How do you create a tableView inside a tableViewCell? - ios

Question

I have been searching for some time now and have developed a massive headache trying to solve this problem. Basically, I would like to have a parent tableView mainTableView to contain a tableViewCell that includes a label and another tableView innerTableView. This problem is not as simple as I had hoped.
If there is a better way to implement what I want with different components, please let me know.
Otherwise, I have tried to simplify the code to its bare bones with simple data. Please assume I have correctly connected all my outlets properly. I have 3 swift files for this simplified version. ViewController.swift is the main VC that holds the mainTableView. MainTableViewCell.swift is the main cell that will hold a label and a tableView innerTableView in it. InnerTableViewCell is the final cell that will be associated with the innerTableView. In this cell, there is only a label. I have been successful in creating this first layer and the mainNameLabel.text shows up properly on the main storyboard. However, I have configured MainTableViewCell to the best of my knowledge and have come short to success. The innerTableView does not appear on the main storyboard.
Below, I will provide the code of each swift file:
ViewController.swift
//
// ViewController.swift
// NestedTableViews
//
import UIKit
class ViewController: UIViewController, UITableViewDelegate, UITableViewDataSource {
#IBOutlet weak var mainTableView: UITableView!
//fake data
var arr = ["Hello", "Hi", "Whats up", "How's it going"]
override func viewDidLoad() {
super.viewDidLoad()
// Do any additional setup after loading the view.
mainTableView.delegate = self
mainTableView.dataSource = self
}
func tableView(_ tableView: UITableView, cellForRowAt indexPath: IndexPath) -> UITableViewCell {
let cell = tableView.dequeueReusableCell(withIdentifier: "MainTableViewCell") as! MainTableViewCell
let word = arr[indexPath.row]
cell.mainNameLabel.text = word
return cell
}
func tableView(_ tableView: UITableView, numberOfRowsInSection section: Int) -> Int {
return arr.count
}
}
MainTableViewCell.swift
//
// MainTableViewCell.swift
// NestedTableViews
//
import UIKit
class MainTableViewCell: UITableViewCell, UITableViewDelegate, UITableViewDataSource {
#IBOutlet weak var mainNameLabel: UILabel!
#IBOutlet weak var innerTableView: UITableView!
var innerArr = ["How are you?", "How are you doing?", "What's the matter?"]
override func awakeFromNib() {
super.awakeFromNib()
// Initialization code
innerTableView.dataSource = self
innerTableView.delegate = self
}
override func setSelected(_ selected: Bool, animated: Bool) {
super.setSelected(selected, animated: animated)
// Configure the view for the selected state
}
func tableView(_ tableView: UITableView, cellForRowAt indexPath: IndexPath) -> UITableViewCell {
let cell = tableView.dequeueReusableCell(withIdentifier: "InnerTableViewCell") as! InnerTableViewCell
let innerWord = innerArr[indexPath.row]
cell.innerNameLabel.text = innerWord
return cell
}
func tableView(_ tableView: UITableView, numberOfRowsInSection section: Int) -> Int {
return innerArr.count
}
}
InnerTableViewCell
//
// InnerTableViewCell.swift
// NestedTableViews
//
import UIKit
class InnerTableViewCell: UITableViewCell {
#IBOutlet weak var innerNameLabel: UILabel!
override func awakeFromNib() {
super.awakeFromNib()
// Initialization code
}
override func setSelected(_ selected: Bool, animated: Bool) {
super.setSelected(selected, animated: animated)
// Configure the view for the selected state
}
}
Here is what the storyboard looks like in this current state:
What is it that I am doing wrong? I could ask 100 questions but regardless, I am still very stuck here. How do I get the nested tableView innerTableView to appear and with the proper data?
Thank you in advance