Empty Cells in TableView with Custom TableViewCell - Swift - ios

Question

I am currently learning Swift programatically. I am wanting to add a tableView to a viewController (for the purpose of being able to manipulate the constraints later) and customize the cells with a TableViewCell.
I can do this with my eyes closed when using the storyboard, but when I try to do it with just straight code I have empty cells.
My storyboard is comprised of one (1) empty viewController that has the custom class of ViewController
I have looked at others with similar issues but non of the solutions have worked. Would love to know what I am overlooking (probably something simple). Thanks in advance for the help!
ViewController.swift:
import UIKit
class ViewController: UIViewController, UITableViewDelegate, UITableViewDataSource{
var tableView: UITableView = UITableView()
var items: [String] = ["Viper", "X", "Games"]
override func viewDidLoad() {
tableView.frame = CGRectMake(0, 0, view.frame.size.width, view.frame.size.height)
tableView.delegate = self
tableView.dataSource = self
tableView.registerClass(TableViewCell.self, forCellReuseIdentifier: "cell")
self.view.addSubview(tableView)
}
func tableView(tableView:UITableView, heightForRowAtIndexPath indexPath:NSIndexPath)->CGFloat
{
return 50
}
func numberOfSectionsInTableView(tableView: UITableView) -> Int {
return self.items.count
}
func tableView(tableView: UITableView, numberOfRowsInSection section: Int) -> Int {
return 3
}
func tableView(tableView: UITableView, cellForRowAtIndexPath indexPath: NSIndexPath) -> UITableViewCell {
let cell = tableView.dequeueReusableCellWithIdentifier("cell", forIndexPath: indexPath) as! TableViewCell
//cell.textLabel?.text = self.items[indexPath.row]
cell.companyName.text = "name"
return cell
}
override func didReceiveMemoryWarning() {
super.didReceiveMemoryWarning()
// Dispose of any resources that can be recreated.
}
}
TableViewCell:
import UIKit
class TableViewCell: UITableViewCell {
var companyName = UILabel()
override func awakeFromNib() {
super.awakeFromNib()
// Initialization code
companyName.frame = CGRectMake(0, 0, 200, 20)
companyName.translatesAutoresizingMaskIntoConstraints = false
contentView.addSubview(companyName)
}
override func setSelected(selected: Bool, animated: Bool) {
super.setSelected(selected, animated: animated)
// Configure the view for the selected state
}
}

Answer 1

Hello #Michael First thing is you should only use awakeFromNib when you are using a .xib(Nib) and in your case you are using custom class without such xib so, you should use
override init(style: UITableViewCellStyle, reuseIdentifier: String?){
super.init(style: style, reuseIdentifier: reuseIdentifier)
companyName = UILabel(frame: CGRectMake(0, 0, 200, 20))
contentView.addSubview(companyName)
}
required init?(coder aDecoder: NSCoder) {
super.init(coder: aDecoder)
}
also you should initialise your label before using it.
this will solve your problem.
Read apple's documentation for subclassing UITableViewCell here.

Answer 2

If you want your custom cell to load from some custom xib you do sometimes like:
tableView.registerNib(UINib(nibName: "CustomTableViewCell", bundle: NSBundle.mainBundle()), forCellReuseIdentifier: "CustomTableViewCell")
And you should have CustomTableViewCell.xib file where you have table view cell with reuse identifier CustomTableViewCell

Answer 3

Checkout how your cell's companyLabel is laid out. Does it exist or no?
In your code, I replaced companyLabel with default textLabel and it worked for me.
cell.textLabel!.text = self.items[indexPath.row]

Answer 4

I think awakeFromNib is not called because you do not register a nib but a class. Try this instead:
class TableViewCell: UITableViewCell {
let companyName = UILabel()
override init(style: UITableViewCellStyle, reuseIdentifier: String?) {
super.init(style: style, reuseIdentifier: reuseIdentifier)
// Initialization code
companyName.frame = CGRectMake(0, 0, 200, 20)
companyName.translatesAutoresizingMaskIntoConstraints = false
contentView.addSubview(companyName)
}
required init?(coder aDecoder: NSCoder) {
super.init(coder: aDecoder)
}
}