iphone - making a webserver in my app; need to handle POST request to upload a file

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iphone - making a webserver in my app; need to handle POST request to upload a file

Hi, I need to have some mechanism to backup and restore some data files from my iphone app, to let my users save their data and restore it at a later point. The best way I have found to do this is through making my own web server in the app, following Erica Sadun's example from the iPhone Developer's cookbook. BUT the example doesn't show any way to upload a file to the phone's web server itself. Anyone have an idea on how to handle this?

On a normal web server, I would expect to implement a form with an action=foo.cgi or something similar. But I don't think I can run such a script in an iphone app. So how do I handle the user selecting a file in a browser and uploading the file, and the app running the web server handling it properly and handing it off to it's own method.

Thanks.

+1 A:

Create an instance of NSMutableURLRequest. This has a method called -setHTTPMethod: and a method called -setHTTPBody:. Set the method to POST and put your file contents into the body.

Another thing to look at is CurlHandle, with its -setPostDictionary: method. That allows you to use a dictionary rather like form fields.

Sorry that this is only an answer to half your question - don't have time to look up the details on handling the incoming file data in your webserver just now.

Benjamin Cox 2009-11-13 08:25:31

Another option is the ASIHTTPRequest library.

Andy Gaskell 2009-11-13 08:34:12

+2 A:

If I'm understanding your question properly you're not trying to upload a file FROM the phone to a webserver, but the other way round.

If that's the case then you might want to check out CocoaHTTPServer.

Ramin 2009-11-13 08:53:23

Thanks. You're right, I want a way to run a HTTP server on my iphone to which I can upload files from a browser. I think this is on the right track, but probably a bit heavy-weight for a simple task like mine. I can deliver files from the phone to a browser following the Erica Sadun examples, but can't POST. Will look at this CocoaHTTPServer a bit more though.

z s 2009-11-14 06:23:12

One thing to keep in mind: for your phone to run as a server the remote browser has to be able to find its IP address. Servers are usually assigned fixed IP addresses but an iPhone is typically run as a DHCP client so the IP address changes. The way around this is to use Bonjour (which CocoaHTTPServer supports) but that means the browser client has to support it too. That's fine with the Mac but most Windows clients don't have it (unless it came w/ iTunes or QT installs). Probably less hassle to have phone act as client, if you can figure out how to make the workflow fit your app.

Ramin 2009-11-14 06:59:35

Thanks. I believe I can find the IP address of the iPhone and print it out for the user, who can then enter it into the browser. So that shouldn't be a problem. Making a POST handler, on the other hand, seems like a lot of work; reading off the socket buffer in parts, and then assembling it all into a file. I should probably just use the CocoaHTTPServer and not waste my time coding this, but it seems like such a tempting challenge!

z s 2009-11-14 08:52:39

I dont think thats the best way to save/restore your data, in fact it's not very reasonable. why wouldnt you save your data to documents, it would be much simpler.

ahmet emrah 2009-11-13 11:27:39

ansaurus

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iphone - making a webserver in my app; need to handle POST request to upload a file

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