Programmatically created UITableView with non self datasource & delegates - ios

Question

I'd like to use an instance of a separate class as my UITableView's datasource & delegate. I create a new instance of the class that should handle this role and assign it via my tableview's properties:
autoMakesTable is defined as property:
var autoMakesTable : UITableView?
Further down:
func nextBttnTouched(sender: AnyObject) {
switch self.autoState {
case .NewOrEdit:
self.autoState = .YearEntered
// If the picker wasn't used create a new Auto with the default year value
self.auto = Auto(year: NSNumber(integerLiteral: self.yearPickerValues.count - 2), make: "", model: "", body: "", trim: "", downPaymentBudget: 0, monthlyPaymentBudget: 0)
// Prepare the make & model fields
backgroundFieldView = UIView(frame: CGRectMake(0, 0-self.view.frame.size.height/2, self.view.frame.width, self.view.frame.height/2))
backgroundFieldView!.backgroundColor = UIColor(red: 251/255, green: 251/255, blue: 251/255, alpha: 1.0)
let makeField = UITextField(frame: CGRectMake(self.view.center.x - 100, self.navigationController!.navigationBar.frame.size.height + 34, 200, 30))
makeField.delegate = self
makeField.placeholder = "Make"
makeField.addTarget(self, action: Selector("makeTextChanged:"), forControlEvents: UIControlEvents.EditingChanged)
let modelField = UITextField(frame: CGRectMake(self.view.center.x - 100, makeField.frame.origin.y + makeField.frame.size.height + 8, 200, 30))
modelField.placeholder = "Model"
let newAutoMakesTableData = AutoMakesTableData()
autoMakesTable = UITableView(frame: CGRectMake(makeField.frame.origin.x, makeField.frame.origin.y + makeField.frame.height + 2, makeField.frame.width, 100))
autoMakesTable!.dataSource = newAutoMakesTableData
autoMakesTable!.delegate = newAutoMakesTableData
self.backgroundFieldView?.addSubview(self.autoMakesTable!)
self.autoMakesTable!.reloadData()
makeField.becomeFirstResponder()
self.addBorderToTextField([makeField,modelField])
self.view.addSubview(backgroundFieldView!)
// Move year picker with animation
// Update next button location while loading make / model input fields with animation
UIView.animateWithDuration(0.8, animations: { () -> Void in
self.newYearPicker?.frame.origin.y = 0
self.backgroundFieldView!.frame.origin.y = 0
self.backgroundFieldView!.addSubview(makeField)
self.backgroundFieldView?.addSubview(modelField)
//self.backgroundFieldView?.addSubview(self.autoMakesTable!)
// self.autoMakesTable!.reloadData()
})
case .YearEntered:
self.autoState = .MakeModelEntered
case .MakeModelEntered:
self.autoState = .DetailsEntered
case .DetailsEntered:
self.autoState = .BudgetEntered
case .BudgetEntered:
performSegueWithIdentifier("next", sender: self)
}
}
It's added onto the view hierarchy (I intact see an empty tableview with a few rows) later on. I also try to call reloadData() on it to no effect.
AutoMakesTableData is defined like so:
import UIKit
class AutoMakesTableData: NSObject, UITableViewDataSource, UITableViewDelegate {
// Auto makes URL
// This should be hosted online so changes can be made w/out having to re-submit the app
let urlForMakes = NSBundle.mainBundle().URLForResource("makes", withExtension: "JSON")
var autoMakes : [String]?
override init() {
super.init()
self.populateAutoMakesFromURL(urlForMakes!)
}
func tableView(tableView: UITableView, numberOfRowsInSection section: Int) -> Int {
return 1
}
func tableView(tableView: UITableView, cellForRowAtIndexPath indexPath: NSIndexPath) -> UITableViewCell {
let aCell = tableView.dequeueReusableCellWithIdentifier("cell", forIndexPath: indexPath)
print("cell created")
return aCell
}
func tableView(tableView: UITableView, didSelectRowAtIndexPath indexPath: NSIndexPath) {
print("selected row")
}
private func populateAutoMakesFromURL(url: NSURL) {
do {
let jsonAutoMakesData = try NSData(contentsOfURL: url, options: NSDataReadingOptions.DataReadingMappedIfSafe)
do {
let jsonAutoMakes = try NSJSONSerialization.JSONObjectWithData(jsonAutoMakesData, options: NSJSONReadingOptions.MutableContainers) as! [String:[String]]
self.autoMakes = jsonAutoMakes["makes"]
// Sort array alphabetically
self.autoMakes?.sortInPlace(<)
} catch let error as NSError {
print(error.userInfo.debugDescription)
}
} catch let error as NSError {
print(error.userInfo.debugDescription)
}
}
}
I can access the autoMakes array property on this instance without a problem.
The table view shows up but none of the print statements fire (for a cell at index path or for did select row).

Answer 1

I don't see anywhere where you install the table view into the view hierarchy. If you don't install the view controller into the active view hierarchy it won't do anything.
That is my guess as to what's going wrong.
It's ok to have a separate object serve as the data source/delegate of the view controller.
EDIT:
Based on discussion below this answer, it turns out the problem was that the OP was creating his AutoMakesTableData in a method and assigning it to a local variable but not saving any other strong references to it.
When the method that created the AutoMakesTableData object returned, the local variable went out of scope, there were no more strong references to the object, and it was deallocated.
A table view's delegate and dataSource properties are weak, so those get zeroed out when the object is deallocated. The table view no longer has a data source, so nothing happens.