gistfile1.m

// NSURLConnection wrapper
// like NSURLConnection, requires a runloop, callbacks happen in runloop that set up load
@interface LDURLLoader : NSObject
{
    NSURLConnection *_connection;
    NSTimeInterval _timeout;
    NSTimer *_timeoutTimer;
    NSURLResponse *_response;
    long long _responseLengthEstimate;
    NSMutableData *_accumulatedData;
    void (^_timeoutHandler)(void);
    void (^_responseHandler)(NSURLResponse *);
    void (^_progressHandler)(long long, long long);
    void (^_finishedHandler)(NSData *, NSURLResponse *);
    void (^_errorHandler)(NSError *);
}

+ (id)loaderWithURL: (NSURL *)url;

- (id)initWithURL: (NSURL *)url;

- (void)setTimeout: (NSTimeInterval)timeout handler: (void (^)(void))cb;
- (void)setResponseHandler: (void (^)(NSURLResponse *response))cb;
- (void)setProgressHandler: (void (^)(long long soFar, long long total))cb; // total is estimated, -1 means no idea
- (void)setFinishedHandler: (void (^)(NSData *data, NSURLResponse *response))cb;
- (void)setErrorHandler: (void (^)(NSError *error))cb;

// once you've called start, don't fiddle with any of the stuff above, please
- (void)start;
- (void)cancel;

@end



@implementation LDURLLoader

+ (id)loaderWithURL: (NSURL *)url
{
    return [[self alloc] initWithURL: url];
}

- (id)initWithURL: (NSURL *)url
{
    if((self = [self init]))
    {
        NSURLRequest *request = [NSURLRequest requestWithURL: url];
        _connection = [[NSURLConnection alloc] initWithRequest: request delegate: self startImmediately: NO];
    }
    return self;
}

- (void)setTimeout: (NSTimeInterval)timeout handler: (void (^)(void))cb
{
    _timeout = timeout;
    _timeoutHandler = [cb copy];
}

- (void)setResponseHandler: (void (^)(NSURLResponse *response))cb
{
    _responseHandler = [cb copy];
}

- (void)setProgressHandler: (void (^)(long long soFar, long long total))cb
{
    _progressHandler = [cb copy];
}

- (void)setFinishedHandler: (void (^)(NSData *data, NSURLResponse *response))cb
{
    _finishedHandler = [cb copy];
}

- (void)setErrorHandler: (void (^)(NSError *error))cb
{
    _errorHandler = [cb copy];
}

- (void)start
{
    if(_timeout)
        _timeoutTimer = [NSTimer scheduledTimerWithTimeInterval: _timeout target: self selector: @selector( _timeout ) userInfo: nil repeats: NO];
    [_connection scheduleInRunLoop: [NSRunLoop currentRunLoop] forMode: NSDefaultRunLoopMode];
    [_connection start];
}

- (void)cancel
{
    [_timeoutTimer invalidate];
    [_connection cancel];
}

- (void)_timeout
{
    [self cancel];
    if(_timeoutHandler)
        _timeoutHandler();
}

- (void)connection: (NSURLConnection *)connection didReceiveResponse: (NSURLResponse *)response
{
    _response = response;
    _responseLengthEstimate = [response expectedContentLength];
    if(_responseHandler)
        _responseHandler(response);
}

- (void)connection: (NSURLConnection *)connection didReceiveData: (NSData *)data
{
    if(!_accumulatedData)
        _accumulatedData = [NSMutableData data];
    [_accumulatedData appendData: data];
    if(_progressHandler)
        _progressHandler([_accumulatedData length], _responseLengthEstimate);
}

- (void)connectionDidFinishLoading: (NSURLConnection *)connection
{
    [_timeoutTimer invalidate];
    if(_finishedHandler)
        _finishedHandler(_accumulatedData, _response);
}

- (void)connection: (NSURLConnection *)connection didFailWithError: (NSError *)error
{
    [_timeoutTimer invalidate];
    if(_errorHandler)
        _errorHandler(error);
}

@end

no not right now. This isn't my gist and I just forked it for referencing later on.