When using a custom UITableViewCell the imageview frame is zero - ios

Question

I created a custom UITableViewCell , but want to use the standard UIImageView that is in the cell.
I notice that the frame is always zeroed , which is causing me problems
#implementation MyCustomCell
- (id)initWithStyle:(UITableViewCellStyle)style reuseIdentifier:(NSString *)reuseIdentifier
{
// the style is "default" style
self = [super initWithStyle:UITableViewCellStyleDefault reuseIdentifier:reuseIdentifier];
// I need to override the cells image
if (self) {
self.imageView.image = [UIImage imageNamed:#"MyImageToUseInThisCell"]; // The image view frame is {0,0,0,0}
}
return self;
}

Answer 1

You won't get any frame sizes in the -initWithStyle:reuseIdentifier: because the cell hasn't loaded yet which means the subviews haven't been created yet (i.e. are nil) and hence a 0 frame size.
Even for a viewController, you won't get frame size in the -initWithNibName: method.
You would be better off with:
Frame specific related stuff in -layoutSubviews
Setting an initial property in -awakeFromNib (or directly via IB)
Anyways, try this:
//does this method even run? it shouldn't for a custom UITableViewCell
//unless you've mixed up things unnecessarily
- (id)initWithStyle:(UITableViewCellStyle)style reuseIdentifier:(NSString *)reuseIdentifier
{
self = [super initWithStyle:style reuseIdentifier:reuseIdentifier];
if (self) {
NSLog(#"initWithStyle -- %#",self.myImageView);
}
return self;
}
//do frame related stuff here
-(void)layoutSubviews
{
//fyi: this method is called anytime any frame changes
NSLog(#"layoutSubviews -- %#",self.myImageView);
}
- (void)awakeFromNib
{
//fyi: this method is called when the view is pulled from the IB
// Initialization code
NSLog(#"awakeFromNib -- %#",self.myImageView);
//do you thang here
[self.myImageView setImage:[UIImage imageNamed:#"MyImageToUseInThisCell"]];
}
-layoutSubviews on SO
-awakeFromNib on SO

Answer 2

Seems that the problem is when dequeuing a custom cell with a reuse identifier and index path the custom cell base class doesn't set those properties. This is not mentioned in the docs which is very unfortunate.