Can I load a UIImage from a URL?

Question

I have a URL for an image (got it from UIImagePickerController) but I no longer have the image in memory (the URL was saved from a previous run of the app). Can I reload the UIImage from the URL again?

I see that UIImage has a imageWithContentsOfFile: but I have a URL. Can I use NSData's dataWithContentsOfURL: to read the URL?

EDIT1

---

based on @Daniel's answer I tried the following code but it doesn't work...

NSLog(@"%s %@", __PRETTY_FUNCTION__, photoURL);     
if (photoURL) {
    NSURL* aURL = [NSURL URLWithString:photoURL];
    NSData* data = [[NSData alloc] initWithContentsOfURL:aURL];
    self.photoImage = [UIImage imageWithData:data];
    [data release];
}

When I ran it the console shows:

-[PhotoBox willMoveToWindow:] file://localhost/Users/gary/Library/Application%20Support/iPhone%20Simulator/3.2/Media/DCIM/100APPLE/IMG_0004.JPG
*** -[NSURL length]: unrecognized selector sent to instance 0x536fbe0
*** Terminating app due to uncaught exception 'NSInvalidArgumentException', reason: '*** -[NSURL length]: unrecognized selector sent to instance 0x536fbe0'

Looking at the call stack, I'm calling URLWithString, which calls URLWithString:relativeToURL:, then initWithString:relativeToURL:, then _CFStringIsLegalURLString, then CFStringGetLength, then forwarding_prep_0, then forwarding, then -[NSObject doesNotRecognizeSelector].

Any ideas why my NSString (photoURL's address is 0x536fbe0) doesn't respond to length? Why does it say it doesn't respond to -[NSURL length]? Doesn't it know that param is an NSString, not a NSURL?

EDIT2

---

OK, the only problem with the code is the string to URL conversion. If I hardcode the string, everything else works fine. So something is wrong with my NSString and if I can't figure it out, I guess that should go in as a different question. With this line inserted (I pasted the path from the console log above), it works fine:

photoURL = @"file://localhost/Users/gary/Library/Application%20Support/iPhone%20Simulator/3.2/Media/DCIM/100APPLE/IMG_0004.JPG";

Answer 1

AFNetworking provides async image loading into a UIImageView with placeholder support. It also supports async networking for working with APIs in general.

Answer 2

Make sure enable this settings from iOS 9:

App Transport Security Settings in Info.plist to ensure loading image from URL so that it will allow download image and set it.

And write this code:

NSURL *url = [[NSURL alloc]initWithString:@"https://www.google.co.in/"];
NSData *data =[NSData dataWithContentsOfURL:url];
quickViewImage.image = [UIImage imageWithData:data];

Answer 3

And the swift version :

   let url = NSURL.URLWithString("http://live-wallpaper.net/iphone/img/app/i/p/iphone-4s-wallpapers-mobile-backgrounds-dark_2466f886de3472ef1fa968033f1da3e1_raw_1087fae1932cec8837695934b7eb1250_raw.jpg");
    var err: NSError?
    var imageData :NSData = NSData.dataWithContentsOfURL(url,options: NSDataReadingOptions.DataReadingMappedIfSafe, error: &err)
    var bgImage = UIImage(data:imageData)

Answer 4

You can do it this way (synchronously, but compact):

UIImage *image = [UIImage imageWithData:[NSData dataWithContentsOfURL:[NSURL URLWithString:MyURL]]];

A much better approach is to use Apple's LazyTableImages to preserve interactivity.

Answer 5

Try this code, you can set loading image with it, so the users knows that your app is loading an image from url:

UIImageView *yourImageView = [[UIImageView alloc] initWithImage:[UIImage imageNamed:@"loading.png"]];
    [yourImageView setContentMode:UIViewContentModeScaleAspectFit];

    //Request image data from the URL:
    dispatch_async(dispatch_get_global_queue(DISPATCH_QUEUE_PRIORITY_DEFAULT, 0), ^{
        NSData *imgData = [NSData dataWithContentsOfURL:[NSURL URLWithString:@"http://yourdomain.com/yourimg.png"]];

        dispatch_async(dispatch_get_main_queue(), ^{
            if (imgData)
            {
                //Load the data into an UIImage:
                UIImage *image = [UIImage imageWithData:imgData];

                //Check if your image loaded successfully:
                if (image)
                {
                    yourImageView.image = image;
                }
                else
                {
                    //Failed to load the data into an UIImage:
                    yourImageView.image = [UIImage imageNamed:@"no-data-image.png"];
                }
            }
            else
            {
                //Failed to get the image data:
                yourImageView.image = [UIImage imageNamed:@"no-data-image.png"];
            }
        });
    });

Answer 6

If you're really, absolutely positively sure that the NSURL is a file url, i.e. [url isFileURL] is guaranteed to return true in your case, then you can simply use:

[UIImage imageWithContentsOfFile:url.path]