Using a programmatic custom UILabel in a UITableView - ios

Question

I'm attempting to use a custom UITableViewCell that I created programmatically in a UITableView.
The UITableViewCell class:
class PopulatedCellStyleTableViewCell: UITableViewCell {
private let userDisplayName: UILabel = {
let lbl = UILabel()
lbl.font = UIFont(name: "Baskerville-Bold", size: 16)
lbl.textColor = .purple
lbl.textAlignment = .left
lbl.backgroundColor = UIColor(displayP3Red: 1, green: 1, blue: 1, alpha: 0.5)
return lbl
}()
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
}
override init(style: UITableViewCell.CellStyle, reuseIdentifier: String?) {
super.init(style: style, reuseIdentifier: reuseIdentifier)
addSubview(userDisplayName)
//from a UIKit extension that allows me to easily add anchors
userDisplayName.anchor(top: self.topAnchor, left: self.leftAnchor, bottom: self.bottomAnchor, right: self.rightAnchor, paddingTop: 5, paddingLeft: 0, paddingBottom: 5, paddingRight: 0, width: self.frame.width, height: self.frame.height, enableInsets: false)
}
required init?(coder: NSCoder) {
fatalError("init(coder:) has not been implemented")
}
}
And the UITableViewController class:
class LoveListController: UITableViewController {
var loveList: [String]!
let populatedCell = "populatedCell"
override func viewDidLoad() {
super.viewDidLoad()
self.tableView.register(PopulatedCellStyleTableViewCell.self, forCellReuseIdentifier: populatedCell)
}
// MARK: - Table view data source
override func numberOfSections(in tableView: UITableView) -> Int {
return 1
}
override func tableView(_ tableView: UITableView, numberOfRowsInSection section: Int) -> Int {
return loveList.count
}
override func tableView(_ tableView: UITableView, cellForRowAt indexPath: IndexPath) -> UITableViewCell {
let cell = tableView.dequeueReusableCell(withIdentifier: populatedCell, for: indexPath)
// Configure the cell...
cell.textLabel?.text = loveList[indexPath.row]
return cell
}
}
Upon inspecting the debug view hierarchy, the labels load in, but the actual text is rendered in a UITableViewCellContentView instead of in my UILabel, and I have no idea why.
If this is easily solvable or has previously been discussed, please point me in the right direction and/or teach me how to discover the solution myself!

Answer 1

You need to cast the cell and use your custom userDisplayName not textLabel
let cell = tableView.dequeueReusableCell(withIdentifier: populatedCell, for: indexPath) as! PopulatedCellStyleTableViewCell
cell.userDisplayName.text = loveList[indexPath.row]
plus it's better to add the label to contentView and create the constraints with it
self.contentView.addSubview(userDisplayName)
self.userDisplayName.anchor(top: self.contentView.topAnchor .....