Increasing the space between header and table cell in iOS - ios

Question

So my UITableView has a header, which is the UIImageView shown, and comments below the image. I am trying to increase the space between the image and the comments table.
(I have tried increasing the height of the header, but it doesn't work in my case because it will result in a bigger UIImageView and the image won't cover the view completely)
I experimented with this hack:
- (UITableViewCell *)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView cellForRowAtIndexPath:(NSIndexPath *)indexPath
{
static NSString *CellIdentifier = #"CommentsTableCell";
CommentsCell *cell = [tableView dequeueReusableCellWithIdentifier:CellIdentifier forIndexPath:indexPath];
Comment *comment = [self.comments objectAtIndex:indexPath.row];
[cell setUsername:comment.handle andText:comment.text];
/* Dirty hack:
1. We cannot increase the height of the header because that will leave spaces in the image.
2. The only way we can increase the margin from the comments table to the picture is by
increasing the individual inset of the first and last comments cell
*/
if (indexPath.row == 0) {
[cell setContentInset:UIEdgeInsetsMake(COMMENTS_PADDING * 10 , 0, 0, 0)];
} else if (indexPath.row == [self.comments count] - 1) {
[cell setContentInset:UIEdgeInsetsMake(0, 0, COMMENTS_PADDING * 10 , 0)];
}
return cell;
}
and in my CommentsCell.m:
- (void)awakeFromNib {
self.commentText.scrollEnabled = false;
self.commentText.editable = false;
self.commentText.contentInset = UIEdgeInsetsMake(-1 * COMMENTS_PADDING, 0, 0, 0);
}
- (void)setUsername:(NSString *)username andText:(NSString *)text {
[self.commentText setAttributedText:[CommentsCell getContentStringForUsername:username andText:text]];
}
- (void)setContentInset:(UIEdgeInsets)inset {
self.commentText.contentInset = inset;
}
but the first comment still has the same inset. I checked the debugger and awakeFromNib is occurring before cellForRowAtIndexPath. Do you see why my method is not working?
I am also open to other suggestions.

Answer 1

You should be able to add some space to the header view just below the image you display. Instead of setting the table's header view to a UIImageView, why not create a container view that you can add the image view to and then just have some space below it.
- (UIView *) buildTableHeaderView {
UIImage *image = [UIImage imageNamed: #"my_image.png"];
CGFloat height = image.size.height + 20;
UIImageView *imageView = [[UIImageView alloc] initWithFrame: CGRectMake(0, 0, self.myTableView.frame.size.width, height)];
[imageView setImage: image];
UIView *headerView = [[UIView alloc] initWithFrame: CGRectMake(0, 0, self.myTableView.bounds.size.width, height)];
[headerView addSubview: imageView];
return headerView;
}

Answer 2

What you can do is create a custom UIView (with .xib if you want for easier UI design) with a space on the bottom and return it from - (UIView *)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView viewForHeaderInSection:(NSInteger)section method of the UITableViewDelegate, also don't forget to return the height for the header view by implementing the - (CGFloat)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView heightForHeaderInSection:(NSInteger)section method of the same UITableViewDelegate.
Here is a short example:
-UIView *)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView viewForHeaderInSection:(NSInteger)section {
YourCustomHeaderView *headerView = [YourCustomHeaderView instantiateView]; //static method (you can rename it) that will load the custom view from a .xib
//do aditional UI setup or not
return headerView;
}
- (CGFloat)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView heightForHeaderInSection:(NSInteger)section {
return DEFAULT_HEADER_HEIGHT; //a defined value
}
If you are having a single header view, then you should use the same custom header view creation/init/setup, but move your table downwards in is superview and add the custom header view at the top at any position you like.