I have a webservice that returning 20 results each time (it is a limitation of the service provider). I want to call this service 10-20 times repeatingly and update my UI each time.
Is there best practice for this situation? I do not want to block the ui while calling the server. This causes problems if the user want to perform actions while the action in progress
(like navigating away from the current page)
Thanks!!!
what you can do is call the webservice in a background thread, collect the required data and jump back to main thread and update the UI.
We are doing the above(i.e jumping from background thread to main thread) because it is not recommended to update any UI in the background process.
you can call you webService in background by using
[self performSelectorInBackground:#selector(MyWebService) withObject:nil];//you can pass any object if you have
and to come back on main thread when the background task is over you can do..
[self performSelectorOnMainThread:#selector(myMainFunction) withObject:nil waitUntilDone:YES];
you can change the last parameter i.e. waitUntilDone:No also. By doing this, user will not have to wait till the UI is updated. they can carry there task.
you can use NSTimer for periodic calling your webService.
hope that helped :)
It depends on how you want to display the information.
If you're using the asynchronous connection (in my opinion, more effective than calling a synchronous connection in the background) and its delegate, it should not block the user interface:
- (void)loadData {
NSString *urlString = #"http://www.stackoverflow.com";
NSURL *url = [NSURL URLWithString:urlString];
NSURLRequest *request = [NSURLRequest requestWithURL:url];
[NSURLConnection connectionWithRequest:request delegate:self];
}
// delegate methods
- (void)connection:(NSURLConnection *)connection didReceiveResponse:(NSURLResponse *)response {
// clear out or intialize instance data variable
[myData setLength:0];
}
- (void)connection:(NSURLConnection *)connection didReceiveData:(NSData *)data {
[myData appendData:data];
}
- (void)connectionDidFinishLoading:(NSURLConnection *)connection {
// convert data to whatever it's supposed to be (for example, array)
NSString *dataString = [[NSString alloc] initWithData:myData encoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding];
NSArray *dataArray = [parser parseStringToArray:dataString];
[myArray addObjectsFromArray:dataArray];
//update tableview either using reload data (instant) or using updates (for smooth animation)
}
You can then recall the loadData method at the end of didFinishLoading: method to loop it.
Related
I am using NSURLConnection to load data from a response. It works as it should, the delegate method connectionDidFinishLoading has the connection instance with the data I need. The problem is that I want to pass some information along with the request so that I can get it when the connection finishes loading:
User wants to share the content of a URL via (Facebook, Twitter,
C, D).
NSURLConnection is used to get the content of the URL
Once I have the content, I use the SL framework
SLComposeViewController:composeViewControllerForServiceType and need
to give it the service type
At this point I don't know what service the user selected in step 1. I'd like to send that with the NSURLConnection.
Can I extend NSURLConnection with a property for this? That seems very heavy-handed. There must be a "right way" to do this.
Many Thanks
Assuming you don't need the delegate-based version of the NSURLConnection process for some other reason, this is a good use case for the block-based version:
- (void)shareContentAtURL:(NSURL *)shareURL viaService:(NSString *)service
{
NSURLRequest *urlRequest = [NSURLRequest requestWithURL:shareURL];
NSOperationQueue *queue = [[NSOperationQueue alloc] init];
[NSURLConnection sendAsynchronousRequest:urlRequest queue:queue completionHandler:^(NSURLResponse *response, NSData *data, NSError *error)
{
if ([data length] == 0 && error == nil) {
// handle empty response
} else if (error != nil) {
// handle error
} else {
// back to the main thread for UI stuff
[[NSOperationQueue mainQueue] addOperationWithBlock:^{
// do whatever you do to get something you want to post from the url content
NSString *postText = [self postTextFromData:data];
// present the compose view
SLComposeViewController *vc = [SLComposeViewController composeViewControllerForServiceType:service];
[vc setInitialText:postText];
[self presentViewController:vc animated:YES];
}];
}
}];
}
Since blocks can capture variables from their surrounding scope, you can just use whatever context you already had for the user's choice of service inside the NSURLConnection's completion block.
