Cache a JSON string from a URL Request - objective-c

I have about 3 different requests which are made to a url which retrieve an extensive JSON string. I would like to store this in the cache in the event that the iPhone does not have an internet connection at next launch.
What is the best method for this? I am fairly new to Objective-C and xCode. I have researched NSURLCache and NSCache, but not sure which I should use.
I would also like to know if there is a way to preload this JSON string in the background. Or at least show a preloader view. Two separate questions, I know.
Thanks for pointing me in the right direction.

Related

PHAsset - Property way to save captured PHAssets locally? (in app)

trying to understand the concept for Photos/Photos.h framework.
my goal is:
write captured video url (or asset) to app's "userDefaults".
read from "userDefaults", & fetch each saved asset data (thumbnail & url)
Since you're not providing any code (nor asking for any), I can help sort some of this out for you -- but you need to study a bit more before you can put it all together. Especially if you think you've asked a question which has one simple correct answer.
UserDefaults is not a good place to store an image. Images are big. (You should look at Apple's documentation of what UserDefaults is for/how it's intended use).
UserDefaults
There's more than one place to store images. Do you want the system to delete them if you start running out of memory? Then it belongs in cache:
let cachesPath = NSSearchPathForDirectoriesInDomains(.cachesDirectory, .userDomainMask, true).last!
Do you want to depend on it being around the next time the app is run? There is a standard place for that as well:
let userDocumentsFolder = NSSearchPathForDirectoriesInDomains(.documentDirectory, .userDomainMask, true)[0]
Do you want iTunes to back up the images for you automatically? It expects files to be in a certain place for automatic backup. Do you have a way to keep track of where it is (the path to the file can change if the app is re-run). For that you might require persistent storage, so CoreData or Realm might be an option for you. Or you could scan your directory and create a list of files you've already saved. Then you'll need a way to select the correct one. (What did you call it? Should the user select it?)
Apple has very clearly written and useful documentation on access to the Photos library and using PHAssets. Here's just one example:
PHAsset - Photos
There are a lot of talented people on this site, and they are willing to help you, but you need to do your homework before coming here.
I recommend you read these linked documents, start writing some code, and if you run into problems please come back and ask any specific question you have about any specific problem you've encountered. Include the code which causes the problem, as well as the exact error message you are getting. We will be glad to help.

Using JSON to update app's content in iOS

I'm about to create an application that uses JSON to update its content.
This is how I planned it to work:
When application starts, it checks (with internet connection is available) if the JSON file set on remote server is newer than the one stored localy - if it is then it's downloaded.
Then, the application applies data from that JSON to the content. For example, to the "Contact" information - it applies data like phone numbers etc.
My question is, is it in your opinion, a good technique to update appliactions content?
Does anynone had an experience with building app with this kind of idea?
Best regards,
Zin
Of course you can do this. One thing that may lead to a better user experience would be to ask the user for his permission to download new content (if there is something new).
This is a normal thing to do. I have a phonebook app that does exactly this. On a side note, if you need a network class to handle the web-service interaction, see this SO post. I wrote a custom network class that works with AFNetworking.

Sending Data to JS Form from iOS App

The Red Cross has a locator page where you can submit a zip code by means of a form and that runs through a JSP to return contact information for your local Red Cross office.
From an iOS app, I have the user's zip code and would like to run this process and get that contact information back... or at least the appropriate URL to link to. I was hoping I could find some way to pass the zip code by URL but it doesn't look like it's going to be that easy.
Could anyone offer some direction as to how to go about this? I've done some simple things with forms before but I'm not quite sure where to start with this one.
According to the <form> action parameter, that's the URL you have to post your data to:
http://www.redcross.org//portal/site/en/template.MAXIMIZE/ziplocator/;jsessionid=MWwKPvjSWmvz8p4XrRtNLVL0VCTM7fcwfnFnKHpwRhJTnwLMMDcv!-1938881463!-1334769155?javax.portlet.tpst=2bd907ea326f7e9e934afa36c23f78a0_ws_MX&javax.portlet.prp_2bd907ea326f7e9e934afa36c23f78a0_viewID=result&javax.portlet.begCacheTok=com.vignette.cachetoken&javax.portlet.endCacheTok=com.vignette.cachetoken&vgnextoid=6d65e821cbdf9110VgnVCM1000002bf3870aRCRD
The field name is zipcode. The AFNetworking documentation is quite okay explaining how to send a POST request. I would also recommend the nsscreencasts series, he has an episode on AFNetworking as well.
I hope this helps. :)
You can use NSURLConnection to execute a post request and return the result, you may have to do some parsing of the result though depending on the format it is returned in.
Here is an example:
http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=689884
NSURLConnection documentation:
https://developer.apple.com/library/mac/#documentation/Cocoa/Reference/Foundation/Classes/nsurlconnection_Class/Reference/Reference.html

How to parse information from blog to iphone?

could someone point me in the right direction in how i can parse data from a blog to an iphone. E.g. You have a table view displaying the posts of the blog, you select a table cell and text content is displayed. Are there any tutorials/examples on this?
I have a bit of experience with parsing data using JSON (parsed data from database to iphone) but unsure on where to start with this?
Thanks for an help..
What you want to do is use the Wordpress API. The flow goes like this:
Make an API call. This is a subject unto itself, but typically you'd use NSHTTPRequest and NSURLConnection to make the request.
Parse the result. I forget if you get XML back; you probably do; in that case there are tons of solutions for parsing, including NSXMLParser and libxml2.
Populate UITables, etc. with the retrieved information.
The Wordpress API is not that big or complex, but it's a bigger subject than I can really get into in the context of an SO answer, so I'll just refer you to the aforelinked documentation and wish you happy reading.

How can I retrieve the HTML to be loaded into a WebView (or WebFrame) from a local persistent store?

So, I have a bunch of HTML is being stored in a SQLite database, and they link back and forth amongst themselves. When a user clicks to follow a link, that request needs to be serviced by pulling the appropriate HTML out of the database. This could result in needing to load images, which are also being stored in the database (this is a future thing; there are no images yet, but I'd like to be able to use them). I've looked through the WebKit documentation, but can't quite figure out how to make this happen. I've mostly looked at WebFrameLoadDelegate and WebResourceLoadDelegate, but I didn't see one that would let me catch the request, grab the appropriate content, and then send that in a response.
Ideas? I'm pretty new to Objective-C and Cocoa, but I think I'm mostly getting the hang of things.
How do the pages which are stored in the database link to each other? It is probably easiest if they use some sort of customer URL scheme to start with.
The approach I would use is to implement
-webView:resource:willSendRequest:redirectResponse:fromDataSource:
in your resource load delegate. If the request is for a resource that is actually located in your database, return a new[1] NSURLRequest which uses a custom URL protocol which points to the database resource:
x-my-scheme:///table/row
[1] Unless you are already linking amongst your resources with the custom URL scheme - then you can skip this step.
Then, implement a custom NSURLProtocol for x-my-scheme which knows how to retrieve the data from the database. The PictureBrowser sample gives a simple example of how this is done.