Laravel & IOS

We are going to build an app that will read and write to a Laravel API.

Create App

Create a new Laravel app called noteApp. composer create-project laravel/laravel noteApp --prefer-dist

Update composer. composer update

Turn on MAMP and test the site.

Setup Database

open /app/config/database.php and set you mysql credentials. We are using MAMP so just use the defaults. Create or use an existing database locally.

Note: If you are using a existing database its good practice to set a prefix in the database.php.

You should have something like this.

'mysql' => array(
			'driver'    => 'mysql',
			'host'      => 'localhost',
			'database'  => 'app',
			'username'  => 'root',
			'password'  => 'root',
			'charset'   => 'utf8',
			'collation' => 'utf8_unicode_ci',
			'prefix'    => 'notes_',
		),

Build a Resource

We are going to create an app that creates notes, so we want to create a new resource call note.

Run. php artisan generate:resource note --fields="body:text"

Open app/routes.php and a the new resource. Route::Resource('notes', 'NotesController');

Test your new routes. In terminal type php artisan routes Your should see all the new verbs for creating/updating/deleting notes.

Open app/controllers/notesController.php and the the functionality for creating updating and deleting notes.

Your file should look like this.

<?php

class NotesController extends \BaseController {

	// GET
	public function index() {
		return Response::json(['notes'=>Note::all()]);
	}

	// POST
	public function store() {
		$note = new Note();
		$note->body = Input::get('body', 'empty note');
		$note->save();

		return Response::json($note);
	}

	// GET
	public function show($id) {
		$note = Note::find($id);
		return $note;
	}

	// PUT
	public function update($id) {
		$note = Note::find($id);
		if(Input::has('body')) {
			$note->body = Input::get('body', 'empty note');
			$note->save();
			return Response::json(['note'=>$note, 'message'=>'Note Updated']);
		}
		return Response::json(['note'=>$note, 'message'=>'No Body Sent']);
	}

	// DELETE 
	public function destroy($id) {
		$note = Note::find($id);
		$note->delete();
		return Response::json($note);
	}

}

Note: Most browsers/clients do not understand the PUT/UPDATE/DELETE methods. Laravel will accept a parameter named_method and interrupt this with the correct function to call. i.e _method="PUT".

Test the API.

In Chrome get the app called PostMan this is a nice little REST app for Chrome that allows you to test all the verbs for you API.

Looking at your routes php artisan routes you can see how to all the URIs.

POST a new Note. Add the key body and value my new note. http://laraveldemo:8888/notes

GET all the Notes. http://localhost:8888/notes

DELETE a Note. http://localhost:8888/notes/1

IOS

Open XCode and create a new IOS project and select Single View Application. Name is NoteApp, select iPhone and save.

Setup the Main.storyboard

Delete everything in the Main.storyboard. Select the file and hit (⌘+a) then (delete) Delete the ViewController.h and ViewController.m files.

Create NotesController

File new. (⌘+n) Cocoa Touch -> Objective-C class Click Next Class: NotesController Subclass of: UITableViewController Click Next Create

Click on the Main.storyboard and drag a new Table View Controller to the stage. With the Controller selected third button at the top of the inspector. Set the Custom Class to NotesController. Now in the top menu click Editor -> Embed In -> Navigation Controller

Hit (⌘+r) and test the app. Everything should be connected and you should see a TableViewController in the simulator.

Load the data from the server

We are going to write all the loading functions in the AppDelegate this is good practice so that we can access these functions throughout the app.

In the AppDelegate.h add #define BASE_URL @"http://localhost:8888" this will save us from having to type this a bunch and easy to set for production.

Singleton AppDelegate This is a nice helper function to get the AppDelegate instance. Create this static method.

