Question

I have a URL for an image (got it from UIImagePickerController) but I no longer have the image in memory (the URL was saved from a previous run of the app). Can I reload the UIImage from the URL again?

I see that UIImage has a imageWithContentsOfFile: but I have a URL. Can I use NSData’s dataWithContentsOfURL: to read the URL?

EDIT1

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based on @Daniel’s answer I tried the following code but it doesn’t work…

NSLog(@"%s %@", __PRETTY_FUNCTION__, photoURL);     
if (photoURL) {
    NSURL* aURL = [NSURL URLWithString:photoURL];
    NSData* data = [[NSData alloc] initWithContentsOfURL:aURL];
    self.photoImage = [UIImage imageWithData:data];
    [data release];
}

When I ran it the console shows:

-[PhotoBox willMoveToWindow:] file://localhost/Users/gary/Library/Application%20Support/iPhone%20Simulator/3.2/Media/DCIM/100APPLE/IMG_0004.JPG
*** -[NSURL length]: unrecognized selector sent to instance 0x536fbe0
*** Terminating app due to uncaught exception 'NSInvalidArgumentException', reason: '*** -[NSURL length]: unrecognized selector sent to instance 0x536fbe0'

Looking at the call stack, I’m calling URLWithString, which calls URLWithString:relativeToURL:, then initWithString:relativeToURL:, then _CFStringIsLegalURLString, then CFStringGetLength, then forwarding_prep_0, then forwarding, then -[NSObject doesNotRecognizeSelector].

Any ideas why my NSString (photoURL’s address is 0x536fbe0) doesn’t respond to length? Why does it say it doesn’t respond to -[NSURL length]? Doesn’t it know that param is an NSString, not a NSURL?

EDIT2

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OK, the only problem with the code is the string to URL conversion. If I hardcode the string, everything else works fine. So something is wrong with my NSString and if I can’t figure it out, I guess that should go in as a different question. With this line inserted (I pasted the path from the console log above), it works fine:

photoURL = @"file://localhost/Users/gary/Library/Application%20Support/iPhone%20Simulator/3.2/Media/DCIM/100APPLE/IMG_0004.JPG";

Answer 1

You can do it this way (synchronously, but compact):

UIImage *image = [UIImage imageWithData:[NSData dataWithContentsOfURL:[NSURL URLWithString:MyURL]]];

A much better approach is to use Apple’s LazyTableImages to preserve interactivity.