Retrieving Google Sheets data using AFXMLRequestOperation

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1

I’m having trouble fetching data from a Google Sheets document using AFNetworking’s XML operations. I’ve attempted multiple methods to make this work:

  1. Changed the accepted content types in the request
  2. Tried using AFKiss library features
  3. Implemented standard AFHttp operations

Despite these attempts, my code isn’t returning any content. Here’s what I’m currently using:

NSURLRequest *sheetRequest = [NSURLRequest requestWithURL:[NSURL URLWithString:@"https://spreadsheets.google.com/feeds/list/sample_sheet_id/od6/public/values"]];

AFXMLRequestOperation *xmlOperation = [AFXMLRequestOperation XMLParserRequestOperationWithRequest:sheetRequest success:^(NSURLRequest *req, NSHTTPURLResponse *resp, NSXMLParser *parser) {
    NSLog(@"Success loading sheet data");
} failure:^(NSURLRequest *req, NSHTTPURLResponse *resp, NSError *err, NSXMLParser *xmlParser) {
    NSLog(@"Error occurred: %@", err.localizedDescription);
}];
[xmlOperation start];

The failure block keeps getting triggered but I can’t figure out why. Has anyone successfully retrieved Google Sheets content this way?

2

Hit this same issue two years back with an older iOS app. Google killed those XML feeds in 2020 - that’s why your AFXMLRequestOperation won’t work no matter what you try. The endpoint’s just dead. I wasted days debugging identical code before figuring out the API was gone. Your code’s fine for the old system, but you’ll have to switch to Sheets API v4 with proper auth and JSON parsing instead of XML.

3

Totally agree - that XML stuff is ancient. Tried it a while back and it’s dead. Stick with Google Sheets API v4 for JSON. Yeah, it’s a pain to set up, but it actually works.

4

The issue you’re encountering likely stems from the deprecation of the Google Sheets XML feeds API, which was phased out several years ago. I faced similar challenges while updating some legacy systems. To resolve this, consider migrating to Google Sheets API v4, which is currently supported. Although it requires some initial setup, including OAuth2 and switching to JSON responses, it provides a more reliable and functional solution. You can continue using AFNetworking for your HTTP requests, but be prepared to parse JSON instead of XML.