AFNetworking request returns nil

Question

i have a request which returns information from a php web service. I'm having trouble adding this to a array which can be used in my UICollectionView. It seems like whatever i do i cant return the data. I think it is because i'm returning the array before i've added any objects. I've tried placing the NSLog several places, but without luck. What am i doing wrong?

When i place this NSLog(@"%d", imagesArray.count); beyond the request it returns 0.

ViewDidAppear:

-(void)viewDidAppear:(BOOL)animated {
    imagesArray = [[NSMutableArray alloc] init];

    [self getImages];


}

getImages method:

-(void)getImages {
AFHTTPRequestOperationManager *manager = [AFHTTPRequestOperationManager manager];

manager.responseSerializer = [AFHTTPResponseSerializer serializer];
[manager GET:@"http://URL.COM" parameters:nil success:^(AFHTTPRequestOperation *operation, id responseObject) {


    NSDictionary* json = [NSJSONSerialization
                          JSONObjectWithData:responseObject options:kNilOptions error:nil];

    NSString *theTitle = [[json objectForKey:@"response"] valueForKey:@"title"];
    NSString *theUrl = [[json objectForKey:@"response"] valueForKey:@"imageUrl"];


    [imagesArray addObject:[[NSMutableDictionary alloc] initWithObjectsAndKeys:
                            theTitle, @"title",
                            theUrl, @"url",
                            nil]];



} failure:^(AFHTTPRequestOperation *operation, NSError *error) {
    NSLog(@"Error: %@", error);
}];

NSLog(@"%d", imagesArray.count);



}

Answer 1

AFNetworking is Asynchronous, you have to place the log inside the success block. Otherwise the array will always be empty.

One good solution would be to pass a block to your getImages function like that

-(void) getImages:(void (^)(BOOL result))callback {
   // your code here then you call callback(YES or NO) inside your success or failure block.
}

[self getImages:^(BOOL result){
  if(result)
    //we got the images, we can now display them etc.
}];