If you're still wed to the delegate-based NSURLConnection API for whatever reason, you can always use an ivar or some other piece of state attached to whatever object is handling this process: set self.serviceType or some such when the user chooses a service, then refer back to it once you get your content from the NSURLConnectionDelegate methods and are ready to show a compose view.
You could check the URL property of an NSURLConnection instance and determine the service by parsing the baseURL or absoluteString property of the URL with something like - (ServiceType)serviceTypeForURL:(NSURL *)theURL;
All the NSURLConnectionDelegate methods pass the calling NSURLConnection object-so you could get it from
- (void)connectionDidFinishLoading:(NSURLConnection *)connection
or
- (void)connection:(NSURLConnection *)connection didFailWithError:(NSError *)error
I have an app with four tabs. In each tab I connect to remote server using nsurlconnection, fetches the response and display accordingly. While testing the app, I get crashes randomly. If I try to reproduce the crash again I do not get crash. I do not understand what is root cause of the crash. I enable NSZombie,symbolicated crash logs,checked the memory leak but no luck.
I started the project in Xcode 3 and now I imported same project to Xcode 4.2, so are there any issues with compatibility of Xcode?
And I use the same name for nsurlconnection in all tabs like
In Tab 1 I defined nsurlconnection as conn and Tab 2 defined nsurlconnection as conn.
Does this definition causes any issue?
Please help me solve this random crashes
NSMutableURLRequest *request = [[NSMutableURLRequest alloc] initWithURL: url];
conn = [[NSURLConnection alloc] initWithRequest:request delegate:self];
if(label != nil){
progressView = [[ProgressView showHUDAddedTo:self.tabBarController.view animated:YES] retain];
progressView.labelText = label;
}
[request release];
- (void)connection:(NSURLConnection *)connection didReceiveResponse:(NSURLResponse *)response {
NSLog(#"didReceiveresponse");
if ([response isKindOfClass: [NSHTTPURLResponse class]]) {
if([(NSHTTPURLResponse *)response statusCode] == 200){
}
else{
//show Connection Error Alert
}
}
responseData = [[NSMutableData alloc]init];
}
- (void)connection:(NSURLConnection *)connection didReceiveData:(NSData *)data {
NSLog(#"didReceiveData");
[responseData appendData:data];
}
- (void)connection:(NSURLConnection *)connection didFailWithError:(NSError *)error {
[progressView hide:YES];
NSLog(#"didFail");
//show failed alert
}
- (void)connectionDidFinishLoading:(NSURLConnection *)connection {
NSLog(#"didfinish loading");
if([responseData length] > 0)
{
//handles response data
}
}
My guess without seeing code, would be that in a tab your making an NSURLConnection and doing something with the result when it completes. If you change tab before the result is returned then it is causing it to crash.
You need to cancel the NSURLConnection when viewDidDisappear, or make sure that whatever code is run on completion of it doesn't contain anything that would cause a crash if the tab isn't visible (like setting a labels text).
The way I handle this, is have a separate class that performs the URL requests that sends a notification when it's complete. That way in your viewDidAppear method you set your viewController to listen for the notifications, and in the viewDidDisapper method you stop listening for the notifications. So if your view isn't visible when the URL request finishes, the notification is fired but nothing happens.
Could you provide the output of the console? It seems not to be an error from Xcode.
These type of error usually appear when you try to access a deallocated object.
i am sure you have tried Instruments with memory leak. give a try with instruments with zombie tool, you can find it easily in instruments library.
run your code with this tool and if this crash is because of any zombie object then you will easily able to detect the location.
it has helped me few times.
This might be a dumb question. Sorry if it is.
But Im working on a project that consumes web services. I can connect to the web service and get the data I need fine.