AppDelegate.h +(AppDelegate*)getInstance;

Load Notes

+(AppDelegate*)getInstance {
    return (AppDelegate*)[[UIApplication sharedApplication] delegate];
}

We can now call this simply by typing [AppDelegate getInstance]

Lets make a function that will load any url with a http method. We also want to have a callback for when the data is done loading. We are going to use a Block.

in your AppDelegate.h create a typedef of the Block. typedef void(^RequestBlock)(NSDictionary*data);

This function can take a url that we want to load, params saved in a dictionary as key value pairs and a callback function. Add this to AppDelegate.h -(void)makeRequest:(NSString*)urlString method:(NSString*)method params:(NSDictionary*)params onComplete:(RequestBlock)callback;

AppDelegate.m

-(void)makeRequest:(NSString*)urlString method:(NSString*)method params:(NSDictionary*)params onComplete:(RequestBlock)callback {

    // create the url
    NSURL * url = [NSURL URLWithString:[NSString stringWithFormat:@"%@/%@", BASE_URL, urlString]];
    NSMutableURLRequest * request = [[NSMutableURLRequest alloc] initWithURL:url];
    
    // set the method (GET/POST/PUT/UPDATE/DELETE)
    [request setHTTPMethod:method];
    
   // if we have params pull out the key/value and add to header
    if(params != nil) {
        NSMutableString * body = [[NSMutableString alloc] init];
        for (NSString * key in params.allKeys) {
            NSString * value = [params objectForKey:key];
            [body appendFormat:@"%@=%@&", key, value];
        }
        [request setHTTPBody:[body dataUsingEncoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding]];
    }
    
    // submit the request
    [NSURLConnection sendAsynchronousRequest:request
                                       queue:[NSOperationQueue mainQueue]
                           completionHandler:^(NSURLResponse *response, NSData *data, NSError *connectionError) {

                               // do we have data?
                               if(data && data.length > 0) {
                                   
                                   NSDictionary * json = [NSJSONSerialization JSONObjectWithData:data options:kNilOptions error:nil];
                                  
                                   // if we have a block lets pass it
                                   if(callback) {
                                       callback(json);
                                   }
                                   
                               }
                               
                           }];
    
}

Now lets test this function. In AppDelegate.m didFinishLaunchingWithOptions add the function to load all the notes. Note: If we have no params to pass just pass nil.

    [self makeRequest:@"notes" params:nil method:@"GET" onComplete:^(NSDictionary *data) {
        NSLog(@"Json Loaded: %@", data);
    }];

Run & Build. You will see output in the console of the a NSDictionary of all the notes.

Load Notes - NotesController

First include the AppDelegate in the NotesController

NotesController.h #import "AppDelegate.h"

We want to have a NSMutableArray of all the notes. NotesController.h @property (strong, nonatomic) NSMutableArray * notes; NotesController.m @synthesize notes;

Load the notes when the view loads.

- (void)viewDidLoad {
    [super viewDidLoad];
    
    [[AppDelegate getInstance] makeRequest:@"notes" params:nil method:@"GET" onComplete:^(NSDictionary *data) {

        if([data objectForKey:@"notes"]) {
            notes = [NSMutableArray arrayWithArray:[data objectForKey:@"notes"]];

            // now reload the tableview
            [self.tableView reloadData];
        }
        
    }];
}

Setup The TableView Now that we have the data loaded we can set the sections and number of rows.

- (NSInteger)numberOfSectionsInTableView:(UITableView *)tableView {
    return notes ? 1 : 0; // safe way to not load rows if notes is nil
}

- (NSInteger)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView numberOfRowsInSection:(NSInteger)section {
    return notes.count;
}

Setup the cell.

- (UITableViewCell *)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView cellForRowAtIndexPath:(NSIndexPath *)indexPath {
   
    static NSString * cellID = @"NOTES_CELL";
    UITableViewCell *cell = [tableView dequeueReusableCellWithIdentifier:cellID];
    
    if(cell == nil) {
        cell = [[UITableViewCell alloc] initWithStyle:UITableViewCellStyleSubtitle reuseIdentifier:cellID];
    }
    
    // get the note
    NSDictionary * note = [notes objectAtIndex:indexPath.row];
    
   // create a date formatter so we can display the date
    NSDateFormatter * df = [[NSDateFormatter alloc] init];
    [df setDateFormat:@"yyyy-MM-dd H:mm:ss"];
    
    // make a date object from the timestamp
    NSDate * date = [df dateFromString:[note objectForKey:@"created_at"]];

    // change the format weekday/month/day/year
    [df setDateFormat:@"EE MMM d yyyy"];
    NSString * dateStr = [df stringFromDate:date];

    // change the format hour:min
    [df setDateFormat:@"h:mm a"];
    NSString * timeStr = [df stringFromDate:date];

    // update the cell
    cell.textLabel.text = dateStr;
    cell.detailTextLabel.text = timeStr;
    
    
    return cell;
}

At this point we are loading the Notes and able to display them in our tableview -Yeah! Now we need to make some notes.

