How to make an HTTP request + basic auth in Swift - ios

Question

I have a RESTFull service with basic authentication and I want to invoke it from iOS+swift. How and where I must provide Credential for this request?
My code (sorry, I just start learn iOS/obj-c/swift):
class APIProxy: NSObject {
var data: NSMutableData = NSMutableData()
func connectToWebApi() {
var urlPath = "http://xx.xx.xx.xx/BP3_0_32/ru/hs/testservis/somemethod"
NSLog("connection string \(urlPath)")
var url: NSURL = NSURL(string: urlPath)
var request = NSMutableURLRequest(URL: url)
let username = "hs"
let password = "1"
let loginString = NSString(format: "%#:%#", username, password)
let loginData: NSData = loginString.dataUsingEncoding(NSUTF8StringEncoding)
let base64LoginString = loginData.base64EncodedStringWithOptions(NSDataBase64EncodingOptions.fromMask(0))
request.setValue(base64LoginString, forHTTPHeaderField: "Authorization")
var connection: NSURLConnection = NSURLConnection(request: request, delegate: self)
connection.start()
}
//NSURLConnection delegate method
func connection(connection: NSURLConnection!, didFailWithError error: NSError!) {
println("Failed with error:\(error.localizedDescription)")
}
//NSURLConnection delegate method
func connection(didReceiveResponse: NSURLConnection!, didReceiveResponse response: NSURLResponse!) {
//New request so we need to clear the data object
self.data = NSMutableData()
}
//NSURLConnection delegate method
func connection(connection: NSURLConnection!, didReceiveData data: NSData!) {
//Append incoming data
self.data.appendData(data)
}
//NSURLConnection delegate method
func connectionDidFinishLoading(connection: NSURLConnection!) {
NSLog("connectionDidFinishLoading");
}
}

Answer 1

You provide credentials in a URLRequest instance, like this in Swift 3:
let username = "user"
let password = "pass"
let loginString = String(format: "%#:%#", username, password)
let loginData = loginString.data(using: String.Encoding.utf8)!
let base64LoginString = loginData.base64EncodedString()
// create the request
let url = URL(string: "http://www.example.com/")!
var request = URLRequest(url: url)
request.httpMethod = "POST"
request.setValue("Basic \(base64LoginString)", forHTTPHeaderField: "Authorization")
// fire off the request
// make sure your class conforms to NSURLConnectionDelegate
let urlConnection = NSURLConnection(request: request, delegate: self)
Or in an NSMutableURLRequest in Swift 2:
// set up the base64-encoded credentials
let username = "user"
let password = "pass"
let loginString = NSString(format: "%#:%#", username, password)
let loginData: NSData = loginString.dataUsingEncoding(NSUTF8StringEncoding)!
let base64LoginString = loginData.base64EncodedStringWithOptions([])
// create the request
let url = NSURL(string: "http://www.example.com/")
let request = NSMutableURLRequest(URL: url)
request.HTTPMethod = "POST"
request.setValue("Basic \(base64LoginString)", forHTTPHeaderField: "Authorization")
// fire off the request
// make sure your class conforms to NSURLConnectionDelegate
let urlConnection = NSURLConnection(request: request, delegate: self)

Answer 2

swift 4:
let username = "username"
let password = "password"
let loginString = "\(username):\(password)"
guard let loginData = loginString.data(using: String.Encoding.utf8) else {
return
}
let base64LoginString = loginData.base64EncodedString()
request.httpMethod = "GET"
request.setValue("Basic \(base64LoginString)", forHTTPHeaderField: "Authorization")

