTTPMethod!, request!.URL!, request!.HTTPBody.map { body in NSString(data: body, encoding: NSUTF8StringEncoding) ?? "" } ?? "")
switch result {
case .Success(let value):
NSLog("Response with content: %#", value)
case .Failure(let data, _):
NSLog("Response with error: %#", data ?? NSData())
}
}
SWIFT 3 and Alamofire 4.0
let string = "duke"
let jsonObject = ["$and":[["name":["$bw":string], "country":"gb"]]]
let json = JSON(jsonObject)
// Generate the string representation of the JSON value
let jsonString = json.rawString(.utf8)!
let params = ["filters" : jsonString, "limit": "1", "KEY": "my_key"]
Alamofire.request("http://httpbin.org/post", method: .get, parameters: params)
.responseString { response in
#if DEBUG
let request = response.request
NSLog("Request: \(request!.httpMethod!) - \(request!.url!.absoluteString)\n\(request!.httpBody.map { body in String(data: body, encoding: .utf8) ?? "" } ?? "")")
switch response.result {
case .success(let value):
print("Response with content \(value)")
case .failure(let error):
print("Response with error: \(error as NSError): \(response.data ?? Data())")
}
#endif
}
This generates a GET request with the following URL:
http://httpbin.org/post?KEY=my_key&filters=%7B%22%24and%22%3A%5B%7B%22name%22%3A%7B%22%24bw%22%3A%22duke%22%7D%2C%22country%22%3A%22gb%22%7D%5D%7D&limit=1
That URL-Decoded is:
http://httpbin.org/post?KEY=my_key&filters={"$and":[{"name":{"$bw":"duke"},"country":"gb"}]}&limit=1