Iterating through TableViewCells skips some - ios

Question

I have a tableview and in each cell there is a checkbox. I also have a "select all" button.
My problem is that when I click select all I want to update all the checkboxes to checked state. So from a list of 100 cells, all get checked but every 13th cell does not. To make it clearer, on my simulators screen are 12 cells visible that all get checked. When I start scrolling, the first cell that comes up is unchecked, and is then followed by 12 checked ones :S
When I scroll a little and click "select all" again, the skipped ones become also checked..
Anyone have a clue what am I missing?
This is the cell code:
class ListTableViewCell: UITableViewCell {
#IBOutlet weak var checkbox: UIButton!
var buttonState = false{
didSet{
if buttonState{
checkbox.setImage(#imageLiteral(resourceName: "checked"), for: .normal)
}else{
checkbox.setImage(#imageLiteral(resourceName: "unchecked"), for: .normal)
}
}
}
#IBAction func checkboxAction(_ sender: UIButton) {
if buttonState {
buttonState = false
}else{
buttonState = true
}
}
func simulateCheck(){
buttonState = true
}
And here are some snipets from my controller:
private var articleValues: [ArticleValue] = []{
didSet{
tableView.reloadData()
}
}
func selectAll(){
for i in 0..<articleValues.count{
let cell = tableView.cellForRow(at: IndexPath(item: i, section: 0)) as? ListTableViewCell
cell?.simulateCheck()
tableView.reloadData()
}
}
func tableView(_ tableView: UITableView, cellForRowAt indexPath: IndexPath) -> UITableViewCell {
let cell = tableView.dequeueReusableCell(withIdentifier: "articleValueItem", for: indexPath)
// Cell Configuration
let articleValue = articleValues[indexPath.row]
if let articleValueCell = cell as? ListTableViewCell{
articleValueCell.articleValue = articleValue
}
return cell
}

Answer 1

Your UITableView is backed by a data source. This means that you shouldn't change cells directly like you do here:
cell?.simulateCheck()
tableView.reloadData()
Instead you should keep a list of all the checked positions, maybe another array that has bools for each corresponding articleValue (this is not the best design).
var checkedValues = Bool
In your
func tableView(_ tableView: UITableView, cellForRowAt indexPath: IndexPath) -> UITableViewCell method you would then set the state of the cell:
articleValueCell.buttonState = checkedValues[indexPath.row]
In your selectAll method fill this array with true values and then call tableView.reloadData()
private var checkedValues = [Bool]()
private var articleValues: [ArticleValue] = []{
didSet{
checkedValues = Array(repeating: false, count: articleValues.count)
tableView.reloadData()
}
}
func selectAll(){
checkedValues = Array(repeating: true, count: articleValues.count)
tableView.reloadData()
}
func tableView(_ tableView: UITableView, cellForRowAt indexPath: IndexPath) -> UITableViewCell {
let cell = tableView.dequeueReusableCell(withIdentifier: "articleValueItem", for: indexPath)
// Cell Configuration
let articleValue = articleValues[indexPath.row]
if let articleValueCell = cell as? ListTableViewCell{
articleValueCell.articleValue = articleValue
articleValueCell.buttonState = checkedValues[indexPath.row]
}
return cell
}
Another mistake is that you should never iterate on all the cells in the table because they are reused, no point in going through your data source and getting a cell for each. It only makes sense to iterate through tableView.visibleCells. But like in your case, most of the time you don't need that either, you should just update your data source accordingly and reload the table or just the modified cell.

Answer 2

It's not recommended that you refer to cells directly within a table view. The reason is that UITableViews have an efficient method of only loading the cells as they are needed (and deallocating them when they are no longer needed, e.g. the cell scrolls off screen). Because of this the cell you are try to refer to may not be loaded.
Instead you should interact with it via the cellForRowAt method. If you want to "select all" cells, you should create a property that stores the value of checked or not checked via a Bool and then set all of the ArticleValue elements to true for that property and reload the data inside selectAll().
It could work something like this:
func selectAll() {
articleValues.forEach {
$0.checked = true
}
tableView.reloadData()
}
// ...
func tableView(_ tableView: UITableView, cellForRowAt indexPath: IndexPath) -> UITableViewCell {
let cell = tableView.dequeueReusableCell(withIdentifier: "articleValueItem", for: indexPath)
// Cell Configuration
let articleValue = articleValues[indexPath.row]
if let articleValueCell = cell as? ListTableViewCell{
articleValueCell.articleValue = articleValue
if articleValue.checked {
articleValueCell.simulateCheck()
}
}
return cell
}