TableView within ViewController not displaying cells - ios

Question

I'm fairly new to iOS development and I've been wrestling with a solution for this for about a day now and can't figure out why it is not working. I am trying to use a tableview within a viewcontroller as a small menu for the user to use. I have checked to see if the NSArray is being populated, and it is. I have also checked to see if the cell is being created, and it is. I just can't figure why it is not populating the tableview with the cells it creates. Below is my the code that I have so far. Thanks in advance for any help anyone can provide.
MainViewController.h
#import <UIKit/UIKit.h>
#interface MainViewController : UIViewController <UITableViewDataSource, UITableViewDelegate>
#property (weak, nonatomic) IBOutlet UITableView *menuTableView;
#property (weak, nonatomic) IBOutlet UIButton *menuButton;
#property (strong, nonatomic) NSArray *menuItemsArray;
#property (weak, nonatomic) IBOutlet UILabel *menuLabel;
#end
MainViewController.m
#import "MainViewController.h"
#interface MainViewController ()
#end
#implementation MainViewController
#synthesize menuItemsArray, menuTableView, menuButton, menuLabel;
- (id)initWithNibName:(NSString *)nibNameOrNil bundle:(NSBundle *)nibBundleOrNil
{
self = [super initWithNibName:nibNameOrNil bundle:nibBundleOrNil];
if (self) {
// Custom initialization
}
return self;
}
- (void)viewDidLoad
{
[super viewDidLoad];
//Set TableView Delegate/DataSource to self
[self.menuTableView setDelegate:self];
[self.menuTableView setDataSource:self];
[self.menuTableView setSeparatorStyle:UITableViewCellSeparatorStyleNone];
[self.menuTableView setBounces:NO];
[self.menuTableView setRowHeight:self.menuLabel.frame.size.height];
self.menuItemsArray = [[NSArray alloc] initWithObjects:#"Add Category", #"Add Item", #"Settings", nil];
NSLog(#"array: %#", menuItemsArray);
}
- (void)didReceiveMemoryWarning
{
[super didReceiveMemoryWarning];
// Dispose of any resources that can be recreated.
}
- (BOOL)shouldAutorotateToInterfaceOrientation:(UIInterfaceOrientation)interfaceOrientation
{
return (interfaceOrientation != UIInterfaceOrientationPortraitUpsideDown);
}
#pragma mark - UITableViewDelegate
-(NSInteger)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView numberOfRowsInSection:(NSInteger)section{
return ([self.menuItemsArray count]);
}
-(UITableViewCell *)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView cellForRowAtIndexPath:(NSIndexPath *)indexPath{
UITableViewCell *cell = [[UITableViewCell alloc]initWithStyle:UITableViewCellStyleDefault reuseIdentifier:#"menuCell"];
[[cell textLabel]setText:[self.menuItemsArray objectAtIndex:indexPath.row]];
[[cell textLabel]setFont:[self.menuLabel font]];
return cell;
}
-(void)tableView:(UITableView *)tableview didSelectRowAtIndexPath:(NSIndexPath *)indexPath{
[self.menuTableView deselectRowAtIndexPath:indexPath animated:YES];
NSString *selectedString = [self.menuItemsArray objectAtIndex:indexPath.row];
self.menuLabel.text = selectedString;
}

Answer 1

I had the same problem, my table view was not getting displayed within a view controller.
I have found a solution.
You can create another view controller with a Container view on it. And put ur table view on a Table View controller. just embed the table view controller to the container view of ur mail view controller.

Answer 2

Make sure your initWithNib method is being called. If you are calling [[MainController alloc] init] your "menuTableView" will never be created from the Nib. Also, double-check the table view by setting the backgroundColor of the main table view to [UIColor red] or something just to make sure the tableView is present and that it has the frame you expect. It might be sitting behind one of your other views, have a frame of (0,0,0,0), or not be present in the view at all.
Also try calling [self.menuTableView reloadData] at the end of your 'viewDidLoad' or initialize the menuItemsArray before you set the data source and delegate (i.e. in your initWithNib method).
And when you do get it all working (you are very close) you will want to change your cellForRow method to something more like this:
-(UITableViewCell *)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView cellForRowAtIndexPath:(NSIndexPath *)indexPath{
UITableViewCell *cell = [aTableView dequeueReusableCellWithIdentifier:#"menuCell"];
if(!cell) {
cell = [[UITableViewCell alloc]initWithStyle:UITableViewCellStyleDefault reuseIdentifier:#"menuCell"];
}
[[cell textLabel]setText:[self.menuItemsArray objectAtIndex:indexPath.row]];
[[cell textLabel]setFont:[self.menuLabel font]];
return cell;
}
This will allow you to take advantage of the cell reuse that makes table views so efficient.

Answer 3

This is a bit late as you have found a way around it but I was having the same problem as you and found that I needed to connect the IBOutlet property to the table view in storyboard and then it all worked.
I hope this helps you in future.

Answer 4

One cause of the symptoms described is if you have placed the UITableView in the parent view using a container view in a storyboard, but are initialising and populating in code a different instance of the UITableView than the one that is actually being presented to the user. If you have placed the UITableView within the view using a container view, then you need to do the following:
Connect the UITableView to the container view with a segue, by Control-Dragging from the container view to the UITableView in the Storyboard.
Click on the segue, and give it a name e.g. tableViewSegue.
Set up the table by implementing prepareForSegue:sender:
- (void) prepareForSegue:(UIStoryboardSegue *)segue sender:(id)sender
{
NSString * segueName = segue.identifier;
if ([segueName isEqualToString: #"tableViewSegue"]) {
UIViewController * myTableView = [segue destinationViewController];
// Do any table setup here, such as injecting the data array into a property on the tableView.
}
}
If instead you have been creating a different UITableView in code, what you will see is an unpopulated UITableView that follows the specifications set up in the storyboard (e.g., row height spacing will be correct) and which is responding to user interaction, but is empty. The empty one is the one being initialised automatically for you by the storyboard, and meanwhile you've been creating another UITableView somewhere else:
// DON'T DO IT THIS WAY IF YOU'RE USING STORYBOARD.
- (void)viewDidLoad {
[super viewDidLoad];
// Incorrectly creating a tableview child table view that won't be the one presented.
self.myTableView = [MYTableViewClass new];
// ...further configuration of the table.
}
If you follow this incorrect path, the other UITableView you are creating is being built in memory, and populated with your data array, so you will see all the NSLog statements from that process and be able to see a UITableView in memory with the correct number of objects and so on as you step through the executing code, but what is hard to pick up is you're not looking at the one being presented to the user. So can be tricky to track down. :)
Just remove the code above, implement prepareForSegue:sender: and the universe will return to being a predictable place.

Answer 5

If you add UITableView inside the UIViewController, you need to set the frame size of the UITableView same as the frame size of the view inside the UIViewController, otherwise the tableview size may be 0, cannot display anything.
You can set the frame size if you create the UITableView by storyboard in your case:
- (void)viewDidLoad {
[super viewDidLoad];
// Set tableview delegate and datasource here
menuTableView.frame = CGRectMake(0, 0, self.view.frame.size.width, self.view.frame.size.height);
}