Embed Custom UITableViewCell within another custom UIView? - ios

Question

I have a UITableViewController with a list of custom UITableViewCells. The cell has text, which is sometimes long. I am truncating that at 2 lines in the table.
When a user touches the cell, I want to create a UIView as a popup with the exact same information as the UITableViewCell, with the addition of a header above the UITableViewCell content. So, essentially, I want something like the following:
I have built VersePopupView just as indicated in the picture, where the text "Custom Header" is actually a UILabel. I have instantiated the view from the XIB file and successfully set the UILabel text, but the custom UITableViewCell doesn't show, even though I have assigned that value as well. My IBOutlets are all hooked up to IB.
Here is my instantiation:
let popupView: VersePopupView = VersePopupView.instanceFromNib()
popupView.frame = CGRect(x: 10, y: 100, width: 300, height: 100)
popupView.assignVerseTableViewCell(cell: cell)
window.addSubview(popupView)
window.makeKeyAndVisible()
And here is my VersePopupView class:
class VersePopupView: UIView {
#IBOutlet weak var cell: VerseTableViewCell!
#IBOutlet weak var title: UILabel!
#IBOutlet weak var headerView: UIView!
override init(frame: CGRect) {
super.init(frame: frame)
}
required init?(coder aDecoder: NSCoder) {
super.init(coder: aDecoder)
}
class func instanceFromNib() -> VersePopupView {
return UINib(nibName: "VersePopupView", bundle: nil).instantiate(withOwner: nil, options: nil)[0] as! VersePopupView
}
func assignVerseTableViewCell(cell: VerseTableViewCell)
{
// Assign it
self.cell = cell
// Get the verse details
if let verseDetails = cell.verse_details {
self.title.text = verseDetails.verseReference()
// Adjust the frame
// Adjust the text to be attributed text
// Set the title to the verse reference
// Anything else?
}
}
}
What am I doing wrong such that the UITableViewCell isn't showing up?
Is there a better pattern for this rather than embedding the UITableViewCell?
I don't want to duplicate code (which I have done in the past), because I want the user to interact with the popup just like they would in the table cell.

Answer 1

I'm not sure how to convince you of how easy this is to do without trying to misuse a table view cell, so here's a screen shot:
You just have to believe me when I say that that's a three-row table followed by a totally independent ordinary view plucked from the inside of the table view cell (by loading the cell nib).
They not only look identical, they act identical; the view is a custom UIView subclass with an action method from the switch, and when I click the switch, it triggers that action method, both within the table and in the view outside it.
The view was designed entirely in the nib, and absolutely no code was repeated.
That seems to be the sort of thing you want to do. So, I encourage you, don't misuse table view cells; do this with an ordinary view that can live happily inside a cell or outside it.