NSURLConnection method needs to be changed to pass authentication challenge

Question

i have a method for http connection, which was working fine for me until the server i am trying to have an invalid ssl certificate. Since i am using

[NSURLConnection sendSynchronousRequest:returningResponse:error]

There is no chance to pass authentication challenge by using NSURLConnection delegate methods.

Now, i need to change my service call code as fast as possible. My method returns the data received from the connection, that is the major problem i can not easily change mine to NSURLConnection to initWithRequest:delegate:

My service call method is as follows;

-(id)serviceCall:(NSString*)str withURL:(NSString*)serviceUrl withIdentifier:(NSString*)type
{
    globalURL = [[NSURL alloc] initWithString:serviceUrl];
    shouldAllowSelfSignedCert = YES;

// if(ISDEBUG) NSLog(@"%@",serviceUrl);

    NSMutableDictionary* json;
    NSURLResponse* response;
    NSData* responseData = [NSMutableData data];

    NSError* error = nil;
    NSMutableURLRequest *request = [NSMutableURLRequest requestWithURL:globalURL];
    [request setHTTPMethod:@"POST"];
    [request setHTTPBody: [str dataUsingEncoding: NSUTF8StringEncoding]];
    NSString* msgLength = [[NSString alloc] initWithFormat:@"%lu", (unsigned long)[str length]];
    [request addValue:@"text/json; charset=utf-8" forHTTPHeaderField:@"Content-Type"];
    [request addValue:msgLength forHTTPHeaderField:@"Content-Length"];
    request.timeoutInterval = 180;

     responseData = [NSURLConnection sendSynchronousRequest:request returningResponse:&response error:&error];


    if([type isEqualToString:@"image"])
    {
        if(ISDEBUG) NSLog(@"%@",responseData);
        return responseData;
    }
    else
    {
        if(error)
        {
            UIAlertView *message = [[UIAlertView alloc] initWithTitle:NO_WS_CONNECTION message:@"" delegate:nil cancelButtonTitle:@"Ok" otherButtonTitles:nil];

            if(ISDEBUG) NSLog(@"%@",error);
        }
        else
        {
            if(responseData !=nil)
            {
            json = [NSJSONSerialization
                    JSONObjectWithData:responseData

                    options:kNilOptions
                    error:&error];
            }
            else
            {

            UIAlertView *alert = [[UIAlertView alloc] initWithTitle:@"Error" message:NO_WS_CONNECTION delegate:self cancelButtonTitle:@"Ok" otherButtonTitles:nil, nil];
            [alert show];
            }
        }

    NSString *responseString = [[NSString alloc] initWithData:responseData encoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding];

       if(ISDEBUG) NSLog(@"%@",responseString);      
   }

   return json;
}

I hope i am clear enough.

What is your advise?

Thanks.

Answer 1

You should have a good reason to do it synchronously, so, I will try to help you without changing the flow.

Try wrapping the request into a class where you can implement the request using initWithRequest:delegate: and make the class return the response using block.

You will have something like:

[YourRequestClass requestWithURL:serviceURL callback:^(NSData *yourData, NSError *error){

}];

Ok, at this point you have a new tool that makes ASYNCHRONOUS requests, make the authentication challenge stuff for you and returns the result on a block.

Now, you can simply use dispatch_semaphore to block your thread until the request returns a response ....

-(id)serviceCall:(NSString*)str withURL:(NSString*)serviceUrl withIdentifier:(NSString*)type {

    __block NSData *myData = nil;

    dispatch_semaphore_t sem = dispatch_semaphore_create(0);

    [YourRequestClass requestWithURL:serviceUrl callback:^(NSData *yourData, NSError *error){
        //ignoring error (this is an example !)
        myData = yourData;
        dispatch_semaphore_signal(sem);
    }];

    dispatch_semaphore_wait(sema, DISPATCH_TIME_FOREVER);

    //Use myData and make yourObject here!

    return yourObject;
}

Note that It's just an example, and I'm just trying to pointing you the right way ... I didn't test this code, but I believe it should work as expected!