UITableView Duplicate cells (custom cells with textfields) - ios

Question

I have spent days on resolving this issue and after trying much I am asking a question here. I am using a custom UITableViewCell and that cell contains UITextFields. On adding new cells to the table view, the table view behaves abnormal like it duplicates the cell and when I try to edit the textfield of new cell, the textfield of previous cel gets edited too.
The behavior of duplication is as follows: 1st cell is duplicated for 3rd cell. I don't know this is due to reusability of cells but could anyone tell me about the efficient solution?
I am attaching the screenshot of UITableViewCell.
The code for cellForRow is as follows:
func tableView(_ tableView: UITableView, cellForRowAt indexPath: IndexPath) -> UITableViewCell {
let cell : Product_PriceTableViewCell = tableView.dequeueReusableCell(withIdentifier: "product_priceCell") as! Product_PriceTableViewCell
cell.dropDownViewProducts.index = indexPath.row
cell.txtDescription.index = indexPath.row
cell.tfPrice.index = indexPath.row
cell.dropDownQty.index = indexPath.row
cell.tfTotalPrice_Euro.index = indexPath.row
cell.tfTotalPrice_IDR.index = indexPath.row
cell.dropDownViewTotalDiscount.index = indexPath.row
cell.dropDownViewDeposit.index = indexPath.row
cell.tfTotalDeposit_Euro.index = indexPath.row
cell.tfRemaingAfterDeposit_IDR.index = indexPath.row
return cell
}

Answer 1

The issue is the cell is being reused by the UITableView, which is what you want to happen for good scrolling performance.
You should update the data source that supports each row in the table to hold the text the user inputs in the field.
Then have the text field's text property assigned from your data source in cellForRowAt.
In other words, the UITableViewCell is the same instance each time you see it on the screen, and so is the UITextField and therefore so is it's text property. Which means it needs to be assigned it's correct text value each time cellForRowAt is called.
I'm unsure of your code so I have provided an example of how I would do something like what you want:
class MyCell: UITableViewCell {
#IBOutlet weak var inputField: UITextField!
}
class ViewController: UIViewController {
#IBOutlet weak var table: UITableView!
var items = [String]()
fileprivate func setupItems() {
items = ["Duck",
"Cow",
"Deer",
"Potato"
]
}
override func viewDidLoad() {
super.viewDidLoad()
// Do any additional setup after loading the view, typically from a nib.
setupItems()
}
}
extension ViewController: UITableViewDataSource {
func tableView(_ tableView: UITableView, numberOfRowsInSection section: Int) -> Int {
// the # of rows will equal the # of items
return items.count
}
func tableView(_ tableView: UITableView, cellForRowAt indexPath: IndexPath) -> UITableViewCell {
// we use the cell's indexPath.row to
// to get the item in the array's text
// and use it as the cell's input field text
guard let cell = tableView.dequeueReusableCell(withIdentifier: "myCell") as? MyCell else {
return UITableViewCell()
}
// now even if the cell is the same instance
// it's field's text is assigned each time
cell.inputField.text = items[indexPath.row]
// Use the tag on UITextField
// to track the indexPath.row that
// it's current being presented for
cell.inputField.tag = indexPath.row
// become the field's delegate
cell.inputField.delegate = self
return cell
}
}
extension ViewController: UITextFieldDelegate {
// or whatever method(s) matches the app's
// input style for this view
func textFieldDidEndEditing(_ textField: UITextField) {
guard let text = textField.text else {
return // nothing to update
}
// use the field's tag
// to update the correct element
items[textField.tag] = text
}
}

Answer 2

I suggest to do the following
class Product_PriceTableViewCell: UITableViewCell {
var indexRow: Int = -1
func configureCell(index: Int) {
cell.dropDownViewProducts.clean()
...
cell.tfRemaingAfterDeposit_IDR.clean()
}
}
where clean is the function to empty de view (depend on the type)
Then in the delegate:
func tableView(_ tableView: UITableView, cellForRowAt indexPath: IndexPath) -> UITableViewCell {
let cell : Product_PriceTableViewCell = tableView.dequeueReusableCell(withIdentifier: "product_priceCell") as! Product_PriceTableViewCell
cell.configureCell(row: indexPath.row)
return cell
}
As #thefredelement pointed out when the cell is not in the view frame, it is not created. Only when the view is going to appear, it tries to reuse an instance of the cell and as the first is available, the table view uses it but does not reinitialize it. So you have to make sure to clean the data
The rest of the answer is for better coding.