I would like to have a method that returns this data obtained from the web service to the caller. The only problem is that the data is only obtained inside the ConnectionDidFinishLoading method, and I can't access this data from my method.
here is my code, that works fine:
- (NSData *) dataForMethod:(NSString *)webMethod withPostString:(NSString *)postString
{
NSURL *url = [NSURL URLWithString:[SigameWebServiceAddress stringByAppendingFormat:#"%#%#", #"/", webMethod]];
NSMutableURLRequest *req = [NSMutableURLRequest requestWithURL:url];
NSString *msgLength = [NSString stringWithFormat:#"%d", [postString length]];
[req addValue:#"application/x-www-form-urlencoded" forHTTPHeaderField:#"Content-Type"];
[req addValue:msgLength forHTTPHeaderField:#"Content-Length"];
[req setHTTPMethod:#"POST"];
[req setHTTPBody: [postString dataUsingEncoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding]];
conn = [[NSURLConnection alloc] initWithRequest:req delegate:self];
if (conn)
{
webData = [NSMutableData data];
}
// I WOULD LIKE TO RETURN WEBDATA TO THE CALLER HERE, BUT WEBDATA IS EMPTY NOW, THE
//connectionDidFinishLoading ONLY GETS CALLED WITH THE DATA I WANT AFTER THE COMPILER
//IS DONE EXECUTING MY METHOD.
}
-(void) connection:(NSURLConnection *) connection didReceiveResponse:(NSURLResponse *) response
{
[webData setLength: 0];
}
-(void) connection:(NSURLConnection *) connection didReceiveData:(NSData *) data
{
[webData appendData:data];
}
-(void) connection:(NSURLConnection *) connection didFailWithError:(NSError *) error
{
NSLog(#"FATAL ERROR");
}
-(void) connectionDidFinishLoading:(NSURLConnection *) connection
{
NSLog(#"DONE. Received Bytes: %d", [webData length]);
NSString *theXML = [[NSString alloc] initWithBytes: [webData mutableBytes] length:[webData length] encoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding];
//---shows the XML---
NSLog(#"%#", theXML); //NOW, THIS IS THE DATA I WANT. BUT HOW CAN I RETURN THIS TO
//THE CALLER. I MEAN, THE CALLER THAT CALLED MY METHOD
//+ (NSData *) dataForMethod: withPostString:
}
Any help here is appreciated!
Thanks
There are really two ways to go about this.
Create a delegate interface
Use Blocks
I would strongly advise against using the synchronous methods - unless you are/have created your own asynchronous framework around them (i.e. you are manually starting another thread and executing your synchronous request on that thread). In the long run you will realize you need the requests to be async, and you'll have to re-work everything such that they are.
To give a quick overview of the two options I gave:
1. Create a delegate interface
The idea here is to create a class which performs the request, and create a protocol the caller must implement. When the request is complete, you will invoke a specified method on the delegate with the data:
The protocol might look something like this:
#protocol RequestClassDelegate <NSObject>
- (void)requestCompleted:(ResponseClass *)data;
- (void)requestError:(NSError *)error;
#end
The class which makes the request might look something like this:
#interface RequestClass : NSObject
- (void)makeRequest:(id<RequestClassDelegate>)delegate;
#end
And the request class implementation might contain some of the following, in addition to your connection logic:
#implementation RequestClass
{
__weak id<RequestClassDelegate> _delegate;
}
// Connection Logic, etc.
- (void)makeRequest:(id<RequestClassDelegate>)delegate
{
_delegate = delegate;
// Initiate the request...
}
-(void) connectionDidFinishLoading:(NSURLConnection *) connection
{
NSString *theXML = [[NSString alloc] initWithBytes: [webData mutableBytes] length:[webData length] encoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding];
// Processing, etc.
