Issues with CollectionViewControllerCell not Showing up CollectionViewController - ios

Question

I'm making an iPhone app using Firebase and I'm having a small issue with the following code.
import UIKit
import Firebase
class ChatController: UICollectionViewController, UITextFieldDelegate, UICollectionViewDelegateFlowLayout {
var game: Game? {
didSet {
navigationItem.title = game?.name
}
}
lazy var inputTextField: UITextField = {
let textField = UITextField()
textField.placeholder = "Enter message..."
textField.translatesAutoresizingMaskIntoConstraints = false
return textField
}()
let cellId = "cellId"
override func viewDidLoad() {
super.viewDidLoad()
collectionView?.alwaysBounceVertical = true
collectionView?.backgroundColor = UIColor.white
collectionView?.register(ChatMessageCell.self, forCellWithReuseIdentifier: cellId)
setupInputComponents()
}
var messages = [Message]()
func observeMessages() {
let ref = Database.database().reference().child("games").child((game?.id)!).child("messages")
ref.observe(.childAdded, with: { (snapshot) in
if let dictionary = snapshot.value as? [String: AnyObject] {
let message = Message()
message.setValuesForKeys(dictionary)
self.messages.append(message)
DispatchQueue.main.async {
self.collectionView?.reloadData()
}
}
}, withCancel: nil)
}
override func collectionView(_ collectionView: UICollectionView, numberOfItemsInSection section: Int) -> Int {
return messages.count
}
override func collectionView(_ collectionView: UICollectionView, cellForItemAt indexPath: IndexPath) -> UICollectionViewCell {
let cell = collectionView.dequeueReusableCell(withReuseIdentifier: cellId, for: indexPath as IndexPath) as! ChatMessageCell
// let message = messages[indexPath.item]
// cell.textView.text = message.text
cell.backgroundColor = UIColor.blue
return cell
}
func collectionView(_ collectionView: UICollectionView, layout collectionViewLayout: UICollectionViewLayout, sizeForItemAt indexPath: NSIndexPath) -> CGSize {
return CGSize(width: view.frame.width, height: 80)
}
// Sets up the entire message sending
// container for the send button and input
// text field
func setupInputComponents() {
// Creates the container for send button
// and input text field
let containerView = UIView()
containerView.backgroundColor = UIColor.white
containerView.translatesAutoresizingMaskIntoConstraints = false
view.addSubview(containerView)
// anchor constraints and x,y,w,h
// for positioning the container
containerView.leftAnchor.constraint(equalTo: view.leftAnchor).isActive = true
containerView.bottomAnchor.constraint(equalTo: view.bottomAnchor).isActive = true
containerView.widthAnchor.constraint(equalTo: view.widthAnchor).isActive = true
containerView.heightAnchor.constraint(equalToConstant: 50).isActive = true
// Creates the send button
let sendButton = UIButton(type: .system)
sendButton.setTitle("Send", for: .normal)
sendButton.translatesAutoresizingMaskIntoConstraints = false
sendButton.addTarget(self, action: #selector(handleSend), for: .touchUpInside)
containerView.addSubview(sendButton)
// Positions the send button within the container
sendButton.rightAnchor.constraint(equalTo: containerView.rightAnchor).isActive = true
sendButton.centerYAnchor.constraint(equalTo: containerView.centerYAnchor).isActive = true
sendButton.widthAnchor.constraint(equalToConstant: 80).isActive = true
sendButton.heightAnchor.constraint(equalTo: containerView.heightAnchor).isActive = true
// Creates the input text field
containerView.addSubview(inputTextField)
// Positions the send button within the container
inputTextField.leftAnchor.constraint(equalTo: containerView.leftAnchor, constant: 8).isActive = true
inputTextField.centerYAnchor.constraint(equalTo: containerView.centerYAnchor).isActive = true
inputTextField.rightAnchor.constraint(equalTo: sendButton.leftAnchor).isActive = true
inputTextField.heightAnchor.constraint(equalTo: containerView.heightAnchor).isActive = true
// Create a seperator for this component
let seperatorLineView = UIView()
seperatorLineView.backgroundColor = UIColor(r: 220, g: 220, b: 220)
seperatorLineView.translatesAutoresizingMaskIntoConstraints = false
containerView.addSubview(seperatorLineView)
// Positions the seperator
seperatorLineView.leftAnchor.constraint(equalTo: containerView.leftAnchor, constant: 8).isActive = true
seperatorLineView.widthAnchor.constraint(equalTo: containerView.widthAnchor).isActive = true
seperatorLineView.topAnchor.constraint(equalTo: containerView.topAnchor).isActive = true
seperatorLineView.heightAnchor.constraint(equalToConstant: 1).isActive = true
}
override var preferredStatusBarStyle: UIStatusBarStyle {
return .lightContent
}
#objc func handleSend() {
let ref = Database.database().reference().child("games").child("-L6lIJt_cw6saNNWMgu1").child("messages")
ref.keepSynced(true)
let childRef = ref.childByAutoId()
let values = ["text": inputTextField.text!]
childRef.updateChildValues(values)
}
}
I have some commented out pieces which are actually what I'm wanting to display as text in my cells but I can't even get the colored boxes to show up for me inside the CollectionViewController. The DB retrieval code works perfectly fine and I can display what it gives me in a TableViewController. It's just not in the CollectionViewController that I've made here.
What is happening exactly is that the application builds and loads successfully, but when I navigate to this screen, the cells that I am creating aren't showing up. Those lines specifically are the following:
override func collectionView(_ collectionView: UICollectionView, numberOfItemsInSection section: Int) -> Int {
return messages.count
// return 5
}
override func collectionView(_ collectionView: UICollectionView,, cellForItemAt indexPath: IndexPath) -> UICollectionViewCell {
let cell = collectionView.dequeueReusableCell(withReuseIdentifier: cellId, for: indexPath as IndexPath) as! ChatMessageCell
// let message = messages[indexPath.item]
// cell.textView.text = message.text
cell.backgroundColor = UIColor.blue
return cell
}
func collectionView(_ collectionView: UICollectionView, layout collectionViewLayout: UICollectionViewLayout, sizeForItemAt indexPath: NSIndexPath) -> CGSize {
return CGSize(width: view.frame.width, height: 80)
}

Answer 1

You need to add the following delegates and data source.
To your class add UICollectionViewDataSource and UICollectionViewDelegate.
Then in your viewDidLoad add self.collectionView?.delegate = selfand self.collectionView?.dataSource = self.
This tells the view controller that it’s delegate and data source methods are in its own class.
This should solve your issue. Sorry if the formatting is off a bit in this answer. On my phone so can’t see the question as I type the answer!