NSJSONSerialization returning null for MapQuest JSON in iOS

Question

I am trying to parse a mapquest geocode json in iOS, but NSJSONSterilization returns null. I checked with online json checkers and it appears that the url is in fact a json.

Here is the code for NSJSONSerialization

 if(geocodeResponseData)
 {
     NSLog(@"there is response data");
     //this is logged.
 }


 NSDictionary *mapQuestReponse =  [NSJSONSerialization
                                     JSONObjectWithData:geocodeResponseData
                                     options:kNilOptions
                                     error:&error];

 NSLog(@"mapquestreponse %@", mapQuestReponse);

This is the JSON URL that is returned for parsing.

http://www.mapquestapi.com/geocoding/v1/batch?key=API----KEY----HIDDEN----&callback=renderBatch&outFormat=json&location=14443%20C%20Big%20Basin%20Way,Saratoga,%20CA%2095070&location=14510%20Big%20Basin%20Way,Saratoga,%20CA%2095070&location=14550%20Big%20Basin%20Way,Saratoga,%20CA%2095070&location=14515%20Big%20Basin%20Way,Saratoga,%20CA%2095070&location=1480%20S%20De%20Anza%20Blvd,San%20Jose,%20CA%2095129&location=1600%20S%20De%20Anza%20Blvd,San%20Jose,%20CA%2095129&location=18486%20Prospect%20Rd,San%20Jose,%20CA%2095070&location=14572%20Big%20Basin%20Way,Saratoga,%20CA%2095070&location=5210%20Prospect%20Rd,San%20Jose,%20CA%2095129&location=1600%20S%20De%20Anza%20Blvd,San%20Jose,%20CA%2095106&location=14480%20Big%20Basin%20Way,Saratoga,%20CA%2095070&location=1818%20Saratoga%20Ave,San%20Jose,%20CA%2095129&location=18562%20Prospect%20Rd,Saratoga,%20CA%2095070&location=14560%20Big%20Basin%20Way,Saratoga,%20CA%2095070&location=14420%20Big%20Basin%20Way,Saratoga,%20CA%2095070&location=1075%20S%20De%20Anza%20Blvd,Cupertino,%20CA%2095129&location=18802%20Cox%20Ave,Saratoga,%20CA%2095070&location=6154%20Bollinger%20Rd,San%20Jose,%20CA%2095129&location=14555%20Big%20Basin%20Way,Saratoga,%20CA%2095070&location=14000%20Fruitvale%20Ave,Saratoga,%20CA%2095070

Is it returning NULL because of utf-8? Thanks in advance

Answer 1

Paste the url in your webBrowser to see what the server actually returns. This will be something like this:

renderBatch(
    {"results":[{"locations":[{"latLng":{"lng":-122.032921,"lat":37.258389},"adminArea4":"Santa Clara" ........ }
);

This is JSON wrapped in renderBatch( and );. That's not really parsable JSON.

This happens because you request a callback in your request url. Remove the callback parameter (&callback=renderBatch) from your request url and NSJSONSerilization can deserialize the JSON without problems.