iOS SDK Post Photo to web service with additional data

Question

I am using the following code to send a photo to a web service:

-(void)uploadPhoto:(UIImage*)image :(NSString*)fileName
{

NSData *img = UIImageJPEGRepresentation(image, 0.9f);

NSString *urlString = @"http://serverURL.com";

NSMutableURLRequest *request= [[NSMutableURLRequest alloc] init];
[request setURL:[NSURL URLWithString:urlString]];
[request setHTTPMethod:@"POST"];

NSString *boundary = @"---------------------------14737809831466499882746641449";

NSString *contentType = [NSString stringWithFormat:@"multipart/form-data; boundary=%@",boundary];
[request addValue:contentType forHTTPHeaderField: @"Content-Type"];

NSMutableData *postbody = [NSMutableData data];

[postbody appendData:[[NSString stringWithFormat:@"\r\n--%@\r\n",boundary] dataUsingEncoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding]];

[postbody appendData:[[NSString stringWithFormat:@"Content-Disposition: form-data; name=\"userfile\"; filename=\"%@.jpg\"\r\n",fileName] dataUsingEncoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding]];

[postbody appendData:[@"Content-Type: application/octet-stream\r\n\r\n" dataUsingEncoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding]];

[postbody appendData:[NSData dataWithData:img]];
[postbody appendData:[[NSString stringWithFormat:@"\r\n--%@--\r\n",boundary] dataUsingEncoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding]];

[request setHTTPBody:postbody];

NSData *returnData = [NSURLConnection sendSynchronousRequest:request returningResponse:nil error:nil];

NSString *returnString = [[NSString alloc] initWithData:returnData encoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding];
NSLog(@"%@", returnString);

}

This is working fine and I can get the photo from the server in PHP.

My question is, is it possible to send additional data to the server with the form-data? I need to send more details about the photo like the username and some other application related data.

I am wondering how I can append some additional data to the request. I've tried to append regular POST data to it but it's not working. I am assuming because the data type.

I am confused how this works and if there is a way for me to append more data to the request I am sending to the server.

Any help on this would be great.

Thanks!

Answer 1

To upload image on server one of the best way is to use ASIFormDataRequest.

You can send multiple values for the same parameter using the alternative add API:

ASIFormDataRequest *request = [ASIFormDataRequest requestWithURL:url];
[request addPostValue:@"Ben" forKey:@"names"];
[request addPostValue:@"George" forKey:@"names"];
[request addFile:@"/Users/ben/Desktop/ben.jpg" forKey:@"photos"];
[request addData:imageData withFileName:@"george.jpg" andContentType:@"image/jpeg" forKey:@"photos"];

For a working code Uploading file to server using ASIFormDataRequest. Some part of how to use it...

ASIFormDataRequest *request = [ASIFormDataRequest requestWithURL:url];

[request setUseKeychainPersistence:YES];
//if you have your site secured by .htaccess

//[request setUsername:@"login"];
//[request setPassword:@"password"];

NSString *fileName = [NSString stringWithFormat:@"ipodfile%@.jpg",self.fileID];
[request addPostValue:fileName forKey:@"name"];

To have better idea for Sending a form POST with ASIFormDataRequest.

Answer 2

Just repeat the following lines for each variable in the post:

[postbody appendData:[@"Content-Disposition: form-data; name=\"userfile\"\r\n" dataUsingEncoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding]];

[postbody appendData:[@"Content-Type: application/octet-stream\r\n\r\n" dataUsingEncoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding]];

[postbody appendData:[NSData dataWithData:img]];
[postbody appendData:[[NSString stringWithFormat:@"\r\n--%@--\r\n",boundary] dataUsingEncoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding]];

Obviously you need to update the name value in the first line, the content type in the 2nd, and the actual data in the 3rd line.