// Here we'll call the delegate with the result:
[_delegate requestCompleted:theResult];
}
#end
2. Use Blocks
This solution is much the same as the first solution - but, a bit more elegant in my opinion. Here, we'll change the RequestClass to use blocks instead of a delegate:
typedef void (^requestCompletedBlock)(id);
typedef void (^requestErrorBlock)(NSError *);
#interface RequestClass : NSObject
#property (nonatomic, copy) requestCompletedBlock completed;
#property (nonatomic, copy) requestErrorBlock errored;
- (void)makeRequest:(requestCompletedBlock)completed error:(requestErrorBlock)error;
#end
And the implementation of that might look something like this:
#implementation RequestClass
#synthesize completed = _completed;
#synthesize errored = _errored;
// Connection Logic, etc.
- (void)makeRequest:(requestCompletedBlock)completed error:(requestErrorBlock)error
{
self.completed = completed;
self.errored = error;
// Initiate the request...
}
-(void) connectionDidFinishLoading:(NSURLConnection *) connection
{
NSString *theXML = [[NSString alloc] initWithBytes: [webData mutableBytes] length:[webData length] encoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding];
// Processing, etc.
// Here we'll call the delegate with the result:
self.completed(theResult);
}
#end
It sounds like you are trying to use return the data synchronously from your method, but you are using an asynchronous method (using an NSURLConnection and presumably calling its start method) to begin retrieving data. If you really want your method to return its result synchronously, read on. As #Steve says in another answer, however, you may also reconsider your interface design and instead implement it using an asynchronous approach and use his recommendations for either a delegate or block-based interface.
If you want to return the data synchronously from your method, use a synchronous request. So change this part of your code:
conn = [[NSURLConnection alloc] initWithRequest:req delegate:self];
[conn start]; // I presume you have this somewhere
if (conn)
{
webData = [NSMutableData data];
}
with something more like this:
NSURLResponse *response = nil;
NSError *error = nil;
webdata = [NSURLConnection sendSynchronousRequest:req returningResponse:&response error:&error];
if (webdata) {
return webdata;
}
else {
// Handle error by looking at response and/or error values
return nil;
}
You will no longer need any of your delegate code if you use this approach. You will be limited in some ways though. For example, if your web service requires authentication via something other than URL parameters you can't use this approach.
Steve's answer is great and I can only suggest the way using blocks. Actually, as I am new into Objective-C I implemented the approach steve outlined. It works perfectly.
The Post for more details and my own point of view you can find here:
http://kerkermeister.net/how-to-build-an-cocos2d-ios-app-communicating-with-a-restful-api-the-sequence/
The Post contains all the tiny steps you need to follow to get Steve's solution approach with blocks working. That includes:
- an updateable view that will render information as soon as retrieved from Web API asynchronously
- a controller invoking the HTTP request to the Web API
- the actual HttpRequest class that uses iOS standard NSURLConnections
- a model class that uses blocks as callbacks to update its data
Your going to have to either implement a separate method in which you use the data once the data has been returned by the connectionDidFinishLoading method or make the request synchronously. The reason I believe the above does not work is because the request is happening on a separate thread, so the main thread continues, but does not actually have the data.
This is a good way to do that if synchronous is what you want:
Does all NSURLConnections connect asynchronously? iOs
In order to download data from webserivce - use NSURLSession -
A URL session task that returns downloaded data directly to the app in memory.
// 1. create NSURL link to your webservice
NSString *dataUrl = #"DATA_LINK_TO_WEBSERVICE";
NSURL *url = [NSURL URLWithString:dataUrl];
// 2. create a NSURLSessionDataTask
NSURLSessionDataTask *downloadTask = [[NSURLSession sharedSession]
dataTaskWithURL:url completionHandler:^(NSData *data, NSURLResponse *response, NSError *error) {
//Handle response here
}];
// 3.resume the task
[downloadTask resume];
Refernces:
apple documentation refrence:
https://developer.apple.com/documentation/foundation/nsurlsessiondatatask?language=objc
Raywanderlich great cookbook:
https://www.raywenderlich.com/2392-cookbook-using-nsurlsession
Your going to need to parse the XML that comes back. There are some good Objective C XML parsers out there. One in particular is made for ease of use....
http://nfarina.com/post/2843708636/a-lightweight-xml-parser-for-ios
It's a very light weight parser for extracting the values you want from XML. I've used many times with great success and little hassle. Here is how I query a web address and turn it into data.
