Custom HTTP Headers with Swift 3 or 4 and Alamofire 4.0-4.7: See https://grokswift.com/custom-headers-alamofire4-swift3/ for explanations

Custom HTTP Headers with Swift and Alamofire.swift

// MARK: - Adding a header to a single request
func doRequestWithHeaders1() {
  let headers: HTTPHeaders = [
    "X-Mashape-Key": MY_API_KEY,
    "Accept": "application/json"
  ]

  Alamofire.request("https://mashape-community-urban-dictionary.p.mashape.com/define?term=smh", headers: headers)
    .responseJSON { response in
    debugPrint(response)
  }

  // MARK: - To make sure the headers are sent, use debugPrint on the request
  let request = Alamofire.request("https://mashape-community-urban-dictionary.p.mashape.com/define?term=smh", headers: headers)
    .responseJSON { response in
    debugPrint(response)
  }
  debugPrint(request)
}

// MARK: - Adding headers to all requests in the session

// store sessionManager so it doesn't get deallocated while we're waiting for the network call to finish
var sessionManager: Alamofire.SessionManager?
func doRequestWithHeaders2() {
  // get the default headers
  var headers = Alamofire.SessionManager.defaultHTTPHeaders
  // add your custom headers
  headers["API-Version"] = "2.0"
  headers["X-Mashape-Key"] = MY_API_KEY

  // create a custom session configuration
  let configuration = URLSessionConfiguration.default
  // add the headers
  configuration.httpAdditionalHeaders = headers

  // create a session manager with the configuration
  self.sessionManager = Alamofire.SessionManager(configuration: configuration)

  // make calls with the session manager
  sessionManager?.request("https://mashape-community-urban-dictionary.p.mashape.com/define?term=smh")
    .responseJSON { response in
    debugPrint(response)
  }
}

// MARK: - Add headers when using a URLRequest
func doRequestWithHeaders3() {
  if let url = URL(string: "https://mashape-community-urban-dictionary.p.mashape.com/define?term=smh") {
    var urlRequest = URLRequest(url: url)
    urlRequest.httpMethod = HTTPMethod.get.rawValue

    urlRequest.addValue(MY_API_KEY, forHTTPHeaderField: "X-Mashape-Key")
    urlRequest.addValue("application/json", forHTTPHeaderField: "Accept")

    Alamofire.request(urlRequest)
      .responseJSON { response in
        debugPrint(response)
    }
  }
}

// Alternatively:
func doRequestWithHeaders4() {
  if let url = URL(string: "https://mashape-community-urban-dictionary.p.mashape.com/define?term=smh") {
    var urlRequest = URLRequest(url: url)
    urlRequest.httpMethod = HTTPMethod.get.rawValue

    var headers: HTTPHeaders
    if let existingHeaders = urlRequest.allHTTPHeaderFields {
      headers = existingHeaders
    } else {
      headers = HTTPHeaders()
    }
    headers["X-Mashape-Key"] = MY_API_KEY
    headers["Accept"] = "application/json"
    urlRequest.allHTTPHeaderFields = headers

    let request = Alamofire.request(urlRequest)
      .responseJSON { response in
        debugPrint(response)
    }
    debugPrint(request)
  }
}

// MARK: - Use an Alamofire RequestAdapter to add headers to all calls in the session

class MashapeHeadersAdapter: RequestAdapter {
  func adapt(_ urlRequest: URLRequest) throws -> URLRequest {
    var urlRequest = urlRequest
    
    urlRequest.setValue(MY_API_KEY, forHTTPHeaderField: "X-Mashape-Key")
    urlRequest.setValue("application/json", forHTTPHeaderField: "Accept")
    
    return urlRequest
  }
}

func doRequestWithHeaders5() {
  // Then to make the call:
  // get a session manager and add the request adapter
  let sessionManager = Alamofire.SessionManager.default
  sessionManager.adapter = MashapeHeadersAdapter()

  // make calls with the session manager
  let request = sessionManager.request("https://mashape-community-urban-dictionary.p.mashape.com/define?term=smh")
    .responseJSON { response in
      debugPrint(response)
    }
  debugPrint(request)
}

nice

your book will change my life ... I can feel that and I will always be thankful to you for this. Thanks Christina ..

really good demo.

Hi small doubt
I have added a adapter to my session manager, so all my API calls will have headers I have set in adapt function.
Now I have a scenario where I have to add one extra field to header for a specific API call.

So if I add header in the request like this
Alamofire.request("https://mashape-community-urban-dictionary.p.mashape.com/define?term=smh", headers: headers)

Will the headers I set in adapter be replaced entirely or will the new header params be added along with the previous header params?

Very nice ! Thanks !

@shashank19909 Sorry, just saw your question now. If you're adding an extra header field then it'll just add your field, it won't remove the existing ones.

Good one

nice

I found your examples to be a BIG Help. Here is one I am using that has "headers" for Yelp Authorization. Apparently Yelp very recently changed how they handle Authorization so not may examples exist as of this post time. So, here it is:

func doMashape() -> Void {

let fileURL = "https://api.yelp.com/v3/businesses/search?term=Restaurants"
let parameters : Parameters = ["radius": "10000", "latitude": "29.94", "longitude": "-85.41"]
let headers: [String : String] = ["Authorization": "Bearer <YOUR YELP APP_ID GOES HERE>"]
Alamofire.request(fileURL, method: .get, parameters: parameters, headers: headers).responseJSON {
  response in
    if let receivedString = response.result.value {
      print()
      print("Here \(receivedString)")
    }
}

Note: This entry does not include the <> and has a simple space between Bearer and APP_ID.

How to Handle errors in URL in it?
Suppose by chance user entered character like "/" then it crashes the program