Stuck understanding how to create a table with multiple columns in iOS Swift - ios

Question

I've spent the better half of the day so far researching and trying to understand how to make a table with multiple columns. Embarrassingly, I am still quite new to Swift and programming in general so a lot of the stuff I've read and found aren't helping me too much.
I have basically found exactly what I want to create with this gentleman's blo:
http://www.brightec.co.uk/blog/uicollectionview-using-horizontal-and-vertical-scrolling-sticky-rows-and-columns
However, even with his Github I'm still confused. It seems as if he did not use Storyboard at all (and for my project I've been using storyboard a lot). Am I correct in assuming this?
What I have so far is a UICollectionView embedded in a navigation controller. From here, I have created a new cocoa touch class file subclassed in the CollectionView. But from here is where I'm not entirely sure where to go.
If I can have some direction as to where to go from here or how to properly set it up that would be GREATLY appreciated.
Thanks so much in advance!

Answer 1

IOS 10, XCode 8, Swift 3.0
I found an awesome tutorial on this. thanks to Kyle Andrews
I created a vertical table which can be scrollable on both directions by subclassing UICollectionViewLayout. Below is the code.
class CustomLayout: UICollectionViewLayout {
let CELL_HEIGHT: CGFloat = 50
let CELL_WIDTH: CGFloat = 180
var cellAttributesDictionary = Dictionary<IndexPath, UICollectionViewLayoutAttributes>()
var contentSize = CGSize.zero
override var collectionViewContentSize: CGSize {
get {
return contentSize
}
}
var dataSourceDidUpdate = true
override func prepare() {
let STATUS_BAR_HEIGHT = UIApplication.shared.statusBarFrame.height
let NAV_BAR_HEIGHT = UINavigationController().navigationBar.frame.size.height
collectionView?.bounces = false
if !dataSourceDidUpdate {
let yOffSet = collectionView!.contentOffset.y
for section in 0 ..< collectionView!.numberOfSections {
if section == 0 {
for item in 0 ..< collectionView!.numberOfItems(inSection: section) {
let cellIndexPath = IndexPath(item: item, section: section)
if let attrs = cellAttributesDictionary[cellIndexPath] {
var frame = attrs.frame
frame.origin.y = yOffSet + STATUS_BAR_HEIGHT + NAV_BAR_HEIGHT
attrs.frame = frame
}
}
}
}
return
}
dataSourceDidUpdate = false
for section in 0 ..< collectionView!.numberOfSections {
for item in 0 ..< collectionView!.numberOfItems(inSection: section) {
let cellIndexPath = IndexPath(item: item, section: section)
let xPos = CGFloat(item) * CELL_WIDTH
let yPos = CGFloat(section) * CELL_HEIGHT
let cellAttributes = UICollectionViewLayoutAttributes(forCellWith: cellIndexPath)
cellAttributes.frame = CGRect(x: xPos, y: yPos, width: CELL_WIDTH, height: CELL_HEIGHT)
// Determine zIndex based on cell type.
if section == 0 && item == 0 {
cellAttributes.zIndex = 4
} else if section == 0 {
cellAttributes.zIndex = 3
} else if item == 0 {
cellAttributes.zIndex = 2
} else {
cellAttributes.zIndex = 1
}
cellAttributesDictionary[cellIndexPath] = cellAttributes
}
}
let contentWidth = CGFloat(collectionView!.numberOfItems(inSection: 0)) * CELL_WIDTH
let contentHeight = CGFloat(collectionView!.numberOfSections) * CELL_HEIGHT
contentSize = CGSize(width: contentWidth, height: contentHeight)
}
override func layoutAttributesForElements(in rect: CGRect) -> [UICollectionViewLayoutAttributes]? {
var attributesInRect = [UICollectionViewLayoutAttributes]()
for cellAttrs in cellAttributesDictionary.values {
if rect.intersects(cellAttrs.frame) {
attributesInRect.append(cellAttrs)
}
}
return attributesInRect
}
override func layoutAttributesForItem(at indexPath: IndexPath) -> UICollectionViewLayoutAttributes? {
return cellAttributesDictionary[indexPath]
}
override func shouldInvalidateLayout(forBoundsChange newBounds: CGRect) -> Bool {
return true
}
}
Below is my CollectionViewController Code.
import UIKit
private let reuseIdentifier = "Cell"
class VerticalCVC: UICollectionViewController {
override func viewDidLoad() {
super.viewDidLoad()
collectionView?.isScrollEnabled = true
}
// MARK: UICollectionViewDataSource
override func numberOfSections(in collectionView: UICollectionView) -> Int {
return 20
}
override func collectionView(_ collectionView: UICollectionView, numberOfItemsInSection section: Int) -> Int {
return 10
}
override func collectionView(_ collectionView: UICollectionView, cellForItemAt indexPath: IndexPath) -> UICollectionViewCell {
let cell = collectionView.dequeueReusableCell(withReuseIdentifier: reuseIdentifier, for: indexPath) as! CustomCell
if indexPath.section == 0 {
cell.backgroundColor = UIColor.darkGray
cell.titleLabel.textColor = UIColor.white
} else {
cell.backgroundColor = UIColor.white
cell.titleLabel.textColor = UIColor.black
}
cell.titleLabel.text = "section: \(indexPath.section) && row: \(indexPath.row)"
return cell
}
}
To force CollectionView to use Custom Layout instead of UICollectionViwFlowLayout check below image.
Result:
Portrait mode
landscape mode

