UITableView from separate class - ios

Question

Case is following: I want to create UITableView from separate class.
Currently I have following:
// Menu.h
#interface Menu : UITableViewController <UITableViewDelegate, UIAlertViewDelegate> {
UITableView *tableView;
}
#property (nonatomic,retain) NSMutableArray *navigationItems;
- (void)initMenu:(UIView *)view;
#end;
Then
// Menu.m
#import <Foundation/Foundation.h>
#import "Menu.h"
#implementation Menu
- (void) initMenu:(UIView *)view {
self.navigationItems = [[NSMutableArray alloc] initWithObjects:#"One",#"Two",#"Three",#"Four",#"Five",#"Six",#"Seven",#"Eight",#"Nine",#"Ten",nil];
UIView *mainmenu=[[UIView alloc]initWithFrame:CGRectMake(0, 50, 320, 420)];
[mainmenu setBackgroundColor:[UIColor yellowColor]];
[view addSubview:mainmenu];
UITableView *menutableView = [[UITableView alloc] initWithFrame:view.bounds style:UITableViewStylePlain];
menutableView.backgroundColor = [UIColor whiteColor];
menutableView.delegate = self;
menutableView.dataSource = self;
[mainmenu addSubview:menutableView];
}
- (NSInteger)numberOfSectionsInTableView:(UITableView *)tableView {
return 1;
}
- (NSInteger)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView numberOfRowsInSection:(NSInteger)section {
return 1;
}
- (UITableViewCell *)tableView:(UITableView *)tableViewi cellForRowAtIndexPath:(NSIndexPath *)indexPath {
static NSString *CellIdentifier = #"Cell";
UITableViewCell *cell = [tableViewi dequeueReusableCellWithIdentifier:CellIdentifier];
if (cell == nil) {
cell = [[UITableViewCell alloc] initWithStyle:UITableViewCellStyleDefault reuseIdentifier:CellIdentifier];
}
cell.textLabel.text = [self.navigationItems objectAtIndex:indexPath.row];
return cell;
}
#end
And in different .m file I call method:
...
#import "Menu.h"
...
- (void)viewDidLoad
{
[super viewDidLoad];
...
Menu *menu = [[Menu alloc] init];
[menu initMenu: self.view];
}
Running this will crash application and Xcode won't give any detailed report. However, if I combine Menu.m to the .m file where I'm calling "initMenu" it won't crash.
Also if I comment out menutableView.dataSource = self; it will run with our crash (no rows in table of course...).

Answer 1

Passing a view into an init method and then creating/adding subviews in said init method is an odd design pattern. Change your Menu class to a viewcontroller, then move your UIView and UITableView declarations to the viewDidLoad method. The crash is likely happening because the tableview is trying to display data before its parent view has finished loading.