Why is a cell valid but its elements are nil after creation - ios

Question

This question applies to tableViews and to collectionViews.
Lets talk about a collection view using a prototype cell.
Suppose the prototype cell is assigned to MyCollectionViewCell class.
Suppose that this class has two properties: countryName and countryImage (a label and a imageView, respectively).
Why I cannot assign values for name and country during this method? and what is the best way to solve that?
During this method...
- (UICollectionViewCell *)collectionView:(UICollectionView *)collectionView cellForItemAtIndexPath:(NSIndexPath *)indexPath {
MyCollectionViewCell *cell = (MyCollectionViewCell *)[collectionView dequeueReusableCellWithReuseIdentifier:reuseIdentifier forIndexPath:indexPath];
NSArray *section = self.arrayData[indexPath.section];
NSDictionary *itemOnSection = section[indexPath.row];
// Configure the cell
UIImage *image = [UIImage imageNamed:itemOnSection[#"image"]];
NSString *name = itemOnSection[#"name"];
cell.countryImage.image = image;
cell.countryName.text = name;
return cell;
}
what will happen with this method is that cell will be a valid object but cell.countryImage and cell.countryName will be nil.
what I don't understand is this: if the cell exists and is a valid object according to the debugger, why its elements are not initialized. What is the best way to solve that?
this is MyCollectionViewCell.h
#interface MyCollectionViewCell : UICollectionViewCell
#property (weak, nonatomic) IBOutlet UIImageView *countryImage;
#property (weak, nonatomic) IBOutlet UILabel *countryName;
#end
the outlets are connected to the elements on the prototype cell and the prototype cell has this class assigned.
MyCollectionViewCell.m has nothing.

Answer 1

How are you registering views to be used by the collection view?
If you want to use a cell defined in a nib/xib, you will have to:
registerNib:forCellWithReuseIdentifier:
as opposed to
registerClass:forCellWithReuseIdentifier:
This should then ensure the cell sets up any outlets :)

Answer 2

In the UICollectionView documentations is section about the cell.
According to the cell:
Return Value The cell object at the corresponding index path or nil if
the cell is not visible or indexPath is out of range.
Probably you have problem of setting resource in
MyCollectionViewCell
Firstly create property in you're cell
#property (nonatomic, retain) NSString *countryNameTitle;
Than method to set name
//method to set name that should be called from cellForItemAtIndexPath
-(void)setCountryName
{
if ([countryNameTitle length] != 0)
{
countryName.text = countryNameTitle;
}
}
And than set name from delegate
- (UICollectionViewCell *)collectionView:(UICollectionView *)collectionView cellForItemAtIndexPath:(NSIndexPath *)indexPath {
MyCollectionViewCell *cell = (MyCollectionViewCell *)[collectionView dequeueReusableCellWithReuseIdentifier:reuseIdentifier forIndexPath:indexPath];
NSArray *section = self.arrayData[indexPath.section];
NSDictionary *itemOnSection = section[indexPath.row];
// Configure the cell
UIImage *image = [UIImage imageNamed:itemOnSection[#"image"]];
NSString *name = itemOnSection[#"name"];
cell.countryImage.image = image;
cell.countryNameTitle = name;
[cell setCountryName];
return cell;
}