UIView vs UITableCellView to show user posts - ios

Question

My app has a home screen where I show user posts loaded from the server. My problem is that I use UIView for each post, but it takes up a lot of space (also the user keeps on scrolling making it more memory consuming). Ex:
UIView* box=[[UIView alloc]initWithFrame:CGRectMake(0, postY, maxWidth, 500)];
[box setTag:(NSInteger)[post_id[i] integerValue]];
[box setBackgroundColor:[UIColor whiteColor]];
//Profile pic+++
UIImageView* profile_img=[[UIImageView alloc] initWithFrame:CGRectMake(10, 10, 30, 30)];
profile_img.layer.cornerRadius=profile_img.frame.size.width/2; //Make it round
profile_img.layer.masksToBounds=YES; //Make it round
profile_img.layer.borderWidth=0.5;
profile_img.layer.borderColor=[rgb(214, 222, 231) CGColor];
[box addSubview:profile_img];
And so on...
Does anyone know a better way of doing this? I tough of UITableCellView but it seems to be odd doing this task this way

Answer 1

I recommend you use a UITableViewController and then subclass UITableViewCell to create a custom cell for you to display the data. A UITableViewController instance contains a UITableView and you display the data by setting it in your custom UITableViewCell subclass. So basically, a UITableView contains various UITableViewCell and use the delegate methods to respond to events and actions on your table.
// YourCustomTableViewCell.h
#import <UIKit/UIKit.h>
#interface YourCustomTableViewCell : UITableViewCell
// Setup the properties for the cell, e.g
#property (strong, nonatomic) IBOutlet UIImageView *profileImageView; // Connect to outlet in storyboard file
#end
// YourCustomTableViewCell.m
#import "YourCustomTableViewCell.h"
#implementation YourCustomTableViewCell
- (id)initWithStyle:(UITableViewCellStyle)style reuseIdentifier:(NSString *)reuseIdentifier
{
self = [super initWithStyle:style reuseIdentifier:reuseIdentifier];
if (self) {
// Initialization code
self.profileImageView = [[UIImageView alloc] initWithFrame:CGRectMake(10, 10, 30, 30)];
}
return self;
}
- (void)awakeFromNib
{
// Use this method to setup frames and sizes of your properties
self.profileImageView.layer.cornerRadius = profileImageView.frame.size.width/2; //Make it round
self.profileImageView.layer.masksToBounds = YES; //Make it round
self.profileImageView.layer.borderWidth=0.5;
self.profileImageView.layer.borderColor = [rgb(214, 222, 231) CGColor];
}
#end
// YourTableViewController.h
#import <UIKit/UIKit.h>
#interface YourTableViewController : UITableViewController
#end
// YourTableViewController.m
#import "YourTableViewController.h"
#import "YourCustomTableViewCell.h"
#interface YourTableViewController ()
#end
#implementation YourTableViewController
- (void)viewDidLoad
{
// Setup your data source for the table
self.tableView.dataSource = self;
// Setup other stuff after loading the view
}
#pragma mark - Table view data source
- (NSInteger)numberOfSectionsInTableView:(UITableView *)tableView
{
return 1; // Return the number of sections you want in the table view
}
- (NSInteger)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView numberOfRowsInSection:(NSInteger)section
{
// Return the number of rows for each section, in your case this would be something like this
return self.posts.count; // If your data is stored in an array
}
- (UITableViewCell *)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView cellForRowAtIndexPath:(NSIndexPath *)indexPath
{
static NSString *identifier = #"YourCustomCell";
YourCustomTableViewCell *cell = [tableView dequeueReusableCellWithIdentifier:identifier forIndexPath:indexPath];
if (!cell){
cell = [[YourCustomTableViewCell alloc] initWithStyle:UITableViewCellStyleDefault reuseIdentifier:identifier];
}
// Configure the cell...
// Here you add the code to display the data in the cell e.g.
[cell.profileImageView setImage:yourImageToDisplay];
return cell;
}
#end

Answer 2

As the comment said, you'd better choose UITableView as the posts' container and inherit from UITableViewCell as your box view.
Detailedly speaking much more, suppose the class inherited from UITableViewCell named MyTableViewCell, and you treat its contentView as your UIView *box. After that, you could tell the UITableView to use your MyTableViewCell as the Cell by sending him registerClass:forCellReuseIdentifier:.
Then, you can get MyTableViewCell instance by sending UITableView the
dequeueReusableCellWithIdentifier:forIndexPath: message. After being bound data (telling him display what posts), this instance can be returned to UITableView, which will arrange everything for you. Besides, these usually should be done in the UITableView's dataSource method - (UITableViewCell *)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView cellForRowAtIndexPath:(NSIndexPath *)indexPath.