AFNetworking and compex JSON structures - objective-c

Question

I'm writing a native application for iPhone, I'm quite new to the subject.
Using AFNetworking I request (with POST) and process the JSON reply.
But I've noticed that once the JSON response is more complex:
{
"isFound": "YES",
"timestamp": "2013-06-12 22:46:47",
"screenTitle": "Perla Review",
"placeName": "Perla",
"placeUniqueId": "101",
"placeCategory": "PUB",
"username": "#jim",
"userImgURL": "",
"gender": "male",
"infoMsg": "TBD",
"youLike": "Like",
"likesInfoMsg": "",
"revInfoList": [
{
"type": 0,
"data": "",
"text": ""
},
{
"type": 1,
"data": "2",
"text": ""
},
{
"type": 2,
"data": "3",
"text": ""
}
],
"commentsList": []
}
Then AFNetworking fails to read and construct the sub arrays (revInfoList & commentsList).
Am I doing something wrong, or AFNetworking does not support such json structures?
Here is my objective C code to request the data and process the reply:
static NSString *const myAPIBaseURL = #"http://somedomain.com/api/";
NSURL *baseURL = [NSURL URLWithString:[NSString stringWithFormat:myAPIBaseURL]];
NSString *reqPath = #"review/review_fullinfo";
// prepare params
NSString *reqData_loginUsername = [[[Storage_Modal alloc] init] getLoginUsername];
NSString *reqData_currentCoordinatesLat = [[NSNumber numberWithDouble:[appDelegateInst.myCurrentLocation coordinate].latitude] stringValue];
NSString *reqData_currentCoordinatesLon = [[NSNumber numberWithDouble:[appDelegateInst.myCurrentLocation coordinate].longitude] stringValue];
NSString *reqData_reviewUniqueId = reviewUniqueId;
NSDictionary *parameters = [[NSDictionary alloc] initWithObjectsAndKeys:
#"json", #"format",
reqData_loginUsername, #"loginUsername",
reqData_currentCoordinatesLat, #"currentCoordinatesLatitude",
reqData_currentCoordinatesLon, #"currentCoordinatesLongitude",
reqData_reviewUniqueId, #"reviewUniqueId",
nil];
AFHTTPClient *client = [[AFHTTPClient alloc] initWithBaseURL:baseURL];
[client registerHTTPOperationClass:[AFJSONRequestOperation class]];
[client setDefaultHeader:#"Accept" value:#"application/json"];
[client postPath:reqPath parameters:parameters
success:^(AFHTTPRequestOperation *operation, id responseObject) {
NSDictionary *xxx = responseObject;
// 'xxx' contains all the top level keys and values, but the sub arrays are empty... why?
}
failure:^(AFHTTPRequestOperation *operation, NSError *error) {
NSLog(#"SERVER ERROR: %#", error);
}
**NOTE: Please forgive me if there is a syntax error in the objective-C code, I had to collect the code from multiple functions.
Thank you.

Answer 1

AFNetworking uses NSJSONSerialization to convert your JSON into a Foundation object, usually an NSDictionary or NSArray. NSJSONSerialization conforms strictly to RFC 4627.
The JSON response you've posted is valid JSON, so there are only 3 causes I can think of for the behavior you describe:
Your server is returning a different payload than the one you posted here
Your server is encoding the payload incorrectly
You're incorrect about what the xxx NSDictionary contains
You can test #1 by looking at your AFJSONRequestOperation's responseString and responseData properties. #2 and #3 can both be tested by inspecting the xxx object carefully. If you post the output of these objects here, we can help you diagnose better.
Your AFNetworking code and your expected JSON both look fine, so I don't think it's an issue with AFNetworking.