How to download a file and save it to the documents directory with AFNetworking?

Question

I am using the AFNetworking library. I can't figure out how to download a file and save it to the documents directory.

Solution 1

NSURLRequest *request = [NSURLRequest requestWithURL:[NSURL URLWithString:@"..."]];
AFHTTPRequestOperation *operation = [[[AFHTTPRequestOperation alloc] initWithRequest:request] autorelease];

NSArray *paths = NSSearchPathForDirectoriesInDomains(NSDocumentDirectory, NSUserDomainMask, YES);
NSString *path = [[paths objectAtIndex:0] stringByAppendingPathComponent:@"filename"];
operation.outputStream = [NSOutputStream outputStreamToFileAtPath:path append:NO];

[operation setCompletionBlockWithSuccess:^(AFHTTPRequestOperation *operation, id responseObject) {
    NSLog(@"Successfully downloaded file to %@", path);
} failure:^(AFHTTPRequestOperation *operation, NSError *error) {
    NSLog(@"Error: %@", error);
}];

[operation start];

Solution 2

I'm gonna bounce off @mattt's answer and post a version for AFNetworking 2.0 using AFHTTPRequestOperationManager.

NSArray *paths = NSSearchPathForDirectoriesInDomains(NSDocumentDirectory, NSUserDomainMask, YES);
NSString *path = [[paths objectAtIndex:0] stringByAppendingPathComponent:@"filename"];

AFHTTPRequestOperationManager *manager = [AFHTTPRequestOperationManager manager];
AFHTTPRequestOperation *op = [manager GET:@"http://example.com/file/to/download" 
                               parameters:nil
    success:^(AFHTTPRequestOperation *operation, id responseObject) {
         NSLog(@"successful download to %@", path);
    } failure:^(AFHTTPRequestOperation *operation, NSError *error) {
         NSLog(@"Error: %@", error);
    }];
op.outputStream = [NSOutputStream outputStreamToFileAtPath:path append:NO];

Solution 3

I'm talking about AFNetworking 2.0

[AFHTTPRequestOperationManager manager] creates manager object with default AFJSONResponseSerializer, and it performs content types restriction. Take a look at this

- (BOOL)validateResponse:(NSHTTPURLResponse *)response
                    data:(NSData *)data
                   error:(NSError * __autoreleasing *)error

So we need to create a none response serializer and use AFHTTPRequestOperationManager as normal.

Here is the AFNoneResponseSerializer

@interface AFNoneResponseSerializer : AFHTTPResponseSerializer

+ (instancetype)serializer;

@end

@implementation AFNoneResponseSerializer

#pragma mark - Initialization
+ (instancetype)serializer
{
    return [[self alloc] init];
}

- (instancetype)init
{
    self = [super init];

    return self;
}

#pragma mark - AFURLResponseSerializer
- (id)responseObjectForResponse:(NSURLResponse *)response
                           data:(NSData *)data
                          error:(NSError *__autoreleasing *)error

{
    return data;
}

@end

Usage

self.manager = [AFHTTPRequestOperationManager manager];
self.manager.responseSerializer = [AFNoneResponseSerializer serializer];

[self.manager GET:@"https://sites.google.com/site/iphonesdktutorials/xml/Books.xml"
           parameters:parameters
              success:^(AFHTTPRequestOperation *operation, id responseObject)
    {
        if (success) {
            success(responseObject);
        }
    } failure:^(AFHTTPRequestOperation *operation, NSError *error) {
        if (failure) {
            failure(error);
        }
    }];

so that we can get the whole file without any serialization

Solution 4

From AFNetworking docs. Save to loaded file to your documents. AFNetworking 3.0

NSURLSessionConfiguration *configuration = [NSURLSessionConfiguration defaultSessionConfiguration];
AFURLSessionManager *manager = [[AFURLSessionManager alloc] initWithSessionConfiguration:configuration];

NSURL *URL = [NSURL URLWithString:@"http://example.com/download.zip"];
NSURLRequest *request = [NSURLRequest requestWithURL:URL];

