How can I make a request to aws cloudsearch using the AWS iOS SDK?

Question

I have a client that runs their search functionality on their website through cloudsearch. I have been going through the documentation for days, and haven't been able to make a successful search request. I created an NSMutableRequest object, and am running that request through the AWSSignature method [signature interceptRequest:request]; but my task.result is coming back (null).

Here is my code:

AWSTask *task = [signature interceptRequest:request];

[task continueWithBlock:^id _Nullable(AWSTask * _Nonnull task) {
    NSLog(@"task.result fromSearch:%@", task.result);
    NSData *responseData = task.result;
    NSString* newStr = [[NSString alloc] initWithData:responseData encoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding];
    NSLog(@"newStr:%@", newStr);
    NSLog(@"task.error:%@", task.error);
    return nil;
}];

Am I on the right track, or is there a better way to do this through the aws iOS sdk?

Answer 1

To put a little more flesh on the bones of Robert's comment, I did it with some help from AFNetworking like so:

#import <AWSCore/AWSSignature.h>
#import <AWSCore/AWSService.h>
#import <AWSCore/AWSCategory.h>
#import <AWSCore/AWSCredentialsProvider.h>
#import <AWSCore/AWSTask.h>
#import "AFNetworking.h"

- (void)viewDidLoad {
    [super viewDidLoad];
    self.queue = [[NSOperationQueue alloc] init];
}

- (void)performSearch {    
    AWSAnonymousCredentialsProvider* credentialsProvider = [[AWSAnonymousCredentialsProvider alloc] init];
    NSString* searchHost = @"<CloudSearchEndPoint>.eu-west-1.cloudsearch.amazonaws.com";
    NSString* query = [self.searchTerms aws_stringWithURLEncoding];
    NSURL* searchURL = [NSURL URLWithString:[NSString stringWithFormat:@"https://%@/2013-01-01/search?q=%@", searchHost, query]];

    AWSEndpoint* endpoint = [[AWSEndpoint alloc] initWithURL:searchURL];
    AWSSignatureV4Signer* signer = [[AWSSignatureV4Signer alloc] initWithCredentialsProvider:credentialsProvider endpoint:endpoint];
    NSMutableURLRequest* mutableRequest = [[NSMutableURLRequest alloc] initWithURL:searchURL];
    AWSTask* task = [signer interceptRequest:mutableRequest];

    [task continueWithBlock:^id(AWSTask* _Nonnull t) {
        if (t.error) {
            NSLog(@"Error: %@", t.error);
        } else if (t.completed) {
            NSLog(@"Result is %@", t.result);
        }               

        AFJSONRequestOperation* operation = [AFJSONRequestOperation JSONRequestOperationWithRequest:mutableRequest success:^(NSURLRequest* request, NSHTTPURLResponse* response, id JSON) {
            NSLog(@"Success fetching results!");
            if (JSON) {
                NSDictionary* hitsContainer = [JSON objectForKey:@"hits"];
                NSArray* hits = [hitsContainer objectForKey:@"hit"];
                NSMutableArray* allResults = [[NSMutableArray alloc] initWithCapacity:hits.count];
                for (NSDictionary* hit in hits) {
                    NSDictionary* fields = [hit objectForKey:@"fields"];
                    [allResults addObject:fields];
                }
                self.searchResults = allResults;
                [self.tableView reloadData];
            }
        }

        failure:^(NSURLRequest *request, NSHTTPURLResponse *response, NSError *error, id JSON) {
            NSLog(@"Failure fetching search results :-( %@", error);
        }
     ];

    [self.queue addOperation:operation];

    return nil;
}];