I have an issue on how to refresh the UI for iOS apps. What I wanted to achieve is this:
Show data in UITableView based on data retrieved from web service
The web service should be called from a separate thread (not main thread)
After the data is retrieved, it will refresh the contents of UITableView with the retrieved data
It is due so that the UI will not hang or the app will not block user input while in the process of receiving data from the web service in bad network connection
To do that, I create the following source code:
- (void)viewDidLoad
{
[super viewDidLoad];
NSURL *myURL = [[NSURL alloc] initWithString:[Constant webserviceURL]];
NSURLRequest *request = [NSURLRequest requestWithURL:myURL cachePolicy:NSURLRequestReloadIgnoringLocalAndRemoteCacheData timeoutInterval:60];
[[NSURLConnection alloc] initWithRequest:request delegate:self];
}
- (void)connection:(NSURLConnection *)connection didReceiveData:(NSData *)data{
NSXMLParser *parser = [[NSXMLParser alloc] initWithData:data];
[self myparser] = [[MyXMLParser alloc] initXMLParser];
[parser setDelegate:myparser];
BOOL success = [parser parse];
if (success) {
// show XML data to UITableView
[_tableView performSelectorOnMainThread:#selector(reloadData) withObject:[myparser xmldata] waitUntilDone:NO];
}
else {
NSLog(#"Error parsing XML from web service");
}
}
==================
Is my implementation correct? Anybody know how to resolve it?
You would want to call
+ (void)sendAsynchronousRequest:(NSURLRequest *)request queue:(NSOperationQueue *)queue completionHandler:(void (^)(NSURLResponse*, NSData*, NSError*))handler
It will make the call to get the Data on a different thread then when the data pulled down or it had problems download data from the url it will call your handler block on the same thread as the original call was made.
Here is one way to use it: https://stackoverflow.com/a/9409737/1540822
You can also use
- (id)initWithRequest:(NSURLRequest *)request delegate:(id < NSURLConnectionDelegate >)delegate
And this will call one of your NSURLConnectionDelegate methods when data is downloaded in chucks. If you going to have large data then you may want to use this so that you don't spend too much time in the response.
Related
I'm looking for a means to handle separate but related NSURLRequest and thought that I could add them to an NSOperationQueue and then manage them (run the request or not based on http status code - if the status code is 200 they can run, if not, stop all of them as the url string needs to be appended).
In my test code below I suspend the OQ to stop the processing of NSURLRequest (represented here by some public RSS feeds) but continue to the request to the OQ. I get the right number of operations (4). After adding all request to the OQ I then check to see if it has been suspended and if so, cancel all the operations.That works, at least the check if it has been suspended.
When I do a count check after canceling the operations I still get 4 but was expecting less (and hoping for 0). I'm using NSURLConnection to get the rss data in a NSObject subclass.
I understand from the docs that NSOQ will not remove an operation until it has reported that it is finished. (Is there a way to see this report?)
You cannot directly remove an operation from a queue after it has been added. An operation remains in its queue until it reports that it is finished with its task. Finishing its task does not necessarily mean that the operation performed that task to completion. An operation can also be canceled. Canceling an operation object leaves the object in the queue but notifies the object that it should abort its task as quickly as possible.
NSURLConnection doesn't have a willStart or similar delegate method so I can't track that but my feeling is the second RSS feed is in some sort of start process and that would explain why it is still in there. But I log the connectionDidFinishLoading delegate and so the first task is completed, so I was expecting at least that to be gone.
So my question is twofold.
1. If I nil out NSOQ, does that eliminate the operations within it? And what danger is there if one of those operations is in process - crash, hanging the app, etc?
2. Is there a way to cancel a NSURLConnection that is in process? (Assuming that the answer to 1 is yes, you are in the danger zone).
