Adding another cell to tableview when done editing textview inside cell - ios

Question

I would just like to preface this with the fact that I don't use storyboards.
I have a tableview with multiple sections that are filled with tableViewcells I have created programmatically. These custom cells include a textfield with some placeholder text. What I want the user to be able to do is to tap on the textfield, type their entry, and then hit "Enter" to dismiss the keyboard and then create a new cell underneath the cell they just edited. This is very similar to the behaviour that happens in the reminders app.
I'm having a hard time trying to figure out how to access the tableview's data model (an array) and figuring out which section that cell is in, adding the new string to the array, and then adding another dumby cell that has the placeholder text.

Answer 1

First at all you have to create a way to communicate between your cell and view controller.
You can use delegate pattern or callbacks for this.
For example:
final class TextFieldCell: UITableViewCell {
// MARK: - IBOutlets
#IBOutlet weak var textField: UITextField!
// MARK: - Local variables
var callback: ((_ text: String) -> Void)?
// MARK: - Lyfecycle
override func awakeFromNib() {
super.awakeFromNib()
textField.delegate = self
}
}
Also don't forget to call our callback:
extension TextFieldCell: UITextFieldDelegate {
func textFieldShouldReturn(_ textField: UITextField) -> Bool {
textField.resignFirstResponder()
callback?(textField.text!)
return true
}
}
Great! Now we send our string from cell to controller!
Example of code for your view controller(simplified version):
class ViewController: UIViewController {
// MARK: - IBOutlets
#IBOutlet weak var tableView: UITableView!
// MARK: - Local variables
var titles = ["Hello", "world"]
}
// MARK: - UITableViewDataSource
extension ViewController: UITableViewDataSource {
func tableView(_ tableView: UITableView, numberOfRowsInSection section: Int) -> Int {
return titles.count
}
func tableView(_ tableView: UITableView, cellForRowAt indexPath: IndexPath) -> UITableViewCell {
let textFieldCell = tableView.dequeueReusableCell(withIdentifier: "textFieldCell", for: indexPath) as! TextFieldCell
textFieldCell.textField.placeholder = titles[indexPath.row]
textFieldCell.callback = { [weak self] newTitle in // don't forget about memory leaks
guard let `self` = self else { return }
// calculating index path for new row
let newIndexPath = IndexPath(row: indexPath.row + 1, section: indexPath.section)
// appending a new row in table view
self.titles.append(newTitle)
self.tableView.insertRows(at: [newIndexPath], with: UITableView.RowAnimation.automatic)
}
return textFieldCell
}
}