Attach GIF to TWTRComposer?

Question

In my iOS app, I would like to enable users to tweet GIFs.

I have a working TWTRComposer and tried attaching a GIF by using the SetImage method:

[composer setImage:[UIImage imageWithData:[NSData dataWithContentsOfURL:self.localGifURL]]];

The image then appears in the composer view, but when the image gets posted to Twitter, it's a static image rather than a GIF.

Is it possible to attach a GIF to a tweet created with TWTRComposer?

Edit

I tried integrating this library to create an animated UIImage:

https://github.com/mayoff/uiimage-from-animated-gif

Updating my code, I have the following:

[composer setImage:[UIImage animatedImageWithAnimatedGIFURL:self.localGifURL]];

But this still results in a static image on Twitter.

Edit #2

One other observation - if I save the GIF to my phone and try to share it on Twitter directly from the Photo library (which opens up what looks to be a TWTRComposer window), it posts as an image, not a GIF. Which leads me to that you may not be able to attach a GIF to a TWTRComposer...

Answer 1

I posted this question a while ago but finally got around to implementing this feature.

TWTRComposer still doesn't support adding anything but images, so I used the media/upload REST API as suggested. I am able to tweet both GIFs and Videos. Before tweeting either media, I create a custom UIAlertView that lets someone composer a tweet:

Then when they tap the tweet button, a GIF gets tweeted if it's small enough; otherwise, a video is tweeted.

Resulting GIF tweet: https://twitter.com/spinturntable/status/730609962817294336

Resulting Video tweet: https://twitter.com/spinturntable/status/730609829128081408

Here is how I implemented this feature (lots of help from this post https://stackoverflow.com/a/31259870/1720985).

Create the initial UIAlertView for composing the tweet message:

-(IBAction)tweet:(id)sender{
    // check if the person has twitter
    if([[Twitter sharedInstance] session]){
        // first, show a pop up window for someone to customize their tweet message, limited to 140 characters
        UIAlertView *tweetAlert = [[UIAlertView alloc] initWithTitle:@"Compose Tweet"
                                                             message:nil
                                                            delegate:self
                                                   cancelButtonTitle:@"Cancel"
                                                   otherButtonTitles:nil];
        tweetAlert.tag = TAG_TWEET;
        tweetTextView = [UITextView new];
        [tweetTextView setBackgroundColor:[UIColor clearColor]];
        CGRect frame = tweetTextView.frame;
        frame.size.height = 500;
        tweetTextView.frame = frame;

        [tweetTextView setFont:[UIFont systemFontOfSize:15]];

        tweetTextView.textContainerInset = UIEdgeInsetsMake(0, 10, 10, 10);

        [[NSNotificationCenter defaultCenter] addObserver:self selector:@selector(limitTextView:) name:@"UITextViewTextDidChangeNotification" object:tweetTextView];


        [tweetTextView setText:[NSString stringWithFormat:@"%@ %@", [[NSUserDefaults standardUserDefaults] valueForKey:@"tweetText"], self.setShareURL]];
        [tweetAlert setValue:tweetTextView forKey:@"accessoryView"];
        [tweetAlert addButtonWithTitle:@"Tweet"];
        [tweetAlert show];
    }else{
        UIAlertView *alert = [[UIAlertView alloc] initWithTitle:nil
                                                        message:@"Please log in with your Twitter account to tweet!"
                                                       delegate:nil
                                              cancelButtonTitle:@"OK"
                                              otherButtonTitles:nil];
        [alert show];
    }

}

Then detect the UIAlertView Tweet (I add a UIAlertViewDelegate):

- (void)alertView:(UIAlertView *)alertView didDismissWithButtonIndex:(NSInteger)buttonIndex {
   if(alertView.tag == TAG_TWEET){
        if (buttonIndex == 1) {

            UIAlertView *tweetStartAlert = [[UIAlertView alloc] initWithTitle:nil
                                                            message:@"Tweeting..."
                                                           delegate:self
                                                  cancelButtonTitle:nil
                                                  otherButtonTitles:nil];
            [tweetStartAlert show];

            // get client
            __block TWTRAPIClient *client = [[Twitter sharedInstance] APIClient];
            __block NSString *mediaID;

            NSString *text = [tweetTextView text]; // get tweet text
            NSLog(@"text: %@", text);
            NSData *mediaData;
            NSString *mediaLength;
            NSString *mediaType;
            NSString* url = @"https://upload.twitter.com/1.1/media/upload.json";

            // if this is a single spin set, tweet the gif
            if([self.setSpins count] ==1){
                NSLog(@"tweeting GIF with url %@", self.gifURL);
                mediaData = [NSData dataWithContentsOfURL:[NSURL URLWithString:self.gifURL]];
                mediaLength = [NSString stringWithFormat:@"%lu", mediaData.length];
                mediaType = @"image/gif";
            }else if([self.setSpins count] > 1){
                // multi-spin set - tweet the video
                NSLog(@"tweeting video with url %@", self.videoURL);
                mediaData = [NSData dataWithContentsOfURL:[NSURL URLWithString:self.videoURL]];
                mediaLength = [NSString stringWithFormat:@"%lu", mediaData.length];
                mediaType = @"video/mp4";
            }

