Sending a UIImage and text to server

Question

I have a simple question- I'm currently writing a specific part in my app related to sending data to server.

I tried to send text, succeeded. Sent image, succeeded. What I'm trying to do now is to send them both within one POST request. I figured out that I need to use something that is called multipart/form-data and boundaries, but I haven't found anymore info about it.

So how can I send both text and image in one, simple POST request? And how can I check for errors during upload, afterwards etc.?

Thanks!

Reference code I've written but sending 0 bytes of info:

NSData *imageData = UIImageJPEGRepresentation(sendImage, 1.0);
    // setting up the request object now
    NSMutableURLRequest *request = [[NSMutableURLRequest alloc] init];
    [request setURL:[NSURL URLWithString:@"http://posttestserver.com/post.php?dir=something"]];
    [request setHTTPMethod:@"POST"];
    NSString *boundary = @"---------------------------54737809831466490885746641449";
    NSString *contentType = [NSString stringWithFormat:@"multipart/form-data; boundary=%@",boundary];
    [request addValue:contentType forHTTPHeaderField: @"Content-Type"];

    NSMutableData *body = [NSMutableData data];
    [body appendData:[[NSString stringWithFormat:@"rn--%@rn",boundary] dataUsingEncoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding]];
    [body appendData:[@"Content-Disposition: form-data; name=\"userfile\"; filename=\"reportingImage.jpg\"rn" dataUsingEncoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding]];
    [body appendData:[@"Content-Type: application/octet-streamrnrn" dataUsingEncoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding]];
    [body appendData:[NSData dataWithData:imageData]];
    [body appendData:[[NSString stringWithFormat:@"rn--%@--rn",boundary] dataUsingEncoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding]];
     [body appendData:[@"Content-Type: text/xml" dataUsingEncoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding]];
    [body appendData:[[[alertView textFieldAtIndex:0] text] dataUsingEncoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding]];
    // setting the body of the post to the reqeust
    [request setHTTPBody:body];

    // now lets make the connection to the web
    NSData *returnData = [NSURLConnection sendSynchronousRequest:request returningResponse:nil error:nil];
    NSString *returnString = [[NSString alloc] initWithData:returnData encoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding];

    NSLog(returnString);

try this http://stackoverflow.com/questions/14598044/how-to-send-image-and-text-together-using-nsmutableurlrequest — Buntylm, Apr 12 '13 at 11:46

score 1 · Answer 1 · answered Apr 12 '13 at 12:46

This is a working snippet that sends text and image, optionally a few texts with a few params per each

//After dismissing the alert, we get its text (user location and notes) and the picture he took

     NSMutableData *body = [NSMutableData data];
     NSURL *url = [NSURL URLWithString:@"http://posttestserver.com/post.php?dir=Doda"]; //Test server, you can access it online to see the upload
     NSMutableURLRequest *req = [NSMutableURLRequest requestWithURL:url];
     [req setHTTPMethod:@"POST"];
     NSString *boundary = @"---------------------------14737809831466499882746641449"; //I have no idea what this is, but without it the code won't work
     NSString *contentType = [NSString stringWithFormat:@"multipart/form-data; boundary=%@", boundary];
     [req setValue:contentType forHTTPHeaderField: @"Content-Type"];

     //Attaching image
     [body appendData:[[NSString stringWithFormat:@"--%@\r\n", boundary] dataUsingEncoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding]];
     [body appendData:[@"Content-Disposition: attachment; name=\"imageOfReport\"; filename=\"imageOfReport.jpg\"\r\n" dataUsingEncoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding]];
     [body appendData:[@"Content-Type: application/octet-stream\r\n\r\n" dataUsingEncoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding]];
     [body appendData:[NSData dataWithData:UIImageJPEGRepresentation(sendImage, 1.0)]]; //Crucial, getting a JPEG version of the image and sending it
     [body appendData:[[NSString stringWithFormat:@"\r\n"] dataUsingEncoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding]];

     [body appendData:[[NSString stringWithFormat:@"--%@\r\n", boundary] dataUsingEncoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding]];
     [body appendData:[[NSString stringWithFormat:@"Content-Disposition: form-data; name=\"report_description\"\r\n\r\n"] dataUsingEncoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding]];
     [body appendData:[[[alertView textFieldAtIndex:0] text] dataUsingEncoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding]]; //Crucial, taking the text from the Alert and sending it
     [body appendData:[[NSString stringWithFormat:@"\r\n"] dataUsingEncoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding]];
     [req setHTTPBody:body];

     //Below are few lines which can add other parameters and text
     /*        [body appendData:[[NSString stringWithFormat:@"--%@\r\n", boundary] dataUsingEncoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding]];
     [body appendData:[[NSString stringWithFormat:@"Content-Disposition: form-data; name=\"spid\"\r\n\r\n"] dataUsingEncoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding]];
     [body appendData:[[NSString stringWithFormat:@"\r\n"] dataUsingEncoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding]];
     [req setHTTPBody:body];*/

    NSURLConnection *sendingTheData2 = [[NSURLConnection alloc] initWithRequest:req delegate:self startImmediately:YES]; //Sent! ;)

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Apr 12 '13 at 11:54

0

You probably want to use a network library like AFNetworking, and save yourself some time :)

answered Apr 12 '13 at 11:54

supermarin

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Sending a UIImage and text to server

2 Answers2