Can I load a UIImage from a URL?

Solution 1:

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.

Solution 2:

You can try SDWebImage, it provides:

Asynchronous loading
Caching for offline use
Place holder image to appear while loading
Works well with UITableView

Quick example:

    [cell.imageView setImageWithURL:[NSURL URLWithString:@"http://www.domain.com/path/to/image.jpg"] placeholderImage:[UIImage imageNamed:@"placeholder.png"]];

Solution 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)

Solution 4:

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]

Solution 5:

get DLImageLoader and try folowing code

   [DLImageLoader loadImageFromURL:imageURL
                          completed:^(NSError *error, NSData *imgData) {
                              imageView.image = [UIImage imageWithData:imgData];
                              [imageView setContentMode:UIViewContentModeCenter];

                          }];

Another typical real-world example of using DLImageLoader, which may help someone...

PFObject *aFacebookUser = [self.fbFriends objectAtIndex:thisRow];
NSString *facebookImageURL = [NSString stringWithFormat:
    @"http://graph.facebook.com/%@/picture?type=large",
    [aFacebookUser objectForKey:@"id"] ];

__weak UIImageView *loadMe = self.userSmallAvatarImage;
// ~~note~~ you my, but usually DO NOT, want a weak ref
[DLImageLoader loadImageFromURL:facebookImageURL
   completed:^(NSError *error, NSData *imgData)
    {
    if ( loadMe == nil ) return;

    if (error == nil)
        {
        UIImage *image = [UIImage imageWithData:imgData];
        image = [image ourImageScaler];
        loadMe.image = image;
        }
    else
        {
        // an error when loading the image from the net
        }
    }];

As I mention above another great library to consider these days is Haneke (unfortunately it's not as lightweight).