Setting the background for a selected UITableViewCell in a grouped UITableView - ios

Question

This is working fine for my plain style table views, but not for my grouped style. I'm trying to customize how the cell looks when it is selected.
Here is my code:
+ (void)customizeBackgroundForSelectedCell:(UITableViewCell *)cell {
UIImage *image = [UIImage imageNamed:#"ipad-list-item-selected.png"];
UIImageView *imageView = [[UIImageView alloc] initWithImage:image];
cell.selectedBackgroundView = imageView;
}
I have verified that the correct cell is indeed being passed into this function. What do I need to do differently to make this work?

Answer 1

It's not clear from your question whether or not you're aware that the tableViewCell automatically manages showing/hiding it's selectedBackgroundView based on its selection state. There are much better places to put that method other than in viewWillAppear. One would be at the time you initially create the tableViewCells, i.e.:
- (UITableViewCell *)tableView:(UITV*)tv cellForRowAtIP:(NSIndexPath *)indexPath {
UITableViewCell *cell = nil;
cell = [tv dequeueCellWithIdentifier:#"SomeIdentifier"];
if (cell == nil) {
cell = /* alloc init the cell with the right reuse identifier*/;
[SomeClass customizeBackgroundForSelectedCell:cell];
}
return cell;
}
You only need to set the selectedBackgroundView property once in the lifetime of that cell. The cell will manage showing/hiding it when appropriate.
Another, cleaner, technique is to subclass UITableViewCell, and in the .m file for your subclass, override:
- (id)initWithStyle:(UITableViewCellStyle)style reuseIdentifier:(NSString *)reuseIdentifier {
self = [super initWithBla....];
if (self) {
UIImageView *selectedBGImageView = /* create your selected image view */;
self.selectedBackgroundView = selectedBGImageView;
}
return self;
}
From then on out your cell should show it's custom selected background without any further modifications. It just works.
Furthermore, this method works better with the current recommended practice of registering table view cell classes with the table view in viewDidLoad: using the following UITableView method:
- (void)registerClass:(Class)cellClass forCellReuseIdentifier:(NSString *)identifier
You would use this method in your table view controller's viewDidLoad method, so that your table view cell dequeuing implementation is much shorter and easier to read:
- (void)viewDidLoad {
[super viewDidLoad];
[self.tableView registerClass:[SomeClass class]
forCellReuseIdentifier:#"Blah"];
}
- (UITableViewCell *)tableView:(UITV*)tv cellForRowAtIP:(NSIndexPath *)indexPath {
UITableViewCell *cell = nil;
cell = [tableView dequeueReusableCellWithIdentifier:#"Blah"
forIndexPath:indexPath];
/* set your cell properties */
return cell;
}
This method is guaranteed to return a cell as long as you have registered a class with the #"Blah" identifier.