Preparing a GET/POST request to fetch data on iPhone - iphone

Question

i am trying to fetch data in JSON format for the search word 'cancer'.
But i can't figure out how to call the websvice, i tried a few things but they are not working, can anybody help me in this.
Below is the API i should be calling
https://api.justgiving.com/docs/resources/v1/Search/FundraiserSearch
Clicking the following URL will get desired data in the browser.
https://api.justgiving.com/2be58f97/v1/fundraising/search?q=cancer
apiKey = 2be58f97
Here is the code i am using:
NSMutableURLRequest *request = [[NSMutableURLRequest alloc] init];
NSURL *requestURL = [NSURL URLWithString:#"https://api.justgiving.com/2be58f97/v1/fundraising/search"];
[request setURL:requestURL];
[request setHTTPMethod:#"GET"];
NSString *boundary = #"---------------------------14737809831466499882746641449";
NSString *contentType = [NSString stringWithFormat:#"multipart/form-data; boundary=%#",boundary];
[request addValue:contentType forHTTPHeaderField: #"Content-Type"];
NSMutableData *body = [NSMutableData data];
[body appendData:[[NSString stringWithFormat:#"\r\n--%#\r\n", boundary] dataUsingEncoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding]];
[body appendData:[#"Content-Disposition: form-data; name=\"q\"\r\n\r\n" dataUsingEncoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding]];
[body appendData:[[NSString stringWithFormat:#"%#",searchText] dataUsingEncoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding]];
[body appendData:[[NSString stringWithFormat:#"\r\n--%#--\r\n", boundary] dataUsingEncoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding]];
[request setHTTPBody:body];
[NSURLConnection sendAsynchronousRequest:request
queue:[NSOperationQueue mainQueue]
completionHandler:^(NSURLResponse *response, NSData *data, NSError *error) {
NSLog(#"ERROR = %#",error.localizedDescription);
if(error.localizedDescription == NULL)
{
NSString *returnString = [[NSString alloc] initWithData:data encoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding];
NSLog(#"response >>>>>>>>> %#",returnString);
}
else
{
NSString *returnString = [[NSString alloc] initWithData:data encoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding];
NSLog(#"response >>>>>>>>> %#",returnString);
}
}];

Answer 1

-(AFHTTPClient *) getHttpClient{
AFHTTPClient *httpClient = [[AFHTTPClient alloc]initWithBaseURL:[NSURL URLWithString:kBASEURL]];
httpClient.parameterEncoding = AFJSONParameterEncoding;
[httpClient setDefaultHeader:#"Accept" value:#"application/json"];
[httpClient registerHTTPOperationClass:[AFJSONRequestOperation class]];
return httpClient;
}
//This is how you should call
-(void) callAPI{
AFHTTPClient *httpClient = [self getHttpClient];
NSMutableURLRequest *request = [httpClient requestWithMethod:#"GET" path:method parameters:queryStrDictionary];// querystringDictionary contains value of all q=? stuff
AFJSONRequestOperation *operation = [AFJSONRequestOperation JSONRequestOperationWithRequest:request success:^(NSURLRequest *request, NSHTTPURLResponse *response, id JSON) {
//You have Response here do anything you want.
[self processResponseWith:JSON having:successBlock andFailuerBlock:failureBlock];
} failure:^(NSURLRequest *request, NSHTTPURLResponse *response, NSError *error, id JSON) {
//Your request failed check the error for detail
failureBlock(error);
}];
NSOperationQueue *queue = [[NSOperationQueue alloc] init] ;
[queue addOperation:operation];
}

Answer 2

In your code you setup a multipart/form-data request. While the achievement is creditable, it's not how you talk to the API of the given web service.
In fact, it's simpler:
As you can retrieve from the documentation from that site, "query parameters" go into the URL as a query string: "q=cancer". Then, just specify the Content-Type header as "application/json" - and it should work.
In general, URL query parameters will be prepended to a URL by appending a '?', followed by "non-hierarchical data" comprising the query string and then followed by an optional '#'.
What "non-hierarchical data" means is not exactly specified, but in almost all cases web services require a query string as a list of key/value pairs, whose key and value is separated by a '=', and the pairs are separated by a '&':
param1=value1&param2=value2
Furthermore, in order to disambiguate the query string, say when a value or key itself contains "special characters", like spaces, non-ASCII characters, an ampersand or a equal sign, etc., the query string must be properly "URL encoded" before appended to the url and send to the server.
The details of constructing a URL can be found consulting the corresponding RFC. However, wiki provides a comprehensible definition of the query string in a much more concise form:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Query_string
For further information how to "URL encode" a query string utilizing a handy method or function please read the NSString documentation, stringByAddingPercentEscapesUsingEncoding: https://developer.apple.com/library/mac/#documentation/Cocoa/Reference/Foundation/Classes/NSString_Class/Reference/NSString.html
and Core Foundation: CFURLCreateStringByAddingPercentEscapes: https://developer.apple.com/library/mac/#documentation/CoreFOundation/Reference/CFURLRef/Reference/reference.html
A third party library may make this more convenient, nonetheless you should understand what that API means and how you would have to construct a URL, the HTTP headers and the query string yourself.