How to make a Sub Table view in a TableViewCell - ios

Question

I have a TableView displaying a list of domain :
- (void)viewDidLoad
{
[super viewDidLoad];
// Do any additional setup after loading the view.
self.tableView.dataSource = mainClass.domainList;
}
The domain list is set up like that :
-(NSInteger)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView numberOfRowsInSection:(NSInteger)section
{
return [self.domainList count];
}
-(UITableViewCell *)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView cellForRowAtIndexPath:(NSIndexPath *)indexPath
{
UITableViewCell *cell = [[UITableViewCell alloc] init];
cell.textLabel.text = [[self.domainList objectAtIndex:indexPath.row] name];
return cell;
}
This works perfectly, it displays each domain in a row of my table view.
Now i would like to add a "Sub TableView" in each cell of my Table View to display a list of documents related to the domain.
I tried that :
-(UITableViewCell *)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView cellForRowAtIndexPath:(NSIndexPath *)indexPath
{
UITableView *table = [[UITableView alloc] init];
table.dataSource = [self.domainList objectAtIndex:indexPath.row];
UITableViewCell *cell = [[UITableViewCell alloc] init];
cell.textLabel.text = [[self.domainList objectAtIndex:indexPath.row] name];
[cell.contentView addSubView table]
return cell;
}
It doesn't crash but it doesn't work neither. I mean the sublist doesn't appear anywhere.
What am i doing wrong?

Answer 1

datasource must be a class implementing the protocol UITableViewDataSource. It looks like you are setting it to a custom object. Create a separate class with the code you used to implement the first table, then set the sublist as source data. In the objc.io article “clean table view code” they explain how to make reusable datasources. Or you can just give it a try on your own.
Consider this code:
// ARRAYDATASOURCE.H
#import <Foundation/Foundation.h>
typedef void (^TableViewCellConfigureBlock)(id cell, id item);
#interface ArrayDataSource : NSObject <UITableViewDataSource>
-(id) init __attribute__((unavailable("disabled, try initWithItems:cellIdentifier:configureCellBlock")));
- (id) initWithItems:(NSArray *)anItems
cellIdentifier:(NSString *)aCellIdentifier
configureCellBlock:(TableViewCellConfigureBlock)aConfigureCellBlock;
- (id)itemAtIndexPath:(NSIndexPath *)indexPath;
#end
// ARRAYDATASOURCE.M
#import "ArrayDataSource.h"
#interface ArrayDataSource ()
#property (nonatomic, strong) NSArray *items;
#property (nonatomic, copy) NSString *cellIdentifier;
#property (nonatomic, copy) TableViewCellConfigureBlock configureCellBlock;
#end
#implementation ArrayDataSource
- (id)initWithItems:(NSArray *)anItems
cellIdentifier:(NSString *)aCellIdentifier
configureCellBlock:(TableViewCellConfigureBlock)aConfigureCellBlock
{
self = [super init];
if (self) {
self.items = anItems;
self.cellIdentifier = aCellIdentifier;
self.configureCellBlock = [aConfigureCellBlock copy];
}
return self;
}
- (id)itemAtIndexPath:(NSIndexPath *)indexPath
{
return self.items[(NSUInteger) indexPath.row];
}
#pragma mark UITableViewDataSource
- (NSInteger)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView numberOfRowsInSection:(NSInteger)section
{
return self.items.count;
}
- (UITableViewCell *)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView cellForRowAtIndexPath:(NSIndexPath *)indexPath
{
UITableViewCell *cell = [tableView dequeueReusableCellWithIdentifier:self.cellIdentifier
forIndexPath:indexPath];
id item = [self itemAtIndexPath:indexPath];
self.configureCellBlock(cell, item);
return cell;
}
#end