            NSError *error;
            // First call with command INIT
            __block NSDictionary *message =  @{ @"status":text,
                                                @"command":@"INIT",
                                                @"media_type":mediaType,
                                                @"total_bytes":mediaLength};

                NSURLRequest *preparedRequest = [client URLRequestWithMethod:@"POST" URL:url parameters:message error:&error];
                [client sendTwitterRequest:preparedRequest completion:^(NSURLResponse *urlResponse, NSData *responseData, NSError *error){

                    if(!error){
                        NSError *jsonError;
                        NSDictionary *json = [NSJSONSerialization
                                              JSONObjectWithData:responseData
                                              options:0
                                              error:&jsonError];

                        mediaID = [json objectForKey:@"media_id_string"];
                        NSError *error;

                        NSString *mediaString = [mediaData base64EncodedStringWithOptions:0];

                        // Second call with command APPEND
                        message = @{@"command" : @"APPEND",
                                    @"media_id" : mediaID,
                                    @"segment_index" : @"0",
                                    @"media" : mediaString};

                        NSURLRequest *preparedRequest = [client URLRequestWithMethod:@"POST" URL:url parameters:message error:&error];

                        [client sendTwitterRequest:preparedRequest completion:^(NSURLResponse *urlResponse, NSData *responseData, NSError *error){

                            if(!error){
                                client = [[Twitter sharedInstance] APIClient];
                                NSError *error;
                                // Third call with command FINALIZE
                                message = @{@"command" : @"FINALIZE",
                                            @"media_id" : mediaID};

                                NSURLRequest *preparedRequest = [client URLRequestWithMethod:@"POST" URL:url parameters:message error:&error];

                                [client sendTwitterRequest:preparedRequest completion:^(NSURLResponse *urlResponse, NSData *responseData, NSError *error){

                                    if(!error){
                                        client = [[Twitter sharedInstance] APIClient];
                                        NSError *error;
                                        // publish video with status
                                        NSLog(@"publish video!");
                                        NSString *url = @"https://api.twitter.com/1.1/statuses/update.json";
                                        NSMutableDictionary *message = [[NSMutableDictionary alloc] initWithObjectsAndKeys:text,@"status",@"true",@"wrap_links",mediaID, @"media_ids", nil];
                                        NSURLRequest *preparedRequest = [client URLRequestWithMethod:@"POST" URL:url parameters:message error:&error];

                                        [client sendTwitterRequest:preparedRequest completion:^(NSURLResponse *urlResponse, NSData *responseData, NSError *error){
                                            if(!error){
                                                NSError *jsonError;
                                                NSDictionary *json = [NSJSONSerialization
                                                                      JSONObjectWithData:responseData
                                                                      options:0
                                                                      error:&jsonError];
                                                NSLog(@"%@", json);

                                                [tweetStartAlert dismissWithClickedButtonIndex:0 animated:YES];

                                                UIAlertView *tweetFinishedAlert = [[UIAlertView alloc] initWithTitle:nil
                                                                                                          message:@"Tweeted!"
                                                                                                         delegate:self
                                                                                                cancelButtonTitle:nil
                                                                                                otherButtonTitles:nil];
                                                [tweetFinishedAlert show];
                                                double delayInSeconds = 1.5;
                                                dispatch_time_t popTime = dispatch_time(DISPATCH_TIME_NOW, (int64_t)(delayInSeconds * NSEC_PER_SEC));
                                                dispatch_after(popTime, dispatch_get_main_queue(), ^(void){
                                                    [tweetFinishedAlert dismissWithClickedButtonIndex:0 animated:YES];
                                                });

                                                [self logShare:@"twitter"];

                                            }else{
                                                NSLog(@"Error: %@", error);
                                            }
                                        }];
                                    }else{
                                        NSLog(@"Error command FINALIZE: %@", error);
                                    }
                                }];

                            }else{
                                NSLog(@"Error command APPEND: %@", error);
                            }
                        }];

                    }else{
                        NSLog(@"Error command INIT: %@", error);
                    }

                }];
            }
        }
    }

Some extra things: I focus the UITextView when the Compose Tweet Alert appears:

- (void)didPresentAlertView:(UIAlertView *)alertView {
    if(alertView.tag == TAG_TWEET){
        NSLog(@"tweetAlertView appeared");
        [tweetTextView becomeFirstResponder];
    }
}

Here's how I check whether the UITextView has less than 140 characters:

- (void)limitTextView:(NSNotification *)note {
    int limit = 140;
    if ([[tweetTextView text] length] > limit) {
        [tweetTextView setText:[[tweetTextView text] substringToIndex:limit]];
    }
}

Hope this is useful to others as it took me a long time to piece everything together.