Get the XML content with AFNetworking library

Question

now i would like use AFNetworking library to get XML content, so I use this code

AFXMLRequestOperation *operation = [AFXMLRequestOperation XMLParserRequestOperationWithRequest:request 
success:^(NSURLRequest *request, NSHTTPURLResponse *response, NSXMLParser *XMLParser) 
{
    XMLParser.delegate = self;
    [XMLParser parse];
} 
failure:nil];
[operation start];

my question is to know if there is any way to get the content of the xml response ( i want to print the xml content with NSLog )

thanks in advance

Answer 1

The raw data from the request is always available in the responseData property of the operation class. Here is how you would show it with NSLog:

__block AFXMLRequestOperation *operation = [AFXMLRequestOperation XMLParserRequestOperationWithRequest:[NSURLRequest requestWithURL:[NSURL URLWithString:@"http://legalindexes.indoff.com/sitemap.xml"]] success:^(NSURLRequest *request, NSHTTPURLResponse *response, NSXMLParser *XMLParser) {
    NSLog(@"Parser: %@", XMLParser);
    NSLog(@"Raw XML Data: %@", [[NSString alloc] initWithData:operation.responseData encoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding]);
} failure:^(NSURLRequest *request, NSHTTPURLResponse *response, NSError *error, NSXMLParser *XMLParser) {
    NSLog(@"Failure!");
}];

[operation start];

That said, the standard AFXMLRequestOperation class uses NSXMLParser which is painful to use. If your payload isn't too big and performance isn't an issue, I suggest you use Mattt's new AFKissXMLRequestOperation class which will do the parsing for you and expose a friendlier NSXMLDocument compatible object:

__block AFKissXMLRequestOperation *operation = [AFKissXMLRequestOperation XMLDocumentRequestOperationWithRequest:[NSURLRequest requestWithURL:[NSURL URLWithString:@"http://legalindexes.indoff.com/sitemap.xml"]] success:^(NSURLRequest *request, NSHTTPURLResponse *response, DDXMLDocument *XMLDocument) {
    NSLog(@"XMLDocument: %@", XMLDocument);
    NSLog(@"Raw XML Data: %@", [[NSString alloc] initWithData:operation.responseData encoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding]);
} failure:^(NSURLRequest *request, NSHTTPURLResponse *response, NSError *error, DDXMLDocument *XMLDocument) {
    NSLog(@"Failure!");
}];

[operation start];

Answer 2

I believe AFXMLRequestOperation is SAX Operation. I.e., the xml response are not received in one bunch (it keeps receiving until its done).

You can print the complete data received by printing string

- (void)parser:(NSXMLParser *)parser foundCharacters:(NSString *)string 

or appending string to a ivar and print it on parserDidEndDocument

- (void) parserDidEndDocument: (NSXMLParser *)parser

If you are trying to test the api to see the return. I use this method

[[AFHTTPClient sharedClient] postPath:url
                              parameters:nil 
                                 success:^( AFHTTPRequestOperation *operation , id responseObject ) {
                                     NSLog(@"responseobject: %@", [responseObject description]);
                                     }
                                     failure:^( AFHTTPRequestOperation *operation , NSError *error ){
                                        NSLog(@"Handle failure for me");
                                     }
                                     ]];