Swift, how can I return the data from HTTP request? - swift

Question

I have found learning swift to be more or less unbearable to do anything, something that would be done in a single line in Python becomes a whole task in swift.
I am trying to return the data from a http request and cannot find a single source that explains how. The only things I can find prints the data instead of returning it, either as a dictionary (from using JSONSerialization) or simply as a string.
let url = URL(string: "url")!
let task = URLSession.shared.dataTask(with: url) { (data, response, error) in
if let error = error {
print("error: \(error)")
} else {
if let response = response as? HTTPURLResponse {
print("statusCode: \(response.statusCode)")
}
if let data = data, let dataString = String(data: data, encoding: .utf8) {
print("data: \(dataString)")
}
}
}
task.resume()

Answer 1

func makePostRequest(){
let urlPath: String = "http://www.swiftdeveloperblog.com/http-post-example- script/"
var url: NSURL = NSURL(string: urlPath)!
var request: NSMutableURLRequest = NSMutableURLRequest(URL: url)
request.HTTPMethod = "POST"
var stringPost="firstName=James&lastName=Bond" // Key and Value
let data = stringPost.dataUsingEncoding(NSUTF8StringEncoding)
request.timeoutInterval = 60
request.HTTPBody=data
request.HTTPShouldHandleCookies=false
let queue:NSOperationQueue = NSOperationQueue()
NSURLConnection.sendAsynchronousRequest(request, queue: NSOperationQueue(), completionHandler:{ (response:NSURLResponse!, data: NSData!, error: NSError!) -> Void in
var error: AutoreleasingUnsafeMutablePointer<NSError?> = nil
let jsonResult: NSDictionary! = NSJSONSerialization.JSONObjectWithData(data, options:NSJSONReadingOptions.MutableContainers, error: error) as? NSDictionary
if (jsonResult != nil) {
// Success
println(jsonResult)
let message = jsonResult["Message"] as! NSString
println(message)
}else {
// Failed
println("Failed")
}
})
}