Question

I have a class which parse an XML feed. In that class I have to following method:

-(id)loadXMLByURL:(NSString *)urlString name:(NSString*)name{
  NSString *urls = [[NSString alloc]initWithFormat:@"%@%@" , urlString, name];
  NSLog(@"STRING URL: %@" , urls);
  NSURL *url = [NSURL URLWithString:urls];

  NSLog(@"%@" , url);

  parser = [[NSXMLParser alloc]initWithContentsOfURL:url];
  parser.delegate = self;
  BOOL success = [parser parse];
  if (success) {
      NSLog(@"No error");
  }else{
    NSLog(@"Error: %@" , parser.parserError);
}
    return self;
}

The first NSLog is the correct url, however the NSURL comes out as (null)

Here’s where I call the method:

 //f is an object where I store the value of name from another feed, which I have to use as a parameter in the url for this feed

 NSString *name = f.name; 
        myParser = [[MyParser alloc]loadXMLByURL:@"http://myurl.com/names.asp?name=" name:name];

If I NSLog name here, it shows the right value.

Anyone have any idea why the NSURL comes out as (null)?

Answer 1

You’ll want to escape name.

Add a category on NSString and then call [name urlEncodedString]. e.g.:

@implementation NSString (URLEncoding)

- (NSString *)urlEncodedString
{
    return (NSString *)CFURLCreateStringByAddingPercentEscapes(NULL,
                                                               (CFStringRef)self,
                                                               NULL,
                                                               (CFStringRef)@"!*'\"();:@&=+$,/?%#[]% ",
                                                               kCFStringEncodingUTF8);
}

@end