Programatically creating the custom UICollectionViewCell and setting the properties - ios

Question

I've been trying to configure a custom UICollectionViewCell that is supposed to present a UIView consisting of a few subviews generated with a custom method.
The problem is that when I try to pass the needed data from -cellForItemAtIndexPath to the cell's properties (NSStrings) the app crashes and the data doesn't seem to be passed at all, because NSLog returns (null) for all of the properties.
I thought that the problem was with the properties not being initialized, but when I initialized them in -initWithFrame, they didn't return any values. I tried to use the -initWithCoder and -awakeFromNib and it didn't work.
I also tried to utilize a custom method that would set the properties for me. While it seems to be working, I can't seem to find a way to add the generated view to the cell's view, as using [self.contentView addSubview:...] seems to be adding every generated view to every cell in the Collection View.
If you guys could help me out, I would be much grateful - I've spent my entire day on this, and I just can't get it to work. Perhaps I should do it differently?
My custom collection view cell's .h file:
#import "SHDesignChicago.h"
#interface SHDesignChicagoCollectionViewCell : UICollectionViewCell
#property (strong, nonatomic) NSString *name;
#property (strong, nonatomic) NSString *date;
#property (strong, nonatomic) NSString *going;
#property (strong, nonatomic) PFFile *background;
#property (strong, nonatomic) UIView *generatedDesign;
- (void)setCellWithEventName:(NSString *)name eventDate:(NSString *)date eventGoing:(NSString *)going eventBackground:(PFFile *)background;
#end
And my custom collection view cell's .m file:
#import "SHDesignChicagoCollectionViewCell.h"
#implementation SHDesignChicagoCollectionViewCell
- (void)setCellWithEventName:(NSString *)name eventDate:(NSString *)date eventGoing:(NSString *)going eventBackground:(PFFile *)background {
UIImage *backgroundImage = [[UIImage alloc] initWithData:[background getData]];
NSLog(#"Event details:\nName: %#\nDate: %#\nGoing: %#\nBackground: %#", name, date, going, background);
self.generatedDesign = [SHDesignChicago designWithName:name date:date going:going background:backgroundImage frame:self.frame];
}
- (id)initWithFrame:(CGRect)frame {
self = [super initWithFrame:frame];
if (self) {
//self.autoresizesSubviews = YES;
__block UIImage *backgroundImage;
[self.background getDataInBackgroundWithBlock:^(NSData *data, NSError *error) {
if (!error) backgroundImage = [[UIImage alloc] initWithData:data];
}];
NSLog(#"Event details:\nName: %#\nDate: %#\nGoing: %#\nBackground: %#", self.name, self.date, self.going, self.background);
if (self.name != nil) {
UIView *generatedDesign = [SHDesignChicago designWithName:self.name date:self.date going:self.going background:backgroundImage frame:self.frame];
[self addSubview:generatedDesign];
}
}
return self;
}
#end
Also the cellForItemAtIndexPath:
- (UICollectionViewCell *)collectionView:(UICollectionView *)collectionView cellForItemAtIndexPath:(NSIndexPath *)indexPath {
PFObject *event = [self.events objectAtIndex:indexPath.row];
NSString *name = event[#"eventName"];
NSDate *date = event[#"eventDate"];
PFFile *background = event[#"coverPhoto"];
if ([event[#"designId"] isEqual: #(1)]) {
// SHDesignChicago
SHDesignChicagoCollectionViewCell *chicagoCell = (SHDesignChicagoCollectionViewCell *)[collectionView dequeueReusableCellWithReuseIdentifier:#"chicago" forIndexPath:indexPath];
/*
chicagoCell.name = #"TEST";
chicagoCell.date = #"TODAY, 5 PM";
chicagoCell.going = #"NATALIA KAWECKA AND 35 OTHERS ARE GOING";
chicagoCell.background = background;
*/
[chicagoCell setCellWithEventName:name eventDate:#"TODAY, 5 PM" eventGoing:#"NATALIA M AND 35 OTHERS ARE GOING" eventBackground:background];
return chicagoCell;
}
UICollectionViewCell *cell = [collectionView dequeueReusableCellWithReuseIdentifier:#"Cell" forIndexPath:indexPath];
return cell;
}