How to make an HTTP request + basic auth in Swift

swift 4:

let username = "username"
let password = "password"
let loginString = "\(username):\(password)"

guard let loginData = loginString.data(using: String.Encoding.utf8) else {
    return
}
let base64LoginString = loginData.base64EncodedString()

request.httpMethod = "GET"
request.setValue("Basic \(base64LoginString)", forHTTPHeaderField: "Authorization")

//create authentication base 64 encoding string

    let PasswordString = "\(txtUserName.text):\(txtPassword.text)"
    let PasswordData = PasswordString.dataUsingEncoding(NSUTF8StringEncoding)
    let base64EncodedCredential = PasswordData!.base64EncodedStringWithOptions(NSDataBase64EncodingOptions.Encoding64CharacterLineLength)
    //let base64EncodedCredential = PasswordData!.base64EncodedStringWithOptions(nil)

//create authentication url

    let urlPath: String = "http://...../auth"
    var url: NSURL = NSURL(string: urlPath)

//create and initialize basic authentication request

    var request: NSMutableURLRequest = NSMutableURLRequest(URL: url)
    request.setValue("Basic \(base64EncodedCredential)", forHTTPHeaderField: "Authorization")
    request.HTTPMethod = "GET"

//You can use one of below methods

//1 URL request with NSURLConnectionDataDelegate

    let queue:NSOperationQueue = NSOperationQueue()
    let urlConnection = NSURLConnection(request: request, delegate: self)
    urlConnection.start()

//2 URL Request with AsynchronousRequest

    NSURLConnection.sendAsynchronousRequest(request, queue: NSOperationQueue.mainQueue()) {(response, data, error) in
        println(NSString(data: data, encoding: NSUTF8StringEncoding))
    }

//2 URL Request with AsynchronousRequest with json output

    NSURLConnection.sendAsynchronousRequest(request, queue: NSOperationQueue.mainQueue(), completionHandler:{ (response: NSURLResponse!, data: NSData!, error: NSError!) -> Void in
        var err: NSError
        var jsonResult: NSDictionary = NSJSONSerialization.JSONObjectWithData(data, options: NSJSONReadingOptions.MutableContainers, error: nil) as NSDictionary
        println("\(jsonResult)")
    })

//3 URL Request with SynchronousRequest

    var response: AutoreleasingUnsafePointer<NSURLResponse?>=nil
    var dataVal: NSData =  NSURLConnection.sendSynchronousRequest(request, returningResponse: response, error:nil)
    var err: NSError
    var jsonResult: NSDictionary = NSJSONSerialization.JSONObjectWithData(dataVal, options: NSJSONReadingOptions.MutableContainers, error: nil) as NSDictionary
    println("\(jsonResult)")

//4 URL Request with NSURLSession

    let config = NSURLSessionConfiguration.defaultSessionConfiguration()
    let authString = "Basic \(base64EncodedCredential)"
    config.HTTPAdditionalHeaders = ["Authorization" : authString]
    let session = NSURLSession(configuration: config)

    session.dataTaskWithURL(url) {
        (let data, let response, let error) in
        if let httpResponse = response as? NSHTTPURLResponse {
            let dataString = NSString(data: data, encoding: NSUTF8StringEncoding)
            println(dataString)
        }
    }.resume()

// you may be get fatal error if you changed the request.HTTPMethod = "POST" when server request GET request

You provide credentials in a URLRequest instance, like this in Swift 3:

let username = "user"
let password = "pass"
let loginString = String(format: "%@:%@", username, password)
let loginData = loginString.data(using: String.Encoding.utf8)!
let base64LoginString = loginData.base64EncodedString()

// create the request
let url = URL(string: "http://www.example.com/")!
var request = URLRequest(url: url)
request.httpMethod = "POST"
request.setValue("Basic \(base64LoginString)", forHTTPHeaderField: "Authorization")

// fire off the request
// make sure your class conforms to NSURLConnectionDelegate
let urlConnection = NSURLConnection(request: request, delegate: self)

Or in an NSMutableURLRequest in Swift 2:

// set up the base64-encoded credentials
let username = "user"
let password = "pass"
let loginString = NSString(format: "%@:%@", username, password)
let loginData: NSData = loginString.dataUsingEncoding(NSUTF8StringEncoding)!
let base64LoginString = loginData.base64EncodedStringWithOptions([])

// create the request
let url = NSURL(string: "http://www.example.com/")
let request = NSMutableURLRequest(URL: url)
request.HTTPMethod = "POST"
request.setValue("Basic \(base64LoginString)", forHTTPHeaderField: "Authorization")

// fire off the request
// make sure your class conforms to NSURLConnectionDelegate
let urlConnection = NSURLConnection(request: request, delegate: self)