AFNetworking/README.md

![AFNetworking](https://github.com/AFNetworking/AFNetworking/raw/gh-pages/afnetworking-logo.png "AFNetworking")

AFNetworking is a delightful networking library for iOS and Mac OS X. It's built on top of [`NSURLConnection`](http://developer.apple.com/library/mac/#documentation/Cocoa/Reference/Foundation/Classes/NSURLConnection_Class/Reference/Reference.html), [`NSOperation`](http://developer.apple.com/library/mac/#documentation/Cocoa/Reference/NSOperation_class/Reference/Reference.html), and other familiar Foundation technologies. It has a modular architecture with well-designed, feature-rich APIs that are a joy to use. For example, here's how easy it is to get JSON from a URL:

``` objective-c
NSURL *url = [NSURL URLWithString:@"https://gowalla.com/users/mattt.json"];
NSURLRequest *request = [NSURLRequest requestWithURL:url];
AFJSONRequestOperation *operation = [AFJSONRequestOperation JSONRequestOperationWithRequest:request success:^(NSURLRequest *request, NSHTTPURLResponse *response, id JSON) {
    NSLog(@"Name: %@ %@", [JSON valueForKeyPath:@"first_name"], [JSON valueForKeyPath:@"last_name"]);
} failure:nil];
[operation start];
```

Perhaps the most important feature of all, however, is the amazing community of developers who use and contribute to AFNetworking every day. AFNetworking powers some of the most popular and critically-acclaimed apps on the iPhone, iPad, and Mac. 

Choose AFNetworking for your next project, or migrate over your existing projects--you'll be happy you did!

## How To Get Started

- [Download AFNetworking](https://github.com/AFNetworking/AFNetworking/zipball/master) and try out the included Mac and iPhone example apps
- Read the ["Getting Started" guide](https://github.com/AFNetworking/AFNetworking/wiki/Getting-Started-with-AFNetworking), [FAQ](https://github.com/AFNetworking/AFNetworking/wiki/AFNetworking-FAQ), or [other articles in the wiki](https://github.com/AFNetworking/AFNetworking/wiki)
- Check out the [complete documentation](http://afnetworking.org/Documentation/) for a comprehensive look at the APIs available in AFNetworking

## Overview

AFNetworking is architected to be as small and modular as possible, in order to make it simple to use and extend.

<table>
  <tr><th colspan="2">Core</th></tr>
  <tr>
    <td><a href="http://afnetworking.org/Documentation/Classes/AFURLConnectionOperation.html">AFURLConnectionOperation</a></td>
    <td>An <tt>NSOperation</tt> subclass that implements the <tt>NSURLConnection</tt> delegate methods.</td>
  </tr>

  <tr><th colspan="2">HTTP Requests</th></tr>

  <tr>
    <td><a href="http://afnetworking.org/Documentation/Classes/AFHTTPRequestOperation.html">AFHTTPRequestOperation</a></td>
    <td>A subclass of <tt>AFURLConnectionOperation</tt> for requests using the HTTP or HTTPS protocols. It encapsulates the concept of acceptable status codes and content types, which determine the success or failure of a request.</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td><a href="http://afnetworking.org/Documentation/Classes/AFJSONRequestOperation.html">AFJSONRequestOperation</a></td>
    <td>A subclass of <tt>AFHTTPRequestOperation</tt> for downloading and working with JSON response data.</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td><a href="http://afnetworking.org/Documentation/Classes/AFXMLRequestOperation.html">AFXMLRequestOperation</a></td>
    <td>A subclass of <tt>AFHTTPRequestOperation</tt> for downloading and working with XML response data.</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td><a href="http://afnetworking.org/Documentation/Classes/AFPropertyListRequestOperation.html">AFPropertyListRequestOperation</a></td>
    <td>A subclass of AFHTTPRequestOperation for downloading and deserializing objects with property list (plist) response data.</td>
  </tr>

  <tr><th colspan="2">HTTP Client</th></tr>
  <tr>
    <td><a href="http://afnetworking.org/Documentation/Classes/AFHTTPClient.html">AFHTTPClient</a></td>
    <td>
      Captures the common patterns of communicating with an web application over HTTP, including:
      
