Programmatically select UITableView cell not in current view - ios

Question

So it's easy to select a row that is currently in the UITableView. For example, to select the first row:
[self.tableView selectRowAtIndexPath:[NSIndexPath indexPathForRow:0 inSection:0]
animated:YES
scrollPosition:UITableViewScrollPositionNone];
Say that I have an array that is the data source for the table and the array count is greater than the number of cells displayed in the tableview. How can I get the UITableView to scroll to an index from the array that is beyond what is currently being displayed in the tableview?
All I am trying to do is to replicate programmatically what a user would do with their index finger as they scroll down the table.
My specific table displays 9 rows. My array has 20+ items. As the UIViewController loads, it retrieves the row number that should be selected (from an integer stored in NSUserDefaults). But I find that it will only scroll to the correct array position if that integer value is between 0 and 8. If it is 9 or greater, nothing happens, and I can't figure out how to make it respond to this. I've looked at all the UITableViewDelegate methods and none seems to address this.
What I've been doing to scroll and select a specific row is this (example arbitrarily selecting row 11):
[self.tableView scrollToRowAtIndexPath:[NSIndexPath indexPathForRow:11 inSection:0]
atScrollPosition:UITableViewScrollPositionTop
animated:YES];
[self.tableView selectRowAtIndexPath:[NSIndexPath indexPathForRow:11 inSection:0]
animated:YES
scrollPosition:UITableViewScrollPositionTop];
Can anyone help me? I assume it isn't difficult, but I'm stuck.
Thanks!

Answer 1

Your cells that are off the screen ain't selecting because you are using reusable cells. The cells from the visible screen will be used later, it isn't that all 100 cells are cached and each cell is responsible for each row. What it means is that they could or couldn't have something in it already. For example, lets say you have cell for row 1. When it comes off the screen, in the next few cells it will be reused as cell 15 or something, and if it had selected properties, it will still have it. It is like a new job and you get a desk from the developer before you - you could have desk with his trash, but it could also be clean.
I wouldn't select them as you select them by method, but in if statement in your cellForRowAtIndexPath. Something along the lines (added comments):
- (UITableViewCell *) tableView:(UITableView *)tableView cellForRowAtIndexPath:(NSIndexPath *)indexPath
{
static NSString *cellIdentifier = #"Cell";
// When using method with forIndexPath you don't have to check for nil because you will always get cell
MyTableCell *cell = [tableView dequeueReusableCellWithIdentifier:cellIdentifier forIndexPath:indexPath];
MyObj *obj = [self.myArray objectAtIndex:indexPath.row];
cell.location.text = obj.location.location_description;
// other formatting, text display, image loading, etc.
if ([self.selectedObjects containsObject:obj]) {
// do some selecting stuff
} else {
// but don't forget to unselect because you can get already selected cell
}
return cell;
}
Edit: To select invisible cell, first scroll to it, then select:
[self.tableView scrollToRowAtIndexPath:indexPath atScrollPosition:UITableViewScrollPositionTop animated:YES];
[self.tableView selectRowAtIndexPath:indexPath animated:YES scrollPosition:UITableViewScrollPositionTop];

Answer 2

Try using UITableViewScrollPositionBottom instead of UITableViewScrollPositionNone
That is use this code
[self.tableView selectRowAtIndexPath:[NSIndexPath indexPathForRow:10 inSection:0]
animated:YES
scrollPosition:UITableViewScrollPositionBottom];

Answer 3

I figured this out. My code was running in viewDidLoad which is too early. I needed to move it to viewDidAppear. At least I know that I am not losing my mind.