Loading/Downloading image from URL on Swift

Question

I'd like to load an image from a URL in my application, so I first tried with Objective-C and it worked, however, with Swift, I've a compilation error:

'imageWithData' is unavailable: use object construction 'UIImage(data:)'

My function:

@IBOutlet var imageView : UIImageView

override func viewDidLoad() {
    super.viewDidLoad()
    
    var url:NSURL = NSURL.URLWithString("http://myURL/ios8.png")
    var data:NSData = NSData.dataWithContentsOfURL(url, options: nil, error: nil)

    imageView.image = UIImage.imageWithData(data)// Error here
}

In Objective-C:

- (void)viewDidLoad {
    [super viewDidLoad];

    NSURL *url = [NSURL URLWithString:(@"http://myURL/ios8.png")];
    NSData *data = [NSData dataWithContentsOfURL:url];

    _imageView.image = [UIImage imageWithData: data];
    _labelURL.text = @"http://www.urltest.fr/assets/img/iOS%20icon's%20Style/ios8.png";
 }

Can someone please explain me why the imageWithData: doesn't work with Swift, and how can I solve the problem.

Answer 1

Xcode 8 or later • Swift 3 or later

Synchronously:

if let filePath = Bundle.main.path(forResource: "imageName", ofType: "jpg"), let image = UIImage(contentsOfFile: filePath) {
    imageView.contentMode = .scaleAspectFit
    imageView.image = image
}

Asynchronously:

Create a method with a completion handler to get the image data from your url

func getData(from url: URL, completion: @escaping (Data?, URLResponse?, Error?) -> ()) {
    URLSession.shared.dataTask(with: url, completionHandler: completion).resume()
}

Create a method to download the image (start the task)

func downloadImage(from url: URL) {
    print("Download Started")
    getData(from: url) { data, response, error in
        guard let data = data, error == nil else { return }
        print(response?.suggestedFilename ?? url.lastPathComponent)
        print("Download Finished")
        // always update the UI from the main thread
        DispatchQueue.main.async() { [weak self] in
            self?.imageView.image = UIImage(data: data)
        }
    }
}

Usage:

override func viewDidLoad() {
    super.viewDidLoad()
    print("Begin of code")
    let url = URL(string: "https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/macOS-Mojave-Dynamic-Wallpaper-transition.jpg")! 
    downloadImage(from: url)
    print("End of code. The image will continue downloading in the background and it will be loaded when it ends.")
}

---

Extension:

extension UIImageView {
    func downloaded(from url: URL, contentMode mode: ContentMode = .scaleAspectFit) {
        contentMode = mode
        URLSession.shared.dataTask(with: url) { data, response, error in
            guard
                let httpURLResponse = response as? HTTPURLResponse, httpURLResponse.statusCode == 200,
                let mimeType = response?.mimeType, mimeType.hasPrefix("image"),
                let data = data, error == nil,
                let image = UIImage(data: data)
                else { return }
            DispatchQueue.main.async() { [weak self] in
                self?.image = image
            }
        }.resume()
    }
    func downloaded(from link: String, contentMode mode: ContentMode = .scaleAspectFit) { 
        guard let url = URL(string: link) else { return }
        downloaded(from: url, contentMode: mode)
    }
}

Usage:

imageView.downloaded(from: "https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/macOS-Mojave-Dynamic-Wallpaper-transition.jpg")