Question

I have a pretty basic internal iOS app that I want to send a POST to a web-server. You basically have a bunch of buttons, and depending on what button you press, it sends a pre-defined “message” to the web-server.

Once the buttons are pressed it takes them to another view and says Thanks for selecting the button that you pressed. I also want a pre-defined message to be sent to a web-server, formatted and then emailed to a static email address.

This is what I have so far.. I’m just trying to figure out the best way to send the POST. Is the way I have setup the best way to do it? Or is there smarter way to do this?

Sorry if it’s messy and un-organized.. I’m very new to iOS development.

@interface DrinkViewController () {
NSString *buttonlabel;
NSString *urlEncodeUsingEncoding;
}
@end

@implementation DrinkViewController

- (id)initWithNibName:(NSString *)nibNameOrNil bundle:(NSBundle *)nibBundleOrNil
{
    self = [super initWithNibName:nibNameOrNil bundle:nibBundleOrNil];
    if (self) {
        // Custom initialization
    }
    return self;
}

- (void)viewDidLoad
{
    [super viewDidLoad];
    // Do any additional setup after loading the view.
}

- (void)viewDidUnload
{
    [super viewDidUnload];
    // Release any retained subviews of the main view.
}

- (BOOL)shouldAutorotateToInterfaceOrientation:(UIInterfaceOrientation)interfaceOrientation
{
    return YES;
}

-(IBAction)selectButton:(id)sender{
    NSLog(@"Button Pressed:%d",((UIButton *)sender).tag);
    NSString *dvalue;
    switch (((UIButton *)sender).tag) {
        case 1:
            dvalue = @"Button 1";
            break;
        case 2:
            dvalue = @"Button 2";
            break;
        case 3:
            dvalue = @"Button 3";
            break;
        case 4:
            dvalue = @"Button 4";
            break;
        case 5:
            dvalue = @"Button 5";
            break;
        case 6:
            dvalue = @"Button 6";
            break;
        case 7:
            dvalue = @"Button 7";
            break;

    }
    buttonlabel = dvalue;

    [self performSegueWithIdentifier:@"selectionTransition" sender:sender];


    NSData *postData = [buttonlabel dataUsingEncoding:NSASCIIStringEncoding allowLossyConversion:YES];
    NSString *postLength = [NSString stringWithFormat:@"%d", [postData length]];
    NSMutableURLRequest *request =  [NSMutableURLRequest alloc];
                                    [request setURL:[NSURL URLWithString:@"http://www.abc.com/form.php"]];
                                    [request setHTTPMethod:@"POST"];
                                    [request setValue:postLength forHTTPHeaderField:@"Content-Length"];
                                    [request setValue:@"application/x-www-form-urlencoded" forHTTPHeaderField:@"Content-Type"];
                                    [request setHTTPBody:postData];
    NSLog(@"POST: %@ sent to %@", buttonlabel, request);
}


- (void)prepareForSegue:(UIStoryboardSegue *)segue sender:(id)sender
{
    if ([[segue identifier] isEqualToString:@"selectionTransition"]) {

        NSLog(@"%@", buttonlabel);
        // Get destination view
        DetailViewController *vc = [segue destinationViewController];

        // Pass the information to your destination view
        [vc setLabelValue:buttonlabel];
    }
}

@end

Answer 1

Here’s what you need to use: NSURLRequest, NSURLConnection, NSURLResponse, NSURL. You might use another library, but i would recommend you to try to understand how these classes work (since you are new to this).

https://developer.apple.com/library/mac/#documentation/Cocoa/Reference/Foundation/Classes/NSURLRequest_Class/Reference/Reference.html

https://developer.apple.com/library/mac/#documentation/Cocoa/Reference/Foundation/Classes/nsurlconnection_Class/Reference/Reference.html

https://developer.apple.com/library/mac/#documentation/Cocoa/Reference/Foundation/Classes/NSURLResponse_Class/Reference/Reference.html

https://developer.apple.com/library/mac/#documentation/Cocoa/Reference/Foundation/Classes/NSURL_Class/Reference/Reference.html

Here’s how it works: You use the server url, create a NSURLRequest, assign the proper HTTP method(POST, GET, etc) and other necessary request headers, then you would call on NSURLConnection to get the response and the server data.