collectionView can't reloadItemsAtIndexPaths at current scene - ios

Question

First, I create a collection view controller with a storyboard, and subclass a cell (called RouteCardCell).
The cell lazy loads an image from Web. To accomplish this, I create a thread to load the image. After the image loads, I call the method reloadItemsAtIndexPaths: to display the image.
Loading the image works correctly, but there's a problem displaying the image. My cells display the new image only after scrolling them off-screen and back on.
Why don't my images display properly after reloading the item?
Here's the relevant code:
override func collectionView(collectionView: UICollectionView, cellForItemAtIndexPath indexPath: NSIndexPath) -> UICollectionViewCell {
let cell = collectionView.dequeueReusableCellWithReuseIdentifier(reuseIdentifier, forIndexPath: indexPath) as RouteCardCell
let road = currentRoads[indexPath.item]
cell.setText(road.title)
var imageData = self.imageCache.objectForKey(NSString(format: "%d", indexPath.item)) as? NSData
if let imageData_ = imageData{
cell.setImage(UIImage(data: imageData_))
}
else{
cell.setImage(nil)
dispatch_async(dispatch_get_global_queue(DISPATCH_QUEUE_PRIORITY_DEFAULT, 0), { () -> Void in
var Data = self.getImageFromModel(road, index:indexPath.item)
if let Data_ = Data{
self.imageCache.setObject(Data_, forKey: NSString(format: "%d", indexPath.item))
NSLog("Download Image for %d", indexPath.item)
}
else{
println("nil Image")
}
})
self.reloadCollectionViewDataAtIndexPath(indexPath)
}
return cell
}
func reloadCollectionViewDataAtIndexPath(indexPath:NSIndexPath){
var indexArray = NSArray(object: indexPath)
self.collectionView!.reloadItemsAtIndexPaths(indexArray)
}
func getImageFromModel(road:Road, index:Int)->NSData?{
var images = self.PickTheData!.pickRoadImage(road.roadId)
var image: Road_Image? = images.firstObject as? Road_Image
if let img = image{
return img.image
}
else{
return nil
}
}

Answer 1

You're calling reloadCollectionViewDataAtIndexPath(indexPath) before the image is done downloading. Instead of calling it outside of your dispatch_async block, add another block to go back on the main queue once it's done.
For example:
dispatch_async(dispatch_get_global_queue(DISPATCH_QUEUE_PRIORITY_DEFAULT, 0), { () -> Void in
// download the image…
// got the image, now update the UI
dispatch_async(dispatch_get_main_queue()) {
self.reloadCollectionViewDataAtIndexPath(indexPath)
}
})
This is a pretty tough problem in iOS development. There are other cases you haven't handled, like what happens if the user is scrolling really quickly and you end up with a bunch of downloads that the user doesn't even need to see. You may want to try using a library like SDWebImage instead, which has many improvements over your current implementation.