How to send UIImage in JSON format, by filling a NSDictionary

Question

I'm trying to send data to a server with JSON. I am able to create my NSDictionary with my objects and key parameters. But I want to send my picture, and the picture is UIImage.

 NSDictionary* mainJSON = [NSDictionary dictionaryWithObjectsAndKeys:
                          @"John",
                          @"First_Name",
                          @"McCintosh",
                          @"Last_name",
                          <HERE I WANT PICTURE>,
                          @"Profile_picture",
                          nil];

 // Here I convert to NSDATA 
 NSData * jsonData = [NSJSONSerialization dataWithJSONObject:mainJSON options:NSJSONWritingPrettyPrinted error:&error];

 // Sending operation :
 dispatch_async(kBgQueue, ^
                   {
                       NSData * data = [NSData dataWithContentsOfURL:@"addresSERVER"];
                       [self performSelectorOnMainThread:@selector(receivedResponseFromServer:)
                                              withObject:data
                                           waitUntilDone:YES];
                   }
                   );

So I'm wondering how can I add my picture in my NSDictionary? Because I want to send the content of my picture. If I add my object UIImage... I'll send the whole object right?

Thanks

Answer 1

You should convert the UIImage to NSString. Use the category of NSData called NSDataAdditions.You can find here: NSDataAdditions category

How to Use:

//Convert an Image to String
UIImage *anImage;
NSString imageString = [UIImagePNGRepresentation(anImage) base64Encoding];

//To retrieve
NSData *data = [NSData dataWithBase64EncodedString:imageString];
UIImage *recoverImage = [[UIImage imageWithData:data];