How can I load an image from a Drupal field to UIImageView? - mysql

Question

I'm building an app for my Drupal based website. I currently have my iOS application pulling data from the MySQL database (e.g. Article titles and descriptions). Does anyone know what sort of code I would use to display an article's corresponding image (uploaded via a Drupal field) in an UIImageView?
Here's a quick snippet of the code I'm using to pull text from my Drupal site.
DoctorsViewController.h
#interface DoctorsViewController : UIViewController {
IBOutlet UITableView *DoctorsTableView;
NSArray *Doctors;
NSMutableData *data;
}
DoctorsViewController.m
- (void)viewDidLoad
{
[super viewDidLoad];
// Do any additional setup after loading the view from its nib.
[UIApplication sharedApplication].networkActivityIndicatorVisible = YES;
NSURL *url = [NSURL URLWithString:#"MY URL HERE"];
NSURLRequest *request = [NSURLRequest requestWithURL:url];
[[NSURLConnection alloc] initWithRequest:request delegate:self];
// Do any additional setup after loading the view, typically from a nib.
}
- (void)connection:(NSURLConnection *)connection didReceiveResponse:(NSURLResponse *)response
{
data = [[NSMutableData alloc] init];
}
- (void)connection:(NSURLConnection *)connection didReceiveData:(NSData *)theData
{
[data appendData:theData];
}
- (void)connectionDidFinishLoading:(NSURLConnection *)connection
{
[UIApplication sharedApplication].networkActivityIndicatorVisible = NO;
Doctors = [NSJSONSerialization JSONObjectWithData:data options:nil error:nil];
[DoctorsTableView reloadData];
}
- (void)connection:(NSURLConnection *)connection didFailWithError:(NSError *)error
{
UIAlertView *errorView = [[UIAlertView alloc] initWithTitle:#"Error" message:#"The download could not complete - please make sure that you're connected to 3G or Wi-Fi." delegate:nil
cancelButtonTitle:#"Dismiss" otherButtonTitles:nil];
[errorView show];
[UIApplication sharedApplication].networkActivityIndicatorVisible = NO;
}
- (int)numberOfSectionsInTableView: (UITableView *)tableview
{
return 1;
}
- (int)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView numberOfRowsInSection:(NSInteger)section
{
return [Doctors count];
}
- (UITableViewCell *)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView cellForRowAtIndexPath:(NSIndexPath *)indexPath
{
static NSString *DoctorsTableIdentifier = #"DoctorsCell";
DoctorsCell *cell = (DoctorsCell *)[tableView dequeueReusableCellWithIdentifier:DoctorsTableIdentifier];
if (cell == nil)
{
NSArray *nib = [[NSBundle mainBundle] loadNibNamed:#"DoctorsCell" owner:self options:nil];
cell = [nib objectAtIndex:0];
}
cell.firstnameLabel.text = [[Doctors objectAtIndex:indexPath.row] objectForKey:#"node_title"];
cell.descriptionLabel.text = [[Doctors objectAtIndex:indexPath.row] objectForKey:#"Opening Paragraph"];
return cell;
}

Answer 1

That isn't as straightforward as it sounds - Drupal stores its field data in a very specific way, and URIs to the images are addressed with a schema rather than having a relative or absolute path (e.g. public://path/to/image.jpg as opposed to /sites/default/files/path/to/image.jpg)
You can get the image URIs for a node straight from the DB like this (assuming your article type uses the standard field_image field):
SELECT fm.uri
FROM {file_managed} fm
INNER JOIN field_data_field_image fi ON fi.entity_type = 'node' AND fi.bundle = 'article' AND fi.deleted = 0 AND fi.field_image_fid = fm.fid
WHERE fi.entity_id = <nid>
Where <nid> is the node ID. From there you'll need to perform whatever logic you need to translate the paths to something useful for your iOS app. Drupal uses file_create_url() to perform the same task, so that's your best starting point for inspiration. Depending on your setup you may well get away with just doing a string replace on public:// to http://example.com/sites/default/files/.
Long term, you might want to look at adding the Services module and consuming the REST API in your app, instead of querying the DB directly. It'll take a lot of the strain of preparing Drupal's data out of your hands so you can just deal with what you need.