Minimal POST example for NSURLSession - post

Question

I must be missing something basic because I am unable to get any NSURLSession examples using POST to work at all. I have my server set up to print out (to a file that I tail) all the received POST parameters and nothing I put in the POST body shows up. I've tried the solutions from Send POST request using NSURLSession as well as online tutorials such as the Ray Wenderlich Cookbook for using NSURLSession.
Here, for example, is the code almost directly from the Stackoverflow thread, mentioned above, with only the URL and the post arguments changed:
-(void)postTest {
NSString *textContent = #"XXXXX";
NSString *noteDataString = [NSString stringWithFormat:#"x=%#", textContent];
NSURLSessionConfiguration *sessionConfiguration = [NSURLSessionConfiguration defaultSessionConfiguration];
sessionConfiguration.HTTPAdditionalHeaders = #{
#"a" : #"YYYYY"
};
NSURLSession *session = [NSURLSession sessionWithConfiguration:sessionConfiguration];
NSURL *url = [NSURL URLWithString:#"[MY URL with PHP script]"];
NSMutableURLRequest *request = [NSMutableURLRequest requestWithURL:url];
request.HTTPBody = [noteDataString dataUsingEncoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding];
request.HTTPMethod = #"POST";
NSURLSessionDataTask *postDataTask = [session dataTaskWithRequest:request completionHandler:^(NSData *data, NSURLResponse *response, NSError *error) {
outputLabel.text = [[NSString alloc] initWithData:data encoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding];
}];
[postDataTask resume];
}
The PHP script shows the "XXXXX" parameter was properly received - but it's not part of the POST body; rather, it is part of the URL itself. The only parameter in the POST body is the "YYYYY" parameter but it doesn't show up at all.
The Ray Wenderlich example didn't work either: nothing showed up for the PHP script.
-(void)testPost {
NSURL *url = [NSURL URLWithString:#"[MY URL with PHP script]"];
NSURLSessionConfiguration *config = [NSURLSessionConfiguration defaultSessionConfiguration];
NSURLSession *session = [NSURLSession sessionWithConfiguration:config];
NSMutableURLRequest *request = [[NSMutableURLRequest alloc] initWithURL:url];
request.HTTPMethod = #"POST";
NSDictionary *dictionary = #{#"a": #"YYYYY"};
NSError *error = nil;
NSData *data = [NSJSONSerialization dataWithJSONObject:dictionary options:kNilOptions error:&error];
if (!error) {
NSURLSessionUploadTask *uploadTask =
[session uploadTaskWithRequest:request
fromData:data completionHandler:^(NSData *data,NSURLResponse *response,NSError *error) {
}];
[uploadTask resume];
}
}
Is there something I'm not setting somewhere? I hadn't expected the shift to NSURLSession would have such subtle boobytraps and I'm wondering if it's something silly I'm doing wrong or missing. Thanks for any help!

Answer 1

Apple Documentation about the request parameter on uploadTaskWithRequest:fromData:completionHandler:
An NSURLRequest object that provides the URL, cache policy, request
type, and so on. The body stream and body data in this request object
are ignored.