Create Notes

Lets add right bar button item that will launch a note creator view.

Add the bar button In the viewDidLoad add the following code.

 UIBarButtonItem * noteButton = [[UIBarButtonItem alloc] initWithBarButtonSystemItem:UIBarButtonSystemItemCompose
                                                                                 target:self
                                                                                 action:@selector(openNoteCreator:)];
    self.navigationItem.rightBarButtonItem = noteButton;

And add this function

-(void)openNoteCreator:(id)sender {
    
}

Run the app and you will see a compose icon in the top right. Let create the NoteCreatorController. Like before create a new class that subclasses a UIViewController.

Connect the NoteCreatorController in the NotesController.

Import the class ** NotesController.m** #import "NoteCreatorController.h"

Update the openNoteCreator method.

-(void)openNoteCreator:(id)sender {
    NoteCreatorController * noteVC = [[NoteCreatorController alloc] init];
    [self.navigationController presentViewController:noteVC animated:YES completion:nil];
}

Build the note creator

We need a few things in the class. Buttons to close the modal and save the note as well a textview to write the note.

Create a close function.

-(void)close {
    [self dismissViewControllerAnimated:YES completion:nil];
}

Create a save function (we will fill this in later)

-(void)save {
    
}

Create button to call these two methods. You will create them in the viewDidLoad method.

- (void)viewDidLoad {
    [super viewDidLoad];
    
    
    self.view.backgroundColor = [UIColor whiteColor];
    
    UIToolbar * toolbar = [[UIToolbar alloc] initWithFrame:CGRectMake(0, 0, self.view.frame.size.width, 64)];
    
    
    // close button
    UIBarButtonItem * closeBtn = [[UIBarButtonItem alloc] initWithBarButtonSystemItem:UIBarButtonSystemItemCancel target:self action:@selector(close)];

    // spacer
    UIBarButtonItem * spacer = [[UIBarButtonItem alloc] initWithBarButtonSystemItem:UIBarButtonSystemItemFlexibleSpace target:nil action:nil];

    // save button
    UIBarButtonItem * saveBtn = [[UIBarButtonItem alloc] initWithBarButtonSystemItem:UIBarButtonSystemItemSave target:self action:@selector(save)];
    
    // set the items for toolbar
    toolbar.items = @[closeBtn, spacer, saveBtn];
    
    [self.view addSubview:toolbar];
    
}

The TextView We need a UITextView and have this controller respond to the UITextView protocol.

NoteCreatorController.h

@interface NoteCreatorController : UIViewController <UITextViewDelegate>

@property (strong, nonatomic) UITextView * textView;

@end

NoteCreatorController.m @synthesize noteTextView; Add this to the viewDidLoad method.

   noteTextView = [[UITextView alloc] initWithFrame:CGRectMake(20, 70, self.view.frame.size.width-40, 170)];
    noteTextView.backgroundColor = [UIColor lightGrayColor];
    noteTextView.delegate = self;
    [self.view addSubview:noteTextView];

    // auto launch the keyboard
    [noteTextView becomeFirstResponder];

Save Data Lets fill out the save method. First import the AppDelegate in you NoteCreatorController.m. We want to dismiss the keyboard, grab the text from the UITextView and save it with our makeRequest method.

Save the data:

-(void)save {
    
    // if the keyboard is up dismiss it
    if([noteTextView isFirstResponder]) {
        [noteTextView resignFirstResponder];
    }
    
    NSString * body = noteTextView.text;
    
    // save this data
    [[AppDelegate getInstance] makeRequest:@"notes"
                                    method:@"POST"
                                    params:@{@"body": body}
                                onComplete:^(NSDictionary *data) {
                                    
                                    // we need to dismiss the view controller
                                    // and update the tableview in NotesController
                                    
                                }];
    
}

Close the Notes Creator & Update TableView In order to update the NotesController we need a reference to the instance of this controller. Lets create a function in NotesController that will update the UITableView with a new note.

