How do I submit a JSON array to this API?

Question

I'm trying to use Diffbot to parse some URLs into the relevant article portion. They have an "Article API" that allows you to submit one link at a time and receive it back, but for speed I'd prefer to use the Batch API which basically allows you to submit a bunch of Article API requests into one big request and get one big response, instead of one at a time.

Here's what the Batch API described in their documentation (that is oddly behind a login wall):

I'm submitting to the Article API as so:

NSURLRequest *request = [[AFDiffbotClient sharedClient]
                             requestWithMethod:@"GET"
                             path:[NSString stringWithFormat:@"article?token=MYTOKEN&fields=url,text,title&url=%@", URL]
                             parameters:nil];

And it's working perfectly. AFDiffbotClient is a singleton combined with AFNetworking to help me make requests easier, and the URL parameter is just the URL of the article I'm looking at. (Perhaps I could be doing that without creating the URL manually, bonus points if anyone could offer tips on that.)

However, with the Batch API, you're supposed to submit (POST) a bunch of these requests as a JSON array. I'm confused how I would go about doing this.

---

EDIT: I've worked some more on it, and made some progress, but I'm getting a 400 error back. I can't figure out what I'm doing wrong, but I must be along the right path. I'm passing parameters in the POST request with my token and my JSON array, but it still won't work.

[AFDiffbotClient sharedClient].operationQueue.maxConcurrentOperationCount = NSOperationQueueDefaultMaxConcurrentOperationCount;
NSMutableArray *DiffbotRequests = [[NSMutableArray alloc] init];

for (NSDictionary *URLAndID in URLsAndIDs) {
    NSString *articleURL = [URLAndID objectForKey:@"URL"];
    NSDictionary *request = @{@"token": @"TOKEN",
                              @"fields": @"text,title,url",
                              @"url": articleURL};

    [DiffbotRequests addObject:request];
}

NSError *error;
NSData *DiffbotRequestsJSONData = [NSJSONSerialization dataWithJSONObject:DiffbotRequests options:kNilOptions error:&error];
NSString *DiffbotRequestsJSONString = [[NSString alloc] initWithData:DiffbotRequestsJSONData encoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding];

NSDictionary *parameters = @{@"token": @"TOKEN",
                             @"batch": DiffbotRequestsJSONString};

[[AFDiffbotClient sharedClient] getPath:@"batch" parameters:parameters success:^(AFHTTPRequestOperation *operation, id responseObject) {
    NSLog(@"%@", responseObject);
} failure:^(AFHTTPRequestOperation *operation, NSError *error) {
    NSLog(@"%@", error);
}];

And here's the response I get back:

Error Domain=AFNetworkingErrorDomain Code=-1011 "Expected status code in (200-299), got 400" UserInfo=0xc2ee4d0 {NSLocalizedRecoverySuggestion=, AFNetworkingOperationFailingURLRequestErrorKey= { URL:

And after that it's just all the URLs I submitted.

EDIT 2: Added an image of the API above.

EDIT 3: Current, unworking code:

[AFDiffbotClient sharedClient].operationQueue.maxConcurrentOperationCount = NSOperationQueueDefaultMaxConcurrentOperationCount;
NSMutableArray *DiffbotRequests = [[NSMutableArray alloc] init];

for (NSDictionary *URLAndID in URLsAndIDs) {
    NSString *articleURL = [URLAndID objectForKey:@"URL"];
    NSDictionary *request = @{@"token": @"TOKEN",
                              @"fields": @"text,title,url",
                              @"url": articleURL};

    [DiffbotRequests addObject:request];
}

NSError *error;
NSData *DiffbotRequestsJSONData = [NSJSONSerialization dataWithJSONObject:DiffbotRequests options:NSJSONWritingPrettyPrinted error:&error];
NSString *DiffbotRequestsJSONString = [[NSString alloc] initWithData:DiffbotRequestsJSONData encoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding];

NSDictionary *parameters = @{@"token": @"TOKEN",
                             @"batch": DiffbotRequestsJSONString};


