POST multipart/form-data with Objective-C

Objective C Http Post Multipartform Data Http Post-Vars

Objective C Problem Overview

So this HTML code submits the data in the correct format for me.

<form action="https://www.example.com/register.php" method="post" enctype="multipart/form-data">
	Name: <input type="text" name="userName"><BR />
	Email: <input type="text" name="userEmail"><BR />
	Password: <input type="text" name="userPassword"><BR />
	Avatar: <input type="file" name="avatar"><BR />
	<input type="submit">
</form>

I've looked into a good number of articles on how to do a multipart/form-data POST on iOS, but none really explain what to do if there were normal parameters as well as the file upload.

Could you please help me with the code to POST this in Obj-C?

Thanks!

Objective C Solutions

Solution 1 - Objective C

The process is as follows:

Create dictionary with the userName, userEmail, and userPassword parameters.

 NSDictionary *params = @{@"userName"     : @"rob",
                          @"userEmail"    : @"[email protected]",
                          @"userPassword" : @"password"};

Determine the path for the image:

 NSString *path = [[NSBundle mainBundle] pathForResource:@"avatar" ofType:@"png"];

Create the request:

 NSString *boundary = [self generateBoundaryString];

 // configure the request

 NSMutableURLRequest *request = [[NSMutableURLRequest alloc] initWithURL:url];
 [request setHTTPMethod:@"POST"];

 // set content type

 NSString *contentType = [NSString stringWithFormat:@"multipart/form-data; boundary=%@", boundary];
 [request setValue:contentType forHTTPHeaderField: @"Content-Type"];

 // create body

 NSData *httpBody = [self createBodyWithBoundary:boundary parameters:params paths:@[path] fieldName:fieldName];

This is the method used above to build the body of the request:

 - (NSData *)createBodyWithBoundary:(NSString *)boundary
                         parameters:(NSDictionary *)parameters
                              paths:(NSArray *)paths
                          fieldName:(NSString *)fieldName {
     NSMutableData *httpBody = [NSMutableData data];
     
     // add params (all params are strings)
     
     [parameters enumerateKeysAndObjectsUsingBlock:^(NSString *parameterKey, NSString *parameterValue, BOOL *stop) {
         [httpBody appendData:[[NSString stringWithFormat:@"--%@\r\n", boundary] dataUsingEncoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding]];
         [httpBody appendData:[[NSString stringWithFormat:@"Content-Disposition: form-data; name=\"%@\"\r\n\r\n", parameterKey] dataUsingEncoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding]];
         [httpBody appendData:[[NSString stringWithFormat:@"%@\r\n", parameterValue] dataUsingEncoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding]];
     }];
     
     // add image data
     
     for (NSString *path in paths) {
         NSString *filename  = [path lastPathComponent];
         NSData   *data      = [NSData dataWithContentsOfFile:path];
         NSString *mimetype  = [self mimeTypeForPath:path];
         
         [httpBody appendData:[[NSString stringWithFormat:@"--%@\r\n", boundary] dataUsingEncoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding]];
         [httpBody appendData:[[NSString stringWithFormat:@"Content-Disposition: form-data; name=\"%@\"; filename=\"%@\"\r\n", fieldName, filename] dataUsingEncoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding]];
         [httpBody appendData:[[NSString stringWithFormat:@"Content-Type: %@\r\n\r\n", mimetype] dataUsingEncoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding]];
         [httpBody appendData:data];
         [httpBody appendData:[@"\r\n" dataUsingEncoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding]];
     }
     
     [httpBody appendData:[[NSString stringWithFormat:@"--%@--\r\n", boundary] dataUsingEncoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding]];
     
     return httpBody;
 }

The above uses the following utility methods:

 @import MobileCoreServices;    // only needed in iOS

 - (NSString *)mimeTypeForPath:(NSString *)path {
     // get a mime type for an extension using MobileCoreServices.framework
     
     CFStringRef extension = (__bridge CFStringRef)[path pathExtension];
     CFStringRef UTI = UTTypeCreatePreferredIdentifierForTag(kUTTagClassFilenameExtension, extension, NULL);
     assert(UTI != NULL);
     
     NSString *mimetype = CFBridgingRelease(UTTypeCopyPreferredTagWithClass(UTI, kUTTagClassMIMEType));
     assert(mimetype != NULL);
     
     CFRelease(UTI);
     
     return mimetype;
 }

 - (NSString *)generateBoundaryString {
     return [NSString stringWithFormat:@"Boundary-%@", [[NSUUID UUID] UUIDString]];
 }

Then submit the request. There are many, many options here.

