ASIHTTP post works different than NSMutableURLRequest

Question

i used to have a method to post:

-(void) execMethod:(NSString*)methodName andParams:(NSArray*)parameters withID:(NSString*)identificator {

//RPC
NSMutableDictionary* reqDict = [NSMutableDictionary dictionary];
[reqDict setObject:methodName forKey:@"method"];
[reqDict setObject:parameters forKey:@"params"];
[reqDict setObject:identificator forKey:@"id"];

//RPC JSON
NSString* reqString = [NSString stringWithString:[reqDict JSONRepresentation]];
NSData* requestData = [NSData dataWithBytes:[reqString UTF8String] length:[reqString length]];

//Request
NSMutableURLRequest *request = [[NSMutableURLRequest alloc] initWithURL:url];


//prepare http body
[request setHTTPMethod: @"POST"];
[request setValue:[NSString stringWithFormat:@"%d", [requestData length]] forHTTPHeaderField:@"Content-Length"];
[request setValue:@"application/json" forHTTPHeaderField:@"Accept"];
[request setValue:@"application/x-www-form-urlencoded" forHTTPHeaderField:@"Content-Type"];
[request setHTTPBody: requestData];


if (urlConnection != nil) {
    [urlConnection release];
    urlConnection = nil;
}

urlConnection = [[NSURLConnection alloc] initWithRequest:request delegate:self startImmediately:YES];
[request release];

    }

Now I want to use ASIHttp and I wrote that function:

-(void)startRequest:(NSString*)methodName andParams:(NSArray*)parameters withID:(NSString*)identificator
   {

    NSMutableDictionary* reqDict = [NSMutableDictionary dictionary];
[reqDict setObject:methodName forKey:@"method"];
[reqDict setObject:parameters forKey:@"params"];
[reqDict setObject:identificator forKey:@"id"];

//RPC JSON
NSString* reqString = [NSString stringWithString:[reqDict JSONRepresentation]];

//Request
    NSData* requestData = [NSData dataWithBytes:[reqString UTF8String] length:[reqString length]];



asiRequest=[ASIFormDataRequest requestWithURL:url];

[asiRequest addRequestHeader:@"Accept" value:@"application/json"];
[asiRequest addRequestHeader:@"Content-Length" value:[NSString stringWithFormat:@"%d", [requestData length]]];
[asiRequest addRequestHeader:@"Content-Type" value:@"application/x-www-form-urlencoded"];

[asiRequest appendPostData:requestData];
[asiRequest setDelegate:self];

[asiRequest startAsynchronous];

}

But it doesn't behave same.It should return me a json. First one works correctly but second doesn't. Where is my fault?

Thanks

My i suggest you move to [AFNetworking](https://github.com/AFNetworking/AFNetworking/), ASIHTTPRequest is no longer being supported. Thus switch now to a library that is no longer support would make little sense. — rckoenes, Jul 06 '12 at 14:07

score 0 · Accepted Answer · edited Jun 20 '20 at 09:12

From your code sample it looks like you are submitting content of type "application/json", but you are setting the Content-Type to be "application/x-www-form-urlencoded".

ASIHTTP has special handling for "application/x-www-form-urlencoded". I think you may be running into a problem with that special handling.

After looking at ASI's website

I found the following:

PUT requests and custom POSTs

If you want to send data via PUT, or want to send it with POST but prefer to create the POST body yourself, use appendPostData: or appendPostDataFromFile:.

ASIHTTPRequest *request = [ASIHTTPRequest requestWithURL:url];
[request appendPostData:[@"This is my data" dataUsingEncoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding]];
// Default becomes POST when you use appendPostData: / appendPostDataFromFile: / setPostBody:
[request setRequestMethod:@"PUT"];

So by using ASIHTTPRequest instead of ASIFormDataRequest you will avoid the special handling. So you should be able to do the following (NOTE: Setting the content length should not be needed):

asiRequest = [ASIHTTPRequest requestWithURL:url];

[asiRequest addRequestHeader:@"Accept" value:@"application/json"];
[asiRequest addRequestHeader:@"Content-Type" value:@"application/x-www-form-urlencoded"];

[asiRequest setPostBody:requestData];
[asiRequest setDelegate:self];

[asiRequest startAsynchronous];

Content-Type is same in NSMutableURLRequest and it works fine.The problem is somewhere else. — mhunturk, Jul 06 '12 at 14:14
@mhunturk Exactly, NSMutableURLRequest doesn't have special handling for any content-types, ASI does. Look to see if ASI is changing your post body based on the content type. — Jeffery Thomas, Jul 06 '12 at 14:27
I try this one too but it doesn't work anyway. May be my fault is somewhere else. Thanks anyway. — mhunturk, Jul 09 '12 at 06:24

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Nov 18 '15 at 06:45

Try

ASIFormDataRequest

with methods

setPostValue::

And here is a sample snippet

ASIFormDataRequest *request = [ASIFormDataRequest requestWithURL:url]; 
NSMutableDictionary *data = [NSMutableDictionary dictionaryWithObjectsAndKeys:self.txtUsername.text, @"name", self.txtEmail.text, @"email", self.txtPassword.text, @"pwd", nil]; 
[request addRequestHeader:@"Accept" value:@"application/json"]; 
[request addRequestHeader:@"Content-Type" value:@"application/x-www-form-urlencoded"]; 
[request setRequestMethod:@"POST"]; 
for (NSString *key in data) { 
    [request setPostValue:data[key] forKey:key]; 
} 

[request setDelegate:self]; 
[request startAsynchronous];

ASIHTTP post works different than NSMutableURLRequest

2 Answers2