HTTP POST to Imageshack - iphone

Question

I am currently uploading images to my server via HTTP POST. Everything works fine using the code below.
NSString *UDID = md5([UIDevice currentDevice].uniqueIdentifier);
NSString *filename = [NSString stringWithFormat:#"%#-%#", UDID, [NSDate date]];
NSString *urlString = #"http://taptation.com/stationary_data/index.php";
request= [[[NSMutableURLRequest alloc] init] autorelease];
[request setURL:[NSURL URLWithString:urlString]];
[request setHTTPMethod:#"POST"];
NSString *boundary = #"---------------------------14737809831466499882746641449";
NSString *contentType = [NSString stringWithFormat:#"multipart/form-data; boundary=%#",boundary];
[request addValue:contentType forHTTPHeaderField: #"Content-Type"];
NSMutableData *postbody = [NSMutableData data];
[postbody appendData:[[NSString stringWithFormat:#"\r\n--%#\r\n",boundary] dataUsingEncoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding]];
[postbody appendData:[[NSString stringWithFormat:#"Content-Disposition: form-data; name=\"userfile\"; filename=\"%#.jpg\"\r\n", filename] dataUsingEncoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding]];
[postbody appendData:[[NSString stringWithString:#"Content-Type: application/octet-stream\r\n\r\n"] dataUsingEncoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding]];
[postbody appendData:[NSData dataWithData:imageData]];
[postbody appendData:[[NSString stringWithFormat:#"\r\n--%#--\r\n",boundary] dataUsingEncoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding]];
[request setHTTPBody:postbody];
NSData *returnData = [NSURLConnection sendSynchronousRequest:request returningResponse:nil error:nil];
returnString = [[NSString alloc] initWithData:returnData encoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding];
NSLog(returnString);
However, when I try to convert this to work with Image Shacks XML API, it doesn't return anything. The directions from ImageShack are below.
Send the following variables via POST to imageshack. us /index.php
fileupload; (the image)
xml = "yes"; (specifies the return of XML)
cookie; (registration code, optional)
Does anyone know where I should go from here?

Answer 1

You might want to consider using ASIHTTPRequest, as it will build a form data post body for you with a lot less hassle, and can stream the request body from disk, so you'll save memory when uploading large images.
A quick google found this, which seems to suggest you should be posting to /upload_api.php rather than /index.php.
Something like this would probably be a good start:
ASIFormDataRequest *request = [[[ASIFormDataRequest alloc] initWithUrl:[NSURL URLWithString:#"http://www.imageshack.us/upload_api.php"]] autorelease];
[request setFile:#"/path/to/file" forKey:#"fileupload"];
[request setPostValue:#"yes" forKey:#"xml"];
[request setPostValue:#"blahblah" forKey:#"cookie"];
//It looks as though you probably need these too
[request setPostValue:#"me#somewhere.com" forKey:#"email"];
[request setPostValue:#"blah" forKey:#"key"];
[request start];
if ([request error]) {
NSLog(#"%#",[request error]);
} else {
    NSLog([request responseString]); // The xml that got sent back
}
Warning: untested!
I've used a synchronous request because you did, but you almost certainly should be using an asynchronous request instead (a queue with ASIHTTPRequest).

Answer 2

Took me a while, but you need to use ASIHTTPREQUEST!
- (void)uploadToImageShack {
NSAutoreleasePool *paul = [[NSAutoreleasePool alloc] init];
UIImage *tempImage = self.selectedimage;
ASIFormDataRequest *request = [[[ASIFormDataRequest alloc] initWithURL:[NSURL URLWithString:#"http://www.imageshack.us/upload_api.php"]] autorelease];
NSData *imageData = UIImagePNGRepresentation(tempImage);
[request setFile:imageData withFileName:#"image" andContentType:#"image/png" forKey:#"fileupload"];
[request setPostValue:#"yes" forKey:#"xml"];
[request setPostValue:#"3ZQ7C09K708fce677d9cadee04811cfcbdf63361" forKey:#"key"];
[request setUseCookiePersistence:NO];
[request startSynchronous];
NSError *error = [request error];
if (error) {
UIAlertView *alert = [[UIAlertView alloc] initWithTitle:#"Error" message:[error localizedDescription] delegate:nil cancelButtonTitle:#"Dismiss" otherButtonTitles:nil];
[alert show];
[alert release];
}
else if (!error) {
if ([request responseString]) {
parser = [[NSXMLParser alloc] initWithData:[[NSData alloc] initWithData:[request responseData]]];
[parser setDelegate:self];
[parser parse];
}
}
[paul drain];
}