For example, if using NSURLSession, you could create NSURLSessionUploadTask:

    NSURLSession *session = [NSURLSession sharedSession];  // use sharedSession or create your own

    NSURLSessionTask *task = [session uploadTaskWithRequest:request fromData:httpBody completionHandler:^(NSData *data, NSURLResponse *response, NSError *error) {
        if (error) {
            NSLog(@"error = %@", error);
            return;
        }

        NSString *result = [[NSString alloc] initWithData:data encoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding];
        NSLog(@"result = %@", result);
    }];
    [task resume];

Or you could create a NSURLSessionDataTask:

    request.HTTPBody = httpBody;

    NSURLSessionTask *task = [session dataTaskWithRequest:request completionHandler:^(NSData *data, NSURLResponse *response, NSError *error) {
        if (error) {
            NSLog(@"error = %@", error);
            return;
        }

        NSString *result = [[NSString alloc] initWithData:data encoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding];
        NSLog(@"result = %@", result);
    }];
    [task resume];

The above assumes that the server is just returning text response. It's better if the server returned JSON, in which case you'd use NSJSONSerialization rather than NSString method initWithData.

Likewise, I'm using the completion block renditions of NSURLSession above, but feel free to use the richer delegate-based renditions, too. But that seems beyond the scope of this question, so I'll leave that to you.

But hopefully this illustrates the idea.

I'd be remiss if I didn't point that, much easier than the above, you can use AFNetworking, repeating steps 1 and 2 above, but then just calling:

AFHTTPSessionManager *manager = [AFHTTPSessionManager manager];
manager.responseSerializer = [AFHTTPResponseSerializer serializer]; // only needed if the server is not returning JSON; if web service returns JSON, remove this line
NSURLSessionTask *task = [manager POST:urlString parameters:params constructingBodyWithBlock:^(id<AFMultipartFormData> formData) {
    NSError *error;
    if (![formData appendPartWithFileURL:[NSURL fileURLWithPath:path] name:@"avatar" fileName:[path lastPathComponent] mimeType:@"image/png" error:&error]) {
        NSLog(@"error appending part: %@", error);
    }
}  progress:nil success:^(NSURLSessionTask *task, id responseObject) {
    NSLog(@"responseObject = %@", responseObject);
} failure:^(NSURLSessionTask *task, NSError *error) {
    NSLog(@"error = %@", error);
}];

if (!task) {
    NSLog(@"Creation of task failed.");
}

Solution 2 - Objective C

POST multiple images using multipart or form-data with Objective-C

-(void)multipleimageandstring
{
    NSString *urlString=@"URL NAME";
    
    NSMutableURLRequest *request = [[NSMutableURLRequest alloc] init] ;
    [request setURL:[NSURL URLWithString:urlString]];
    [request setHTTPMethod:@"POST"];
    
    NSMutableData *body = [NSMutableData data];
    
    NSString *boundary = @"---------------------------14737809831466499882746641449";
    NSString *contentType = [NSString stringWithFormat:@"multipart/form-data; boundary=%@", boundary];
    [request addValue:contentType forHTTPHeaderField:@"Content-Type"];
    
    // file
    float low_bound = 0;
    float high_bound =5000;
    float rndValue = (((float)arc4random()/0x100000000)*(high_bound-low_bound)+low_bound);//image1
    int intRndValue = (int)(rndValue + 0.5);
   NSString *str_image1 = [@(intRndValue) stringValue];
    
    UIImage *chosenImage1=[UIImage imageNamed:@"Purchase_GUI_curves-12 copy.png"];
    