NSURLSessionDownloadTask *downloadTask = [manager downloadTaskWithRequest:request progress:nil destination:^NSURL *(NSURL *targetPath, NSURLResponse *response) {
    NSURL *documentsDirectoryURL = [[NSFileManager defaultManager] URLForDirectory:NSDocumentDirectory inDomain:NSUserDomainMask appropriateForURL:nil create:NO error:nil];
    return [documentsDirectoryURL URLByAppendingPathComponent:[response suggestedFilename]];
} completionHandler:^(NSURLResponse *response, NSURL *filePath, NSError *error) {
    NSLog(@"File downloaded to: %@", filePath);
}];
[downloadTask resume];

Solution 5

Documentation page has example with section 'Creating a Download Task':

NSURLSessionConfiguration *configuration = [NSURLSessionConfiguration defaultSessionConfiguration];
AFURLSessionManager *manager = [[AFURLSessionManager alloc] initWithSessionConfiguration:configuration];

NSURL *URL = [NSURL URLWithString:@"http://example.com/download.zip"];
NSURLRequest *request = [NSURLRequest requestWithURL:URL];

NSURLSessionDownloadTask *downloadTask = [manager downloadTaskWithRequest:request progress:nil destination:^NSURL *(NSURL *targetPath, NSURLResponse *response) {
    NSURL *documentsDirectoryURL = [[NSFileManager defaultManager] URLForDirectory:NSDocumentDirectory inDomain:NSUserDomainMask appropriateForURL:nil create:NO error:nil];
    return [documentsDirectoryURL URLByAppendingPathComponent:[response suggestedFilename]];
} completionHandler:^(NSURLResponse *response, NSURL *filePath, NSError *error) {
    NSLog(@"File downloaded to: %@", filePath);
}];
[downloadTask resume];

NB! Code work with iOS 7+ (tested with AFNetworking 2.5.1)

View more solutions

Comments

[Climbatize]

You can even add a progress block: //Setup Upload block to return progress of file upload [operation setDownloadProgressBlock:^(NSInteger bytesWritten, long long totalBytesWritten, long long totalBytesExpectedToRead) { float progress = totalBytesWritten / (float)totalBytesExpectedToRead; NSLog(@"Download Percentage: %f %%", progress*100); }];

[leolobato]

Be careful that the above code will download any response from the server to the output stream, so if the server responds with status code 404, the 404 page will be saved to the path specified. You must check on the success block for operation.response.statusCode.

[Thomas]

I would definitely recommend doing it this way with the newer AFNetworking library

[onmyway133]

@swilliams [AFHTTPRequestOperationManager manager] will create new manager object using default AFJSONResponseSerializer, do you want that? I think it 's better to create AFNoneResponseSerialize to let the file untouched

[Bob Spryn]

Instead of manually checking the status code, just use operation.hasAcceptableStatusCode

[shshnk]

how can I get the download progress parameter in this ?

[Denis Kutlubaev]

shshnk, look at my answer below

[Gank]

NSURLRequest How to post or get one url?

[lostintranslation]

Is there a way to have the file cleaned up automatically if the download does not complete?

[Khant Thu Linn]

how to download only in success block ? @leolobato can you advise please?

[Ryan Brodie]

@leolobato No need, AFNetworking takes care of this for you.

[ramesh bhuja]

when i download video and click on back witho download completion. and again i click on video that time i get this error =>MediaPlayerErrorDomain Code=-11800 ... so plz help me

[ramesh bhuja]

when i download video and click on back witho download completion. and again i click on video that time i get this error =>MediaPlayerErrorDomain Code=-11800 ... so plz help me

[ramesh bhuja]

when i download video and click on back witho download completion. and again i click on video that time i get this error =>MediaPlayerErrorDomain Code=-11800 ... so plz help me

[ramesh bhuja]

when i download video and click on back witho download completion. and again i click on video that time i get this error =>MediaPlayerErrorDomain Code=-11800 ... so plz help me

[ios developer]

how to do this with POST with parameters?

[DURGESH]

how to call Get Type method with some header data and download a file