Here's my code:
- (void)viewDidLoad {
[super viewDidLoad];
connectionManager* myConnectionManager = [[connectionManager alloc] init];
NSOperationQueue* operationQueue = [[NSOperationQueue alloc] init];
NSMutableArray* arrAddedOperations = [[NSMutableArray alloc] init];
NSArray* arrFeeds = [[NSArray alloc] initWithObjects:#"http://rss.cnn.com/rss/cnn_topstories.rss", #"http://hosted.ap.org/lineups/USHEADS-rss_2.0.xml?SITE=RANDOM&SECTION=HOME", #"http://feeds.reuters.com/reuters/topNews", #"http://newsrss.bbc.co.uk/rss/newsonline_world_edition/americas/rss.xml", nil];
//add operations to operation queue
for(int i=0; i<arrFeeds.count; i++) {
NSInvocationOperation* rssOperation = [[NSInvocationOperation alloc]
initWithTarget: myConnectionManager
selector:#selector(runConnection:)
object:[arrFeeds objectAtIndex:i]];
//check to put a suspension on the OQ
if (i>1) {
operationQueue.suspended = YES;
}
[operationQueue addOperation:rssOperation];
[arrAddedOperations addObject:[arrFeeds objectAtIndex:i]];
//incremental count to see operations being added to the queue - should be 4
NSLog(#"This is the number of operations added to the queue:%i", [operationQueue operationCount]);
}
if (operationQueue.suspended) {
//restart the OQ so we can cancel all the operations
operationQueue.suspended = NO;
//kill all the operations
[operationQueue cancelAllOperations];
//count to see how many operations are left
NSLog(#"OQ has been suspended and operations canclled. The operation count should be 0\nThe operation count is %i", [operationQueue operationCount]);
}
}
from NSURLConnection class
- (void) runConnection : (NSString*) strURL {
NSURLRequest* urlRequest = [[NSURLRequest alloc] initWithURL:[NSURL URLWithString:strURL]];
self.myConnection = [[NSURLConnection alloc] initWithRequest:urlRequest delegate:self startImmediately:NO];
[self.myConnection setDelegateQueue:self.myQueue];
[self.myConnection start];
self.myConnection = nil;
}
#pragma mark - NSURLConnection Delegates
- (void)connection:(NSURLConnection *)connection didFailWithError:(NSError *)error {
NSLog(#"%#", error.localizedDescription);
}
- (void) connection:(NSURLConnection *)connection didReceiveResponse:(NSURLResponse *)response {
NSHTTPURLResponse* httpResponse = (NSHTTPURLResponse*)response;
NSLog(#"%#", [NSNumber numberWithInteger:httpResponse.statusCode]);
}
- (void) connection:(NSURLConnection *)connection didReceiveData:(NSData *)data {
self.strReponse = [[NSString alloc] initWithData:data encoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding];
//NSLog(#"%#", self.strReponse);
}
- (void) connectionDidFinishLoading:(NSURLConnection *)connection {
NSLog(#"task finished");
NSDictionary* dictUserInfo = [[NSDictionary alloc] initWithObjectsAndKeys:
#"Display Data", #"Action",
self.strReponse, #"Data",
nil];
[[NSNotificationCenter defaultCenter] postNotificationName:#"avc" object:self userInfo:dictUserInfo];
}
Edit: I don't need to save these operations as I am storing the incoming request in a mutable array and which just create a new OQ once they have been appended. I just want to make sure they are cancelled and not leaving the app in a fragile state.
I've read through tons of messages saying the same thing all over again : when you use a NSURLConnection, delegate methods are not called. I understand that Apple's doc are incomplete and reference deprecated methods, which is a shame, but I can't seem to find a solution.
Code for the request is there :
// Create request
NSURL *urlObj = [NSURL URLWithString:url];
NSMutableURLRequest *request = [NSMutableURLRequest requestWithURL:urlObj cachePolicy:NSURLRequestReloadIgnoringCacheData timeoutInterval:30];
[request setValue:#"gzip" forHTTPHeaderField:#"Accept-Encoding"];
if (![NSURLConnection canHandleRequest:request]) {
NSLog(#"Can't handle request...");
return;
}
// Start connection
dispatch_async(dispatch_get_main_queue(), ^{
self.connection = [[NSURLConnection alloc] initWithRequest:request delegate:self startImmediately:YES]; // Edited
});
...and code for the delegate methods is here :
- (void) connection:(NSURLConnection *)_connection didReceiveResponse:(NSURLResponse *)response {
NSLog(#"Receiving response: %#, status %d", [(NSHTTPURLResponse*)response allHeaderFields], [(NSHTTPURLResponse*) response statusCode]);
self.data = [NSMutableData data];
}
- (void) connection:(NSURLConnection *)_connection didFailWithError:(NSError *)error {
NSLog(#"Connection failed: %#", error);
[self _finish];
}
- (void) connection:(NSURLConnection *)_connection didReceiveData:(NSData *)_data {
[data appendData:_data];
}
- (void)connectionDidFinishDownloading:(NSURLConnection *)_connection destinationURL:(NSURL *) destinationURL {
NSLog(#"Connection done!");
[self _finish];
}
There's not a lot of error checking here, but I've made sure of a few things :
Whatever happens, didReceiveData is never called, so I don't get any data
...but the data is transfered (I checked using tcpdump)
...and the other methods are called successfully.
