Saving UITextField text in cell into NSUserDefaults? - ios

Question

I have seen every post that is close to this question, and still not finding something useful. I have textFields in every cell that is being used as a form for the user to fill out. Everything with the cells works fine except when scrolling, the input in the textFields disappears when the cell scrolls off screen. I know this is because of dequeue. But there should be a way to save the data entered so that it doesn't disappear when scrolling or exiting the app. I also want to be able to take this info and email it as a PDF, or document. What is the best way to achieve this? The code below is an example of how I am generating my cells etc.
.h file
#interface MasterViewController : UITableViewController <UITextFieldDelegate, UITextFieldDelegate, UITableViewDataSource, UINavigationBarDelegate>{
NSString* name_;
UITextField* nameFieldTextField;
}
// Creates a textfield with the specified text and placeholder text
-(UITextField*) makeTextField: (NSString*)text
placeholder: (NSString*)placeholder;
// Handles UIControlEventEditingDidEndOnExit
- (IBAction)textFieldFinished:(id)sender;
#property (nonatomic,copy) NSString* name;
.m file
#synthesize name = name_;
- (void)viewDidLoad{
[super viewDidLoad];
// Do any additional setup after loading the view, typically from a nib.
self.detailViewController = (DetailViewController *)[[self.splitViewController.viewControllers lastObject] topViewController];
self.name = #"";
}
- (UITableViewCell *)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView cellForRowAtIndexPath:(NSIndexPath *)indexPath
{
UITableViewCell *cell = [[UITableViewCell alloc] initWithStyle:UITableViewCellStyleDefault reuseIdentifier:nil];
// Make cell unselectable and set font.
cell.selectionStyle = UITableViewCellSelectionStyleNone;
cell.textLabel.font = [UIFont fontWithName:#"ArialMT" size:13];
if (indexPath.section == 0) {
UITextField* tf = nil;
switch ( indexPath.row ) {
case 0: {
cell.textLabel.text = #"Name" ;
tf = nameFieldTextField = [self makeTextField:self.name placeholder:#"John Appleseed"];
nameFieldTextField.tag = 1;
[cell addSubview:nameFieldTextField];
break ;
}
// Textfield dimensions
tf.frame = CGRectMake(120, 12, 170, 30);
// Workaround to dismiss keyboard when Done/Return is tapped
[tf addTarget:self action:#selector(textFieldFinished:) forControlEvents:UIControlEventEditingDidEndOnExit];
}
return cell;
}
// Textfield value changed, store the new value.
- (void)textFieldDidEndEditing:(UITextField *)textField {
//Section 1.
if ( textField == nameFieldTextField ) {
self.name = textField.text ;
}
}
- (void)viewWillAppear:(BOOL)animated{
NSString *nameCellString = [[NSUserDefaults standardUserDefaults] stringForKey:#"nameCellString"];
nameFieldTextField.text = nameCellString;
}
- (void)viewWillDisappear:(BOOL)animated{
NSString *nameCellString = self.name;
[[NSUserDefaults standardUserDefaults] setObject:nameCellString forKey:#"nameCellString"];
}

Answer 1

There are actually two problems here, both of them being in your cellForRowAtIndexPath: implementation.
You are putting the text field into the cell, even if this cell is reused and already has a text field. Thus you are actually piling text field over text field, covering up the previously existing text field.
You are not putting the text back into the text field if there was already text in the text field for that row (index path).
In other words, the cells are (as you rightly say) reused, so it is up to you to take that fact into account. You must look at the state of the incoming cell, and reconfigure the cell accordingly.

Answer 2

First off, I urge you to consider creating a custom cell in a storyboard, and grabbing that. It's a lot easier than coding one, and I think it's the future. That said, look into populating your tableViews with NSArrays, instead of hard-coding strings into the cellForRowAtIndexPath method. I've taken the liberty of giving you an example of this.
The following is based on your code, and should be a copy/paste solution. Look it over, and see how it operates.
- (UITableViewCell *)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView cellForRowAtIndexPath:(NSIndexPath *)indexPath
{
NSArray *titlesArray = #[#"Name", #"Birthday", #"Favorite Food"];
UITableViewCell *cell;
cell = [tableView dequeueReusableCellWithIdentifier:[NSString stringWithFormat:#"%i%i", indexPath.section, indexPath.row]];
if (cell == nil) {
cell = [[UITableViewCell alloc] initWithStyle:UITableViewCellStyleDefault reuseIdentifier:nil];
// Make cell unselectable and set font.
cell.selectionStyle = UITableViewCellSelectionStyleNone;
cell.textLabel.font = [UIFont fontWithName:#"ArialMT" size:13];
// Populate label from array
cell.textLabel.text = titlesArray[indexPath.row];
if (indexPath.section == 0) {
UITextField* tf = nil;
switch ( indexPath.row ) {
case 0: {
tf = nameFieldTextField = [self makeTextField:self.name placeholder:#"John Appleseed"];
nameFieldTextField.tag = 1;
[cell addSubview:nameFieldTextField];
break ;
}
// Textfield dimensions
tf.frame = CGRectMake(120, 12, 170, 30);
// Workaround to dismiss keyboard when Done/Return is tapped
[tf addTarget:self action:#selector(textFieldFinished:) forControlEvents:UIControlEventEditingDidEndOnExit];
}
// Set the reuse identifier to a unique string, based on placement in table
// This ensures that the textField will retain its text
cell.reuseIdentifier = [NSString stringWithFormat:#"%i%i", indexPath.section, indexPath.row];
}
return cell;
}
// Textfield value changed, store the new value.
- (void)textFieldDidEndEditing:(UITextField *)textField {
//Section 1.
NSUserDefaults *defaults = [NSUserDefaults standardUserDefaults];
switch (textField.tag) {
case 1:
[defaults setObject:textField.text forKey:#"nameCellString"];
self.name = textField.text;
break;
default:
break;
}
[defaults synchronize];
}
EDIT: Changed to accommodate more cells.

Answer 3

You should use array of UIDictionary for your tableDataSourceArray Like:
step1)
NSArray *tableDataSourceArray = [[NSArray alloc]init];
NSMutableDictionary *cellData = [[NSMutableDictionary alloc]init];
[cellData setValue:#"" forKey:#"Name"];
...//so on
[tableDataSourceArray addObject:cellData];
cellData = nil;
repeat step1 as number of records you have.
Now in cellForRowAtIndexPath:
nameFieldTextField.tag = indexPath.row; //To store index of dataSourceArray
nameFieldTextField.text = [[tableDataSourceArray objectAtIndex:indexPath.row] valueForKey:#"Name"];
And at last in textFieldDidEndEditing:
NSMutableDictionary *cellDataDic = tableDataSourceArray objectAtIndex:textField.tag];
[cellDataDic setValue:textField.text forKey:#"Name"];
hope it will help you.

Answer 4

I think the easiest way to fix your problem is to create a new class for your cell (inherit from UITableViewCell) and add new property like customerTextField (UITextField). In constructor add new textfield but with CGRectZero. In method layoutSubviews you will assign CGRect for your textfield.
Generally speaking this approach will make your UIViewController cleaner (you will reduce number of checks for textfield state).