Accessibility: Embedding a UITableView inside the Footer of a UITableView - ios

Question

I am trying to reuse an existing UITableViewController by embedding a UITableView in the footer of an existing table.
The premise is that on selection of a row, the footer will appear with a list of further, related options. This works fine but the accessibility inspector is unable to read the rows in the table embedded in the footer.
I created a quick sample of code to show the issue.
Code for the main UITableViewController
#interface MyUITableViewController ()
#end
#implementation MyUITableViewController{
MySubUITableViewController *dataSourceClass;
}
- (void)viewDidLoad
{
[super viewDidLoad];
// Do any additional setup after loading the view, typically from a nib.
dataSourceClass = [[MySubUITableViewController alloc] init];
}
- (void)didReceiveMemoryWarning
{
[super didReceiveMemoryWarning];
// Dispose of any resources that can be recreated.
}
-(UIView *)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView viewForFooterInSection:(NSInteger)section{
if(section == 0){
CGRect tableFrame = CGRectMake(0, 0, self.view.frame.size.width, 200);
UITableView *view = [[UITableView alloc]initWithFrame:tableFrame style:UITableViewStylePlain];
view.rowHeight = 30;
view.scrollEnabled = YES;
view.showsVerticalScrollIndicator = YES;
view.userInteractionEnabled = YES;
view.bounces = YES;
view.delegate = dataSourceClass;
view.dataSource = dataSourceClass;
return view;
}
return nil;
}
- (NSInteger)numberOfSectionsInTableView:(UITableView *)tableView {
return 2;
}
- (NSInteger)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView numberOfRowsInSection:(NSInteger)section {
return 5;
}
-(CGFloat)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView heightForFooterInSection:(NSInteger)section{
if(section == 0)
return 200;
return 0;
}
- (UITableViewCell *)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView cellForRowAtIndexPath:(NSIndexPath *)indexPath
{
static NSString *CellIdentifier = #"identifier";
UITableViewCell *cell;
if (cell == nil) {
cell = [[UITableViewCell alloc]initWithStyle:UITableViewCellStyleSubtitle reuseIdentifier:CellIdentifier];
}
cell.textLabel.text = [NSString stringWithFormat:#"Section %d Row %d", indexPath.section, indexPath.row];
return cell;
}
The code for the table to embed within the footer
#implementation MySubUITableViewController {
}
- (NSInteger)numberOfSectionsInTableView:(UITableView *)tableView {
return 1;
}
- (NSInteger)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView numberOfRowsInSection:(NSInteger)section {
return 20;
}
- (UITableViewCell *)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView cellForRowAtIndexPath:(NSIndexPath *)indexPath
{
static NSString *CellIdentifier = #"subCell";
UITableViewCell *cell;
if (cell == nil) {
cell = [[UITableViewCell alloc]initWithStyle:UITableViewCellStyleSubtitle reuseIdentifier:CellIdentifier];
}
cell.textLabel.text = [NSString stringWithFormat:#"Footer Row %d", indexPath.row];
return cell;
}
#end
Anyone know how to get round the Footer rows not being read by accessibility?
I tried
- (void)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView willDisplayCell:(UITableViewCell *)cell forRowAtIndexPath:(NSIndexPath *)indexPath
{
UIAccessibilityPostNotification(UIAccessibilityLayoutChangedNotification, nil);
}
but to avail.
Thanks

Answer 1

Ok, so the only solution I could get to work, is to create a custom UITableViewCell which implements the UITableViewDataSource, UITableViewDelegate delegates.
Effectively creating a table inside a UITableViewCell.
Something along the lines of:
#interface MyTableWrappingCell() <UITableViewDataSource, UITableViewDelegate>
#property (nonatomic, weak) UITableView *myTableView;
#end
#implementation MyTableWrappingCell
- (id)initWithStyle:(UITableViewCellStyle)style reuseIdentifier:(NSString *)reuseIdentifier
{
self = [super initWithStyle:style reuseIdentifier:reuseIdentifier];
if (self) {
// Initialization code
UITableView *myTableView = [[UITableView alloc] initWithFrame:CGRectZero style:UITableViewStyleGrouped];
myTableView.autoresizingMask = UIViewAutoresizingFlexibleBottomMargin | UIViewAutoresizingFlexibleHeight | UIViewAutoresizingFlexibleWidth | UIViewAutoresizingFlexibleRightMargin;
myTableView.dataSource = self;
myTableView.delegate = self;
[self.contentView addSubview:myTableView];
self.myTableView = myTableView;
}
return self;
}
- (NSInteger)numberOfSectionsInTableView:(UITableView *)tableView {
return 1;
}
- (NSInteger)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView numberOfRowsInSection:(NSInteger)section {
return 20;
}
- (UITableViewCell *)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView cellForRowAtIndexPath:(NSIndexPath *)indexPath
{
static NSString *CellIdentifier = #"subCell";
UITableViewCell *cell;
if (cell == nil) {
cell = [[UITableViewCell alloc]initWithStyle:UITableViewCellStyleSubtitle reuseIdentifier:CellIdentifier];
}
cell.textLabel.text = [NSString stringWithFormat:#"internal Row %d", indexPath.row];
return cell;
}
- (void) forceLoad{
[self.myTableView reloadData];
}
#end
Accessibility is then able to read the contents.