    NSData *imageData = UIImageJPEGRepresentation(chosenImage1, 90);
    [body appendData:[[NSString stringWithFormat:@"--%@\r\n", boundary] dataUsingEncoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding]];
    [body appendData:[[NSString stringWithFormat:@"Content-Disposition: form-data; name=\"files\"; filename=\"%@.png\"\r\n",str_image1] dataUsingEncoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding]];
    [body appendData:[@"Content-Type: application/octet-stream\r\n\r\n" dataUsingEncoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding]];
    [body appendData:[NSData dataWithData:imageData]];
    [body appendData:[@"\r\n" dataUsingEncoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding]];
    
    
    
    
    
    [body appendData:[[NSString stringWithFormat:@"--%@\r\n", boundary] dataUsingEncoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding]];
    [body appendData:[[NSString stringWithFormat:@"Content-Disposition: form-data; name=\"name\"\r\n\r\n"] dataUsingEncoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding]];
    [body appendData:[@"Nilesh" dataUsingEncoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding]];
    [body appendData:[@"\r\n" dataUsingEncoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding]];
    
    [body appendData:[[NSString stringWithFormat:@"--%@\r\n", boundary] dataUsingEncoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding]];
    [body appendData:[[NSString stringWithFormat:@"Content-Disposition: form-data; name=\"apipassword\"\r\n\r\n"] dataUsingEncoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding]];
    [body appendData:[[NSString stringWithString:app.password] dataUsingEncoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding]];
    [body appendData:[@"\r\n" dataUsingEncoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding]];
    
    [body appendData:[[NSString stringWithFormat:@"--%@\r\n", boundary] dataUsingEncoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding]];
    [body appendData:[[NSString stringWithFormat:@"Content-Disposition: form-data; name=\"adminId\"\r\n\r\n"] dataUsingEncoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding]];
    [body appendData:[[NSString stringWithString:app.adminId] dataUsingEncoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding]];
    [body appendData:[@"\r\n" dataUsingEncoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding]];

    // close form
    [body appendData:[[NSString stringWithFormat:@"--%@--\r\n", boundary] dataUsingEncoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding]];
    // set request body
    [request setHTTPBody:body];
    
    //return and test
    NSData *returnData = [NSURLConnection sendSynchronousRequest:request returningResponse:nil error:nil];
    NSString *returnString = [[NSString alloc] initWithData:returnData encoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding];
    
    NSLog(@"%@", returnString);

}

Solution 3 - Objective C

Try to use this for both video and image data with different mime types.

NSDictionary *param;

AFHTTPRequestOperationManager *manager = [AFHTTPRequestOperationManager manager];

// 1. Create `AFHTTPRequestSerializer` which will create your request.
AFHTTPRequestSerializer *serializer = [AFHTTPRequestSerializer serializer];
NSMutableURLRequest *request;

NSData *fileData;
if ([objDoc.url containsString:@".mp4"]) {
    manager.responseSerializer.acceptableContentTypes = [manager.responseSerializer.acceptableContentTypes setByAddingObject:@"application/json"];
    [serializer setValue:@"video/mp4" forHTTPHeaderField:@"Content-Type"];
    manager.requestSerializer = serializer;
}

// 2. Create an `NSMutableURLRequest`.

NSLog(@"filename =%@",objDoc.url);
request= [serializer multipartFormRequestWithMethod:@"POST" URLString:strUrl parameters:param constructingBodyWithBlock:^(id<AFMultipartFormData> formData) {
    
    if ([objDoc.url containsString:@".mp4"]) {
        [formData appendPartWithFileData:fileData
                                    name:@"File"
                                fileName:@"video.mp4"
                                mimeType:@"video/mp4"];
        
    }else{
        [formData appendPartWithFileData:fileData
                                    name:@"File"
                                fileName:@"image.jpeg"
                                mimeType:@"image/jpeg"];
    }
    
} error:nil];

// 3. Create and use `AFHTTPRequestOperationManager` to create an `AFHTTPRequestOperation` from the `NSMutableURLRequest` that we just created.

