Tableview reloadData and getting CGRect of new cell - ios

Question

I have a UITableView with cards. Every time I want to add a new card after pushing the draw button I want it to be moved from the center of the view to the location in the table it should be placed with some basic animation. I have managed to get the destination of the new drawn card with this code:
cellRectInTableDrawnCard = [[self playerCardsTable] rectForRowAtIndexPath:drawnCardIndexPath];
cellInSuperviewDrawnCard = [[self playerCardsTable] convertRect:cellRectInTableDrawnCard toView:[[self playerCardsTable] superview]];
However, to determine the cellRectInTableDrawnCard I need to reload the playerCardsTable with reloadData but this shows the drawn card already. It is just a fraction of a second because I place the new card in the table with an animation which fires just after the reloadData. Doing a reload after the animation is not an option, because I don't have the drawnCardIndexPath then.
Is there a way I can get the rect without reloading the tableview? Or else, is there a way I can hide the new cell after reloadData and show it after the animation is done?
Thanks!

Answer 1

You probably want to insert the row and populate it individually and not do a complete table reload.
The code snippet shows a button that uses insertRowsAtIndexPaths:indexPathArray to add a new row which gives you the cell rect to do you animation stuff.
When you're done with animation just use reloadRowsAtIndexPaths to populate the cell value (show you're card I'd guess).
Use a bool to decide in cellForRowAtIndexPath when you should display the new card (basically after you call reloadRowsAtIndexPaths).
- (IBAction)butAddCardToHandAction:(id)sender {
// Add a blank record to the array
NSString *strCard = #"New Card";
_showCard = NO;
[_arrayHandCards addObject:strCard];
// create the index path where you want to add the card
NSIndexPath *indexPath = [NSIndexPath indexPathForRow:(_arrayHandCards.count - 1) inSection:0];
NSArray *indexPathArray = [NSArray arrayWithObjects:indexPath,nil];
// Update the table
[self.tableView beginUpdates];
[self.tableView insertRowsAtIndexPaths:indexPathArray withRowAnimation:UITableViewRowAnimationNone];
[self.tableView endUpdates];
// Ok - you got a blank record in the table, get the cell rect.
CGRect cellRectInTableDrawnCard = [[self tableView] rectForRowAtIndexPath:indexPath];
NSLog(#"My new rect has y position : %f",cellRectInTableDrawnCard.origin.y);
//Do the animation you need to do and when finished populate the selected cell
_showCard = YES;
[self.tableView reloadRowsAtIndexPaths:#[indexPath] withRowAnimation:UITableViewRowAnimationNone];
}
Code to control whats displayed in cell:
- (UITableViewCell *)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView cellForRowAtIndexPath:(NSIndexPath *)indexPath
{
static NSString *CellIdentifier = #"Cell";
UITableViewCell *cell = [tableView dequeueReusableCellWithIdentifier:CellIdentifier];
if (cell == nil) {
cell = [[UITableViewCell alloc] initWithStyle:UITableViewCellStyleDefault reuseIdentifier:CellIdentifier];
}
// Set up the cell and use boolean to decide what to show
NSString *strToDisplayInCell;
if (!_showCard)
{
strToDisplayInCell = #"";
}
else
{
NSString *strToDisplayInCell = [_arrayHandCards objectAtIndex:indexPath.row];
cell.textLabel.font = [UIFont fontWithName:#"Helvetica" size:15];
cell.textLabel.text = strToDisplayInCell;
}
return cell;
}