I'v never used UITableViewControllers or UICollectionViewControllers, because you can have the same functionality by using UIViewController with its root UIView, then adding UITableView in xib or storyboard and assigning its delegate and datasource. And I also was able to put activity indicator inside the center of root UIView.
Now the things get a little bit complicated when using UICollectionViewController where its root view is UICollectionView. I need to update some code of other guys and they put activity indicator inside UICollectionView (in storyboard). The problem is this activity indicator gets hidden when cells are reused because activity indicator view is the most bottom one. I was unable to change visibility priority storyboard and also this code in view didLoad is not working:
[self.itemsCollectionView bringSubviewToFront:self.activityIndicator];
Because labels, images and etc. views of collection view cell are placed later, during collectionView:cellForItemAtIndexPath:. I could try to call bringSubviewToFront: in collectionView:cellForItemAtIndexPath: but that would be a wrong decision. Any ideas how to achieve this when using UITableViewControllers or UICollectionViewControllers?
IMHO the only reason to use UITableViewControllers or UICollectionViewControllers is because static cells are not shown storyboards when designing layout.
UPDATE It appears iOS wraps UICollectionView inside UICollectionViewControllerWrapperView. Tried to add activity to this wrapper view in viewWillAppear:
[self.itemsCollectionView.superview addSubview:self.activityIndicator];
But with no luck - activity indicator is still is below the cells.
I'v ended in refactoring existing UICollectionViewController in storyboards: I'v opened storyboard xml file with TextEdit, searched for the screen and changed its type from collectionViewController to viewController because was unable to find another way how to change the type of controller, though I hope there will appear some more elegant way for that in the nearest future. Then, I'v wrapped collectionView inside root view and placed activityIndicator inside this view. It's proven classical approach that works like a charm.
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I have a UIViewController with a UITableView that is fed with data from the local database. When the user first launches the app (after installing) the table view is empty and I display a UIView in the middle of the table view that contains a UIImage, a UILabel and a UIButton (a call to action).
The first version of this view I built programmatically, which was no good to me because every time I tweaked something I had to build the app again. Then I switched to the storyboard but had to drag a UIView to the middle of my tableView. It is working now but I don't like the way it is, I can't edit my table view cells without having to move the UIView out of the table view.
I'd like to have a way to build this view entirely separated from my tableView (or even from my view controller in question) and then reference it in the viewDidLoad call of my view controller.
Unfortunately Xcode does not allow us to drag views directly to the storyboard so I'm pretty lost here.
Please tell me if I haven't been clear enough. I appreciate any help you could give me.
UPDATE: It'd be particularly awesome to me if I could also create a custom Swift class for this view of mine and reference it in the storyboard. And then in my viewDidLoad I could simply instantiate my custom view.
Thanks in advance.
Create a XIB file in which you can drag a view (without a view controller).
In your code you can load the XIB using NSBundle.mainBundle().loadNibNamed("MyXibName", owner:self, options:nil).
In the XIB file you can give the UIView a custom class (like you can do with view controllers in storyboard).
You then of course have to retrieve the view from the array returned by loadNibNamed and cast it to your custom class.
Generally:
Is it OK to add a UITableView as a subview of another UITableView? Or, should I create a UIView and add each UITableView to it?
Specifically:
For a ComposeTableViewController with a typeahead, like in the iPhone's native Mail app, which approach would you recommend and why?
Note: I prefer to construct things 100% programmatically (no Interface Builder).
Subclass UITableViewController.
Then, to show the typeahead results, create and add a resultsTableView as a subview of self.tableView positioned directly underneath the the cell (of self.tableView) with the typeahead text field.
The nice thing about this approach is that resultsTableView scrolls with self.tableView automatically.
But, is it OK to add a UITableView as a subview of another UITableView?
Subclass UIViewController.
Create and add tableView (custom property) as a subview of self.view.
Create and add resultsTableView also as a subview of self.view.
The annoying thing about this approach is that I have to reposition resultsTableView manually anytime self.tableView scrolls.
I think I'd prefer approach 1, but adding a UITableView as a subview of another UITableView just seems smelly to me.
TableViews cannot have subviews. You can try adding a tableview as the view of a TableViewCell, but then you have to ask yourself how it would scroll, if you tried scrolling in the subtableview would it scroll the child tableview or the parent tableview? It is much easier to present multiple tableviews within a view. This can be done easily by setting your custom viewcontroller as the datasource of both tableviews contained within its view and then comparing the tableview pointer that is sent as a parameter of the datasource method to the two tableview pointers that are IVars of your custom view controller.
Hold stuff like this in a container. Create a container view controller which only does typeahead. This container view controller will hold your main table view controller (and its table view) and it will hold the typeahead view controller (and its view).
It will keep the logic needed for the typeahead out of your main table view and as a bonus you might end up with a reusable typeahead container which could be applied to other views.
Yes it is good to go for adding UITableView in as a cell of another UITableView.
