iOS Background Processes and AFNetworking

Question

I have an application that loads some data from am web service. Everything works pretty well.

Now I want to update the data in a background process. Wrote that part and I can get it to kick off by using the "Simulate Background Fetch" debug process in Xcode.
My issue is that the block in the AFHTTPRequestOperation is not getting executed. I bet I don't want a block here, but
a) I want to know why it won't execute - my guess is that you can't spin off blocks like this in background fetches.
b) I don't know how to NOT use a block here.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

    - (void) callWebServiceUpdate {

    //Delete tmpDatabase if it is there
    NSFileManager *fileManager = [NSFileManager defaultManager];
    BOOL success;
    success = [fileManager fileExistsAtPath:self.tmpEmployeeDatabasePath];
    if (success) {
        [fileManager removeItemAtPath:self.tmpEmployeeDatabasePath error:nil];
    }

    //Write data to temp database
    AFHTTPRequestOperationManager *manager = [AFHTTPRequestOperationManager manager];
    manager.requestSerializer = [AFJSONRequestSerializer serializer];
    [manager.requestSerializer setAuthorizationHeaderFieldWithUsername:@"USER" password:@"PASSWORD"];
    manager.responseSerializer = [AFJSONResponseSerializer serializer];

    AFHTTPRequestOperation *operationNow = [manager GET: @"https://xxxxxxxxx/mobile/mobilede.nsf/restServices.xsp/LotusDirectoryPeople"
                                          parameters: [self jsonDict]
                                             success: ^(AFHTTPRequestOperation *operation, id responseObject)

                                         {
                                             NSMutableArray  *employees = (NSMutableArray *)responseObject;
                                             FMDatabase *db = [FMDatabase databaseWithPath:self.tmpEmployeeDatabaseName];
                                             [db open];
                                             for(NSDictionary *dict in employees)
                                             {
                                                 BOOL success =   [db executeUpdate:@"INSERT INTO tmpemployees (id,firstName,lastName,fullName,email) VALUES (?,?,?,?,?);",
                                                                   [dict objectForKey:@"clockNumber"],
                                                                   [dict objectForKey:@"firstName"],
                                                                   [dict objectForKey:@"lastName"],
                                                                   [dict objectForKey:@"fullName"],
                                                                   [dict objectForKey:@"email"],
                                                                   nil];
                                                 if (success) {} // Only to remove success error
                                             }
                                         }

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

    //Loop through the tmp db and see if we have a value to update or add
    //id tmpDatabasePath = [(AppDelegate *)[[UIApplication sharedApplication] delegate] databasePath];
    NSMutableArray *tmpEmployees;
    tmpEmployees = [[NSMutableArray alloc] init];

    FMDatabase *tmpDatabase = [FMDatabase databaseWithPath:self.tmpEmployeeDatabasePath];
    [tmpDatabase open];

    //id realDatabasePath = [(AppDelegate *)[[UIApplication sharedApplication] delegate] databasePath];
    FMDatabase *realDatabase = [FMDatabase databaseWithPath:self.employeeDatabasePath];
    [realDatabase open];


    FMResultSet *results = [tmpDatabase executeQuery:@"SELECT * FROM employees"];
    while([results next])
    {
        employee *thisEmployee      = [employee new];
        thisEmployee.firstName      = [results stringForColumn:@"firstName"];
        thisEmployee.lastName       = [results stringForColumn:@"lastName"];
        thisEmployee.fullName       = [results stringForColumn:@"fullname"];
        thisEmployee.city           = [results stringForColumn:@"city"];
        thisEmployee.ste            = [results stringForColumn:@"state"];
        thisEmployee.emailAddress   = [results stringForColumn:@"email"];

        NSString *tst = [results stringForColumn:@"id"];
        thisEmployee.id    = [NSNumber numberWithInt:[tst intValue]];

        //See if we have a record
        FMResultSet *results = [realDatabase executeQuery:@"SELECT * from db where id= ?",thisEmployee.id];




    }
    [tmpDatabase close];
}

======================================

The poster below is correct. I have added this code:

NSURLSessionConfiguration *backgroundConfiguration = [NSURLSessionConfiguration backgroundSessionConfiguration:@"background"];
AFURLSessionManager *backgroundManager = [[AFURLSessionManager alloc] initWithSessionConfiguration:backgroundConfiguration];

However, I do not understand how to add my JSON URL request to the AFURLSessionManager.

Answer 1

I don't know the internals of AFNetworking , but background fetch needs to be done with NSURLSession and NSURLSessionDownloadTask objects. Check if the functions you are calling are using the appropriate classes internally - methods that work fine in normal operation may simply refuse to work in background fetch mode.

After brief look at AFNetworking docs, I think you will probably need to set up an instance of AFURLSessionManager configured for background fetching.

Answer 2

As Peter answered, you need to use NSURLSessions. AFNetworking does provide a session manager. Check it out here .

For background tasks you need to create a NSURLSessionConfiguration with a background configuration. Link to Apple Docs

AFURLSessionManager *manager = [[AFURLSessionManager alloc] initWithSessionConfiguration:[NSURLSessionConfiguration backgroundSessionConfiguration:@"com.yourapp.background.download"]];