      <ul>
        <li>Making requests from relative paths of a base URL</li>
        <li>Setting HTTP headers to be added automatically to requests</li>
        <li>Authenticating requests with HTTP Basic credentials or an OAuth token</li>
        <li>Managing an <tt>NSOperationQueue</tt> for requests made by the client</li>
        <li>Generating query strings or HTTP bodies from an <tt>NSDictionary</tt></li>
        <li>Constructing multipart form requests</li>
        <li>Automatically parsing HTTP response data into its corresponding object representation</li>
        <li>Monitoring and responding to changes in network reachability</li>
      </ul>
    </td>
  </tr>

  <tr><th colspan="2">Images</th></tr>
  <tr>
    <td><a href="http://afnetworking.org/Documentation/Classes/AFImageRequestOperation.html">AFImageRequestOperation</a></td>
    <td>A subclass of <tt>AFHTTPRequestOperation</tt> for downloading an processing images.</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td><a href="http://afnetworking.org/Documentation/Classes/UIImageView(AFNetworking).html">UIImageView+AFNetworking</a></td>
    <td>Adds methods to the UIKit framework’s UIImageView class. The methods in this category provide support for loading remote images asynchronously from a URL.</td>
  </tr>
</table>

## Example Usage

### XML Request

``` objective-c
NSURLRequest *request = [NSURLRequest requestWithURL:[NSURL URLWithString:@"http://api.flickr.com/services/rest/?method=flickr.groups.browse&api_key=b6300e17ad3c506e706cb0072175d047&cat_id=34427469792%40N01&format=rest"]];
AFXMLRequestOperation *operation = [AFXMLRequestOperation XMLParserRequestOperationWithRequest:request success:^(NSURLRequest *request, NSHTTPURLResponse *response, NSXMLParser *XMLParser) {
  XMLParser.delegate = self;
  [XMLParser parse];
} failure:nil];
[operation start];
```

### Image Request

``` objective-c
UIImageView *imageView = [[UIImageView alloc] initWithFrame:CGRectMake(0.0f, 0.0f, 100.0f, 100.0f)];
[imageView setImageWithURL:[NSURL URLWithString:@"http://i.imgur.com/r4uwx.jpg"] placeholderImage:[UIImage imageNamed:@"placeholder-avatar"]];
```

``` objective-c
NSURLRequest *request = [NSURLRequest requestWithURL:[NSURL URLWithString:@"http://gowalla.com/images/web/logo.png"]];
AFImageRequestOperation *operation = [AFImageRequestOperation imageRequestOperationWithRequest:request success:^(NSImage *image){
    NSLog(@"Image loaded: %@", image);
}];
[operation start];
```

### API Client Request

``` objective-c
// AFGowallaAPIClient is a subclass of AFHTTPClient, which defines the base URL and default HTTP headers for NSURLRequests it creates
[[AFGowallaAPIClient sharedClient] getPath:@"/spots/9223" parameters:nil success:^(AFHTTPRequestOperation *operation, id responseObject) {
    NSLog(@"Name: %@", [responseObject valueForKeyPath:@"name"]);
    NSLog(@"Address: %@", [responseObject valueForKeyPath:@"address.street_address"]);
} failure:nil];
```

### File Upload with Progress Callback

``` objective-c
NSURL *url = [NSURL URLWithString:@"http://api-base-url.com"];
AFHTTPClient *httpClient = [[AFHTTPClient alloc] initWithBaseURL:url];
NSData *imageData = UIImageJPEGRepresentation([UIImage imageNamed:@"avatar.jpg"], 0.5);
NSMutableURLRequest *request = [httpClient multipartFormRequestWithMethod:@"POST" path:@"/upload" parameters:nil constructingBodyWithBlock: ^(id <AFMultipartFormData>formData) {
    [formData appendPartWithFileData:imageData name:@"avatar" fileName:@"avatar.jpg" mimeType:@"image/jpeg"];
}];

AFHTTPRequestOperation *operation = [[[AFHTTPRequestOperation alloc] initWithRequest:request] autorelease];
[operation setUploadProgressBlock:^(NSInteger bytesWritten, NSInteger totalBytesWritten, NSInteger totalBytesExpectedToWrite) {
    NSLog(@"Sent %d of %d bytes", totalBytesWritten, totalBytesExpectedToWrite);
}];
[operation start];
```

