Sending an Http Post Request on Ios

HTTP Request in Swift with POST method

The key is that you want to:

• set the httpMethod to POST;
• optionally, set the Content-Type header, to specify how the request body was encoded, in case server might accept different types of requests;
• optionally, set the Accept header, to request how the response body should be encoded, in case the server might generate different types of responses; and
• set the httpBody to be properly encoded for the specific Content-Type; e.g. if application/x-www-form-urlencoded request, we need to percent-encode the body of the request.

E.g., in Swift 3 and later you can:

let url = URL(string: "https://httpbin.org/post")!
var request = URLRequest(url: url)
request.setValue("application/x-www-form-urlencoded", forHTTPHeaderField: "Content-Type")
request.setValue("application/json", forHTTPHeaderField: "Accept")
request.httpMethod = "POST"
let parameters: [String: Any] = [
    "id": 13,
    "name": "Jack & Jill"
]
request.httpBody = parameters.percentEncoded()

let task = URLSession.shared.dataTask(with: request) { data, response, error in
    guard 
        let data = data, 
        let response = response as? HTTPURLResponse, 
        error == nil 
    else {                                                               // check for fundamental networking error
        print("error", error ?? URLError(.badServerResponse))
        return
    }
    
    guard (200 ... 299) ~= response.statusCode else {                    // check for http errors
        print("statusCode should be 2xx, but is \(response.statusCode)")
        print("response = \(response)")
        return
    }
    
    // do whatever you want with the `data`, e.g.:
    
    do {
        let responseObject = try JSONDecoder().decode(ResponseObject<Foo>.self, from: data)
        print(responseObject)
    } catch {
        print(error) // parsing error
        
        if let responseString = String(data: data, encoding: .utf8) {
            print("responseString = \(responseString)")
        } else {
            print("unable to parse response as string")
        }
    }
}

task.resume()

Where the following extensions facilitate the percent-encoding request body, converting a Swift Dictionary to a application/x-www-form-urlencoded formatted Data:

extension Dictionary {
    func percentEncoded() -> Data? {
        map { key, value in
            let escapedKey = "\(key)".addingPercentEncoding(withAllowedCharacters: .urlQueryValueAllowed) ?? ""
            let escapedValue = "\(value)".addingPercentEncoding(withAllowedCharacters: .urlQueryValueAllowed) ?? ""
            return escapedKey + "=" + escapedValue
        }
        .joined(separator: "&")
        .data(using: .utf8)
    }
}

extension CharacterSet { 
    static let urlQueryValueAllowed: CharacterSet = {
        let generalDelimitersToEncode = ":#[]@" // does not include "?" or "/" due to RFC 3986 - Section 3.4
        let subDelimitersToEncode = "!$&'()*+,;="
        
        var allowed: CharacterSet = .urlQueryAllowed
        allowed.remove(charactersIn: "\(generalDelimitersToEncode)\(subDelimitersToEncode)")
        return allowed
    }()
}

And the following Decodable model objects facilitate the parsing of the application/json response using JSONDecoder:

// sample Decodable objects for https://httpbin.org

struct ResponseObject<T: Decodable>: Decodable {
    let form: T    // often the top level key is `data`, but in the case of https://httpbin.org, it echos the submission under the key `form`
}

struct Foo: Decodable {
    let id: String
    let name: String
}

This checks for both fundamental networking errors as well as high-level HTTP errors. This also properly percent escapes the parameters of the query.

Note, I used a name of Jack & Jill, to illustrate the proper x-www-form-urlencoded result of name=Jack%20%26%20Jill, which is “percent encoded” (i.e. the space is replaced with %20 and the & in the value is replaced with %26).

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See previous revision of this answer for Swift 2 rendition.

Sending an HTTP POST request on iOS

The following code describes a simple example using POST method.(How one can pass data by POST method)

Here, I describe how one can use of POST method.

1. Set post string with actual username and password.

NSString *post = [NSString stringWithFormat:@"Username=%@&Password=%@",@"username",@"password"]; 

2. Encode the post string using NSASCIIStringEncoding and also the post string you need to send in NSData format.

NSData *postData = [post dataUsingEncoding:NSASCIIStringEncoding allowLossyConversion:YES]; 

You need to send the actual length of your data. Calculate the length of the post string.

NSString *postLength = [NSString stringWithFormat:@"%d",[postData length]]; 

3. Create a Urlrequest with all the properties like HTTP method, http header field with length of the post string. Create URLRequest object and initialize it.

NSMutableURLRequest *request = [[NSMutableURLRequest alloc] init]; 

Set the Url for which your going to send the data to that request.

[request setURL:[NSURL URLWithString:@"http://www.abcde.com/xyz/login.aspx"]]; 

Now, set HTTP method (POST or GET). Write this lines as it is in your code.

[request setHTTPMethod:@"POST"]; 

Set HTTP header field with length of the post data.

[request setValue:postLength forHTTPHeaderField:@"Content-Length"]; 

Also set the Encoded value for HTTP header Field.

[request setValue:@"application/x-www-form-urlencoded" forHTTPHeaderField:@"Content-Type"];

Set the HTTPBody of the urlrequest with postData.

