Question

I am trying to post values & file over HTTP in an IPhone app.

The requirement is when the form is posted, the values in the input boxes has to be used for authentication and if the user is valid, the file should get uploaded.

But when I try to post the form, the file is not getting posted and also the posted values are not accepted by the action URL.

Find below the code used in the IPhone app and its HTML equivalent. Can someone tell what I am missing?

HTML Equivalent

<form action="http://www.something.com/upload/" method="post" enctype="multipart/form-data" target="_blank" onsubmit="return window.confirm(&quot;You are submitting information to an external page.\nAre you sure?&quot;);">    
<h3>Test Form</h3>    
<p>File: <input name="file" type="file"></p>    
<p>Username: <input name="usr" type="text"></p>    
<p>Password: <input name="pwd" type="text"></p>    
<p><input name="send" value="Upload" type="submit"></p>    
</form>

Code used in IPhone app

    NSString *filePath = [[NSBundle mainBundle] pathForResource:@"test-upload" ofType:@"zip"];
    NSData *postData = [NSData dataWithContentsOfFile:filePath];

    NSString *urlString = @"http://www.something.com/upload/";

    NSMutableURLRequest *request = [[[NSMutableURLRequest alloc] init] autorelease];
    [request setURL:[NSURL URLWithString:urlString]];
    [request setHTTPMethod:@"POST"];

    NSString *boundary = [NSString stringWithString:@"---------------------------14737809831466499882746641449"];

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

    NSMutableData *body = [NSMutableData data];

    [body appendData:[[NSString stringWithFormat:@"\r\n%@\r\n",boundary] dataUsingEncoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding]];
    [body appendData:[@"Content-Disposition: form-data; name=\"usr\"\r\n\r\n" dataUsingEncoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding]];
    [body appendData:[@"[e-mail]" dataUsingEncoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding]];
    [body appendData:[[NSString stringWithFormat:@"\r\n%@\r\n",boundary] dataUsingEncoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding]];

    [body appendData:[@"Content-Disposition: form-data; name=\"pwd\"\r\n\r\n" dataUsingEncoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding]];
    [body appendData:[@"testpwd" dataUsingEncoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding]];

    [body appendData:[[NSString stringWithFormat:@"\r\n--%@\r\n",boundary] dataUsingEncoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding]];

    [body appendData:[[NSString stringWithString:@"Content-Disposition: form-data; name=\"file\"; filename=\"test-upload.zip\"rn"] dataUsingEncoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding]];
    [body appendData:[[NSString stringWithString:@"Content-Type: application/octet-stream\r\n\r\n"] dataUsingEncoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding]];
    [body appendData:[NSData dataWithData:postData]];

    [body appendData:[[NSString stringWithFormat:@"\r\n--%@--\r\n",boundary] dataUsingEncoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding]];

    [request setHTTPBody:body];

    NSData *returnData = [NSURLConnection sendSynchronousRequest:request returningResponse:nil error:nil];
    NSString *returnString = [[NSString alloc] initWithData:returnData encoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding];
    NSLog(returnString);

Answer 1

Finally solved by correcting the boundary. I have posted the whole code below

    NSString *filePath = [[NSBundle mainBundle] pathForResource:@"test-upload" ofType:@"zip"];
    NSData *postData = [NSData dataWithContentsOfFile:filePath];

    NSString *urlString = @"http://www.something.com/upload/";

    NSMutableURLRequest *request = [[[NSMutableURLRequest alloc] init] autorelease];
    [request setURL:[NSURL URLWithString:urlString]];
    [request setHTTPMethod:@"POST"];

    NSString *boundary = [NSString stringWithString:@"---------------------------14737809831466499882746641449"];

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

    NSMutableData *body = [NSMutableData data];

    [body appendData:[[NSString stringWithFormat:@"--%@\r\n", boundary] dataUsingEncoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding]];
    [body appendData:[@"Content-Disposition: form-data; name=\"usr\"\r\n\r\n" dataUsingEncoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding]];
    [body appendData:[@"[e-mail]" dataUsingEncoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding]];
    [body appendData:[[NSString stringWithString:@"\r\n"] dataUsingEncoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding]];

    [body appendData:[[NSString stringWithFormat:@"--%@\r\n", boundary] dataUsingEncoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding]];
    [body appendData:[@"Content-Disposition: form-data; name=\"pwd\"\r\n\r\n" dataUsingEncoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding]];
    [body appendData:[@"testpwd" dataUsingEncoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding]];
    [body appendData:[[NSString stringWithString:@"\r\n"] dataUsingEncoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding]];


    [body appendData:[[NSString stringWithFormat:@"--%@\r\n", boundary] dataUsingEncoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding]];    
    [body appendData:[[NSString stringWithString:@"Content-Disposition: form-data; name=\"file\"; filename=\"test-upload.zip\"rn"] dataUsingEncoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding]];
    [body appendData:[[NSString stringWithString:@"Content-Type: application/octet-stream\r\n\r\n"] dataUsingEncoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding]];
    [body appendData:[NSData dataWithData:postData]];

    [body appendData:[[NSString stringWithFormat:@"\r\n--%@--\r\n",boundary] dataUsingEncoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding]];

    [request setHTTPBody:body];

    NSData *returnData = [NSURLConnection sendSynchronousRequest:request returningResponse:nil error:nil];
    NSString *returnString = [[NSString alloc] initWithData:returnData encoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding];
    NSLog(returnString);