How to know which cell in tableview has been selected - uitableview

Question

I have got a view controller which contains a tableview, this tableview contains dynamic cells done in storyboard. Most cells contain a textfield and in the view controller i need to detect when the textfields have been selected and which cell it was. (I load a popover pointing to the cell, and this must be called from the view controller).
Cell code
import UIKit
class AddNew_Date_Cell: UITableViewCell {
#IBOutlet var Label: UILabel!
#IBOutlet var textField: UITextField!
func loadItem(var data:NSArray) {
Label.text = data[0] as? String
}
}
ViewControllerCode
import UIKit
class AddNewDetailView: UIViewController, UITableViewDelegate, UITableViewDataSource, UIPopoverPresentationControllerDelegate, UITextFieldDelegate {
#IBOutlet var tableView: UITableView!
var items : NSMutableArray!
override func viewDidLoad() {
super.viewDidLoad()
}
override func didReceiveMemoryWarning() {
super.didReceiveMemoryWarning()
}
func tableView(tableView: UITableView, estimatedHeightForRowAtIndexPath indexPath: NSIndexPath) -> CGFloat {
return UITableViewAutomaticDimension
}
func tableView(tableView: UITableView, heightForRowAtIndexPath indexPath: NSIndexPath) -> CGFloat {
return UITableViewAutomaticDimension
}
func tableView(tableView: UITableView, numberOfRowsInSection section: Int) -> Int {
return items.count
}
func tableView(tableView: UITableView, cellForRowAtIndexPath indexPath: NSIndexPath) -> UITableViewCell {
switch(items[indexPath.row][1] as! Int)
{
...
case 2:
var cell:AddNew_Date_Cell = tableView.dequeueReusableCellWithIdentifier("AN_Date_Cell") as! AddNew_Date_Cell
cell.loadItem(items[indexPath.row] as! NSArray, view: self)
cell.textField.delegate = self
return cell
...
}
}
func tableView(tableView: UITableView, didSelectRowAtIndexPath indexPath: NSIndexPath) {
}
func textFieldShouldBeginEditing(textField: UITextField) -> Bool {
//Need to know here which cell the textfield is attached to
turn true
}
}
Each time i select a textfield view I'm hitting a breakpoint in "textFieldShouldBeginEditing" however i have no idea which cell its in.
if i select the textfield in a cell "didSelectRowAtIndexPath" is never hit.
How do i find out which cell has been selected.
Thanks

Answer 1

You need to set the interactions from user off while the text field is not been edit, in cellForRowAtIndexPath add this line
cell.textField.userInteractionEnabled = false
In the didSelectRowAtIndexPath you will need to enable again for edition otherwise the user won't be to touche it if they want to and call first responder:
cell.textField.userInteractionEnabled = true
cell.textField.becomeFirstResponder()
once the user finish editing in textFieldShouldEndEditing you disable the interaction again:
cell.textField.userInteractionEnabled = false
This way the cellForRowAtIndexPath will always be called but will be up to you to set the user to use the correct UITextField.
I hope that helps you

Answer 2

You could use a custom cell class with a delegate protocol letting you know when a text field has started editing.
The custom cell would be the delegate of the text field and the view controller would be the delegate of the custom cell.
For a basic example, your cell class could look like the following:
import UIKit
protocol TextFieldCellDelegate {
func textFieldCellDidBeginEditing(cell: TextFieldCell)
}
class TextFieldCell: UITableViewCell {
#IBOutlet weak var textField: UITextField!
var delegate: TextFieldCellDelegate?
}
extension TextFieldCell: UITextFieldDelegate {
func textFieldDidBeginEditing(textField: UITextField) {
delegate?.textFieldCellDidBeginEditing(self)
}
}
And your view controller would implement the method like this:
extension ViewController: TextFieldCellDelegate {
func textFieldCellDidBeginEditing(cell: TextFieldCell) {
println(cell)
// Do something with cell
}
}

Answer 3

If you want to find out the index of your cell write the below code in func textFieldShouldBeginEditing(textField: UITextField)
var index = 0
var position: CGPoint = textField.convertPoint(CGPointZero, toView: self.<your_table_outlet_name>)
if let indexPath = self.<your_table_outlet_name>.indexPathForRowAtPoint(position)
{
index = indexPath.row
}