NSString *query = [NSString stringWithFormat:#"http://WEB_ADDRESS_FOR_XML];
NSURL *URL = [NSURL URLWithString:query];
NSData *data = [NSData dataWithContentsOfURL:URL];
Or with NSURLConnection, in the did receive data:
-(void) connection:(NSURLConnection *) connection didReceiveData:(NSData *) data
{
//USE THE DATA RETURNED HERE....
}
Then use the Parser from my link to get the contents:
SMXMLDocument *document = [SMXMLDocument documentWithData:data error:NULL];
NSLog("\nXML Returned:%#",document);
I've been reading several threads and questions about this issue but I didn't find the solution.
I have some asynchronous calls performed with
[NSURLConnection connectionWithRequest:anURLRequest delegate:self];
The problem is that I want the interface to be operative but it is blocked until the connection is finished.
Is this solved launching another thread? Where is exactly the problem?
EDIT
Ok, after retrieve data I parse it with NSXMLParser, that do it synchronously and blocks main thread. Is this correct? Then, maybe I need to parse in another thread. Anyone has a guide?
From the docs:
Messages to the delegate will be sent on the thread that calls this method. For the connection to work correctly the calling thread’s run loop must be operating in the default run loop mode.
Are you sure that this code is being called on a run loop in default mode and not from a thread created by yourself with a different type of run loop mode?
The UI should not be locking up when you use connectionWithRequest. Try creating a label in your UI and have your connection update it with the current amount of data, like so:
- (void)downloadContentFromUrl:(NSURL *)url {
NSURLRequest *request = [NSURLRequest requestWithURL:url cachePolicy:NSURLRequestUseProtocolCachePolicy timeoutInterval:10.0];
NSURLConnection *connection = [[NSURLConnection alloc] initWithRequest:request delegate:self];
if (connection) {
receivedData = [[NSMutableData data] retain];
self.downloadProgressLabel.text = #"Downloading...";
} else {
// oh noes!
}
}
- (void) connection:(NSURLConnection *)connection didReceiveResponse:(NSURLResponse *)response {
[receivedData setLength:0];
}
- (void) connection:(NSURLConnection *)connection didReceiveData:(NSData *)data {
[receivedData appendData:data];
int kb = [receivedData length] / 1024;
self.downloadProgressLabel.text = [NSString stringWithFormat:#"Downloaded\n%d kB", kb];
}
connectionWithRequest does indeed run in it's own thread - no need for you to worry about this. In fact it must be started from the main thread. Check out the NSUrlConnection doc for more info.
+ (id)connectionWithRequest:(NSURLRequest *)request delegate:(id)delegate];
This method should create an asynchronous-request (that means that it runs in the background and it doesn't block the UI). You should check if there's another class/method in your file that blocks the UI (for example NSData's '+ (NSData *)dataWithContentsOfURL:(NSURL *)URL').
I don't know if it could help anyone, but I've the same problem (asynchronous URL request blocking the UI) but it was due to:
NSLog(#"dataReceived: %#", data);
in the connectionDidReceiveData method.
In my case I was trying to update the UIProgressView.progress property. I calculated the new value like that
- (void)connection:(NSURLConnection *)connection didReceiveData:(NSData *)data{
[self.progress setProgress:self.downloadedData.length / self.fileSize ];
[self.downloadedData appendData:data];
}
Which doesn't work, I replaced this snippet of code with
- (void)connection:(NSURLConnection *)connection didReceiveData:(NSData *)data{
self.downloadedSize += data.length;
[self.progress setProgress:self.downloadedSize / self.fileSize ];
[self.downloadedData appendData:data];
}
And now the progress view updates with no problem.
