how to organize tableview cells - ios

Question

I have two different kinds of tableview cells in one table view. The first cell prints out original comments to a post, the second cell prints out comments to another comment. Currently, the tableview prints out all the correct cells in no particular order. However, I want to print the cells in a particular order. I want the cells that contain comments to another comment to appear below the comment it is being commented on.
func tableView(_ tableView: UITableView, cellForRowAt indexPath: IndexPath) -> UITableViewCell {
// Configure the cell...
let cell = tableView.dequeueReusableCell(withIdentifier: "Main", for: indexPath) as! PostTableViewCell
//Configure the cell
cell.PostView.layer.cornerRadius = 5
cell.PostView.layer.masksToBounds = false
cell.PostView.layer.shadowColor = UIColor.black.withAlphaComponent(0.4).cgColor
cell.PostView.layer.shadowOffset = CGSize(width: 0, height: 0)
cell.PostView.layer.shadowOpacity = 0.9
let post = Comments[indexPath.row] as! [String: AnyObject]
let commentname = post["author"] as? String
sendAuthor = post["author"] as? String
cell.CommentersName.setTitle(commentname, for: .normal)
if let seconds = post["pub_time"] as? Double {
let timeStampDate = NSDate(timeIntervalSince1970: seconds/1000)
let dateFormatter = DateFormatter()
dateFormatter.dateFormat = "MMM d, yyyy"
let formating = timeStampDate as Date
cell.CommentTime.text = dateFormatter.string(from: formating)
}
cell.comment.text = post["content"] as? String
textViewDidChange(cell.comment)
cell.comment.frame.size.width = 344
cell.comment.sizeToFit()
cell.comment.clipsToBounds = true
cell.REply.frame.origin.y = cell.comment.frame.maxY + 10
cell.report.frame.origin.y = cell.comment.frame.maxY + 10
cell.Likes.frame.origin.y = cell.comment.frame.maxY + 10
cell.LikesNumber.frame.origin.y = cell.comment.frame.maxY + 10
cell.PostView.frame.size.height = cell.comment.frame.maxY + 50
TableView.rowHeight = cell.PostView.frame.size.height + 20
cell.CommentersName.sizeToFit()
cell.pole.frame.origin.x = cell.CommentersName.frame.maxX + 5
cell.CommentTime.frame.origin.x = cell.pole.frame.maxX + 5
let numLikes = post["num_likes"] as? NSNumber
cell.LikesNumber.text = String(describing: numLikes!)
replyId = post["id"] as? String
let replyTo = post["reply_to"] as? String
let postID = post["post_id"] as? String
if replyTo == postID {
} else {
let cell = tableView.dequeueReusableCell(withIdentifier: "Reply", for: indexPath) as! RepliesTableViewCell
cell.ReplyCustomCell.layer.cornerRadius = 5
cell.ReplyCustomCell.layer.masksToBounds = false
cell.ReplyCustomCell.layer.shadowColor = UIColor.black.withAlphaComponent(0.4).cgColor
cell.ReplyCustomCell.layer.shadowOffset = CGSize(width: 0, height: 0)
cell.ReplyCustomCell.layer.shadowOpacity = 0.9
let post = Comments[indexPath.row] as! [String: AnyObject]
cell.ReplyText.text = post["content"] as? String
let commentname = post["author"] as? String
cell.author.setTitle(commentname, for: .normal)
if let seconds = post["pub_time"] as? Double {
let timeStampDate = NSDate(timeIntervalSince1970: seconds/1000)
let dateFormatter = DateFormatter()
dateFormatter.dateFormat = "MMM d, yyyy"
let formating = timeStampDate as Date
cell.time.text = dateFormatter.string(from: formating)
}
let numLikes = post["num_likes"] as? NSNumber
cell.num_likes.text = String(describing: numLikes!)
textViewDidChange(cell.ReplyText)
cell.ReplyText.frame.size.width = 232
cell.ReplyText.sizeToFit()
cell.ReplyText.clipsToBounds = true
cell.author.sizeToFit()
cell.pole.frame.origin.x = cell.author.frame.maxX + 5
cell.time.frame.origin.x = cell.pole.frame.maxX + 5
cell.Likes.frame.origin.y = cell.ReplyText.frame.maxY + 10
cell.num_likes.frame.origin.y = cell.ReplyText.frame.maxY + 10
cell.reportButton.frame.origin.y = cell.ReplyText.frame.maxY + 10
cell.replyButton.frame.origin.y = cell.ReplyText.frame.maxY + 10
cell.ReplyCustomCell.frame.size.height = cell.ReplyText.frame.maxY + 50
TableView.rowHeight = cell.ReplyCustomCell.frame.size.height + 20
return cell
}
cell.checkfornightmode()
return cell
}
The comments that are associated with each other have the same "id", how will I organize the cells so that the comments of a main comment will be listed under the original comment. Thank you

Answer 1

You can create one Comment custom object class which will hold an array of sub comments and the main comment to arrange or manage your data structure properly. After that you can use it properly with your table view cell.
Okay so for example you can have the below data structure.
Create one Comment class:
class Comment {
comment_id
content
post_id
reply_to
}
Now create one more class for your table view:
class CommentTableDataModel {
var mainComment: Comment // Of type Comment class
var replies: [Comment] // Array of type Comment class for sub comments
}
So now just iterate through your firebase Comments array and prepare an array list of type 'CommentTableDataModel' objects as a datasource for your table. So finally you will have an array of type object 'CommentTableDataModel' and each object of type 'CommentTableDataModel' contains the main comment info as well as the list of replies info with that, with this you can manage your data.