Using NSURLSession for HTTP requests

fetch_nsurlsession.swift

    func funkytown() {
        let request = NSMutableURLRequest(URL: NSURL(string: "http://www.cnn.com")!)

        //request.HTTPMethod = "POST"
        //let postString = "id=13&name=Jack"
        //request.HTTPBody = postString.dataUsingEncoding(NSUTF8StringEncoding)
        request.HTTPMethod = "GET"
        
        let task = NSURLSession.sharedSession().dataTaskWithRequest(request) { data, response, error in
            guard error == nil && data != nil else {                                                          // check for fundamental networking error
                print("error=\(error)")
                return
            }
            
            if let httpStatus = response as? NSHTTPURLResponse where httpStatus.statusCode != 200 {           // check for http errors
                print("statusCode should be 200, but is \(httpStatus.statusCode)")
                print("response = \(response)")
            }
            
            let responseString = NSString(data: data!, encoding: NSUTF8StringEncoding)
            print("responseString = \(responseString)")
        }
        task.resume()
    }

To resolve the "The resource could not be loaded because the App Transport Security policy requires the use of a secure connection." error, perform the following.

In info.plist, add key NSAppTransportSecurity as Dictionary with subkey NSAllowsArbitraryLoads as Boolean with value YES

To run in the playground, the following code is needed:

import XCPlayground
XCPlaygroundPage.currentPage.needsIndefiniteExecution = true