Using a webservice with blocks and returning data via callback

Question

I load some data from from my webservice via a method using blocks and callbacks.

From my ViewController I make a request to the data loading class and pass the callback block:

- (void)loadRadioStationList
{
    [self.radioDataLoader getRadioStationList:^(NSArray *data, NSDictionary *dictData){

        self.alphabetizedDictionary = [[NSDictionary alloc] initWithDictionary:dictData];
        self.sectionIndexTitles = [[NSArray alloc] initWithArray:data];

        [self.radioStationTableView reloadData];
    }];
}

Then in the dataloading class the method is as so:

-(void) getRadioStationList:(void (^)(NSArray *data, NSDictionary *dictData))callback
{

    NSString *string = RadioStationListURL;
    NSURL *url = [NSURL URLWithString:string];
    NSURLRequest *request = [NSURLRequest requestWithURL:url];

    AFHTTPRequestOperation *operation = [[AFHTTPRequestOperation alloc] initWithRequest:request];
    operation.responseSerializer = [AFXMLParserResponseSerializer serializer];

    [operation setCompletionBlockWithSuccess:^(AFHTTPRequestOperation *operation, id responseObject) {

        NSXMLParser *XMLParser = (NSXMLParser *)responseObject;
        [XMLParser setShouldProcessNamespaces:YES];
        XMLParser.delegate = self;
        [XMLParser parse];

         callback((NSArray*)self.sectionIndexTitles, (NSDictionary*)self.alphabetizedDictionary);

    } failure:^(AFHTTPRequestOperation *operation, NSError *error) {

        UIAlertView *alertView = [[UIAlertView alloc] initWithTitle:@"Error Retrieving Radio List"
                                                            message:[error localizedDescription]
                                                           delegate:nil
                                                  cancelButtonTitle:@"Ok"
                                                  otherButtonTitles:nil];
        [alertView show];

    }];

    [operation start];

}

It loads the XML file and parses out the data and send the data back to my VC via the callback block.

I've a couple of questions:

1. Is this an acceptable way of doing this? Would you prefer to see it done another (better) way?
2. If I was to write an API, would passing the data from the API back to the calling class be a good way to work it, or is there a more suitable method for an API?

Answer 1

Here is a way how I do it:

Create a class and name it like ClientApi. This class should be a singleton link and be absolutely independent. Also, create a class APIRouter which will return a path for a request. I'm using the AFNetworking framework for communication with different API etc. and JSONModel framework for mapping. Here you can find the full answer about network architecture in iOS apps.

@interface SFAPIClient ()

@property (nonatomic, strong) AFHTTPSessionManager *manager;

@end

@implementation SFAPIClient

+ (instancetype)sharedInstance
{
    static id _sharedInstance = nil;
    static dispatch_once_t onceToken;
    dispatch_once(&onceToken, ^{
        _sharedInstance = [[[self class] alloc] init];
    });

    return _sharedInstance;
}

If a request should return some data, pass block as a parameter to the method:

- (void)getAllChildsWithCompletion:(void(^)(NSArray *arr, NSError *error))completion
{
    NSString *url = [SFAPIRouter childRoute];
    [self setupRequestSerializer];

    [self.manager GET:url parameters:nil progress:nil success:^(NSURLSessionDataTask * _Nonnull task, id  _Nullable responseObject) {
        NSError *error = nil;
        NSArray *arr = //map respons

        if (!error)//if everything good call block with data 
            completion(arr, nil);
        else
            completion(nil, error);


    } failure:^(NSURLSessionDataTask * _Nullable task, NSError * _Nonnull error)
     {
        if (completion)
            completion(nil, error);
    }];
}

APIRouter:

static NSString * const kSFServerURL = @"http://0.0.0.0/api/v1";

@implementation SFAPIRouter

+ (NSString *)saveMediaToListRoute
{
    return [kSFServerURL stringByAppendingString:@"/childs"];
}

And then in controller call function from your ClientApi class:

//show activity indicator
[[SFAPIClient sharedInstance] getAllChildsWithCompletion:^(NSArray *arr, NSError *error){
//stop showing activity indicator

if (error)
{
//show alert
return;
}
//do what you need
}];