In NotesController.h add: -(void)addNewNote:(NSDictionary*)note;

In NotesController.m add:

code

In the NoteCreatorController we need a weak reference to the NotesController.

In NoteCreatorController.h add: @property (weak, nonatomic) NotesController * notesControllerRef;

In NoteCreatorController.m add: @synthesize notesControllerRef;

In the openNoteCreator method add the reference.

-(void)openNoteCreator:(id)sender {
    NoteCreatorController * noteVC = [[NoteCreatorController alloc] init];
    noteVC.notesControllerRef = self;
    [self.navigationController presentViewController:noteVC animated:YES completion:nil];
}

Now when we close the NoteCreatorController we can call the addNewNote when the animation is complete. Our save method now looks like this.

-(void)save {
    
    // if the keyboard is up dismiss it
    if([noteTextView isFirstResponder]) {
        [noteTextView resignFirstResponder];
    }
    
    NSString * body = noteTextView.text;
    
    // save this data
    [[AppDelegate getInstance] makeRequest:@"notes"
                                    method:@"POST"
                                    params:@{@"body": body}
                                onComplete:^(NSDictionary *data) {
                                    
                                    // we need to dismiss the view controller
                                    // and update the tableview in NotesController
                                    [self dismissViewControllerAnimated:YES completion:^{
                                        [notesControllerRef addNewNote:[data objectForKey:@"note"]];
                                    }];
                                    
                                }];
    
}

Looks good we are now adding a new cell and saving our new note to the database.

Edit/Delete a note

Lets add a way to edit and delete a note. First a weak reference of a NSDictionary note in the NoteCreatorController. We do this so that when we tap on a TableViewCell we pass the note and can update the text in the NoteCreatorController.

In NoteCreatorController.h @property (weak, nonatomic) NSDictionary * noteRef; In NoteCreatorController.m @synthesize noteRef;

We want to modify the ViewDidLoad to check if we have a noteRef. If we have a note we set the text else we show the keyboard.

 if(noteRef == nil) {
        [noteTextView becomeFirstResponder];
    }
    else {
        noteTextView.text = noteTextView.text;
    }

Now in our NotesController we add the method.

-(void)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView didSelectRowAtIndexPath:(NSIndexPath *)indexPath {
    
    NSDictionary * note = [notes objectAtIndex:indexPath.row];
    
    NoteCreatorController * noteVC = [[NoteCreatorController alloc] init];
    noteVC.notesControllerRef = self;
    noteVC.noteRef = note;
    
    [self.navigationController presentViewController:noteVC animated:YES completion:nil];

}

Create a update Cell method in NoteController.

-(void)updateNote:(NSDictionary *)note {
    
    NSInteger foundIndex = -1;
    
    // find the note we just updated
    for (NSInteger i=0; i<notes.count; i++) {
        NSDictionary * n = [notes objectAtIndex:i];
        if([[n objectForKey:@"id"] isEqualToString:[note objectForKey:@"id"]]) {
            foundIndex = i;
            break;
        }
    }
    
    // did we find a note - replace with updated note
    if(foundIndex != -1) {
        [notes replaceObjectAtIndex:foundIndex withObject:note];
        [self.tableView reloadRowsAtIndexPaths:@[[NSIndexPath indexPathForRow:foundIndex inSection:0]] withRowAnimation:UITableViewRowAnimationFade];
    }
    
}

Now when we open this Note in the NotesCreatorController we want to update the note and not save it as a new note. Lets modify our save function to the following.

-(void)save {
    
    // if the keyboard is up dismiss it
    if([noteTextView isFirstResponder]) {
        [noteTextView resignFirstResponder];
    }
    
    NSString * body = noteTextView.text;
    
    // if we have a note ref then update else save the note
    
    if(noteRef) {
        
        // We first create the path notes/{note id}
        // The verbs PUT/UPDATE/DELETE are not supported
        // with most browsers/clients so we need to pass
        // a _method. Laravel knows how to interespt this
        // into the correct method.
        
