iOS - Download Video - iphone

Question

I'd like to download a video from a remote URL and save it to a file in an iPhone app.
I know the video link works, since I have used it from AVPlayer, however, I am unable to download it. The response is always (null).
What is wrong with the following code?
NSURLRequest *request = [NSURLRequest requestWithURL:[NSURL URLWithString:someURLString]];
AFHTTPRequestOperation *operation = [[AFHTTPRequestOperation alloc] initWithRequest:request];
operation.outputStream = [NSOutputStream outputStreamToFileAtPath:someFilePath append:NO];
[operation setCompletionBlockWithSuccess:^(AFHTTPRequestOperation *operation, id responseObject) {
NSLog(#"Successfully downloaded file to %#", [NSURL fileURLWithPath:someFilePath]);
NSLog(#"THE RESPONSE: %#", responseObject);
} failure:^(AFHTTPRequestOperation *operation, NSError *error) {
NSLog(#"Error: %#", error);
}];
[operation start];
Update
I commented out the operation.outputStream line, and this time I got a response. Does this mean that there is something wrong with the file path?

Answer 1

just create a link to that file, then use NSURLConnection to download.
Create a URL connection to download:
NSMutableURLRequest *request = [[NSMutableURLRequest alloc] init];
[request setURL:[NSURL URLWithString:strFileUrl]]; //strFileURL is url of your video/image
NSURLConnection *conection = [[[NSURLConnection alloc] initWithRequest:request delegate:self startImmediately:NO] autorelease];
[conec start];
[request release];
Get path of file to save data:
strFilePath = [[NSSearchPathForDirectoriesInDomains(NSDocumentDirectory, NSUserDomainMask, YES) objectAtIndex:0] stringByAppendingPathComponent:strFileName];
Your class must adopt 3 methods of NSURLConnectionDelegate protocol: (please read about Protocol and Delegate)
- (void) connection:(NSURLConnection *)connection didReceiveResponse:(NSURLResponse *)response
{
// create
[[NSFileManager defaultManager] createFileAtPath:strFilePath contents:nil attributes:nil];
file = [[NSFileHandle fileHandleForUpdatingAtPath:strFilePath] retain];// read more about file handle
if (file) {
[file seekToEndOfFile];
}
}
- (void)connection:(NSURLConnection *)connection didReceiveData:(NSData *)receivedata
{
//write each data received
if( receivedata != nil){
if (file) {
[file seekToEndOfFile];
}
[file writeData:receivedata];
}
}
- (void)connectionDidFinishLoading:(NSURLConnection*)theConnection {
//close file after finish getting data;
[file closeFile];
}
- (void) connection:(NSURLConnection *)connection didFailWithError:(NSError *)error
{
//do something when downloading failed
}
If you want to review you file, use a UIWebview to load it:
NSURL *fileURL = [NSURL fileURLWithPath:strFilePath];
[wvReview loadRequest:[NSURLRequest requestWithURL:fileURL]];

Answer 2

This is what was going wrong.
I was using the url of the video, and as part of the file path.
Why is this wrong? It has backslashes, so I assume iOS was getting confused.
Lesson learned: make sure that the string that you add to a directory to create a file does not have backslashes.
I hope this helps anyone else who makes this silly mistake. :P