UITableView repeating cells over and over - ios

Question

So I have this UITableView and it is repeating cells over and over and I don't get why, I have already tried googling this and looking at other similar stack overflow questions but none of the solutions in them seem to fix the problem I am having.
My code is the following:
NSArray in the ViewDidLoad method:
tableViewContents = #[
#"Infosecurity Netherlands:4th November:Jaarbeurs Utrecht-Utrecht,Netherlands:www.infosecurity.nl/",
#"MiCS Monaco International Clubbing Show:4th - 6th November:Grimaldi Forum-Monaco, Monaco:www.mics.mc/",
#"New York Audio Show 2015:6th - 8th November:Hilton Westchester-Rye Brook, NY:www.chestergroup.org/newyorkaudioshow/2015",
#"Tecno Multimedia InfoComm 2015:10th - 12th November:Corferias-Bogota, Columbia:www.tecnomultimedia.com/",
#"Productronica 2015:10th - 13th November:New Munich Trade Show Center-Munich, Germany:productronica.com/en/home",
#"CCW featuring SATCON co-located InfoComm Connections:11th November:Jacob Javits Center, New York, NY:www.ccwexpo.com/",
#"IAAPA Attractions Expo 2015:16th - 20th November:Orange County Convention Center-Orlando, FL:www.iaapa.org/expos/iaapa-attractions-expo/",
#"Streaming Media West 2015:17th November:Hyatt Regency Huntington Beach-Huntington Beach, CA:www.streamingmedia.com/Conferences/",
#"SATIS:17th - 19th November:Porte de Versailles-Paris, France:www.satis-expo.com/",
#"ISC East Expo 2015:18th November:Jacob K. Javits Convention Center-New York, NY:www.isceast.com/",
#"WFX Worship Facilities Conference and Expo:18th November:Music City Center-Nashville, TN:wfxweb.com/",
#"Inter BEE 2015:18th - 20th November:Makuhari Messe-Chiba, Japan:www.inter-bee.com/en/",
#"AV Executive Conference:18th - 20th November:TBA-Amelia Island, FL:www.infocomm.org/cps/rde/xchg/infocomm/hs.xsl/39221.htm",
#"JTSE Performance & Entertainment Technical Show & Convention 2015:24th November:Dock Pullman, Porte de la Chapelle-Paris, France:www.jtse.fr/en/index.php",
#"Government Video Expo 2015:1st - 3rd December:Walter E. Washington Convention Center-Washington, DC:www.gvexpo.com/",
#"IIDEX Canada:2nd December:Metro Toronto Convention Centre North-Toronto, ON, Canada:www.iidexcanada.com/",
#"IABM Annual International Business Conference 2015:3rd December:TBA:www.theiabm.org/",
#"SMSS The Social Media Strategies Summit Dallas:8th December:The Magnolia Hotel-Dallas, TX:www.socialmediastrategiessummit.com/dallas-2015/",
#"CineAsia:8th - 10th December:Hong Kong Convention & Exhibition Centre-Hong Kong, China:www.vnufilmgroup.com/cineasia",
#"CeBIT Bilisim Eurasia:17th - 19th December:Istanbul Expo Center-Istanbul, Turkey:www.cebitbilisim.com/en/index.php"
];
Table View Methods
- (NSInteger)numberOfSectionsInTableView:(UITableView *)tableView {
//Amount of sections
return 1;
}
-(NSInteger)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView numberOfRowsInSection:(NSInteger)section {
//Amount of rows in each section
return [tableViewContents count];
}
-(UITableViewCell *)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView cellForRowAtIndexPath:(NSIndexPath *)indexPath {
NSString *contentsString = tableViewContents[indexPath.row];
NSArray *contentsArray = [contentsString componentsSeparatedByString:#":"];
//Cell Identifier
static NSString *simpleIdentifier = #"simpleIdentifier";
UILabel *eventNameLabel;
UILabel *eventDateLabel;
UILabel *eventLocationLabel;
UITableViewCell *cell = [tableView dequeueReusableCellWithIdentifier:simpleIdentifier];
if (cell == nil) {
cell = [[UITableViewCell alloc] initWithStyle:UITableViewCellStyleDefault reuseIdentifier:simpleIdentifier];
eventNameLabel = [[UILabel alloc]init];
eventDateLabel = [[UILabel alloc]init];
eventLocationLabel = [[UILabel alloc]init];
eventNameLabel.frame = CGRectMake(10, 10, 300, 20);
eventNameLabel.font = [UIFont boldSystemFontOfSize:14];
eventNameLabel.textColor = [UIColor colorWithRed:231.0f/255.0f
green:123.0f/255.0f
blue:50.0f/255.0f
alpha:1.0f];
eventDateLabel.frame = CGRectMake(10, 40, 300, 20);
eventDateLabel.font = [UIFont systemFontOfSize:12];
eventDateLabel.textColor = [UIColor grayColor];
eventLocationLabel.frame = CGRectMake(10, 70, 300, 20);
eventLocationLabel.font = [UIFont systemFontOfSize:12];
eventLocationLabel.textColor = [UIColor grayColor];
[cell addSubview:eventNameLabel];
[cell addSubview:eventDateLabel];
[cell addSubview:eventLocationLabel];
}
eventNameLabel.text = contentsArray[0];
eventDateLabel.text = contentsArray[1];
eventLocationLabel.text = contentsArray[2];
//Return Cell
return cell;
}
- (CGFloat)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView heightForRowAtIndexPath:(NSIndexPath *)indexPath
{
return 100;
}
Thank you in advance for your help.

Answer 1

eventNameLabel and the other two labels are nil for reused cells so you never update the labels as desired.
You need an else statement added to your if that sets the three label variables to the labels in the existing cell.
Of course the better approach is to use a custom cell class with three properties for the three labels. Don't put all the logic in the view controller. It belongs in the cell class.

Answer 2

Obvious answer to your requirement is Custom Cell. Instead of doing all coding in cellforrowaatIndexpath method, customize the cell as per your requirement and use it for the table. It would be much easier to handle a Custom Cell. Refer these links for how to customize tableViewCell. http://www.appcoda.com/customize-table-view-cells-for-uitableview/ or http://www.appcoda.com/ios-programming-customize-uitableview-storyboard/ for customize cell.

Answer 3

Your code can't work as written. Think about it. Your cellForRowAtIndexPath method has 3 local variables eventNameLabel, eventDateLabel, and eventLocationLabel. If you create a new cell then those variables get pointed to your labels.
If you recycle an existing cell, though, those variables will be nil.
You need another way to get to the labels. How about assigning tags to them when you create the cells, and then in the code that deals with a recycled cell find the labels using those tags.
EDIT:
Or, as rmaddy suggests in his answer that beat mine by 1 minute, use a custom cell class where the cell has IBOutlet properties linked to the labels.

Answer 4

You can try putting 3 labels in your interface and this will let you access the labels in your cell. put it in
-(UITableViewCell *)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView cellForRowAtIndexPath:(NSIndexPath *)indexPath
-
NSArray *subviews = [[cell contentView] subviews];
UILabel *eventNameLabel = [subviews objectAtIndex:0];
UILabel *eventDateLabel = [subviews objectAtIndex:1];
UILabel *eventLocationLabel = [subviews objectAtIndex:2];
with this you don't have to add subViews either. another way is u can make a UITableViewCell class which you can link to the cell and then control drag labels to the cell class file as you would in a view controller.