self.objeDocument.isUploading = [NSNumber numberWithInt:1];

self.operation = [manager HTTPRequestOperationWithRequest:request
                                                  success:^(AFHTTPRequestOperation *operation, id responseObject) {
                                                     
                                                      NSLog(@"Success %@", responseObject);
                                                  } failure:^(AFHTTPRequestOperation *operation, NSError *error) {
                                                      UIAlertView *alert = [[UIAlertView alloc]initWithTitle:@"Error!" message:@"The document attached has failed to upload." delegate:nil cancelButtonTitle:@"OK" otherButtonTitles:nil, nil];
                                                      [alert show];
                                                      [self.operation cancel];
                                                      NSLog(@"Failure %@", error.description);
                                                  }];


// 4. Set the progress block of the operation.
[self.operation setUploadProgressBlock:^(NSUInteger __unused bytesWritten,
                                         long long totalBytesWritten,
                                         long long totalBytesExpectedToWrite) {
    NSLog(@"Wrote %lld/%lld", totalBytesWritten, totalBytesExpectedToWrite);
    float progress = (float)totalBytesWritten/(float)totalBytesExpectedToWrite;
    
    
}];

// 5. Begin!
[self.operation start];

Solution 4 - Objective C

I struggled with this for a while, if you are looking for uploading multiple images or any other file types, you can do the following using AFNetworking 3.0

NSDictionary *params = @{key        : value,
							..... etc
                         };

 NSString *urlString = @"http://..... your endpoint url";
 
AFHTTPSessionManager *manager = [AFHTTPSessionManager manager];
manager.responseSerializer = [AFHTTPResponseSerializer serializer]; // only needed if the server is not returning JSON;  

NSURLSessionTask *task = [manager POST:urlString parameters:params constructingBodyWithBlock:^(id<AFMultipartFormData> formData) {    for (int x = 0 ; x< contentArray.count; x++) {        AttachmentsModel *model = contentArray[x];

        if(model.type == ImageAttachmentType){
            [formData appendPartWithFileData:model.data name:model.name fileName:model.fileName mimeType:model.mimeType];

        }else if(model.type == AudioAttachmentType){
            NSURL *urlVideoFile = [NSURL fileURLWithPath:model.path];
            [formData appendPartWithFileURL:urlVideoFile name:model.name fileName:model.fileName mimeType:model.mimeType error:nil];
        }else{
            [formData appendPartWithFileURL:model.url name:model.name fileName:model.fileName mimeType:model.mimeType error:nil];

        }
   
    }
}  progress:nil success:^(NSURLSessionTask *task, id responseObject) {
    [Utility stopLoading];

     NSString *result = [[NSString alloc] initWithData:responseObject encoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding];
    NSLog(@"result = %@", result);
    
    id json = [NSJSONSerialization JSONObjectWithData:responseObject options:0 error:nil];


    if (block) {
        
		//your response comes here
    }
    
} failure:^(NSURLSessionTask *task, NSError *error) {
    NSLog(@"error = %@", error);
    
}];

if (!task) {
    NSLog(@"Creation of task failed.");
}

And here is how my AttachmentsModel looks like:

//  AttachmentsModel.h

typedef enum AttachmnetType{
    ImageAttachmentType,
    AudioAttachmentType,
    VideoAttachmentType
} AttachmnetType;

@interface AttachmentsModel : NSObject

@property (strong, nonatomic) NSString *path;
@property (strong, nonatomic) NSData *data;
@property (strong, nonatomic) NSString *mimeType;
@property (strong, nonatomic) NSString *name;
@property (strong, nonatomic) NSString *fileName;
@property (strong, nonatomic) NSURL *url;

Content Type	Original Author	Original Content on Stackoverflow
Question	Ali Almohsen	View Question on Stackoverflow
Solution 1 - Objective C	Rob	View Answer on Stackoverflow
Solution 2 - Objective C	manish gaurav	View Answer on Stackoverflow
Solution 3 - Objective C	Arvind Patidar	View Answer on Stackoverflow
Solution 4 - Objective C	Mutawe	View Answer on Stackoverflow