If I use the NSURLConnectionDownloadDelegate instead of NSURLConnectionDataDelegate, everything works but I can't get a hold on the downloaded file (this is a known bug)
The request is not deallocated before completion by bad memory management
Nothing changes if I use a standard HTML page somewhere on the internet as my URL
The request is kicked off from the main queue
I don't want to use a third-party library, as, ultimately, these requests are to be included in a library of my own, and I'd like to minimize the dependencies. If I have to, I'll use CFNetwork directly, but it will be a huge pain in the you-know-what.
If you have any idea, it would help greatly. Thanks!
I ran into the same problem. Very annoying, but it seems that if you implement this method:
- (void)connectionDidFinishDownloading:(NSURLConnection *)connection destinationURL:(NSURL *)destinationURL
Then connection:didReceiveData: will never be called. You have to use connectionDidFinishLoading: instead... Yes, the docs say it is deprecated, but I think thats only because this method moved from NSURLConnectionDelegate into NSURLConnectionDataDelegate.
I like to use the sendAsynchronousRequest method.. there's less information during the connection, but the code is a lot cleaner.
[NSURLConnection sendAsynchronousRequest:request queue:[[NSOperationQueue alloc] init] completionHandler:^(NSURLResponse *response, NSData *data, NSError *error){
if (data){
//do something with data
}
else if (error)
NSLog(#"%#",error);
}];
From Apple:
By default, a connection is scheduled on the current thread in the
default mode when it is created. If you create a connection with the
initWithRequest:delegate:startImmediately: method and provide NO for
the startImmediately parameter, you can schedule the connection on a
different run loop or mode before starting it with the start method.
You can schedule a connection on multiple run loops and modes, or on
the same run loop in multiple modes.
Unless there is a reason to explicitly run it in [NSRunLoop currentRunLoop],
you can remove these two lines:
[connection scheduleInRunLoop:[NSRunLoop currentRunLoop] forMode:NSRunLoopCommonModes];
[connection start];
or change the mode to NSDefaultRunLoopMode
NSURLConnection API says " ..delegate methods are called on the thread that started the asynchronous load operation for the associated NSURLConnection object."
Because dispatch_async will start new thread, and NSURLConnection will not pass to that other threat the call backs, so do not use dispatch_async with NSURLConnection.
You do not have to afraid about frozen user interface, NSURLConnection providing only the controls of asynchronous loads.
If you have more files to download, you can start some of connection in first turn, and later they finished, in the connectionDidFinishLoading: method you can start new connections.
int i=0;
for (RetrieveOneDocument *doc in self.documents) {
if (i<5) {
[[NSURLConnection alloc] initWithRequest:request delegate:self];
i++;
}
}
..
-(void)connectionDidFinishLoading:(NSURLConnection *)connection
{
ii++;
if(ii == 5) {
[[NSURLConnection alloc] initWithRequest:request delegate:self];
ii=0;
}
}
One possible reason is that the outgoing NSURLRequest has been setup to have a -HTTPMethod of HEAD. Quite hard to do that by accident though!
I'm trying to get data from a website to display it inside a table view
My code:
-(void)loadTutorials {
NSURL *url = [NSURL URLWithString:[#"http://www.example.com/search?q=" stringByAppendingString:self.searchString]];
NSURLRequest *UrlString = [[NSURLRequest alloc] initWithURL:url];
NSURLConnection *connection = [[NSURLConnection alloc] initWithRequest:UrlString
delegate:self];
[connection start];
NSLog(#"Started");
}
- (void)connection:(NSURLConnection *)connection didReceiveData:(NSData *)data
{
TFHpple *tutorialsParser = [TFHpple hppleWithHTMLData:data];
NSString *tutorialsXpathQueryString = #"//div[#id='header']/div[#class='window']/div[#class='item']/div[#class='title']/a";
NSArray *tutorialsNodes = [tutorialsParser searchWithXPathQuery:tutorialsXpathQueryString];
NSMutableArray *newTutorials = [[NSMutableArray alloc] init];
for (TFHppleElement *element in tutorialsNodes) {
Data *tutorial = [[Data alloc] initWithTitle: [[element firstChild] content]
Url: [#"http://www.example.com" stringByAppendingString: [element objectForKey:#"href"]]
];
[newTutorials addObject:tutorial];
}
_objects = newTutorials;
[self.tableView reloadData];
}
but the data is not showing up, is the data not finished loading?
I got it to working without NSURLConnection but then it will stop the program until the data is recieved
According to NSURLConnectionDataDelegate
connection:didReceiveData:
is called in a incrementally manner.
The newly available data. The delegate should concatenate the contents
of each data object delivered to build up the complete data for a URL
load.
So this means you should append new data within this method.
