Rss Parser check internet connection and display a message - ios

Question

I'm thinking about check the internet connection and display a message if here is not connection, so now I have a TableView, And I think I have to delete or replace this table view or show only one cell and display a message like "There is no internet connection", so first I added a file to check connection so I did this:
override func viewDidLoad()
{
super.viewDidLoad()
self.navigationController?.navigationBar.barTintColor = UIColor(red: 38.0/255.0, green: 51.0/255.0, blue: 85.0/255.0, alpha: 1.0)
self.navigationController?.navigationBar.titleTextAttributes = [NSFontAttributeName: UIFont(name: "Gotham", size: 13)!, NSForegroundColorAttributeName : UIColor.whiteColor()]
self.title = "ACTUALITÉS"
if Reachability.isConnectedToNetwork() == true {
self.beginParsing()
} else {
//Here I'm gonna do something and display an image
}
}
#IBAction func menuTapped(sender: AnyObject) {
print(delegate)
delegate?.toggleLeftPanel?()
}
override func didReceiveMemoryWarning()
{
super.didReceiveMemoryWarning()
// Dispose of any resources that can be recreated.
}
func beginParsing()
{
posts = []
parser = NSXMLParser(contentsOfURL:(NSURL(string:"url..."))!)!
parser.delegate = self
parser.parse()
tableView!.reloadData()
}
//XMLParser Methods
func parser(parser: NSXMLParser, didStartElement elementName: String, namespaceURI: String?, qualifiedName qName: String?, attributes attributeDict: [String : String])
{
element = elementName
if (elementName as NSString).isEqualToString("item")
{
elements = NSMutableDictionary()
elements = [:]
title1 = NSMutableString()
title1 = ""
date = NSMutableString()
date = ""
dscrptn = NSMutableString()
dscrptn = ""
url = NSURL()
urlString = NSMutableString()
urlString = ""
} else {
title1 = NSMutableString()
title1 = "No connection"
}
}
func parser(parser: NSXMLParser, didEndElement elementName: String, namespaceURI: String?, qualifiedName qName: String?)
{
if (elementName as NSString).isEqualToString("item") {
if !title1.isEqual(nil) {
elements.setObject(title1, forKey: "title")
}
if !date.isEqual(nil) {
elements.setObject(date, forKey: "date")
}
if !dscrptn.isEqual(nil) {
elements.setObject(dscrptn, forKey: "dscrptn")
}
if !urlString.isEqual(nil) {
elements.setObject(urlString, forKey: "urlString")
}
posts.addObject(elements)
}
}
func parser(parser: NSXMLParser, foundCharacters string: String)
{
if element.isEqualToString("title") {
title1.appendString(string)
} else if element.isEqualToString("pubDate") {
date.appendString(string)
} else if element.isEqualToString("description") {
dscrptn.appendString(string)
} else if element.isEqualToString("link") {
urlString.appendString(string)
}
}
//Tableview Methods
func tableView(tableView: UITableView, numberOfRowsInSection section: Int) -> Int
{
return posts.count
}
func tableView(tableView: UITableView, didSelectRowAtIndexPath indexPath: NSIndexPath) {
let trimUrl = posts.objectAtIndex(indexPath.row).valueForKey("urlString") as! String
UIApplication.sharedApplication().openURL(NSURL(string: trimUrl.stringByTrimmingCharactersInSet(NSCharacterSet.whitespaceAndNewlineCharacterSet()))!)
}
func tableView(tableView: UITableView, heightForRowAtIndexPath indexPath: NSIndexPath) -> CGFloat {
return UITableViewAutomaticDimension
}
func tableView(tableView: UITableView, estimatedHeightForRowAtIndexPath indexPath: NSIndexPath) -> CGFloat {
return 10
}
func tableView(tableView: UITableView, cellForRowAtIndexPath indexPath: NSIndexPath) -> UITableViewCell
{
return basicCellAtIndexPath(indexPath)
}
func basicCellAtIndexPath(indexPath:NSIndexPath) -> ActuTblCell {
let cell = tableView.dequeueReusableCellWithIdentifier("cell") as! ActuTblCell
setTitleForCell(cell, indexPath: indexPath)
setDateForCell(cell, indexPath: indexPath)
setDescriptionForCell(cell, indexPath: indexPath)
return cell
}
func setTitleForCell(cell:ActuTblCell, indexPath:NSIndexPath) {
cell.titleActuCell?.text = posts.objectAtIndex(indexPath.row).valueForKey("title") as! NSString as String
}
func setDateForCell(cell:ActuTblCell, indexPath:NSIndexPath) {
let dateFormatter = NSDateFormatter()
dateFormatter.dateFormat = "yyyy-MM-dd'T'HH:mm:ssZ"
let dateString = posts.objectAtIndex(indexPath.row).valueForKey("date") as! NSString as String
if let dateAdded = dateFormatter.dateFromString(dateString.stringByTrimmingCharactersInSet(NSCharacterSet.whitespaceAndNewlineCharacterSet()))
{
dateFormatter.dateFormat = "dd/MM/yyyy"
cell.dateActuCell?.text = "\(dateFormatter.stringFromDate(dateAdded))"
}
//cell.dateActuCell?.text = posts.objectAtIndex(indexPath.row).valueForKey("date") as! NSString as String
}
func setDescriptionForCell(cell:ActuTblCell, indexPath:NSIndexPath) {
cell.descriptionActuCell?.text = (posts.objectAtIndex(indexPath.row).valueForKey("dscrptn") as! NSString as String).stripHTML()
}
}
let htmlReplaceString : String = "<[^>]+>"
extension NSString {
func stripHTML() -> NSString {
return self.stringByReplacingOccurrencesOfString(htmlReplaceString, withString: "", options: NSStringCompareOptions.RegularExpressionSearch, range: NSRange(location: 0,length: self.length)) as NSString
}
}
extension String {
func stripHTML() -> String {
return self.stringByReplacingOccurrencesOfString(htmlReplaceString, withString: "", options: NSStringCompareOptions.RegularExpressionSearch, range: nil)
}
}
I know how to check connection but here I don't know what is the better solution and how to do it.

Answer 1

What you want to achieve it is called empty states. Ideas for empty states can be found www.pttrns.com. In your case empty state is shown when no network connection. Another case could be when network connection available, but post array have zero items after the parsing the content (XML/JSON).
I would recommend you to use 3rd party code:
DZNEmptyDataSet (objective-c)
StatefulViewController (Swfit)
Another way would be to set background image to the tableView. I want to notice that background image should be the size as device screen. You can do it like that:
let tempImageView = UIImageView(image: UIImage(named: "yourImage"))
tempImageView.frame = self.tableView.frame
self.tableView.backgroundView = tempImageView;