Sending form data via HTTP Post [Objective C] - iphone

Question

I have a form data from an iphone app that needs to send HTTP Post variables to a URL.
The thing is, I've been told not to use setHTTPBody, but am unsure of how else to do it as every example I see uses setHTTPBody; even those that use POST methods.
To make things matters a little more complicated, the URL/webpage requires a submit=true and action=enquiry in the post variables.
Here's what I have so far.
NSString *formContactName = [self contactName];
NSString *formEmail = [self email];
NSString *formPhone = [self phone];
NSString *formComments = [self comments];
// The above data is fine, as explored here.
NSLog(#"formContactName = %#", formContactName);
NSLog(#"formEmail = %#", formEmail);
NSLog(#"formPhone = %#", formPhone);
NSLog(#"formComments = %#", formComments);
// Setup request
NSMutableURLRequest *request = [[[NSMutableURLRequest alloc] init] autorelease];
[request setURL:[NSURL URLWithString:advertURL]];
[request setHTTPMethod:#"POST"];
// set headers
NSString *contentType = [NSString stringWithFormat:#"text/plain"];
[request addValue:contentType forHTTPHeaderField:#"Content-Type"];
// setup post string
NSMutableString *postString = [[NSMutableString alloc] init];
[postString appendFormat:#"contactname=%#", formContactName];
[postString appendFormat:#"&email=%#", formEmail];
[postString appendFormat:#"&phone=%#", formPhone];
[postString appendFormat:#"&comments=%#", formComments];
[postString appendFormat:#"&submit=yes"];
[postString appendFormat:#"&action=enquiry"];
// I've been told not to use setHTTPBody for post variables, but how else do you do it?
[request setHTTPBody:[postString dataUsingEncoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding]];
// get response
NSHTTPURLResponse *urlResponse = nil;
NSError *error = [[NSError alloc] init];
NSData *responseData = [NSURLConnection sendSynchronousRequest:request
returningResponse:&urlResponse
error:&error];
NSString *result = [[NSString alloc] initWithData:responseData encoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding];
NSLog(#"Response code: %d", [urlResponse statusCode]);
if ([urlResponse statusCode] >=200 && [urlResponse statusCode] <300)
{
NSLog(#"Response ==> %#", result);
}
[result release];
[error release];
I always get a 200 result, which is good. But the response back indicates that the Post variables are not getting through.
The response back has a field in it called "enquirysent" and its always blank. If the Post variables are successful, it should return a "1" or true statement.
"enquirysent": ""
Therefore, my question is: How do I force the HTTP-POST variables in the above request?
Thanks.

Answer 1

you can use ASIHTTPRequest to simplify:
ASIFormDataRequest *request = [ASIFormDataRequest requestWithURL:url];
[request setPostValue:#"Ben" forKey:#"first_name"];
[request setPostValue:#"Copsey" forKey:#"last_name"];
[request setFile:#"/Users/ben/Desktop/ben.jpg" forKey:#"photo"];