Problem creating url - iphone

Question

I want to create a url as below
http://maps.googleapis.com/maps/api/directions/json?origin=Adelaide,SA&destination=Adelaide,SA&waypoints=optimize:true|Barossa+Valley,SA|Clare,SA|Connawarra,SA|McLaren+Vale,SA&sensor=false
I used the following code to create this
NSURL *jsonURL;
NSString *strurl = [[NSString alloc]initWithFormat:#"http://maps.googleapis.com/maps/api/directions/json?origin=Adelaide,SA&destination=Adelaide,SA&waypoints=optimize:true|Barossa+Valley,SA|Clare,SA|Connawarra,SA|McLaren+Vale,SA&sensor=false"];
jsonURL = [NSURL URLWithString:strurl];
[strurl release];
NSLog(#"json Url%#",jsonURL);
NSString *jsonData = [[NSString alloc] initWithContentsOfURL:jsonURL];
NSMutableDictionary *dic = [[NSMutableDictionary alloc]init];
if(jsonData == nil){
//NSLog(#"Data NIL .....");
}
else{
SBJSON *json = [[SBJSON alloc] init];
NSError *error = nil;
dic = [json objectWithString:jsonData error:&error];
[json release];
}
But every time I get jsonURL to be nil .
I think the problem is due to "|". Has someone come across same issue? If yes, can you help me out?

Answer 1

Try
[NSURL URLWithString:[strurl stringByAddingPercentEscapesUsingEncoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding]]

Answer 2

The documentation for URLWithString says:
The string with which to initialize the NSURL object. Must conform to RFC 2396.
... which e.g. mentions:
Other characters are excluded because
gateways and other transport agents
are known to sometimes modify such
characters, or they are used as
delimiters.
unwise = "{" | "}" | "|" | "\" | "^" | "[" | "]" | "`"
Data corresponding to excluded
characters must be escaped in order to
be properly represented within a URI.
Thus escape them properly as slf suggested.
Also, just use a string constant for predefined strings:
NSString *strurl = #"http://....";

Answer 3

As for your URL issue, Georg is right:
NSURL *jsonURL = [NSURL URLWithString:#"http://maps.googleapis.com/maps/api/directions/json?origin=Adelaide,SA&destination=Adelaide,SA&waypoints=optimize%3Atrue%7CBarossa+Valley,SA%7CClare,SA%7CConnawarra,SA%7CMcLaren+Vale,SA&sensor=false"];
Fixed that issue for me.
However, the next bit:
NSString *jsonData = [[NSString alloc] initWithContentsOfURL:jsonURL];
Is deeply troubling. You should never do synchronous data reads on the main thread. initWithContentsOfURL is going to spawn a synchronous NSURLConnection to go fetch that data and might return sometime before sunday, but you never know. (This method is ok for filesystem loads, where things are much more deterministic)
Look into an asynchronous loading API like NSURLConnection from Apple, or better yet ASIHTTPRequest, about which there is ample documentation online.
Happy webservicing!

Answer 4

I think, the root of cause is your string creating method.
NSString *strurl = [[NSString alloc]initWithFormat:#"http://maps.googleapis.com/maps/api/directions/json?origin=Adelaide,SA&destination=Adelaide,SA&waypoints=optimize:true|Barossa+Valley,SA|Clare,SA|Connawarra,SA|McLaren+Vale,SA&sensor=false"];
Try with ...
NSString *strurl = [[NSString alloc]initWithString:#"http://maps.googleapis.com/maps/api/directions/json?origin=Adelaide,SA&destination=Adelaide,SA&waypoints=optimize:true|Barossa+Valley,SA|Clare,SA|Connawarra,SA|McLaren+Vale,SA&sensor=false"];