iOS

Tutorial on Using AFNetworking 2.0

This is a follow-up post to the tutorial on using AFNetworking 1.0.

With the upgrade of AFNetworking to 2.0, the code for 1.0 becomes obsolete. It is not backward compatible at all. So here is the new guide.

GET

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AFHTTPRequestOperationManager *manager = [AFHTTPRequestOperationManager manager];
[manager GET:@"http://samwize.com/api/poos/"
  parameters:nil
     success:^(AFHTTPRequestOperation *operation, id responseObject) {
    NSLog(@"JSON: %@", responseObject);
} failure:^(AFHTTPRequestOperation *operation, NSError *error) {
    NSLog(@"Error: %@", error);
}];

POST

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AFHTTPRequestOperationManager *manager = [AFHTTPRequestOperationManager manager];
[manager POST:@"http://samwize.com/api/poo/"
   parameters:@{@"color": @"green"}
      success:^(AFHTTPRequestOperation *operation, id responseObject) {
    NSLog(@"JSON: %@", responseObject);
} failure:^(AFHTTPRequestOperation *operation, NSError *error) {
    NSLog(@"Error: %@", error);
}];

POST Multi-Part

Similar to POST, but with data (in this case an image) in the body in multi-parts.

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AFHTTPRequestOperationManager *manager = [AFHTTPRequestOperationManager manager];
NSURL *filePath = [NSURL fileURLWithPath:@"file://path/to/image.png"];
[manager POST:@"http://samwize.com/api/poo/"
   parameters:@{@"color": @"green"}
   constructingBodyWithBlock:^(id<AFMultipartFormData> formData) {
    [formData appendPartWithFileURL:filePath name:@"image" error:nil];
} success:^(AFHTTPRequestOperation *operation, id responseObject) {
    NSLog(@"Success: %@", responseObject);
} failure:^(AFHTTPRequestOperation *operation, NSError *error) {
    NSLog(@"Error: %@", error);
}];

Batch of Operations

In the above, AFHTTPRequestOperationManager is used, and that is usually good enough.

But if you requires batch operations, then you have to use AFHTTPRequestSerializer, AFHTTPRequestOperation and NSOperationQueue.

The sample code below is directly from AFNetworking:

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NSMutableArray *mutableOperations = [NSMutableArray array];
for (NSURL *fileURL in filesToUpload) {
    NSURLRequest *request = [[AFHTTPRequestSerializer serializer] multipartFormRequestWithMethod:@"POST" URLString:@"http://example.com/upload" parameters:nil constructingBodyWithBlock:^(id<AFMultipartFormData> formData) {
        [formData appendPartWithFileURL:fileURL name:@"images[]" error:nil];
    }];

    AFHTTPRequestOperation *operation = [[AFHTTPRequestOperation alloc] initWithRequest:request];

    [mutableOperations addObject:operation];
}

NSArray *operations = [AFURLConnectionOperation batchOfRequestOperations:@[...] progressBlock:^(NSUInteger numberOfFinishedOperations, NSUInteger totalNumberOfOperations) {
    NSLog(@"%lu of %lu complete", numberOfFinishedOperations, totalNumberOfOperations);
} completionBlock:^(NSArray *operations) {
    NSLog(@"All operations in batch complete");
}];
[[NSOperationQueue mainQueue] addOperations:operations waitUntilFinished:NO];

More Tips

The above examples use the default AFJSONResponseSerializer – which means it expect the response to be a valid JSON.

If you are handling XML or data, then you want to use a different serializer.

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// To handle XML
AFHTTPRequestOperationManager *manager = [AFHTTPRequestOperationManager manager];
manager.responseSerializer = [AFXMLParserResponseSerializer new];
// Or data
manager.responseSerializer = [AFHTTPResponseSerializer new];

AFNetworking is strict with the Content-Type.

So if your response is a “text/plain” when you are using a JSON serializer, you can do this:

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// Tip by dStudios
manager.responseSerializer.acceptableContentTypes = [NSSet setWithObject:@"text/plain"];

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