Uploading file with parameters using Alamofire

Here is a simple function that requires the target upload url, parameters, and imageData and returns the URLRequestConvertible and NSData that Alamofire.upload requires to upload an image with parameters.

// this function creates the required URLRequestConvertible and NSData we need to use Alamofire.upload
func urlRequestWithComponents(urlString:String, parameters:Dictionary<String, String>, imageData:NSData) -> (URLRequestConvertible, NSData) {

    // create url request to send
    var mutableURLRequest = NSMutableURLRequest(URL: NSURL(string: urlString)!)
    mutableURLRequest.HTTPMethod = Alamofire.Method.POST.rawValue
    let boundaryConstant = "myRandomBoundary12345";
    let contentType = "multipart/form-data;boundary="+boundaryConstant
    mutableURLRequest.setValue(contentType, forHTTPHeaderField: "Content-Type")



    // create upload data to send
    let uploadData = NSMutableData()

    // add image
    uploadData.appendData("\r\n--\(boundaryConstant)\r\n".dataUsingEncoding(NSUTF8StringEncoding)!)
    uploadData.appendData("Content-Disposition: form-data; name=\"file\"; filename=\"file.png\"\r\n".dataUsingEncoding(NSUTF8StringEncoding)!)
    uploadData.appendData("Content-Type: image/png\r\n\r\n".dataUsingEncoding(NSUTF8StringEncoding)!)
    uploadData.appendData(imageData)

    // add parameters
    for (key, value) in parameters {
        uploadData.appendData("\r\n--\(boundaryConstant)\r\n".dataUsingEncoding(NSUTF8StringEncoding)!)
        uploadData.appendData("Content-Disposition: form-data; name=\"\(key)\"\r\n\r\n\(value)".dataUsingEncoding(NSUTF8StringEncoding)!)
    }
    uploadData.appendData("\r\n--\(boundaryConstant)--\r\n".dataUsingEncoding(NSUTF8StringEncoding)!)



    // return URLRequestConvertible and NSData
    return (Alamofire.ParameterEncoding.URL.encode(mutableURLRequest, parameters: nil).0, uploadData)
}    

Here’s an example of how to use it (see CREATE AND SEND REQUEST):

// init paramters Dictionary
var parameters = [
    "task": "task",
    "variable1": "var"
]

// add addtionial parameters
parameters["userId"] = "27"
parameters["body"] = "This is the body text."

// example image data
let image = UIImage(named: "177143.jpg")
let imageData = UIImagePNGRepresentation(image)



// CREATE AND SEND REQUEST ----------

let urlRequest = urlRequestWithComponents("http://example.com/uploadText/", parameters: parameters, imageData: imageData)

Alamofire.upload(urlRequest.0, urlRequest.1)
    .progress { (bytesWritten, totalBytesWritten, totalBytesExpectedToWrite) in
        println("\(totalBytesWritten) / \(totalBytesExpectedToWrite)")
    }
    .responseJSON { (request, response, JSON, error) in
        println("REQUEST \(request)")
        println("RESPONSE \(response)")
        println("JSON \(JSON)")
        println("ERROR \(error)")
}    

And if you need the php file for the target url (with an ‘uploads’ folder in the same directory):

// get picture variables
$file       = $_FILES['file']['tmp_name'];
$fileName   = $_FILES['file']['name'];
$fileType   = $_FILES['file']['type'];

// check extension
$allowedExts = array("jpg", "jpeg", "png");
$rootName = reset(explode(".", $fileName));
$extension = end(explode(".", $fileName));

// create new file name
$time = time();
$newName = $rootName.$time.'.'.$extension;

// temporarily save file
$moved = move_uploaded_file($_FILES["file"]["tmp_name"], "uploads/".$newName );
if ($moved) $path = "uploads/".$newName;

$body = $_POST['body'];
$userId = $_POST['userId'];


$time = time();
if ($moved) {
    $fullUrl = "http://antiblank.com/testPhotoUpload/".$path;
    $arrayToSend = array('status'=>'success','time'=>$time,'body'=>$body,'userId'=>$userId, "imageURL"=>$fullUrl);
} else {
    $arrayToSend = array('status'=>'FAILED','time'=>$time,'body'=>$body,'userId'=>$userId);
}

header('Content-Type:application/json');
echo json_encode($arrayToSend);