Can I add a collection view to a collection view section header? - ios

Question

So I'm trying to figure out how to add two collection views on the name view controller. Right now the current collection view I have is a vertical scrolling collection view that displays users posts on the feed. I would like to add a "people to follow" section that scrolls horizontally on the top. Please note I would like the horizontal collection view to scroll down with the whole view.
Something that will look like this
I thought about adding a section header, then trying to add a collection view in that but I'm not sure if that is an illegal configuration.
I'm also not sure if I need to add 2 sections in the number of sections line.
Here is the collection view code currently.
#IBOutlet weak var collectionView: UICollectionView!
// MARK: - UICollectionViewDataSource
func collectionView(_ collectionView: UICollectionView, willDisplay cell: UICollectionViewCell, forItemAt indexPath: IndexPath) {
if posts.count > 4 {
if indexPath.item == posts.count - 1 {
fetchPosts()
}
}
}
func numberOfSections(in collectionView: UICollectionView) -> Int {
return 1
}
func collectionView(_ collectionView: UICollectionView, numberOfItemsInSection section: Int) -> Int {
if viewSinglePost {
return 1
} else {
if posts.count == 0 {
self.collectionView.setEmptyMessage("You haven't followed anyone yet.")
} else {
self.collectionView.restore()
}
return posts.count
}
}
func collectionView(_ collectionView: UICollectionView, cellForItemAt indexPath: IndexPath) -> UICollectionViewCell {
let cell = collectionView.dequeueReusableCell(withReuseIdentifier: "PostsCell", for: indexPath) as! FollowingCell
cell.delegate = self
if viewSinglePost {
if let post = self.post {
cell.post = post
}
} else {
cell.post = posts[indexPath.item]
}
handleUsernameLabelTapped(forCell: cell)
handleMentionTapped(forCell: cell)
handleHashtagTapped(forCell: cell)
return cell
}
Right now its just a basic feed that will fetch posts users upload. I thought it would be great user experience to include a people to follow section for new uses. What is the best way I should go about this?

Answer 1

Seems like you want to add two collection views, one is for upper that is horizontal and the lower is vertical
Add two collection views in the storyboard, give the first one a
static height, take outlet from the storyboard and give outlet name something like UpperCollectionView and LowerCollectionView
set delegate and data source to the collectionViews
upperCollectionView.delegate = self
upperCollectionView.dataSource = self
lowerCollectionView.delegate = self
lowerCollectionView.dataSource = self
in case of all delegate methods , implement the collectionViews using if - else method
func collectionView(_ collectionView: UICollectionView, numberOfItemsInSection section: Int) -> Int {
if collectionView == upperCollectionView {
//do code for upperCollectionView
} else {
//do code for lowerCollectionView
}
}
if look like complex, then I will suggest you to split, the upper part in the parent viewController and lower part in a container view.
If you want to scroll up the whole thing like a tableView scrolling, add all of this on a UIScrollView , this will handle the scrolling.

Answer 2

if you ask me i would suggest a table view with 2 cells, fist cell is for collection view and second cell is your normal cell. in that way you can scroll in both directions. But if you want to use collectionview only then you need to add tag for collection view and configure it according to your tag i.e
func collectionView(_ collectionView: UICollectionView, numberOfItemsInSection section: Int) -> Int {
if collectionView.tag == 1 {
// your horizantal collection view
} else {
//vertical one
}

Answer 3

You could define the first index as another collection view.