NSString to NSurl

Question

having trouble getting NSSTRING to convert to NSURL, item.image, holds the url for an image that im getting through xml

NSString *urlString = [NSString stringWithFormat:@"%@", item.image];
NSURL *url = [NSURL URLWithString:urlString];

NSLog(@"string> %@ ", urlString);
NSLog(@"url> %@ ", url);

2011-06-23 11:18:49.610 Test[10126:207] string> http://www.harlemfur.com/images/Dog_Olive.jpg       
2011-06-23 11:18:49.611 Test[10126:207] url> (null) 

also if i try :

NSString *urlString = [NSString stringWithFormat:@"%@", item.image];
NSURL *url = [NSURL fileURLWithPath :urlString];

2011-06-23 11:22:08.063 Test[10199:207] string> http://www.harlemfur.com/images/Dog_Olive.jpg

2011-06-23 11:22:08.064 Test[10199:207] url> %0A%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20http://www.harlemfur.com/images/Dog_Olive.jpg%0A%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20 -- / 

Solution 1

When making URL from NSString, don't forget to encode it first, so try this:

NSString *urlString = [NSString stringWithFormat:@"%@", item.image];
NSURL *url = [NSURL URLWithString:[urlString stringByAddingPercentEscapesUsingEncoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding]];  

For IOS ≥ 9.0 use

NSURL *url = [NSURL URLWithString:[urlString stringByAddingPercentEncodingWithAllowedCharacters:[NSCharacterSet URLQueryAllowedCharacterSet]]];

Solution 2

All is ok, if you want to get the URL to print in NSLog use this:

NSLog(@"url> %@ ", [url absoluteString]);

Solution 3

item.image does not only contain the URL, but it starts with a newline and spaces. Remove those first and you should be fine.

Comments

[Eiko]

Cannot reproduce. The problem must be with item.image. What type is it exactly?

[Eiko]

Do these lines appear in your code just like that? Directly one after another (constructing and logging)?

[user616860]

thanks but this is the print out im getting :2011-06-23 11:41:34.796 Test[10609:207] string> harlemfur.com/images/Dog_Olive.jpg 2011-06-23 11:41:34.797 Test[10609:207] url> %0A%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20http://ww‌​w.harlemfur.com/imag‌​es/Dog_Olive.jpg%0A%‌​20%20%20%20%20%20%20‌​%20%20%20%20%20

[Eiko]

You can print objects directly in Objective-C. It calls the description method. Works fine with NSURL.

[cxa]

Then you should check your item.image, make sure there is no hidden character. Checkout NSString documentation to see how to trim string.

[user616860]

you were right, i had extra spaces in my xml, thanks dude, works like a charm

[Laurenswuyts]

Just a quick update, stringByAddingPercentEscapesUsingEncoding:NSUTF8StringEncodi‌​ng is deprecated for IOS ≥ 9.0. You should use: stringByAddingPercentEncodingWithAllowedCharacters:[NSCharac‌​terSet URLQueryAllowedCharacterSet]