Basic - How to alter an imported library - ios

Question

I want to use a control I found on CocoaControls called SDNestedTable:https://github.com/serverdensity/ios-SDNestedTable
I have subclassed the SDNestedTableViewController class but I want to change the background color of the table cells and there is no provided way to do that.
The other classes in the library are SDGroupCell and SDSubCell which inherit from SDSelectableCell. SDSelectableCell contains the 3 methods to change the background depending on the state of the cell.
Here are the relevant methods in SDSelectableCell.m:
- (void) styleEnabled
{
for (UIView *view in checkBox.subviews) [view removeFromSuperview];
[checkBox addSubview:onCheckBox];
checkBox.alpha = 1.0;
itemText.alpha = 1.0;
self.backgroundView.backgroundColor = UIColorFromRGBWithAlpha(0x0d2e4d, 1.0);
}
- (void) styleDisabled
{
for (UIView *view in checkBox.subviews) [view removeFromSuperview];
[checkBox addSubview:offCheckBox];
checkBox.alpha = 1.0;
itemText.alpha = 0.4;
self.backgroundView.backgroundColor = [UIColor colorWithWhite:0.0 alpha:1.0];
}
- (void) styleHalfEnabled
{
for (UIView *view in checkBox.subviews) [view removeFromSuperview];
[checkBox addSubview:onCheckBox];
checkBox.alpha = 0.45;
itemText.alpha = 0.7;
self.backgroundView.backgroundColor = UIColorFromRGBWithAlpha( , 1.0);
}
I can see two ways of doing this, but I'm a newb and want to verify the best way to handle this:
1) Just change the code in SDSelectableCell.m. I'd have to change 3 lines to set the 3 colors and then I'm done. However, I'm thinking it's bad practice to import libraries like this and just change the code. I can foresee issues in the future if someone working on the project has to reimport the library and doesn't know it was changed.
1a) I guess I could also just rename/refactor everything so that it isn't SD-whatever anymore, which at least would prevent someone else from thinking it's the original SDNestedTable library.
2) I could subclass SDSelectableCell and override those 3 methods. Although, this would require me to subclass every other class in the library, since they instantiate SDSelectable cell and I'd have to change all that.
3) Some other way? Categories and Extensions don't seem like they'd work, but maybe I'm missing something.

Answer 1

After giving the github code a quick look, it looks like they provide a simple way for you to setup the cells any way you'ld like. In your SDNestedTableDelegate implement the -mainTable:itemDidChange: method.
- (void)mainTable:(UITableView *)mainTable itemDidChange:(SDGroupCell *)item
{
SelectableCellState state = item.selectableCellState;
switch (state) {
case Checked:
item.backgroundView.backgroundColor = [UIColor ...];
break;
case Unchecked:
item.backgroundView.backgroundColor = [UIColor ...];
break;
case Halfchecked:
item.backgroundView.backgroundColor = [UIColor ...];
break;
default:
break;
}
}
UPDATE
It looks like the library gives you the a place to format items and subitems when you subclass SDNestedTableViewController by overriding -mainTable:setItem:forRowAtIndexPath: and -item:setSubItem:forRowAtIndexPath:. Combining that with the above item did change code and extracting common functionality gives you:
- (void)PRIVATE_finalizeSelectableCell:(SDSelectableCell *)item
{
SelectableCellState state = item.selectableCellState;
switch (state) {
case Checked:
item.backgroundView.backgroundColor = [UIColor ...];
break;
case Unchecked:
item.backgroundView.backgroundColor = [UIColor ...];
break;
case Halfchecked:
item.backgroundView.backgroundColor = [UIColor ...];
break;
default:
break;
}
}
- (void)mainTable:(UITableView *)mainTable itemDidChange:(SDGroupCell *)item
{
[self PRIVATE_finalizeSelectableCell:item];
}
- (SDGroupCell *)mainTable:(UITableView *)mainTable setItem:(SDGroupCell *)item forRowAtIndexPath:(NSIndexPath *)indexPath
{
[self PRIVATE_finalizeSelectableCell:item];
return item;
}
- (SDSubCell *)item:(SDGroupCell *)item setSubItem:(SDSubCell *)subItem forRowAtIndexPath:(NSIndexPath *)indexPath
{
[self PRIVATE_finalizeSelectableCell:subItem];
return subItem;
}