[[AFDiffbotClient sharedClient] setParameterEncoding:AFJSONParameterEncoding];
[[AFDiffbotClient sharedClient] postPath:@"batch" parameters:parameters success:^(AFHTTPRequestOperation *operation, id responseObject) {
    NSLog(@"%@", responseObject);

} failure:^(AFHTTPRequestOperation *operation, NSError *error) {
    NSLog(@"%@", error);
}];

Answer 1

It's informal:

NSURLRequest *request = [[AFDiffbotClient sharedClient] requestWithMethod:@"GET" path:   [NSString stringWithFormat:@"article?token=MYTOKEN&fields=url,text,title&url=%@", URL] parameters:nil];

Better way:

 NSArray *paramters = @[@"token": @"MYTOKEN",
                        @"fields":  @"url,text,title",
                        @"url":@"aURL"
                        ]
     NSURLRequest *request = [[AFDiffbotClient sharedClient] requestWithMethod:@"GET" path:@"article" parameters:parameters];

The parameters will be URL-encoded into your URL finally seems as your origin one.

If you want POST JSONArray, you should use a POST method and there is a postObject. And also you should set a postObject encode method like:

typedef enum {
    AFFormURLParameterEncoding,
    AFJSONParameterEncoding,
    AFPropertyListParameterEncoding,
} AFHTTPClientParameterEncoding;

Answer 2

For AFNetworking 2.0
Below code shows how you can pass dictionary of key value pairs to an URL

 AFHTTPRequestOperationManager *manager = [AFHTTPRequestOperationManager manager];

NSDictionary *parameters = @{@"token": @"TOKEN"}; // you can add as many parameters as you want it in this dictionary in your case

parameters = nil; // **to show this sample code works** i have set **parameters to nil**

// if you want to sent parameters you can use above code 

manager.requestSerializer = [AFJSONRequestSerializer serializer];

[manager POST:@"http://maps.google.com/maps/api/geocode/json?address=1600+Amphitheatre+Parkway,+Mountain+View,+CA&sensor=false" parameters:parameters success:^(AFHTTPRequestOperation *operation, id responseObject)
{

    NSLog(@"JSON: %@", responseObject);


  }failure:^(AFHTTPRequestOperation *operation, NSError *error)
 {
    NSLog(@"Error: %@", error);
 }];

Answer 3

Replace your current code with this options:NSJSONWritingPrettyPrinted:

NSData *DiffbotRequestsJSONData = [NSJSONSerialization dataWithJSONObject:DiffbotRequests options:NSJSONWritingPrettyPrinted error:&error];
NSString *DiffbotRequestsJSONString = [[NSString alloc] initWithData:DiffbotRequestsJSONData encoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding];

NSDictionary *parameters = @{@"token": @"TOKEN",
                             @"batch": DiffbotRequestsJSONString};

Edit:

The exact chunk of code you posted plus options:NSJSONWritingPrettyPrinted worked for me every time I needed to post to the server a JSON array. I would suggest creating a php file with the next code and send your request there. That way you'll know exactly what you are sending compared to what the server expects and of course, what you are missing.

<?php
set_time_limit(0);
mail("your@mail.com",basename(__FILE__).' - Recieved',var_export($HTTP_RAW_POST_DATA,true));
?>

Answer 4

Your code doesn't actually seem to be sending a POST, it looks like a GET. You need to use the AFNetworking POST method.

I can't see what the server is expecting because you need an account, but you should be checking what it actually sent against what the server expects. Use a tool like Charles to record what is sent so you can examine it.

When using the AFNetworking you need to set the serialisation type (you say it's JSON), the default will usually be form URL encoded. Then, the parameters dictionary that you pass will be converted into JSON.

---

From your screen shot of the API spec, this is wrong:

    NSDictionary *request = @{@"token": @"TOKEN",
                          @"fields": @"text,title,url", ...

Because you should be supplying the method and a URL (where the URL contains the token and such).

Your screenshot shows sample JSON, make your output in Charles look like that.