Text fields in Table View Cells - ios

Question

I am working on this app, and I am new to Swift. Only two weeks of knowledge. I am supposed to create a table view with 12 cells - 3 of which are supposed to be text fields and user can type what they want. I have made two prototype cells with two different identifiers. I am using an array called "items" which has strings to be represented in the cells. If the string is blank, that cell is supposed to be a text field, which I have done. Problem occurs after that when I try to type in those fields and scroll the cells.
Please help me in understanding and solving the following issues:
How can I delegate the text field which I added as a subview to my tableview cell?
How can I make sure that whatever I type in the textfield remains there, even after I scroll the cells up and down as I wish?
How can I make sure user can edit whatever they type in the text field?
Here is my code:
var items = ["Apple", "Fish", "Dates", "Cereal", "Ice cream", "Lamb", "Potatoes", "Chicken", "Bread", " ", " "," "]
func tableView(tableView: UITableView, cellForRowAtIndexPath indexPath: NSIndexPath) -> UITableViewCell {
var iD = "normal"
if (items[indexPath.row] == " ") {
iD = "textField"
let cell = tableView.dequeueReusableCellWithIdentifier(iD, forIndexPath: indexPath)
cell.textLabel?.text = items[indexPath.row]
let textField = UITextField(frame: CGRect(x: 20, y: 10, width: 150, height: 30))
textField.backgroundColor = UIColor.brownColor()
textField.placeholder = ""
cell.contentView.addSubview(textField)
return cell
}
else {
let cell = tableView.dequeueReusableCellWithIdentifier(iD, forIndexPath: indexPath)
cell.textLabel?.text = items[indexPath.row]
return cell
}
////
func tableView(tableView: UITableView, moveRowAtIndexPath sourceIndexPath: NSIndexPath, toIndexPath destinationIndexPath: NSIndexPath) {
if (sourceIndexPath.row != destinationIndexPath.row){
let temp = items[sourceIndexPath.row]
items.removeAtIndex(sourceIndexPath.row)
items.insert(temp, atIndex: destinationIndexPath.row)
}
tableView.reloadData()
}

Answer 1

I would rather create a subclass of UITableviewCell and add a textfield there as a subview. Then you set the delegate of the textfield to the cell itself.
Here is some sample code. I did not try to run it, but i think it should work:
class InputCell: UITableViewCell, UITextFieldDelegate {
private let textField = UITextField()
private var resultBlock: ((changedText: String) -> ())? = nil
override init(style: UITableViewCellStyle, reuseIdentifier: String?) {
super.init(style: style, reuseIdentifier: reuseIdentifier)
self.textField.delegate = self
self.contentView.addSubview(self.textField)
// additional setup for the textfield like setting the textstyle and so on
}
func setup(initalText: String, resultBlock: (changedText: String) -> ()) {
self.textField.text = initalText
self.resultBlock = resultBlock
}
func textFieldDidEndEditing(textField: UITextField) {
if let block = self.resultBlock, let text = textField.text {
block(changedText: text)
}
}
}
In your view controller i would change the items to be a dictionary, so you can directly link them to the indexpaths of the tableview. And you need to let the tableview register your custom cell class.
var items = [0: "Apple", 1: "Fish", 2: "Dates", 3: "Cereal", 4: "Ice cream", 5: "Lamb", 6: "Potatoes", 7: "Chicken", 8: "Bread", 9: " ", 10: " ", 11: " "]
func tableView(tableView: UITableView, cellForRowAtIndexPath indexPath: NSIndexPath) -> UITableViewCell {
// the position of the cell with a textfield is fixed right? Just put the row number here then
if indexPath.row > 8 {
let cell = tableView.dequeueReusableCellWithIdentifier("CellWithTextField", forIndexPath: indexPath) as! InputCell
if let initialText = items[indexPath.row] {
cell.setup(initialText) { [weak self] text in
self?.items[indexPath.row] = text
}
}
return cell
} else {
let cell = tableView.dequeueReusableCellWithIdentifier("NormalCell", forIndexPath: indexPath)
cell.textLabel?.text = items[indexPath.row]
return cell
}
}

Answer 2

first, add the textfield protocol UITextFielDelegate, and in cell for row atindex write textfield.delegate = self.
And add delegate method to manage the text.
Hope this help you.

Answer 3

You have to save the textfield data in some object. As UITableView reuses same cells your textfield text will be lost on scroll as the cell will be reused. I would suggest creating some array and storing the data in that for each indexPath.
You should implement the UITextField delegate methods inside cell class and whenever some text changes, you should call another delegate method of yours (CellDelegate) which should be implemented in ViewController to update data.
This delegate method will pass text and indexPath of cell.

Answer 4

In the UITableViewCell add the UItextfield delegate for textChange.
You can alter your items array to contain model objects having the real value and the editing value.
let apple = Item()
apple.realValue = "Apple"
apple.editedValue = ""
var item = [0: apple, .............
Pass the model object in the tableview cell and update the edited value on text change delegate call. In cellForRow add the editedValue in the textfield text property
let item = items[indexPath.row]
cell.textLabel?.text = item.realValue
if item.editedValue{
// add the textFieldText
}

Answer 5

Inherit UITextFieldDelegate to your controller
func tableView(tableView: UITableView, cellForRowAtIndexPath indexPath: NSIndexPath) -> UITableViewCell {
var iD = "normal"
if (items[indexPath.row] == " ") {
iD = "textField"
let cell = tableView.dequeueReusableCellWithIdentifier(iD, forIndexPath: indexPath)
cell.textLabel?.text = items[indexPath.row]
let textField = UITextField(frame: CGRect(x: 20, y: 10, width: 150, height: 30))
textField.backgroundColor = UIColor.brownColor()
textField.placeholder = ""
cell.contentView.addSubview(textField)
textField.delegate = self // set delegate
textField.tag= indexPath.row
return cell
}
else {
let cell = tableView.dequeueReusableCellWithIdentifier(iD, forIndexPath: indexPath)
cell.textLabel?.text = items[indexPath.row]
return cell
}
}
//delegate methods
func textFieldDidBeginEditing(textField: UITextField!) { //delegate method
print(textField.tag)//you will get the row. items[textField.tag] will get the object
}
func textFieldShouldEndEditing(textField: UITextField!) -> Bool { //delegate method
print(textField.tag)//you will get the row. items[textField.tag] will get the object
items[textField.tag]= textField.text
return false
}
func textFieldShouldReturn(textField: UITextField!) -> Bool { //delegate method
textField.resignFirstResponder()
return true
}