CODEWITHSUNDEEP
iosxcodeazureswift
zacjordaan
zacjordaan

Reputation: 3830

How to insert a record from an iOS swift app to an Azure mobile service database?

Without getting too complicated, how to upload a single quantum of data from an iOS app (using Swift) to an Azure mobile service database?

Specifically, how to actually use the table insert method which requires a MSItemBlock closure?

Here's the decorated method I'm hunting down:

itemTable.insert(<#item: NSDictionary?#>, completion: <#MSItemBlock?#>)

Upvotes: 1

Views: 4557

Answers (2)

phillipv
phillipv

Reputation: 1717

The iOS Swift quickstart for Azure Mobile Services will be available for download next portal update. In the meantime you can see it here, here's the insert line:

https://github.com/Azure/azure-mobile-services/blob/dev/quickstart/iOS-Swift/ZUMOAPPNAME/ZUMOAPPNAME/ToDoTableViewController.swift#L148

Inserting an item to the table should look like:

let originalItem = ["key":"value"];
itemTable.insert(originalItem) {
   (item, error) in
   // Logic here
}

Upvotes: 1

zacjordaan
zacjordaan

Reputation: 3830

Sometimes you just want to do one simple thing without building an entirely perfect solution.

In my case, all I wanted was to insert/upload a record from my iOS app (using core data) to my Azure mobile service database. I didn’t want to use table controllers or full table management objects (not yet anyway) - just a brief “proof-of-concept” to test out a basic save and upload pattern.

What I had in place:

  • iOS app built in Xcode 6 using swift
  • CoreData linked up and working nicely

What I wanted to do:

  • After saving to local core data in my app, also insert a corresponding record to my Azure mobile service database

What I did:

  • Logged into my Azure portal and navigated to my mobile service

  • Selected the iOS platform, then opened the “Connect an existing iOS app” link.

    Followed the on screen instructions to:

  • Download the iOS SDK

  • Create an "Item" table (by simply clicking the provided button)

What I did next:

  • Dragged the downloaded sdk into my Xcode project

  • In my Bridging-Header.h file (generated for me by Xcode when I had previously run “Create NSManagedObject Subclass…” commands on my core data models) I added this import:

    #import "WindowsAzureMobileServices/WindowsAzureMobileServices.h"

  • In AppDelegate.swift I added a constant reference to the AzureClient:

    let client = MSClient(applicationURLString: "https://mymobileapp.azure-mobile.net/", applicationKey: “aAaBbBcCc…")

Finally:

  • Here's the function I was wanting to use:

    itemTable.insert(<#item: NSDictionary?#>, completion: <#MSItemBlock?#>)

  • Accordingly, and in swift parlance, I used the following to insert a record up to Azure heaven:

    var client = AppDelegate().client // To reference my constant in AppDelegate.swift

var itemTable:MSTable = client.tableWithName("Item")
var itemToInsert:NSDictionary = ["text":"My Awesome Item 1"]

itemTable.insert(itemToInsert,
    completion: {
        insertedItem, error in
        if error{
            println("error: \(error)")
        }
        else{
            println("Success!")
        }
    }
)

The expected/returned MSItemBlock in the insert method stumped me for a while until I read up a little on swift closures vs objc blocks.

Disclaimer: The above snippet worked for me in this particular case but in truth I'm a drunken monkey playing with matches at the moment, so I do realise there must be far more efficient ways of doing this. However, I could find absolutely nothing on the web about the MSItemBlock and its pattern of usage in Swift, so hopefully this might prove a starting point for anybody else struggling with a similar issue.

Upvotes: 3

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