Answer 3

//create authentication base 64 encoding string
let PasswordString = "\(txtUserName.text):\(txtPassword.text)"
let PasswordData = PasswordString.dataUsingEncoding(NSUTF8StringEncoding)
let base64EncodedCredential = PasswordData!.base64EncodedStringWithOptions(NSDataBase64EncodingOptions.Encoding64CharacterLineLength)
//let base64EncodedCredential = PasswordData!.base64EncodedStringWithOptions(nil)
//create authentication url
let urlPath: String = "http://...../auth"
var url: NSURL = NSURL(string: urlPath)
//create and initialize basic authentication request
var request: NSMutableURLRequest = NSMutableURLRequest(URL: url)
request.setValue("Basic \(base64EncodedCredential)", forHTTPHeaderField: "Authorization")
request.HTTPMethod = "GET"
//You can use one of below methods
//1 URL request with NSURLConnectionDataDelegate
let queue:NSOperationQueue = NSOperationQueue()
let urlConnection = NSURLConnection(request: request, delegate: self)
urlConnection.start()
//2 URL Request with AsynchronousRequest
NSURLConnection.sendAsynchronousRequest(request, queue: NSOperationQueue.mainQueue()) {(response, data, error) in
println(NSString(data: data, encoding: NSUTF8StringEncoding))
}
//2 URL Request with AsynchronousRequest with json output
NSURLConnection.sendAsynchronousRequest(request, queue: NSOperationQueue.mainQueue(), completionHandler:{ (response: NSURLResponse!, data: NSData!, error: NSError!) -> Void in
var err: NSError
var jsonResult: NSDictionary = NSJSONSerialization.JSONObjectWithData(data, options: NSJSONReadingOptions.MutableContainers, error: nil) as NSDictionary
println("\(jsonResult)")
})
//3 URL Request with SynchronousRequest
var response: AutoreleasingUnsafePointer<NSURLResponse?>=nil
var dataVal: NSData = NSURLConnection.sendSynchronousRequest(request, returningResponse: response, error:nil)
var err: NSError
var jsonResult: NSDictionary = NSJSONSerialization.JSONObjectWithData(dataVal, options: NSJSONReadingOptions.MutableContainers, error: nil) as NSDictionary
println("\(jsonResult)")
//4 URL Request with NSURLSession
let config = NSURLSessionConfiguration.defaultSessionConfiguration()
let authString = "Basic \(base64EncodedCredential)"
config.HTTPAdditionalHeaders = ["Authorization" : authString]
let session = NSURLSession(configuration: config)
session.dataTaskWithURL(url) {
(let data, let response, let error) in
if let httpResponse = response as? NSHTTPURLResponse {
let dataString = NSString(data: data, encoding: NSUTF8StringEncoding)
println(dataString)
}
}.resume()
// you may be get fatal error if you changed the request.HTTPMethod = "POST" when server request GET request

Answer 4

In Swift 2:
extension NSMutableURLRequest {
func setAuthorizationHeader(username username: String, password: String) -> Bool {
guard let data = "\(username):\(password)".dataUsingEncoding(NSUTF8StringEncoding) else { return false }
let base64 = data.base64EncodedStringWithOptions([])
setValue("Basic \(base64)", forHTTPHeaderField: "Authorization")
return true
}
}

Answer 5

go plain for SWIFT 3 and APACHE simple Auth:
func urlSession(_ session: URLSession, task: URLSessionTask,
didReceive challenge: URLAuthenticationChallenge,
completionHandler: #escaping (URLSession.AuthChallengeDisposition, URLCredential?) -> Void) {
let credential = URLCredential(user: "test",
password: "test",
persistence: .none)
completionHandler(.useCredential, credential)
}

Answer 6

I had a similar problem trying to POST to MailGun for some automated emails I was implementing in an app.
I was able to get this working properly with a large HTTP response. I put the full path into Keys.plist so that I can upload my code to github and broke out some of the arguments into variables so I can have them programmatically set later down the road.
// Email the FBO with desired information
// Parse our Keys.plist so we can use our path
var keys: NSDictionary?
if let path = NSBundle.mainBundle().pathForResource("Keys", ofType: "plist") {
keys = NSDictionary(contentsOfFile: path)
}
if let dict = keys {
// variablize our https path with API key, recipient and message text
let mailgunAPIPath = dict["mailgunAPIPath"] as? String
let emailRecipient = "bar#foo.com"
let emailMessage = "Testing%20email%20sender%20variables"
// Create a session and fill it with our request
let session = NSURLSession.sharedSession()
let request = NSMutableURLRequest(URL: NSURL(string: mailgunAPIPath! + "from=FBOGo%20Reservation%20%3Cscheduler#<my domain>.com%3E&to=reservations#<my domain>.com&to=\(emailRecipient)&subject=A%20New%20Reservation%21&text=\(emailMessage)")!)
// POST and report back with any errors and response codes
request.HTTPMethod = "POST"
let task = session.dataTaskWithRequest(request, completionHandler: {(data, response, error) in
if let error = error {
print(error)
}
if let response = response {
print("url = \(response.URL!)")
print("response = \(response)")
let httpResponse = response as! NSHTTPURLResponse
print("response code = \(httpResponse.statusCode)")
}
})
task.resume()
}
The Mailgun Path is in Keys.plist as a string called mailgunAPIPath with the value:
https://API:key-<my key>#api.mailgun.net/v3/<my domain>.com/messages?
Hope this helps offers a solution to someone trying to avoid using 3rd party code for their POST requests!

