Trying to retrieve the contents of UITableView cell on selection by user

Question

I have set up a UITableView-based app, which has a .plist for holding the data. The .plist has a dictionary as its root, followed by a number of Arrays, each containing the data-strings that display in the table.

Everything is working fine until the point where I select a row. I have set it up so I get an alert with the results of the button press and it is here that I want to see the contents of the cell being produced. Instead of the expected string e.g. "data line 1", all I get is the number of the row within the section. I have gone backwards and forwards but don't seem to be getting anywhere although I am sure it is something simple.

The code compiles fine, with no warnings or errors, and if I can just get the string of the selected cell I will be well on my way, so any help appreciated. I know that I need to do more following the NSUInteger row = [indexPath row]; part but that's where my mind dries up...

Here is the relevant 'selection' section, if I need to post more code please let me know, and I really appreciate any help with this...(please forgive my 'alert' message, I was just happy at that point that I get SOMETHING back from the row selection!)

- (void)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView didSelectRowAtIndexPath:(NSIndexPath *)indexPath
 {
 [tableView deselectRowAtIndexPath:indexPath animated:YES];  
 NSUInteger row = [indexPath row];


 NSString *message = [[NSString alloc] initWithFormat:
  @"You selected Cell %d from this Section, "@"which is a very good choice indeed!"
  @"Unfortunately I can't work out how to get the info out of the cell so it's not much use at the moment!"
  @"Still, this is a good chance to see how much space I have in an alert box!", row];


UIAlertView *alert = [[UIAlertView alloc]

initWithTitle:@"My God! It works..."

message:message

delegate:nil

cancelButtonTitle:@"You are awesome Karl!!"

otherButtonTitles:nil];

[alert show];

[message release];
[alert release];

}

Update:

In fact, to make things easier, here is ALL the code! As I said, all I am trying to do is to get the string-data out of the chosen cell, from there I want to open up a new view based upon the results, so all I need at this stage is the 'result'.

I know the code isn't pretty, and there are bound to be plenty of errors etc but non seem important at this stage as it compiles and runs with no problems, I just don't get the result I need from a button press!

Any help or advice would be much appreciated, and if someone could actually write the line or so of code I need to put in and explain 'why' I would be over-the-moon!

#import "my_firstApp.h"
#import "NSDictionary-MutableDeepCopy.h"

@implementation my_firstAppViewController

@synthesize names;
@synthesize keys;
@synthesize table;
@synthesize search;
@synthesize allNames;
@synthesize tempImageType;
@synthesize tempImageName;
@synthesize finalImageName;
@synthesize tempSubtitle;
@synthesize finalSubtitleName;
@synthesize tempSubtitleType;
@synthesize finalSubtitleText;
@synthesize setValue;


#pragma mark - 
#pragma mark Custom Methods
-(void)resetSearch {
    NSMutableDictionary *allNamesCopy = [self.allNames mutableDeepCopy];
    self.names = allNamesCopy;
    [allNamesCopy release];
    NSMutableArray *keyArray = [[NSMutableArray alloc] init];
    [keyArray addObject:UITableViewIndexSearch];
    [keyArray addObjectsFromArray:[[self.allNames allKeys]
                                   sortedArrayUsingSelector:@selector(compare:)]];
    self.keys = keyArray;
    [keyArray release];
}
-(void)handleSearchForTerm:(NSString *)searchTerm {
    NSMutableArray *sectionsToRemove = [[NSMutableArray alloc] init];
    [self resetSearch];
    for (NSString *key in self.keys) {
        NSMutableArray *array = [names valueForKey:key];
        NSMutableArray *toRemove = [[NSMutableArray alloc] init];
    for (NSString *name in array) {
        if ([name rangeOfString:searchTerm
                        options:NSCaseInsensitiveSearch].location==NSNotFound)
            [toRemove addObject:name];
    }

    if ([array count] == [toRemove count])
        [sectionsToRemove addObject:key];

    [array removeObjectsInArray:toRemove];
    [toRemove release];
}
[self.keys removeObjectsInArray:sectionsToRemove];
[sectionsToRemove release];
[table reloadData];
}
- (void)viewDidLoad {
    NSString *path = [[NSBundle mainBundle] pathForResource:@"dataList"
                                                     ofType:@"plist"];

                            NSDictionary *dict = [[NSDictionary alloc] 
                          initWithContentsOfFile:path];
    self.allNames = dict;
    [dict release];

    [self resetSearch];
    [table reloadData];
    [table setContentOffset:CGPointMake(0.0, 44.0) animated:NO];
}

- (void)viewDidUnload {
    // Release any retained subviews of the main view.
    // e.g. self.myOutlet = nil;
    self.names = nil;
    self.keys = nil;
    self.table = nil;
    self.search = nil;
    self.allNames = nil;
}
- (void)dealloc {
    [names release];
    [keys release];
    [table release];
    [search release];
    [allNames release];
    [tempImageName release];
    [tempImageType release];
    [finalImageName release];
    [tempSubtitle release];
    [finalSubtitleName release];
    [tempSubtitleType release];
    [finalSubtitleText release];
    [setValue release];

    [super dealloc];
}
#pragma mark -
#pragma mark Table View Data Source Methods
- (NSInteger)numberOfSectionsInTableView:(UITableView *)tableView
{
    return ([keys count] >0) ?[keys count] : 1;

