Self.view.backgroundColor does not work - ios

Question

I have a SWRevealViewController Application. I have been unsuccessfully trying to set the background color with self.view.backgroundColor. The specific example i show below is a UIViewController that contains a tableView with a empty UIView() footer to stop the tableView when it is finished. I am trying to set the backgroundColor to fill the remaining space. My code below.
import UIKit
class NewController: UIViewController, UITableViewDataSource, UITableViewDelegate, NSXMLParserDelegate {
#IBOutlet weak var tables: UITableView!
var parser: NSXMLParser = NSXMLParser()
var info: [newsarticle] = []
var postTitle: String = String()
var postDesc: String = String()
var eName: String = String()
var index: Int = Int()
/*
// Only override drawRect: if you perform custom drawing.
// An empty implementation adversely affects performance during animation.
override func drawRect(rect: CGRect) {
// Drawing code
}
*/
var refreshControl: UIRefreshControl!
override func viewDidLoad() {
let navicon = UIButton(type: UIButtonType.System)
navicon.setImage(defaultMenuImage(), forState: UIControlState.Normal)
navicon.frame = CGRectMake(0, 0, 30, 30)
let menu = UIBarButtonItem(customView: navicon)
self.navigationItem.leftBarButtonItem = menu
self.view.addGestureRecognizer(self.revealViewController().panGestureRecognizer())
navicon.addTarget(self.revealViewController(), action: #selector(SWRevealViewController.revealToggle(_:)), forControlEvents: .TouchUpInside)
let url:NSURL = NSURL(string: "http://brrsd.k12.nj.us/rss/News.xml")!
parser = NSXMLParser(contentsOfURL: url)!
parser.delegate = self
parser.parse()
refreshControl = UIRefreshControl()
refreshControl.addTarget(self, action: #selector(NewController.refresh(_:)), forControlEvents: UIControlEvents.ValueChanged)
tables.separatorColor = UIColor.init(red: 217/255, green: 180/255, blue: 74/255, alpha: 1)
tables.addSubview(refreshControl)
//background.frame = self.view.frame
tables.tableFooterView = UIView()
self.view.backgroundColor = UIColor.init(red: 241/255, green: 241/255, blue: 242/255, alpha: 1)self.view.addGestureRecognizer(self.revealViewController().panGestureRecognizer())
}
func refresh(sender: AnyObject)
{
info = [newsarticle]()
let url:NSURL = NSURL(string: "http://brrsd.k12.nj.us/rss/News.xml")!
parser = NSXMLParser(contentsOfURL: url)!
parser.delegate = self
parser.parse()
tables.reloadData()
refreshControl.endRefreshing()
}
func tableView(tableView: UITableView, heightForRowAtIndexPath indexPath: NSIndexPath) -> CGFloat {
return 60;
}
func parser(parser: NSXMLParser, didStartElement elementName: String, namespaceURI namespaceURI: String?, qualifiedName qualifiedName: String?, attributes attributeDict: [String : String])
{
eName = elementName
if elementName == "item" {
postTitle = String()
postDesc = String()
}
}
override func didReceiveMemoryWarning() {
super.didReceiveMemoryWarning()
// Dispose of any resources that can be recreated.
}
func numberOfSectionsInTableView(tableView: UITableView) -> Int {
// #warning Incomplete implementation, return the number of sections
return 1
}
func tableView(tableView: UITableView, numberOfRowsInSection section: Int) -> Int {
// #warning Incomplete implementation, return the number of rows
return info.count
}
func tableView(tableView: UITableView, cellForRowAtIndexPath indexPath: NSIndexPath) -> UITableViewCell {
let cell: UITableViewCell
if let reusedCell = tableView.dequeueReusableCellWithIdentifier("Cell") {
cell = reusedCell
} else {
cell = UITableViewCell(style: .Default, reuseIdentifier: "Cell")
}
let news: newsarticle = info[indexPath.row]
if let label = cell.textLabel {
label.text = news.title
}
cell.backgroundColor = UIColor.init(red: 241/255, green: 241/255, blue: 242/255, alpha: 1)
cell.textLabel!.font = UIFont(name:"Bodoni 72", size: 16)
cell.textLabel!.textColor = UIColor.init(red: 25/255, green: 149/255, blue: 173/255, alpha: 1)
return cell }
func parser(parser: NSXMLParser, foundCharacters string: String) {
let data = string.stringByTrimmingCharactersInSet(NSCharacterSet.whitespaceAndNewlineCharacterSet())
if (!data.isEmpty) {
if eName == "title" {
postTitle += data
} else if eName == "description" {
postDesc += data
}
}
}
func parser(parser: NSXMLParser, didEndElement elementName: String, namespaceURI: String?, qualifiedName qName: String?) {
if elementName == "item" {
let newsart: newsarticle = newsarticle()
newsart.title = postTitle
newsart.description = postDesc
info.append(newsart)
}
}
func tableView(tableView: UITableView, didSelectRowAtIndexPath indexPath: NSIndexPath) {
index = indexPath.row
tables.deselectRowAtIndexPath(indexPath, animated:true)
performSegueWithIdentifier("NewsTransfer", sender:self)
}
override func prepareForSegue(segue: UIStoryboardSegue, sender: AnyObject?) {
let Destination: FullNews = segue.destinationViewController as! FullNews
Destination.info = info[index]
}
/*
// MARK: - Navigation
// In a storyboard-based application, you will often want to do a little preparation before navigation
override func prepareForSegue(segue: UIStoryboardSegue, sender: AnyObject?) {
// Get the new view controller using segue.destinationViewController.
// Pass the selected object to the new view controller.
}
*/
}

Answer 1

In your viewDidLoad method, you have:
tables.tableFooterView = UIView()
Try this instead:
tables.tableFooterView = UIView(frame: CGRectZero)
Also, for the next line (the background color), try this:
self.view.window!.backgroundColor = UIColor(red: 241/255, green: 241/255, blue: 242/255, alpha: 1.0)