### Request With HTTP Authorization Header

``` objective-c
NSMutableURLRequest *request = [NSMutableURLRequest requestWithURL:[NSURL URLWithString:@"https://gowalla.com/friendships/request?user_id=1699"]];
[request setHTTPMethod:@"POST"];
[request setValue:@"#{Base64-Encoded Credentials}" forHTTPHeaderField:@"Authorization"];

AFHTTPRequestOperation *operation = [[[AFHTTPRequestOperation alloc] initWithRequest:request] autorelease];
operation.completionBlock = ^ {
    if ([operation hasAcceptableStatusCode]) {
        NSLog(@"Friend Request Sent");
    } else {
        NSLog(@"[Error]: (%@ %@) %@", [operation.request HTTPMethod], [[operation.request URL] relativePath], operation.error);
    }
};
[operation start];
```

### Streaming Request

``` objective-c
NSURLRequest *request = [NSURLRequest requestWithURL:[NSURL URLWithString:@"http://localhost:8080/encode"]];

AFHTTPRequestOperation *operation = [[[AFHTTPRequestOperation alloc] initWithRequest:request] autorelease];
operation.inputStream = [NSInputStream inputStreamWithFileAtPath:[[NSBundle mainBundle] pathForResource:@"large-image" ofType:@"tiff"]];
operation.outputStream = [NSOutputStream outputStreamToMemory];
[operation start];
```

## Requirements

AFNetworking requires either [iOS 4.0](http://developer.apple.com/library/ios/#releasenotes/General/WhatsNewIniPhoneOS/Articles/iPhoneOS4.html%23//apple_ref/doc/uid/TP40009559-SW1) and above, or [Mac OS 10.6](http://developer.apple.com/library/mac/#releasenotes/MacOSX/WhatsNewInOSX/Articles/MacOSX10_6.html#//apple_ref/doc/uid/TP40008898-SW7) and above.

AFNetworking uses [`NSJSONSerialization`](http://developer.apple.com/library/mac/#documentation/Foundation/Reference/NSJSONSerialization_Class/Reference/Reference.html) if it is available. If your app targets a platform where this class is not available you can include one of the following JSON libraries to your project for AFNetworking to automatically detect and use.

* [JSONKit](https://github.com/johnezang/JSONKit)
* [SBJson](http://stig.github.com/json-framework/)
* [YAJL](http://lloyd.github.com/yajl/)

### ARC Support

AFNetworking will transition its codebase to ARC in a future release.

If you are including AFNetworking in a project that uses [Automatic Reference Counting (ARC)](http://clang.llvm.org/docs/AutomaticReferenceCounting.html) enabled, you will need to set the `-fno-objc-arc` compiler flag on all of the AFNetworking source files. To do this in Xcode, go to your active target and select the "Build Phases" tab. In the "Compiler Flags" column, set `-fno-objc-arc` for each of the AFNetworking source files.

## Credits

AFNetworking was created by [Scott Raymond](https://github.com/sco/) and [Mattt Thompson](https://github.com/mattt/) in the development of [Gowalla for iPhone](http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/gowalla/id304510106?mt=8).

[TTTLocationFormatter](https://github.com/mattt/FormatterKit/tree/master/TTTLocationFormatter), used in the example project, is part of [FormatterKit](https://github.com/mattt/FormatterKit), created by [Mattt Thompson](https://github.com/mattt/).

AFNetworking's logo was designed by [Alan Defibaugh](http://www.alandefibaugh.com/).

And most of all, thanks to AFNetworking's [growing list of contributors](https://github.com/AFNetworking/AFNetworking/contributors).

## Contact

Mattt Thompson

- http://github.com/mattt
- http://twitter.com/mattt
- m@mattt.me

Scott Raymond

- http://github.com/sco
- http://twitter.com/sco
- sco@gowalla.com

## License

AFNetworking is available under the MIT license. See the LICENSE file for more info.