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.quentinroussat.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

You can use pod SDWebImage to achieve the same. Its easy to use. Yo can get documentaion here SDWebImage

Here is the sample code

self.yourImage.sd_setImage(with: NSURL(string: StrUrl as String ) as URL!, placeholderImage: placeholderImage, options: SDWebImageOptions(rawValue: 0), completed: { (image, error, cacheType, imageURL) in
                if( error != nil)
                {
                    print("Error while displaying image" , (error?.localizedDescription)! as String)
                }
            })

Answer 2

If you are looking for a very very simple implementation. (This worked for me in Swift 2)

 let imageURL = NSURL(string: "https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1591/26078338233_d1466b7da2_m.jpg")
 let imagedData = NSData(contentsOfURL: imageURL!)!
 imageView?.image = UIImage(data: imagedData)

I implemented within a tableview with a custom cell that has only a image

func tableView(tableView: UITableView, cellForRowAtIndexPath indexPath: NSIndexPath) -> UITableViewCell{

        let cell = tableView.dequeueReusableCellWithIdentifier("theCell", forIndexPath: indexPath) as! customTableViewCell

        let imageURL = NSURL(string: "https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1591/26078338233_d1466b7da2_m.jpg")

        let imagedData = NSData(contentsOfURL: imageURL!)!

        cell.imageView?.image = UIImage(data: imagedData)

        return cell

    }

Answer 3

Use this code in Swift

imageView.image=UIImage(data: NSData(contentsOfURL: NSURL(string: "http://myURL/ios8.png")!)!

Answer 4

I wrapped the code of the best answers to the question into a single, reusable class extending UIImageView, so you can directly use asynchronous loading UIImageViews in your storyboard (or create them from code).

Here is my class:

import Foundation
import UIKit

class UIImageViewAsync :UIImageView
{

    override init()
    {
        super.init(frame: CGRect())
    }

    override init(frame:CGRect)
    {
        super.init(frame:frame)
    }

    required init(coder aDecoder: NSCoder) {
        super.init(coder: aDecoder)
    }

    func getDataFromUrl(url:String, completion: ((data: NSData?) -> Void)) {
        NSURLSession.sharedSession().dataTaskWithURL(NSURL(string: url)!) { (data, response, error) in
            completion(data: NSData(data: data))
        }.resume()
    }

    func downloadImage(url:String){
        getDataFromUrl(url) { data in
            dispatch_async(dispatch_get_main_queue()) {
                self.contentMode = UIViewContentMode.ScaleAspectFill
                self.image = UIImage(data: data!)
            }
        }
    }
}

and here is how to use it:

imageView.downloadImage("http://www.image-server.com/myImage.jpg")

Answer 5

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")
        DispatchQueue.main.async() {
            self.imageView.image = UIImage(data: data)
        }
    }
}

Usage:

override func viewDidLoad() {
    super.viewDidLoad()
    // Do any additional setup after loading the view, typically from a nib.
    print("Begin of code")
    if let url = URL(string: "http://www.apple.com/euro/ios/ios8/a/generic/images/og.png") {
        imageView.contentMode = .scaleAspectFit
        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: UIViewContentMode = .scaleAspectFit) {  // for swift 4.2 syntax just use ===> mode: UIView.ContentMode
        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() {
                self.image = image
            }
        }.resume()
    }
    func downloaded(from link: String, contentMode mode: UIViewContentMode = .scaleAspectFit) {  // for swift 4.2 syntax just use ===> mode: UIView.ContentMode
        guard let url = URL(string: link) else { return }
        downloaded(from: url, contentMode: mode)
    }
}

Usage:

imageView.downloaded(from: "http://www.apple.com/euro/ios/ios8/a/generic/images/og.png")

Answer 6

Swift 2.0 :

1)

if let url = NSURL(string: "http://etc...") {
    if let data = NSData(contentsOfURL: url) {
        imageURL.image = UIImage(data: data)
    }        
}

OR

imageURL.image =
    NSURL(string: "http:// image name...")
    .flatMap { NSData(contentsOfURL: $0) }
    .flatMap { UIImage(data: $0) }

2) Add this method to VC or Extension.

func load_image(urlString:String)
{   let imgURL: NSURL = NSURL(string: urlString)!
    let request: NSURLRequest = NSURLRequest(URL: imgURL)

    NSURLConnection.sendAsynchronousRequest(request, queue: NSOperationQueue.mainQueue()) { (response: NSURLResponse?, data: NSData?, error: NSError?) in

        if error == nil {
            self.image_element.image = UIImage(data: data)
        }
    }
}

Usage :

self.load_image(" url strig here")