UITableView not displaying data.

Question

I'm new to iOS and just trying to get data to display in UITableView. I basically have a project set up about authors. I want to display author names etc. So i have an Author model and AuthorsViewController which is a datasource and delegate for UITableView etc. I'm using storyboard (MainStoryboard) tableview and managed to connect it to AuthorsViewController in the "Identity Inspector".

Image of Storyboard if it helps, thanks:

Here, first, is the model: Author.h

#import <Foundation/Foundation.h>

@interface Author : NSObject

@property (nonatomic, strong) NSString *name;
@property (nonatomic, strong) NSString *book;
@property (nonatomic) int year;

@end

Author.m

#import "Author.h"

@implementation Author

@end

Here is the AuthorsViewController.h

@interface AuthorViewController : UITableViewController
<UITableViewDataSource, UITableViewDelegate>

@end

And AuthorsViewController.m

#import "AuthorViewController.h"

@interface AuthorViewController ()

@property (nonatomic, strong) NSMutableArray *authors;

@end

@implementation AuthorViewController

- (id)initWithStyle:(UITableViewStyle)style
{
    self = [super initWithStyle:style];
    if (self) {
        // Custom initialization
    }
    return self;
}

- (void)viewDidLoad
{
    [super viewDidLoad];

    _authors = [[NSMutableArray alloc] init];
    Author *auth = [[Author alloc] init];

    [auth setName:@"David Powers"];
    [auth setBook:@"PHP Solutions"];
    [auth setYear:2010];
    [_authors addObject:auth];

    auth = [[Author alloc] init];
    [auth setName:@"Lisa Snyder"];
    [auth setBook:@"PHP security"];
    [auth setYear:2011];
    [_authors addObject:auth];

    auth = [[Author alloc] init];
    [auth setName:@"Rachel Andrew"];
    [auth setBook:@"CSS3 Tips, Tricks and Hacks"];
    [auth setYear:2012];
    [_authors addObject: auth];

}

#pragma mark - Table view data source

- (NSInteger)numberOfSectionsInTableView:(UITableView *)tableView
{
    return 1;
}

- (NSInteger)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView numberOfRowsInSection:(NSInteger)section
{
    return [_authors count];
}

- (UITableViewCell *)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView cellForRowAtIndexPath:(NSIndexPath *)indexPath
{
    static NSString *CellIdentifier = @"AuthorCell";
    UITableViewCell *cell = [tableView dequeueReusableCellWithIdentifier:CellIdentifier forIndexPath:indexPath];
    if (cell != nil)
    {
        cell = [[UITableViewCell alloc]
                initWithStyle: UITableViewCellStyleDefault reuseIdentifier:CellIdentifier];
    }

    Author *currentAuthor = [_authors objectAtIndex:[indexPath row]];
    [[cell textLabel] setText: [currentAuthor name]];

    NSLog(@"%@", [currentAuthor name]);

    return cell;
}

@end

Answer 1

Since you made the table view with its cell in the storyboard, you don't need the if (cell == nil) clause at all. You also need to call [self.tableView reloadData] as the last line in viewDidLoad.