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Cara is the webservice layer that is (or should be) most commonly used throughout our apps.

• Installation
  • Swift Package Manager
  • Cocoapods
• Features
  • Configuration
  • Interceptor
  • Trigger a Request
  • Serialization
    • Custom Serializer
    • Codable Serializer
  • Logger
    • Custom Logger
    • Console Logger
  • Public Key Pinning
• Contribute
  • How to contribute?
  • Contributors
• License

You can install Cara using the Swift Package Manager. This is available starting from Xcode 11. Just search for icapps/ios-cara and install it.

Cara is available through CocoaPods. To install it, simply add the following line to your Podfile:

pod 'Cara', git: 'https://github.com/icapps/ios-cara.git', commit: '...'

Pass the correct commit reference to make sure your code doesn't break in future updates.

In order to use the service layer you have to configure it. This can be done by implementing the Configuration protocol and passing it to the Service init function.

let configuration: Configuration = SomeConfiguration()
let service = Service(configuration: configuration)

Once this is done you are good to go. For more information on what configuration options are available, take a look at the documentation inside the Configuration.swift file.

An intercept will intercept the request when an error of type ResponseError occurs.

When this happens intercept(_:data:retry:) will be triggered and you should return true or false to indicate if you want the normal response flow to stop. When you stop the flow it will be possible to retry the request by calling the retry() block.

func intercept(_ error: ResponseError, data: Data?, retry: @escaping () -> Void) -> Bool {
    if error == .unauthorized {
        // Execute the retry block after one second. The failed request will be retried.
        DispatchQueue.main.asyncAfter(deadline: .now() + 1.0, execute: retry)
        return true
    } else if error == .serviceUnavailable {
        // When this error occurs the flow will be stopped. So the normal completion block after serialization will not be 
        // triggered.
        return true
    } else {
        // Continue the flow and start serializing.
        return false
    }
}

⚠️ The Request can define it it can be intercepted with the isInterceptable property. This should always be true in most cases. But, for example, the refresh tokens request should not be intercepted.

In order to trigger a request you have to do 2 things:

• Create a request that conforms to Request.

  The request configuration will be done in this instance. For more information on what options are available, take a look at the documentation inside the Request.swift file.

• Create a serializer that conforms to Serializer.

  The serialization of the response will be done here. You have to implement the serialize(data:error:response:) function and this will be called when the response completes.

Once both instances are created and you Service is configured, you can execute the request.

let request: Request = SomeRequest()
let serializer: Serializer = JSONSerializer()
let task = service.execute(request, with: serializer) { response in
    ...
}

The response returned by the completion block is the same as result of the serializer's serialize(data:error:response:) function. Executing a request returns a URLSessionDataTask, this can be used to, for example, cancel the request.

When you trigger a request on a custom queue, the execution block will return on that same queue. This way you have full control of the threading in your application.

With every request execution you have to pass a serializer. In most cases you will be able to use our CodableSerializer, but when you want to define a custom way of serializing your data, there is room for that too.

Create a custom class that conforms to Serializer. Here is a small example of how to do this.

struct CustomSerializer: Serializer {
    enum Response {
        case .success
        case .failure(Error)
    }

    func serialize(data: Data?, error: Error?, response: HTTPURLResponse?) -> Response {
        // data: data returned from the service request
        // error: error returned from the service request
        // response: the service request response

        if let error = error {
            return .failure(error)
        } else {
            return .success
        }
    }
}

We aleady supplied our Cara framework with one serializer: the CodableSerializer.

This serializer can parse the json data returned from the service to your codable models. Here is an example of a simple Codable model:

class User: Codable {
    let name: String
}

Let's now see how we can serialize the result of a request to a single User model:

let request = SomeRequest()
let serializer = CodableSerializer<User>()
service.execute(request, with: serializer) { response in
    switch response {
    case .success(let model):
        // The `model` instance is the parsed user model.
    case .failure(let error):
        // The `error` instance is the error returned from the service request.
    }
    ...
}

But what if multiple models are returned? Easy:

let request = SomeRequest()
let serializer = CodableSerializer<[User]>()
service.execute(request, with: serializer) { response in
    switch response {
    case .success(let models):
        // The `models` array contains the parsed `User` models.
    case .failure(let error):
        // The `error` instance is the error returned from the service request.
    }
    ...
}

When required you can pass a custom JSONDecoder through the init.

You can get some information about the request and it's response. This can come in handy when you want to log all the request to the Console. In order to get what you want to have to create an object that conforms to Logger and pass it to Cara through the Configuration.

Create a custom class that conforms to Logger. Here is a small example of how to do this.

struct CustomLogger: Logger {
    func start(urlRequest: URLRequest) {
        // Triggered just before a request if fired
    }

    func end(urlRequest: URLRequest, urlResponse: URLResponse, metrics: URLSessionTaskMetrics, error: Error?) {
        // Triggered just after the request finised collecting the metrics
    }
}

When you want to use the CustomLogger in your application you have to pass it to the loggers array in the configuration.

class SomeConfiguration: Configuration {
    ...

    var loggers: [Logger]? {
        return [CustomLogger()]
    }
}

We aleady supplied our Cara framework with one logger: the ConsoleLogger.

This logger send the request and response information through os_log to the console. Below is an example of the printed logs:

When you want to use the ConsoleLogger in your application you have to pass it to the loggers array in the configuration.

class SomeConfiguration: Configuration {
    ...

    var loggers: [Logger]? {
        return [ConsoleLogger()]
    }
}

You can also make sure that some URL's are pinned for security reasons. It's fairly simple on how you can do this. Just add the correct host with it's SHA256 encryped public key to the publicKeys property of the Configuration.

class SomeConfiguration: Configuration {
    ...

    var publicKeys: PublicKeys? {
        return [
            "apple.com": "9GzkflclMUOxhMgy32AWL/OGkMZF/5NIjvL8M/4rb3k=",
            "google.com": "l2Z/zhy2hByKIqvgRkpKRm6M234/2HAEwiPXx5T8YYI="
        ]
    }
}

There is a quick way to get the correct public key for a certain domain. Go to SSL Server Test by SSL Labs in order to perform an analysis of the SSL configuration of any web server. In the inputfield you enter the domain in order to get the process started. On the next page click the first IP address that appears, and on the page after, you'll notice the Pin SHA256 field. The value is the public key string we need.

1. Add a Github issue describing the missing functionality or bug.
2. Implement the changes according to the Swiftlint coding guidelines.
3. Make sure your changes don't break the current version. (deprecate is needed)
4. Fully test the added changes.
5. Send a pull-request.

• Jelle Vandebeeck, @fousa

Cara is available under the MIT license. See the LICENSE file for more info.