NSString is considered as null when converted in URL

Question

I'm trying to call a drupal search webservice, but when I call it, it says that the request is null.

I put some log in my code and saw that the NSString was good but when I define my NSURL, the NSString is seen as null... Can somebody explain me what is the problem please ?

Following is my code :

- (void)FindProductsByKeyword:(NSString *)keyword :(void(^)(NSArray *produits))success
{
    __block NSArray *produits = [[NSArray alloc]init];

    NSString *fullUrl = [NSString stringWithFormat:@"%@%@?filter[title]=\%%%@\%%&filter_op[title]=LIKE", WEBSERVICES_URL, PRODUCT_DISPLAY_URL, keyword];
    NSLog(@"Appel de : %@", fullUrl);
    NSURL *URLFormatted = [NSURL URLWithString:fullUrl];
    NSLog(@"Appel de : %@", URLFormatted);
    NSMutableURLRequest *request = [NSMutableURLRequest requestWithURL:[NSURL URLWithString:fullUrl]];
    NSLog(@"Appel de : %@", request);

    [request setHTTPShouldHandleCookies:NO];

    [NSURLConnection sendAsynchronousRequest:request queue:[NSOperationQueue currentQueue] completionHandler:
     ^(NSURLResponse * response, NSData * data, NSError * error)
     {
         NSHTTPURLResponse * httpResponse = (NSHTTPURLResponse*)response;
         NSLog(@"status code : %d", httpResponse.statusCode);
         if(httpResponse.statusCode == 200) {
             NSDictionary *jsonData = [NSJSONSerialization JSONObjectWithData:data options:kNilOptions error:&error];
             produits = [[WebservicesService getInstance]ExtractListProduct:jsonData];
             NSLog(@"Il y a %d résultats pour la recherche", produits.count);
         }
         success(produits);
     }];
}

---

This is what my log show :

2014-01-03 17:03:51.852 mcommerce_ipad[8649:a0b] Appel de : http://domain-name.com/rest/product-display.json?filter[title]=%test%&filter_op[title]=LIKE

2014-01-03 17:03:51.852 mcommerce_ipad[8649:a0b] Appel de : (null)

2014-01-03 17:03:51.853 mcommerce_ipad[8649:a0b] Appel de : <NSMutableURLRequest: 0x8a3c9c0> { URL: (null) }

2014-01-03 17:03:51.895 mcommerce_ipad[8649:a0b] status code : 0

---

Finally what firebug return when I try directly my NSString.

200 OK

17   Object { vid="17",   uid="0",   title="Ethylotest chimique à usage unique", more...}   

139 Object { vid="139", uid="16", title="Produit de test", more...}

142 Object { vid="142", uid="16", title="Test surface", more...}

This show that the request is correct and should return something, the problem comes from the convertion from NSString to NSURL but I can't find it... So please be my saviours !

Answer 1

As I've said in my comment, you need to escape special characters or URLWithString will return null.

To do so, use:

[NSURL URLWithString:[fullUrl stringByAddingPercentEscapesUsingEncoding: NSUTF8StringEncoding]];

Answer 2

You need to URL encode the parameters section of the string before converting it to a URL. It works in a browser because the browser does it for you before sending the request.

Specifically, you need to modify the % symbol.