CODEWITHSUNDEEP
iosobjective-cuitableview
Murray Sagal
Murray Sagal

Reputation: 8674

How to create a grouped table view with multiple cell types?

I'm not using a storyboard and it's iOS 6.

I get what to do when all the cells are the same type but I require a grouped table view with multiple types of cells. Just as an example, let's say the first cell needs to be UITableViewCellStyleValue1, the second cell needs to be UITableViewCellStyleSubtitle, and the third cell is a custom cell (a UITableViewCell subclass that has a xib so it can be used with registerNib:forCellReuseIdentifier:.

Mostly I'm unsure of the best way to structure tableView:cellForRowAtIndexPath:. But I'm not sure if I should register the custom cell or all of them.

What is the best way to do this?

Upvotes: 2

Views: 3501

Answers (2)

Dan Fairaizl
Dan Fairaizl

Reputation: 2170

You are on the right path. Since your custom cell is being used in other places a xib is a great place to load it up from. As far as the implementation you could do something like this.

Assuming your tableview is 'static' and has three cells, you could register your custom nib in viewDidLoad:

- (void)viewDidLoad
{
    [super viewDidLoad];

    UINib *customCellNib = [UINib nibWithNibName:@"CustomCell" bundle:nil];
    [self.tableView registerNib:customCellNib forCellReuseIdentifier:@"CustomIdentifier"]
}

Then in cellForRowAtIndexPath:

- (UITableViewCell *)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView cellForRowAtIndexPath:(NSIndexPath *)indexPath {

    UITableViewCell *cell = nil;

    if(indexPath.row == 0) {

        cell = [tableView dequeueReusableCellWithIdentifier:@"CellIdentifier1"];

        if(cell == nil) {

            cell = [[UITableViewCell alloc]  initWithStyle:UITableViewCellStyleValue1
                                           reuseIdentifier:@"CellIdentifier1"];
        }
    }
    /* Cell 2 ommited for brevity */
    else if(indexPath.row == 2) {

        //Just to demonstrate the tableview is returning the correct type of cell from the XIB
        CustomCell *customCell = [tableView dequeueReusableCellWithIdentifier:@"CustomIdentifier"];
        cell = customCell;
    }

    [self configureCell:cell atIndexPath:indexPath];

    return cell;
}

Finally in IB for the Xib, set the proper Identifier for the cell.

Xib - Cell in IB

Update

- (void)configureCell:(UITableViewCell *)cell atIndexPath:(NSIndexPath *)indexPath {

    if(indexPath.row == 0) {
        cell.textLabel.text = [NSString stringWithFormat:@"Cell %d", indexPath.row];
    }
    else {

        //custom cell here
        //cell.textfield.text = @"blah blah";
    }
}

A configure cell method is somewhat of a convention for tableview cells put in place primarily with the NSFetchedResultsController (and its delegate where its used)

It's just a convenient way to reset reused cells with the proper content, and make cellForRowAtIndexPath: easier to read. I even make multiple version of configureCell like configureCustomCell1:atIndexPath to increase readability even more.

Hope this helps!

Upvotes: 3

DBD
DBD

Reputation: 23223

If you are using a static table you won't need reuse identifiers or anything else because no cell will ever get re-used. Just set the table to be "Static Cells" of style "Grouped" and set the number of sections you want. You can click on the "Table View Section" and set how many rows are in the section (and set any header/footer you might want).

Storyboard Example

Then configure the cells however you would like. You can either choose a default cell or make the cell "Custom" and drag UI components from the Object Library. You can set up IBOutlets or IBActions to components in a static table cells just like you would for components in a normal view.

Configure Cell

Upvotes: 0

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