I had one issue and posted a question
Multiple Views as subviews
And requirement was like a group of controls with list of other controls. I thought that time that it will be messy if i'm going to add UITableView as a cell of UITableView.
What i found that... Boy !! it's how iOS meant to be. There is no any lag while doing this.
Tested for below functionalities:
Scrolls like a charm
Separate delegates called for each
Reordering of both UITableView cell
Swipe and remove cell
Runtime datasource update for both UITableView and reload both at the same time.
There is no any reason not to add subview UITableView.
You can do it but it is against the principle of MVC. You will be setting the delegate of a view to another view which is wrong.
I want my ViewController to be shared by a tableView and a TextView, where the TextView would appear beneath the TableView. But the TableView insists on taking over the entire scene/screen. How do I set the height of the TableView in the storyboard so I can make room for my TextView? (Please notice that I am not asking for a footer, which is actually what I am trying to change from)
The problem is that you are using a UITableViewController, which means that you get a scene with a full-screen UITableView.
To avoid this, use a normal UIViewController scene and just insert the UITableView into the interface manually (and configure its delegate and dataSource to point to the view controller).
UITableViewController is just a convenience. It doesn't do anything for you that you can't do yourself with a normal UIViewController. And in your situation, it is an inconvenience instead of a convenience.
Add a container view to your ViewController and link to an "external" UITableView instead of the provided UIView that comes with it when your drop it into your storyboard.
Send data via the segue, get it back via a delegate.
This way you can freely design your View with very little headaches.
I'm trying to change the size of a tableView I have in interface builder and can't seem to. When I first started the app I could drag it around and stretch the sides but all of a sudden I can't adjust it. I tried to delete my tableView and add a new one but the same thing happened. Thanks in advance. Here's what I see when I try to change the size:
if your using a UIViewController you can drag and drop a tableView and can place in a custom position you want. but if your using a UITableViewController you cant move the tableView to your custom position. if you want to do it in UITableViewController you can do like below
if you want your tableView content should show from a point, that you want you can do this way,
[self.tableView setContentInset:UIEdgeInsetsMake(100,0,0,0)];
else if you want set your tableView to a frame in UITableViewController you do this way,
- (void) viewWillLayoutSubviews
{
[super viewWillLayoutSubviews];
self.tableView.frame = CGRectMake(0,100,320,300);
}
hope this will help you.
What kind of view controller are you using to manage your table view? Since you show "prototype cells", I'm guessing it's a UITableViewController. Those are built to fill the entire screen with a single table view (which has always annoyed me.)
Starting with iOS 6, though, you can create a "container" view in another view controler, and then drag an embed segue from your container view onto the table view controller. That does all the housekeeping to make the table view controller a child view controller of the other one, and then you can make it whatever size you want.
If you don't want to use a UITableViewController as a child of another view controller, you can use a regular view controller and wire up the data source and delegate methods yourself. However, things like static table views and prototype cells don't work then.
Hopefully this helps someone still coming across this problem. What I did was make sure the UIViewController had a UIView as its direct child, then dragged the UITableView as a child of the UIView, this allowed me to resize the UITableView.
I have a screen with a table view managed by a controller based on UITableViewController. I would now like to affix a button to the bottom of the screen so that it does not scroll along with the table view cells.
Replacing the UITableViewController with a plain UIViewController is not an option, as I want to include a UIRefreshControl. From what I have read, using a UIRefreshControl without a UITableViewController is currently not possible without resorting to any hacks / relying on undocumented behaviour.
I tried using a UIToolbar provided by the navigation controller which my table view controller is contained in, but there are two problems with that approach:
I only want the toolbar with the button to be present in the top level table view. However, I have not found an elegant way to only show the toolbar for the top level table view. I want the toolbar to animate out of the screen to the left together with the table view when I drill down.
I have not found a way to increase the height of the toolbar. Would I have to put the button in a dummy UIView?
This is approximately what I am aiming for:
http://pic.rockmynews.com/img/free-iphone-app.png
Another idea is using a container view controller containing the button at the bottom and the table view controller above it as its child view controller. But that seems a lot of work for something this simple.
So what is the best way to do this? Any recommendations?
Create the UIView container view. But also create a UIViewController subclass to manage the container. Then, add your existing table view controller as a child view controller and add the table view as a subview. Now you can control all of the subviews and positions while still having automatic refresh control operation.
Just use
- (UIView *)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView viewForFooterInSection:(NSInteger)section
and return a UIView for the desired button. and
tableView:heightForFooterInSection
and return the footer height
If you aren't willing to use a container view controller, you could use a third-party pull to refresh control like https://github.com/samvermette/SVPullToRefresh instead. This has the added benefit of being backwards compatible with iOS 5, if you want to support it.
You can use a UITableViewController. Just override viewDidLoad and then resize the tableView to make room for your extra view and then add your view programmatically. Make sure to set the right resizing mask so that things look correct on different screen sizes. (Easily tested in the Simulator by trying it out on the iPhone4 and iPhone5)