Bug in iOS with UITableViewCells? - ios

Question

I have a UITableViewController in a Storyboard in my iOS project. I have a special TableViewCell MessageCell with a UIView inside of a specific class.
When I call tableView.dequeueReusableCellWithIdentifier: I get a UITableViewCell with only this subview tree:
<UITableViewCell: 0x16da5e90; frame = (0 0; 0 0); layer = <CALayer: 0x16da5120>>
<UITableViewCellContentView: 0x16da6210; frame = (0 0; 0 0); clipsToBounds = YES; opaque = NO; gestureRecognizers = <NSArray: 0x16da5510>; layer = <CALayer: 0x16da6280>>
<_UITableViewCellSeparatorView: 0x16da62b0; frame = (0 -1; 15 1); layer = <CALayer: 0x16da52d0>>
But when I call tableView.dequeueReusableCellWithIdentifier:forIndexPath, I get this subview tree:
<UITableViewCell: 0x146f3a90; frame = (0 148.93; 320 54.93); autoresize = W; layer = <CALayer: 0x146f2ff0>>
<UITableViewCellContentView: 0x146f3020; frame = (0 0; 320 54.43); opaque = NO; gestureRecognizers = <NSArray: 0x146f3e90>; layer = <CALayer: 0x146f3180>>
<Heaven_Help.MessageView: 0x146f3f70; frame = (0 0; 320 568); autoresize = W+H; tag = 99; layer = <CALayer: 0x146f4af0>>
<UIImageView: 0x146f4010; frame = (0 0; 0 0); userInteractionEnabled = NO; layer = <CALayer: 0x146f4090>>
<UILabel: 0x146f40c0; frame = (0 0; 0 0); userInteractionEnabled = NO; layer = <_UILabelLayer: 0x146f4180>>
<UILabel: 0x146f42d0; frame = (0 0; 0 0); userInteractionEnabled = NO; layer = <_UILabelLayer: 0x146f4390>>
<_UITableViewCellSeparatorView: 0x146f31b0; frame = (0 -1; 15 1); layer = <CALayer: 0x146f3c20>>
<_UITableViewCellSeparatorView: 0x146f5170; frame = (0 -0.5; 16 0.5); layer = <CALayer: 0x146c1f40>>
The UIImageview and 2 UILabels get added in my MessageView initializer.
Who can tell me what I am not getting?
As requested: my code from tableView:cellForRowAtIndexPath::
func tableView(tableView: UITableView, cellForRowAtIndexPath indexPath: NSIndexPath) -> UITableViewCell {
let cell = tableView.dequeueReusableCellWithIdentifier("MessageCell", forIndexPath: indexPath) as UITableViewCell
(cell.viewWithTag(99) as MessageView).setMessage(conversation[indexPath.row])
return cell
}

Answer 1

In short, don't use dequeueReusableCellWithIdentifier:.
dequeueReusableCellWithIdentifier: returns:
A UITableViewCell object with the associated identifier or nil if no such object exists in the reusable-cell queue.
This method is typically used in a pattern like this without a storyboard:
MessageCell *cell = [tableView dequeueReusableCellWithIdentifier:#"messageCell"];
if (!cell) {
cell = [[MessageCell alloc] initWithStyle:…reuseIdentifier:#"messageCell"];
// set properties that are true for EVERY cell
}
// set properties from your data model for THIS cell (usually strings and images)
return cell;
(With a storyboard, the method will always return a cell.)
The newer methods (like dequeueReusableCellWithIdentifier:forIndexPath:) are guaranteed to return a cell, so you don't need to use this pattern any more.
The reason you're getting a UITableViewCell back from dequeueReusableCellWithIdentifier: is because you inserted one into the reusable-cell queue with that identifier.