Why doesn't this code work? It shows the Google screen but it doesn't change the text box value. I confirmed that the JS does work by running it in Safari, and this code seems to work otherwise since running alert('hi') does work.
NSURL *web_url = [NSURL URLWithString:#"http://www.google.com"];
NSURLRequest *web_request = [NSURLRequest requestWithURL:web_url];
[web_screen loadRequest:web_request];
NSString *js_result = [web_screen stringByEvaluatingJavaScriptFromString:#"document.getElementsByTagName('input')[1].value='test';"];
Just expanding on the previous answer. You need to conform to the UIWebViewDelegate protocol by setting the delegate property of the UIWebView like this:
web_screen.delegate = self;
Then you can implement one of the delegate methods to know when a request has finished loading and is therefore ready to have scripts run like so:
- (void)webViewDidFinishLoad:(UIWebView *)webView {
NSString *js_result = [webView stringByEvaluatingJavaScriptFromString:#"document.getElementsByTagName('input')[1].value='test';"];
}
For more information on the UIWebViewDelegate protocol visit the Apple site http://developer.apple.com/library/ios/#documentation/uikit/reference/UIWebViewDelegate_Protocol/Reference/Reference.html
The Load URL action takes place asynchronously. It does not even start until your method has ended. So your javascript is being pushed into an empty UIWebView, then your method ends, then the load happens.
You need to let your method end before the js is pushed in. The standard approach for this is to use a Delegate object, which will have a method called on it when the load completes. Only then does it make sense to push in the javascript.
Does it work if you wait for the page to finish loading first?
Consider looking at NSURLConnection and its delegate methods. You can use these to check on the status of a download.
#interface
...
NSURLConnection *connectionInProgress;
NSData *googleRequestResponseData;
NSURL *googleURL;
...
#implementation
...
- (void) setUpRequest {
googleURL = [[NSURL URLWithString:#"http://www.google.com/"] retain];
googleRequestResponseData = [[NSMutableData data] retain];
NSURLRequest *request = [NSURLRequest requestWithURL:url cachePolicy:NSURLRequestReturnCacheDataElseLoad timeoutInterval:30.0];
connectionInProgress = [[NSURLConnection alloc] initWithRequest:request delegate:self startImmediately:YES];
}
#pragma mark NSURLConnection delegate methods
- (void) connection:(NSURLConnection *)connection didReceiveData:(NSData *)data {
[googleRequestResponseData appendData:data];
}
- (void) connectionDidFinishLoading:(NSURLConnection *)connection {
[web_screen loadData:googleRequestResponseData MIMEType:#"application/octet-stream" textEncodingName:#"utf-8" baseURL:googleURL];
NSString *js_result = [web_screen stringByEvaluatingJavaScriptFromString:#"document.getElementsByTagName('input')[1].value='test';"];
NSLog (js_result);
[googleURL release];
[googleRequestResponseData release];
[connectionInProgress release];
connectionInProgress = nil;
}
- (void) connection:(NSURLConnection *)connection didFailWithError:(NSError *)error {
NSLog (#"Connection failed to load data from Google!");
[googleURL release];
[googleRequestResponseData release];
[connectionInProgress release];
connectionInProgress = nil;
}
Alternatively, check out Ben Copsey's ASIHTTPRequest wrapper, which includes a simplified approach to asynchronous downloads (see ASINetworkQueue, specifically).
You can use ASINetworkQueue to run a method of your choice (to run the Javascript code, for example), once the request download is complete.
add '.innerHTML' after what you are searching for
In your case do the following
- (void)webViewDidFinishLoad:(UIWebView *)webView {
NSString *js_result = [webView stringByEvaluatingJavaScriptFromString:#"document.getElementsByTagName('input')[1].value='test'.innerHTML"];
}
This worked for me .
check this for more info here