}
- (NSInteger)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView 
 numberOfRowsInSection:(NSInteger)section
{
    if ([keys count] ==0)
        return 0;
    NSString *key = [keys objectAtIndex:section];
    NSArray *nameSection = [names objectForKey:key];
    return [nameSection count];
}
- (UITableViewCell *)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView 
         cellForRowAtIndexPath:(NSIndexPath *)indexPath
{
    NSUInteger section = [indexPath section];
    NSUInteger row = [indexPath row];




    NSString *key = [keys objectAtIndex:section];
    NSArray *nameSection = [names objectForKey:key];

    static NSString *SectionsTableIdentifier = @"SectionsTableIdentifier";

    UITableViewCell *cell = [tableView dequeueReusableCellWithIdentifier:
                             SectionsTableIdentifier ];


    if (cell == nil) {

        cell = [[[UITableViewCell alloc] initWithStyle:UITableViewCellStyleSubtitle 
                                       reuseIdentifier: SectionsTableIdentifier ] autorelease];


    }

    cell.textLabel.text = [nameSection objectAtIndex:row];
    tempSubtitle=[nameSection objectAtIndex:row];
    finalSubtitleText = [[NSBundle mainBundle] pathForResource:tempSubtitle ofType:@"txt"];
    NSString *fileContents = [NSString stringWithContentsOfFile:finalSubtitleText encoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding error:nil];
        cell.detailTextLabel.text = fileContents;
    cell.detailTextLabel.textColor = [UIColor grayColor];
    cell.detailTextLabel.font = [UIFont systemFontOfSize:13];

    tempImageName=[nameSection objectAtIndex:row];
    tempImageType=@".png";
    finalImageName=[tempImageName stringByAppendingString:tempImageType];



    UIImage *image = [UIImage imageNamed:finalImageName];
    cell.imageView.image = image;

    return cell;





}
- (NSString *)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView 
titleForHeaderInSection:(NSInteger)section
{
    if ([keys count] == 0)
        return nil;

    NSString *key = [keys objectAtIndex:section];
    if (key == UITableViewIndexSearch)
        return nil;
    return key;
}
- (NSArray *)sectionIndexTitlesForTableView:(UITableView *)tableView {
if (isSearching)
return nil;

    return keys;
}

#pragma mark - 
#pragma mark Table View Delegate Methods
-(NSIndexPath *)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView
 willselectRowAtIndexPath:(NSIndexPath *)indexPath {
    [search resignFirstResponder];
    isSearching = NO;
    search.text = @"";
    [tableView reloadData];
    return indexPath;
}
#pragma mark - 
#pragma mark Search Bar Delegate Methods
-(void)searchBarSearchButtonClicked:(UISearchBar *)searchBar {
    NSString *searchTerm = [searchBar text];
    [self handleSearchForTerm:searchTerm];


}

-(void)searchBar:(UISearchBar *)searchBar
   textDidChange:(NSString *)searchTerm {
    if ([searchTerm length] ==0) {
        [self resetSearch];
        [table reloadData];
        return;
    }
    [self handleSearchForTerm:searchTerm];
}

-(void)searchBarCancelButtonClicked:(UISearchBar *)searchBar {
    isSearching = NO;
    search.text = @"";
    [self resetSearch];
    [table reloadData];
    [searchBar resignFirstResponder];
}

-(void)searchBarTextDidBeginEditing:(UISearchBar *)searchBar {
    isSearching = YES;
    [table reloadData];
}

- (NSInteger)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView
sectionForSectionIndexTitle:(NSString *)title
               atIndex:(NSInteger)index {
    NSString *key = [keys objectAtIndex:index];
    if (key == UITableViewIndexSearch) {
        [tableView setContentOffset:CGPointZero animated:NO];
        return NSNotFound;

    }
    else return index;


}





    - (void)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView didSelectRowAtIndexPath:(NSIndexPath *)indexPath
    {
        [tableView deselectRowAtIndexPath:indexPath animated:YES];      







        NSUInteger row = [indexPath row];



    NSString *message = [[NSString alloc] initWithFormat:
        @"You selected Cell %d from this Section, "@"which is a very good choice indeed!"
        @"                                     Unfortunately I can't work out how to get the info out of the cell so it's not much use at the moment!"
        @"                            Still, this is a good chance to see how much space I will have for the info I need to present!", row];
                      UIAlertView *alert = [[UIAlertView alloc]
                      initWithTitle:@"My God! It works..."
                      message:message
                      delegate:nil
                      cancelButtonTitle:@"You are awesome Karl!!"
                      otherButtonTitles:nil];
                      [alert show];

                      [message release];
                      [alert release];



}
@end

Answer 1

The method only passes you the index number of whatever datasource you gave it, so refer it back to the datasource you used for the UITableView cells (I expect an NSArray).

The relevant code should be

[yourItemsArray objectAtIndex:indexPath.row];

Edit:

- (void)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView didSelectRowAtIndexPath:(NSIndexPath *)indexPath {
    NSString *key = [keys objectAtIndex:indexPath.section];
    NSArray *nameSection = [names objectForKey:key];
    NSString *rowTitle = [nameSection objectAtIndex:indexPath.row];
    NSLog(@"rowTitle = %@", rowTitle);
    [tableView deselectRowAtIndexPath:indexPath animated:YES];
}