        NSString * noteURL = [NSString stringWithFormat:@"notes/%@", [noteRef objectForKey:@"id"]];
        [[AppDelegate getInstance] makeRequest:noteURL
                                        method:@"POST"
                                        params:@{@"body": body, @"_method": @"PUT"}
                                    onComplete:^(NSDictionary *data) {
                                        
                                        // we need to dismiss the view controller
                                        // and update the tableview in NotesController
                                        [self dismissViewControllerAnimated:YES completion:^{
                                            [notesControllerRef updateNote:[data objectForKey:@"note"]];
                                        }];
                                        
                                    }];
        
    }
    else {
        [[AppDelegate getInstance] makeRequest:@"notes"
                                        method:@"POST"
                                        params:@{@"body": body}
                                    onComplete:^(NSDictionary *data) {
                                        
                                        // we need to dismiss the view controller
                                        // and update the tableview in NotesController
                                        [self dismissViewControllerAnimated:YES completion:^{
                                            [notesControllerRef addNewNote:[data objectForKey:@"note"]];
                                        }];
                                        
                                    }];
    }
    
}

Note: Most browsers/clients do not understand the PUT/UPDATE/DELETE methods. Laravel will accept a parameter named_method and interrupt this with the correct function to call. i.e _method="PUT".

Awesome, we are now updating our Notes, time to delete a note. Lets add a delete button to our toolbar in the NotesCreatorController and create a deleteNote method.

In NotesCreatorController.m UIBarButtonItem * deleteBtn = [[UIBarButtonItem alloc] initWithBarButtonSystemItem:UIBarButtonSystemItemTrash target:self action:@selector(deleteNote)];

We also need a removeNote in our NotesController. Create this function.

** NotesController.h** -(void)removeNote:(NSDictionary*)note;`

** NotesController.m**`

-(void)removeNote:(NSDictionary *)note {
    
    NSInteger foundIndex = -1;
    
    // find the note we just updated
    for (NSInteger i=0; i<notes.count; i++) {
        NSDictionary * n = [notes objectAtIndex:i];
        if([[n objectForKey:@"id"] isEqualToString:[note objectForKey:@"id"]]) {
            foundIndex = i;
            break;
        }
    }
    
    // did we find a note - remove this note
    if(foundIndex != -1) {
        [notes removeObjectAtIndex:foundIndex];
        [self.tableView deleteRowsAtIndexPaths:@[[NSIndexPath indexPathForRow:foundIndex inSection:0]] withRowAnimation:UITableViewRowAnimationFade];
    }

}

Back in the NotesCreatorController.m we need to create the deleteNote function and call the removeNote method in our UITableView. We can pretty much copy and past from our update method and change it to DELETE.

-(void)deleteNote {
    NSString * noteURL = [NSString stringWithFormat:@"notes/%@", [noteRef objectForKey:@"id"]];
    [[AppDelegate getInstance] makeRequest:noteURL
                                    method:@"POST"
                                    params:@{@"_method": @"DELETE"}
                                onComplete:^(NSDictionary *data) {
                                    
                                    // we need to dismiss the view controller
                                    // and update the tableview in NotesController
                                    [self dismissViewControllerAnimated:YES completion:^{
                                        [notesControllerRef removeNote:[data objectForKey:@"note"]];
                                    }];
                                    
                                }];

}

At this point we should be creating, updating, and deleting notes. This is a good start for making an app connected to a REST API. You can build on this and really make something awesome!

Thanks, T

Name		Name	Last commit message	Last commit date
Latest commit History 8 Commits
IOS		IOS
app		app
bootstrap		bootstrap
public		public
.gitattributes		.gitattributes
.gitignore		.gitignore
CONTRIBUTING.md		CONTRIBUTING.md
README.md		README.md
artisan		artisan
composer.json		composer.json
phpunit.xml		phpunit.xml
server.php		server.php

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Laravel & IOS

Create App

Setup Database

Build a Resource

Test the API.

IOS

Setup the Main.storyboard

Create NotesController

Load the data from the server

Load Notes - NotesController

Create Notes

Build the note creator

Edit/Delete a note

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vanderlin/Laravel-IOSTutorial

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Laravel & IOS

Create App

Setup Database

Build a Resource

Test the API.

IOS

Setup the Main.storyboard

Create NotesController

Load the data from the server

Load Notes - NotesController

Create Notes

Build the note creator

Edit/Delete a note

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