Then, in
- (void)connectionDidFinishLoading:(NSURLConnection *)connection
you should manipulate your data.
So, for example
- (void)connection:(NSURLConnection *)connection didReceiveResponse:(NSURLResponse *)response {
// Create space for containing incoming data
// This method may be called more than once if you're getting a multi-part mime
// message and will be called once there's enough date to create the response object
// Hence do a check if _responseData already there
_responseData = [[NSMutableData alloc] init];
}
- (void)connection:(NSURLConnection *)connection didReceiveData:(NSData *)data {
// Append the new data
[_responseData appendData:data];
}
- (void)connectionDidFinishLoading:(NSURLConnection *)connection {
// Parse the stuff in your instance variable now
}
Obviously you should also implement the delegate responsible for error handling.
A simple note is the following. If data is too big and you need to do some computations stuff (e.g. parsing), you could block the UI. So, you could move the parsing in a different thread (GCD is your friend). Then when finished you could reload the table in the main thread.
Take a look also here for further info: NSURLConnectionDataDelegate order of functions.
hi I have an UITableView. It loads numberof data from a web service. What I want to load this tableview 10 by 10.Initially it loads first 10 items. When user scroll to the end of the UITableView it should load next 10 of records from the server. so in my scrollviewDidEndDeclarating delegate I put like this
`
if (scrollView.tag==24) {
[self performSelector:#selector(loadingalbumsongs:) withObject:nil afterDelay:0.1];
}`
but the problem is when I stop the scroll it is getting stuck untill load the table view. Can anybody give me a solution for this
Thanks
Try NSURLCONNECTION that will help you to call asynchronous webservice
A NSURLConnection object is used to perform the execution of a web service using HTTP.
When using NSURLConnection, requests are made in asynchronous form. This mean that you don't wait the end of the request to continue,
This delegate must have to implement the following methods :
connection:didReceiveResponse : called after the connection is made successfully and before receiving any data. Can be called more than one time in case of redirection.
connection:didReceiveData : called for each bloc of data.
connectionDidFinishLoading : called only one time upon the completion of the request, if no error.
connection:didFailWithError : called on error.
EXAMPLE: -
NSData *data = [[NSMutableData alloc] init];
NSURL *url_string = [NSURL URLWithString:
#"Your URL"];
NSURLRequest *request = [NSURLRequest requestWithURL:url_string];
NSURLConnection *conn = [[NSURLConnection alloc] initWithRequest:request
delegate:self];
if (!conn) {
// this is better if you #throw an exception here
NSLog(#"error while starting the connection");
[data release];
}
for each block of raw data received you can append your data here in this method :
- (void)connection:(NSURLConnection *)connection didReceiveData:(NSData *)someData {
[data appendData:someData];
}
connectionDidFinishLoading will call at the end of successfully data receivied
use this code for load more action
- (void)scrollViewDidScroll:(UIScrollView *)scrollView
{
//scrollView.contentSize.height-scrollView.frame.size.height indicates UItableView scrool end
if (scrollView.contentOffset.y >= scrollView.contentSize.height-scrollView.frame.size.height)
{
if(loadMore)
{
loadmore=no;
//call your Web service
}
}
}
In my iPad application, I want to load a modal window with some data.
But those data can be retrieved from a web service call. So, I have created another class and in that class's connectionDidFinishLoading I can have the response data. As the web service call is asynchronous, I have to wait for the data to load the modal window. Can anyone help me with some example code? Should I think in different way?
Thank you all for the prompt reply.
My problem was solved using the NSNotificationCenter. This tutorial was helpful http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WB-QCv_4ANU&feature=plcp
Either you can load modal window from connectionDidFinishLoading method. Or you can use delegates to pass data from connectionDidFinishLoading metod to the window that you are going to present. Refer this tutorial.
You start the connection this way:
NSURL *url = [NSURL URLWithString:<#your url string#>];
NSURLRequest *request = [[NSURLRequest alloc] initWithURL:url];
myData = [[NSMutableData alloc] init];
con = [[NSURLConnection alloc] initWithRequest:request delegate:self];
And you need to implement NSURLConnectionDelegate delegate.
- (void)connection:(NSURLConnection *)connection didReceiveData:(NSData *)data
{
//append data to your NSMutableData object
[myData appendData: data];
}
- (void)connection:(NSURLConnection *)connection
didFailWithError:(NSError *)error
{
//handle the error
}
- (void)connectionDidFinishLoading:(NSURLConnection *)connection
{
//here you can use your NSMutableData object, fill your window with the data etc.
<#your code#>
}
This is just an example. You can read more about it in NSURLConnectionDelegate Protocol Reference.