How to make an HTTP request with AFNetorking and NSURLRequest? - ios

Question

I am trying to use AFHTTPRequestOperationManager to make an HTTP request. I need to use AFHTTPRequestOperationManager because I want to be able to cancel all operations if necessary. I can't get this working for some reason. The completion blocks aren't called. Am I missing something?
NSURL *url = [NSURL URLWithString:[NSString stringWithFormat:#"https://twitter.com/%#", username]];
NSMutableURLRequest *request = [NSMutableURLRequest requestWithURL:url];
[request setValue:#"MyUserAgent (iPhone; iOS 7.0.2; gzip)" forHTTPHeaderField:#"User-Agent"];
[request setHTTPMethod:#"GET"];
[self.manager HTTPRequestOperationWithRequest:request success:^(AFHTTPRequestOperation *operation, id responseObject) {
NSString *html = [[NSString alloc] initWithData:responseObject encoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding];
if ([html containsString:#"var h = decodeURI(l.hash.substr(1)).toLowerCase();"]) {
completion(YES, nil);
} else {
completion(NO, nil);
}
} failure:^(AFHTTPRequestOperation *operation, NSError *error) {
completion(NO, error);
}];

Answer 1

This is working code, you need to use GET or POST method there.
AFHTTPRequestOperationManager *manager = [AFHTTPRequestOperationManager manager];
NSDictionary *params = #{#"email":emailfield.text};
[manager GET:#"http://example.com/api" parameters:params success:^(AFHTTPRequestOperation *operation, id responseObject) {
NSLog(#"JSON: %#", responseObject);
} failure:^(AFHTTPRequestOperation *operation, NSError *error) {
NSLog(#"Error: %#", error);
}];

Answer 2

While everyone else is right -- you should be using the modern AFNetworking constructs instead of the legacy features -- there is a quick way to get done what you're looking to get done.
By the looks of it, the method - (??? *) HTTPRequestOperationWithRequest:success:failure likely returns an AFHTTPRequestOperation. If I'm correct, you just need to actually start the operation. See below for your code, corrected.
NSURL *url = [NSURL URLWithString:[NSString stringWithFormat:#"https://twitter.com/%#", username]];
NSMutableURLRequest *request = [NSMutableURLRequest requestWithURL:url];
[request setValue:#"MyUserAgent (iPhone; iOS 7.0.2; gzip)" forHTTPHeaderField:#"User-Agent"];
[request setHTTPMethod:#"GET"];
AFHTTPRequestOperation *op = [self.manager HTTPRequestOperationWithRequest:request success:^(AFHTTPRequestOperation *operation, id responseObject) {
NSString *html = [[NSString alloc] initWithData:responseObject encoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding];
if ([html containsString:#"var h = decodeURI(l.hash.substr(1)).toLowerCase();"]) {
completion(YES, nil);
} else {
completion(NO, nil);
}
} failure:^(AFHTTPRequestOperation *operation, NSError *error) {
completion(NO, error);
}];
[op start];

Answer 3

HTTPRequestOperationWithRequest method returns AFHTTPRequestOperation. You have to add it to some operation queue to start it. For example
AFHTTPRequestOperation *operation = [self.manager HTTPRequestOperationWithRequest:request .........
[[NSOperationQueue currentQueue] addOperation:operation];
You can use AFHTTPSessionManager which is a little better than AFHTTPRequestOperationManager and cancel requests using method cancel of NSURLSessionDataTask. You can find some code examples here - AFNetworking 2.0 cancel specific task

Answer 4

Check this will work
AFHTTPRequestOperationManager *manager = [AFHTTPRequestOperationManager manager];
manager.responseSerializer.acceptableContentTypes = [NSSet setWithObjects:#"application/json", nil];
manager.requestSerializer = [AFJSONRequestSerializer serializer];
[manager POST:url parameters:parameters success:^(AFHTTPRequestOperation *operation, id responseObject) {
} failure:^(AFHTTPRequestOperation *operation, NSError *error) {
}];