Answer 2

One approach is to use a custom cell in a tableviewcontroller. Your story board consists of a table in which the cell is a custom cell with UILabels for columns laid out next to each other (with properly defined constraints).
Example code for the controllers looks like:
import UIKit
class TableViewController: UITableViewController {
override func viewDidLoad() {
super.viewDidLoad()
}
override func didReceiveMemoryWarning() {
super.didReceiveMemoryWarning()
}
// MARK: - Table view data source
override func numberOfSectionsInTableView(tableView: UITableView) -> Int {
return 1
}
override func tableView(tableView: UITableView, numberOfRowsInSection section: Int) -> Int {
return 3
}
override func tableView(tableView: UITableView, cellForRowAtIndexPath indexPath: NSIndexPath) -> UITableViewCell {
let cell = tableView.dequeueReusableCellWithIdentifier("reuseIdentifier", forIndexPath: indexPath) as TableViewCell
cell.column1.text = "1" // fill in your value for column 1 (e.g. from an array)
cell.column2.text = "2" // fill in your value for column 2
return cell
}
}
and:
import UIKit
class TableViewCell: UITableViewCell {
#IBOutlet weak var column1: UILabel!
#IBOutlet weak var column2: UILabel!
override func awakeFromNib() {
super.awakeFromNib()
// Initialization code
}
override func setSelected(selected: Bool, animated: Bool) {
super.setSelected(selected, animated: animated)
// Configure the view for the selected state
}
}

Answer 3

In IB I set up a tableview and added a stackview in the content view (can be done programmatically). The labels are setup programmatically since it allows me to set the width of each column as a fraction of the cell width. Also, I acknowledge that some of the calculations inside the table view cellForRow method should be moved out.
import UIKit
class tableViewController: UITableViewController {
var firstTime = true
var width = CGFloat(0.0)
var height = CGFloat(0.0)
var cellRect = CGRectMake(0.0,0.0,0.0,0.0)
let colors:[UIColor] = [
UIColor.greenColor(),
UIColor.yellowColor(),
UIColor.lightGrayColor(),
UIColor.blueColor(),
UIColor.cyanColor()
]
override func viewDidLoad() {
super.viewDidLoad()
// workaround to get the cell width
cellRect = CGRectMake(0, 0, self.tableView.frame.size.width ,44);
}
override func didReceiveMemoryWarning() {
super.didReceiveMemoryWarning()
}
// MARK: - Table view data source
override func numberOfSectionsInTableView(tableView: UITableView) -> Int {
return 3
}
override func tableView(tableView: UITableView, numberOfRowsInSection section: Int) -> Int {
return 1
}
var cellWidth = CGFloat(0.0)
var cellHeight = CGFloat(0.0)
let widths = [0.2,0.3,0.3,0.2]
let labels = ["0","1","2","3"]
override func tableView(tableView: UITableView, cellForRowAtIndexPath indexPath: NSIndexPath) -> UITableViewCell {
let cell = tableView.dequeueReusableCellWithIdentifier("cell", forIndexPath: indexPath)
let v = cell.contentView.subviews[0] // points to stack view
// Note: using w = v.frame.width picks up the width assigned by xCode.
cellWidth = cellRect.width-20.0 // work around to get a right width
cellHeight = cellRect.height
var x:CGFloat = 0.0
for i in 0 ..< labels.count {
let wl = cellWidth * CGFloat(widths[i])
let lFrame = CGRect(origin:CGPoint(x: x,y: 0),size: CGSize(width:wl,height: cellHeight))
let label = UILabel(frame: lFrame)
label.textAlignment = .Center
label.text = labels[i]
v.addSubview(label)
x = x + wl
print("i = ",i,v.subviews[i])
v.subviews[i].backgroundColor = colors[i]
}
return cell
}
}