Answer 7

my solution works as follows:
import UIKit
class LoginViewController: UIViewController, NSURLConnectionDataDelegate {
#IBOutlet var usernameTextField: UITextField
#IBOutlet var passwordTextField: UITextField
#IBAction func login(sender: AnyObject) {
var url = NSURL(string: "YOUR_URL")
var request = NSURLRequest(URL: url)
var connection = NSURLConnection(request: request, delegate: self, startImmediately: true)
}
func connection(connection:NSURLConnection!, willSendRequestForAuthenticationChallenge challenge:NSURLAuthenticationChallenge!) {
if challenge.previousFailureCount > 1 {
} else {
let creds = NSURLCredential(user: usernameTextField.text, password: passwordTextField.text, persistence: NSURLCredentialPersistence.None)
challenge.sender.useCredential(creds, forAuthenticationChallenge: challenge)
}
}
func connection(connection:NSURLConnection!, didReceiveResponse response: NSURLResponse) {
let status = (response as NSHTTPURLResponse).statusCode
println("status code is \(status)")
// 200? Yeah authentication was successful
}
override func viewDidLoad() {
super.viewDidLoad()
}
override func didReceiveMemoryWarning() {
super.didReceiveMemoryWarning()
}
}
You can use this class as the implementation of a ViewController. Connect your fields to the IBOutlet annotated vars and your Button to the IBAction annotated function.
Explanation:
In function login you create your request with NSURL, NSURLRequest and NSURLConnection.
Essential here is the delegate which references to this class (self).
For receiving the delegates calls you need to
Add the protocol NSURLConnectionDataDelegate to the class
Implement the protocols' function "connection:willSendRequestForAuthenticationChallenge"
This is used for adding the credentials to the request
Implement the protocols' function "connection:didReceiveResponse"
This will check the http response status code

Answer 8

I am calling the json on login button click
#IBAction func loginClicked(sender : AnyObject){
var request = NSMutableURLRequest(URL: NSURL(string: kLoginURL)) // Here, kLogin contains the Login API.
var session = NSURLSession.sharedSession()
request.HTTPMethod = "POST"
var err: NSError?
request.HTTPBody = NSJSONSerialization.dataWithJSONObject(self.criteriaDic(), options: nil, error: &err) // This Line fills the web service with required parameters.
request.addValue("application/json", forHTTPHeaderField: "Content-Type")
request.addValue("application/json", forHTTPHeaderField: "Accept")
var task = session.dataTaskWithRequest(request, completionHandler: {data, response, error -> Void in
// println("Response: \(response)")
var strData = NSString(data: data, encoding: NSUTF8StringEncoding)
println("Body: \(strData)")
var err1: NSError?
var json2 = NSJSONSerialization.JSONObjectWithData(strData.dataUsingEncoding(NSUTF8StringEncoding), options: .MutableLeaves, error:&err1 ) as NSDictionary
println("json2 :\(json2)")
if(err) {
println(err!.localizedDescription)
}
else {
var success = json2["success"] as? Int
println("Succes: \(success)")
}
})
task.resume()
}
Here, I have made a seperate dictionary for the parameters.
var params = ["format":"json", "MobileType":"IOS","MIN":"f8d16d98ad12acdbbe1de647414495ec","UserName":emailTxtField.text,"PWD":passwordTxtField.text,"SigninVia":"SH"]as NSDictionary
return params
}

Answer 9

Working example for SwiftUI iOS15 async/await
struct ExampleJSONService {
let passwordString = "user:password"
let configuration = URLSessionConfiguration.default
enum ExampleJSONServiceError: Error {
case failed
case failedToDecode
case invalidStatusCode
}
func fetchStuff(for myID:String) async throws -> [Stuff] {
let passwordData = passwordString.data(using:String.Encoding.utf8)!
let base64EncodedCredential = passwordData.base64EncodedString()
let authString = "Basic \(base64EncodedCredential)"
let session = URLSession(configuration: configuration)
configuration.httpAdditionalHeaders = ["Authorization" : authString]
let dataUrl = "https://toto.org/stuff/\(myID)/data.json"
let url = URL(string: dataUrl)!
var urlRequest = URLRequest(url: url)
urlRequest.setValue("Basic \(base64EncodedCredential)", forHTTPHeaderField: "Authorization")
urlRequest.httpMethod = "GET"
let (data, response) = try await session.data(for: urlRequest)
guard let response = response as? HTTPURLResponse,
response.statusCode == 200 else {
throw PrixJSONServiceError.invalidStatusCode
}
let decodedData = try JSONDecoder().decode([Prix].self, from: data)
return decodedData
}
}