Making multiple connection in ios - iphone

Question

I'm using 2 UICollectionView on one screen and fetching 2 different data sets from my api.
But the problem is that I can't resolve is differentiating the incoming data depending on which view requested.
Here's a code snippet of what I do in the UICollectionView:
- (void)viewDidLoad
{
[super viewDidLoad];
NSURL *headlineurl = [NSURL URLWithString:#"api1"];
headlinerequest = [NSURLRequest requestWithURL:headlineurl];
[[NSURLConnection alloc] initWithRequest:headlinerequest delegate:self];
NSURL *mostnewsurl = [NSURL URLWithString:#"api2"];
NSURLRequest *mostnewsrequest = [NSURLRequest requestWithURL:mostnewsurl];
[[NSURLConnection alloc] initWithRequest:mostnewsrequest delegate:self];
}
And this is the code from the delegate:
- (void)connection:(NSURLConnection *)connection didReceiveResponse:(NSURLResponse *)response
{
//What should I do here ?
}
- (void)connection:(NSURLConnection *)connection didReceiveData:(NSData *)theData
{
//What should I do here ?
}
- (void)connectionDidFinishLoading:(NSURLConnection *)connection
{
//What should I do here ?
}
Thanks a lot.

Answer 1

Your problem is pretty common when people start using NSUrlConnection delegates,
First thing you're setting the delegate of both views to the same object, which can work, but will need some hackery.
I recommend one of the following solutions:
Solution 1 (uses delegates, more work)
Create a new class, and give give it the NSURlconnection delegate protocol
and call it something like apiFetchDelegate
Then place your delegate methods in there -(void) connectionDidFinishLoading, etc..
Now in your viewDidLoad method, change it to the following:
NSURL *headlineurl = [NSURL URLWithString:#"api1"];
headlinerequest = [NSURLRequest requestWithURL:headlineurl];
//Create a new instance of the delegate
apiFetchDelegate* headlineDelegate = [[apiFetchDelegate alloc] init];
[[NSURLConnection alloc] initWithRequest:headlinerequest delegate:headlineDelegate];
And the second delegate:
NSURL *mostnewsurl = [NSURL URLWithString:#"api2"];
NSURLRequest *mostnewsrequest = [NSURLRequest requestWithURL:mostnewsurl];
//Create second delegate
apiFetchDelegate* mostnewsDelegate = [[apiFetchDelegate alloc] init];
[[NSURLConnection alloc] initWithRequest:mostnewsrequest delegate:mostnewsDelegate];
now as you see, each one will get its own delegate, and data won't be mixed anymore !
Solution 2 (without delegates, less work to do)
This is probably a better solution for your need , I'm not sure why you need delegates for such a simple call, but if you don't , better go with this simple way !.
We will make async calls to avoid freezing the UI while data is being fetched, this will require an NSOperationQueue, here's how it'll work:
In your viewDidLoad method, change the code to this:
//Create your Queue here
NSOperationQueue *apiCallsQueue = [NSOperationQueue alloc] init];
[apiCallsQueue setMaxConcurrentOperations:2];
NSURL *headlineurl = [NSURL URLWithString:#"api1"];
headlinerequest = [NSURLRequest requestWithURL:headlineurl];
[NSURLConnection sendAsynchronousRequest:headlinerequest queue:apiCallsQueue completionHandler:^(NSURLResponse *response, NSData *data, NSError *error) {
//Here is your data for the first view
//
NSLog(#"Data for headline view: %#", [[NSString alloc] initWithData:data
encoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding]);
}];
And for the second view:
NSURL *mostnewsurl = [NSURL URLWithString:#"api2"];
NSURLRequest *mostnewsrequest = [NSURLRequest requestWithURL:mostnewsurl];
[NSURLConnection sendAsynchronousRequest:mostnewsrequest queue:apiCallsQueue completionHandler:^(NSURLResponse *response, NSData *data, NSError *error) {
//Here is your data, for the second view
//
NSLog(#"Date for latest news: %#", [[NSString alloc] initWithData:data
encoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding]);
}];
Let me know if this works for you or if you need further assistance.