AFNetworking upload image working intermittently

Question

I'm using AFNetworking to upload an image along with a few parameters to a PHP script (built with CodeIgniter) which will receive the image, place the file name and parameters in a database and move the image to a permanent location.

Here's the Obj-C:

NSURL *url = [NSURL URLWithString:@"http://my_api_endpoint"];
NSData *imageToUpload = UIImageJPEGRepresentation(_mainMedia, .25f);
NSDictionary *params = [[NSDictionary alloc]initWithObjectsAndKeys:
                        _topicText.text,@"Topic",
                        @"1",@"Category",
                        @"1",@"Creator",
                        nil];
AFHTTPClient *client= [AFHTTPClient clientWithBaseURL:url];

NSString *timeStamp = [NSString stringWithFormat:@"%0.0f.jpg", [[NSDate date] timeIntervalSince1970]];

NSMutableURLRequest *request = [client multipartFormRequestWithMethod:@"POST" path:@"apidebate/debates" parameters:params constructingBodyWithBlock: ^(id <AFMultipartFormData>formData) {
    [formData appendPartWithFileData: imageToUpload name:@"MainMedia" fileName:timeStamp mimeType:@"image/jpeg"];
}];

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

[operation setCompletionBlockWithSuccess:^(AFHTTPRequestOperation *operation, id responseObject) {
    NSString *response = [operation responseString];
    NSLog(@"response: [%@]",response);

    [self dismissViewControllerAnimated:YES completion:nil];
    [self.delegate createTopicViewControllerDidCreate:self];

    [[UIApplication sharedApplication] setNetworkActivityIndicatorVisible:NO];
} failure:^(AFHTTPRequestOperation *operation, NSError *error) {
    [[UIApplication sharedApplication] setNetworkActivityIndicatorVisible:NO];
    if([operation.response statusCode] == 403){
        NSLog(@"Upload Failed");
        return;
    }
    NSLog(@"error: %@", [operation error]);

    [self dismissViewControllerAnimated:YES completion:nil];
    [self.delegate createTopicViewControllerDidCreate:self];
}];

[operation setUploadProgressBlock:^(NSInteger bytesWritten, long long totalBytesWritten, long long totalBytesExpectedToWrite) {
    NSLog(@"Sent %lld of %lld bytes", totalBytesWritten, totalBytesExpectedToWrite);
    float width = totalBytesWritten / totalBytesExpectedToWrite;

}];

[operation start];

Here's the PHP:

//CONTROLLER FROM API
function debates_post()
{
mail('myemailaddress@gmail.com', 'Test', 'Posted');
$tmp_dir = "images/posted/";

if(isset($_FILES['MainMedia'])){
    $SaniFileName = preg_replace('/[^a-zA-Z0-9-_\.]/','', basename($_FILES['MainMedia']['name']));

    $file = $tmp_dir . $SaniFileName;
    move_uploaded_file($_FILES['MainMedia']['tmp_name'], $file);
}
else
    $SaniFileName = NULL;

$data = array('Topic'=>$this->post('Topic'), 'MainMedia'=>$this->post('MainMedia'), 'Category'=>$this->post('Category'), 'Creator'=>$this->post('Creator'));
$insert = $this->debate->post_debate($this->post('Topic'), $SaniFileName, $this->post('Category'), $this->post('Creator'));
if($insert){
    $message = $this->db->insert_id();
}
else{
    $message = 'Insert failed';
}

$this->response($message, 200);
}

//MODEL
function post_debate($Topic=NULL, $MainMedia='', $Category=NULL, $Creator=NULL){
$MainMedia = ($MainMedia)?$MainMedia:'';
$data = array(
                'Topic' => $Topic,
                'MainMedia' => $MainMedia,
                'Category' => $Category,
                'Creator' => $Creator,
                'Created' => date('Y-m-d h:i:s')
            );
return $this->db->insert('debate_table', $data);
}

My current problem is that the upload from iOS very rarely completes and there is no pattern to when it does not. I can add large or small photos or no photo at all with just parameters and it works 20% of the time. When it fails, this is the error message I get in X-Code:

2012-08-26 01:52:10.698 DebateIt[24215:907] error: Error Domain=NSURLErrorDomain 
Code=-1021 "request body stream exhausted" UserInfo=0x1dd7a0d0 
{NSErrorFailingURLStringKey=http://my_api_url, 
NSErrorFailingURLKey=http://my_api_url,
NSLocalizedDescription=request body stream exhausted, 
NSUnderlyingError=0x1e8535a0 "request body stream exhausted"}

What in the world is this?

I have a basic HTML form that I post the same image with to the same endpoint and it works every time with any size image. iOS seems to allow images of varying size just fine...but large or small, it will probably only work on the second try.

Thoughts?

Answer 1

I'm using AFNetworking for upload images also, and i don't have problems with it, maybe because i'm coding my image data by base64?

NSMutableDictionary *params = [NSMutableDictionary dictionaryWithObjectsAndKeys:
                               token, @"token",
                               [UIImageJPEGRepresentation(image, 0.8) base64EncodedString],@"photo",
                               nil];

NSMutableURLRequest *request = [self.httpClient requestWithMethod:@"POST"
                                                             path:@"/user/upload/photo.json"
                                                       parameters:params];

Answer 2

I had a similar error some time ago. It was caused by a mismatch between the value of the "Content-Length" http header and the actual body size. The error was subtle. It occurred because I was using the string length as the content size and when the string had double byte characters in the UTF-8 encoding those contribute 1 the string length but 2 to the post body size. Check your POST body size v/s "Content-Length".

I debug this weird network errors with a network sniffed running the app in the simulator. I like HTTPScoop.

Answer 3

First, make sure you have the latest version of AFNetworking downloaded.

you can do [[AFHTTPRequestOperation alloc] initWithRequest:...] and then set the completionBlock with either the straight property accessor (operation.completionBlock = ^{...}), or with -setCompletionBlockWithSuccess:failure:. Keep in mind that completion blocks execute after the request has finished downloading.

As for the multipart form block, -appendWithFileData:mimeType:name was also removed a while back. The method you want is -appendPartWithFileData:name:fileName:mimeType:.

Make those two changes and everything should work.