[request setHTTPBody:postData];

4. Now, create URLConnection object. Initialize it with the URLRequest.

NSURLConnection *conn = [[NSURLConnection alloc] initWithRequest:request delegate:self]; 

It returns the initialized url connection and begins to load the data for the url request. You can check that whether you URL connection is done properly or not using just if/else statement as below.

if(conn) {
    NSLog(@"Connection Successful");
} else {
    NSLog(@"Connection could not be made");
}

5. To receive the data from the HTTP request , you can use the delegate methods provided by the URLConnection Class Reference.
Delegate methods are as below.

// This method is used to receive the data which we get using post method.
- (void)connection:(NSURLConnection *)connection didReceiveData:(NSData*)data

// This method receives the error report in case of connection is not made to server. 
- (void)connection:(NSURLConnection *)connection didFailWithError:(NSError *)error 

// This method is used to process the data after connection has made successfully.
- (void)connectionDidFinishLoading:(NSURLConnection *)connection

Also Refer This and This documentation for POST method.

And here is best example with source code of HTTPPost Method.

iOS: how to perform a HTTP POST request?

You can use NSURLConnection as follows:

1. Set your NSURLRequest: Use requestWithURL:(NSURL *)theURL to initialise the request.

   If you need to specify a POST request and/or HTTP headers, use NSMutableURLRequest with

   • (void)setHTTPMethod:(NSString *)method
   • (void)setHTTPBody:(NSData *)data
   • (void)setValue:(NSString *)value forHTTPHeaderField:(NSString *)field

2. Send your request in 2 ways using NSURLConnection:

   • Synchronously: (NSData *)sendSynchronousRequest:(NSURLRequest *)request returningResponse:(NSURLResponse **)response error:(NSError **)error

     This returns a NSData variable that you can process.

     IMPORTANT: Remember to kick off the synchronous request in a separate thread to avoid blocking the UI.

   • Asynchronously: (void)start

Don't forget to set your NSURLConnection's delegate to handle the connection as follows:

- (void)connection:(NSURLConnection *)connection didReceiveResponse:(NSURLResponse *)response {
    [self.data setLength:0];
}

- (void)connection:(NSURLConnection *)connection didReceiveData:(NSData *)d {
    [self.data appendData:d];
}

- (void)connection:(NSURLConnection *)connection didFailWithError:(NSError *)error {
    [[[[UIAlertView alloc] initWithTitle:NSLocalizedString(@"Error", @"")
                                 message:[error localizedDescription]
                                delegate:nil
                       cancelButtonTitle:NSLocalizedString(@"OK", @"") 
                       otherButtonTitles:nil] autorelease] show];
}

- (void)connectionDidFinishLoading:(NSURLConnection *)connection {
    NSString *responseText = [[NSString alloc] initWithData:self.data encoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding];

    // Do anything you want with it 

    [responseText release];
}

// Handle basic authentication challenge if needed
- (void)connection:(NSURLConnection *)connection didReceiveAuthenticationChallenge:(NSURLAuthenticationChallenge *)challenge {
    NSString *username = @"username";
    NSString *password = @"password";

    NSURLCredential *credential = [NSURLCredential credentialWithUser:username
                                                             password:password
                                                          persistence:NSURLCredentialPersistenceForSession];
    [[challenge sender] useCredential:credential forAuthenticationChallenge:challenge];
}

Sending HTTP POST Request not working

I added this code and it worked:

NSURLConnection *conn = [[NSURLConnection alloc] initWithRequest:request delegate:self];
[conn start];

Also the breakpoint issue came from me accidentally adding a breakpoint when I was clicking around, which looks like a blue tab.

Is there a different way how to send a HTTP POST request without using third party libraries using custom header and body?

As it turns out, I was using the CommonCrypto hashing function wrongly, I ended up using this instead:

https://github.com/apple/swift-package-manager/blob/master/Sources/Basic/SHA256.swift

And the SHA256 hash it returned was the correct one I needed, maybe this might help someone in the future.

Swift 5, make http post request

Below is the code for Post Method,using URLSession

let Url = String(format: "http://10.10.10.53:8080/sahambl/rest/sahamblsrv/userlogin")
    guard let serviceUrl = URL(string: Url) else { return }
    let parameters: [String: Any] = [
        "request": [
                "xusercode" : "YOUR USERCODE HERE",
                "xpassword": "YOUR PASSWORD HERE"
        ]
    ]
    var request = URLRequest(url: serviceUrl)
    request.httpMethod = "POST"
    request.setValue("Application/json", forHTTPHeaderField: "Content-Type")
    guard let httpBody = try? JSONSerialization.data(withJSONObject: parameters, options: []) else {
        return
    }
    request.httpBody = httpBody
    request.timeoutInterval = 20
    let session = URLSession.shared
    session.dataTask(with: request) { (data, response, error) in
        if let response = response {
            print(response)
        }
        if let data = data {
            do {
                let json = try JSONSerialization.jsonObject(with: data, options: [])
                print(json)
            } catch {
                print(error)
            }
        }
    }.resume()
}

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