How to center the section headers of a UITableView - ios

Question

I want to center the header on the tableview, however I have 2 problems. First I don't have the correct height and second the UILabel doesn't look like the default header - font/font size/color etc... Is there a better way to center it, and/or is there a way to make it look like the default header.
- (UIView *)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView viewForHeaderInSection:(NSInteger) section
{
//section text as a label
UILabel *lbl = [[UILabel alloc] init];
lbl.textAlignment = UITextAlignmentCenter;
lbl.text = #"Header";
[lbl setBackgroundColor:[UIColor clearColor]];
return lbl;
}

Answer 1

this should solve your issue. Tested in xcode 6 / ios8
- (NSString *)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView titleForHeaderInSection:(NSInteger)section {
[[UILabel appearanceWhenContainedIn:[UITableViewHeaderFooterView class], nil] setTextAlignment:NSTextAlignmentCenter];
return [sectionTitles objectAtIndex:section];
}

Answer 2

You must also implement tableView:heightForHeaderInSection to adjust your header height :
In the UITableViewDelegate Protocol Reference doc you find :
tableView:viewForHeaderInSection:
Discussion
The returned object, for example, can
be a UILabel or UIImageView object.
The table view automatically adjusts
the height of the section header to
accommodate the returned view object.
This method only works correctly when
tableView:heightForHeaderInSection: is
also implemented.
For centering the Header label you must specify the label frame before setting its aligment to center.
For getting the standart font, use SystemFontOfSize:
Also beware you are creating a memory leak you are supposed to return an autoreleased view
Try something like this :
UILabel *lbl = [[[UILabel alloc] initWithFrame:CGRectMake(0, 0, self.view.frame.size.width, 30)] autorelease];
lbl.textAlignment = UITextAlignmentCenter;
lbl.font = [UIFont systemFontOfSize:12];
Hope this helps,
Vincent

Answer 3

Volker's answer in Swift:
If you target iOS6 and later you don't have to provide your own header view if you just want to center the header title.
Just implement
- tableView:willDisplayHeaderView:forSection:
and set the textAligment property of the label:
func tableView(tableView: UITableView, willDisplayHeaderView view: UIView, forSection section: Int) {
if let headerView = view as? UITableViewHeaderFooterView {
headerView.textLabel?.textAlignment = .Center
}
}

Answer 4

If you target iOS6 and later you don't have to provide your own header view if you just want to center the header title.
Just implement
- tableView:willDisplayHeaderView:forSection:
and set the textAligment property of the label:
- (void)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView willDisplayHeaderView:(UIView *)view forSection:(NSInteger)section
{
if([view isKindOfClass:[UITableViewHeaderFooterView class]]){
UITableViewHeaderFooterView *tableViewHeaderFooterView = (UITableViewHeaderFooterView *) view;
tableViewHeaderFooterView.textLabel.textAlignment = NSTextAlignmentCenter;
}
}

Answer 5

To make this method being called you should first implement
titleForHeaderInSection
then tableView(tableView: UITableView, willDisplayHeaderView view: UIView, forSection section: Int) method will be called
Swift Solution:
func tableView(tableView: UITableView, willDisplayHeaderView view: UIView, forSection section: Int) {
if let headerView = view as? UITableViewHeaderFooterView {
headerView.textLabel?.textAlignment = Localize().isRTL ? .Right : .Left
headerView.textLabel?.text = partsDataSource[section]
headerView.textLabel?.textColor = UIColor ( red: 0.0902, green: 0.2745, blue: 0.2745, alpha: 1.0 )
headerView.textLabel?.font = UIFont(name: UIDecorator.sharedInstance.PRIMARY_FONT, size: 14.0)
headerView.contentView.backgroundColor = UIDecorator.sharedInstance.currentTheme.lightShadeColor
}
}
func tableView(tableView: UITableView, titleForHeaderInSection section: Int) -> String? {
return " "
}

Answer 6

Here's my version, you'll need to take a screenshot of the normal header background, and save a 1px wide slice of it as 'my_head_bg.png' and add it to the project. This way, it'll look just exactly normal:
-(UIView *)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView viewForHeaderInSection:(NSInteger)section {
UILabel *lbl = [[[UILabel alloc] init] autorelease];
lbl.textAlignment = UITextAlignmentCenter;
lbl.font = [UIFont fontWithName:#"Helvetica-Bold" size:18];
lbl.text = #"My Centered Header";
lbl.textColor = [UIColor whiteColor];
lbl.shadowColor = [UIColor grayColor];
lbl.shadowOffset = CGSizeMake(0,1);
lbl.backgroundColor = [UIColor colorWithPatternImage:[UIImage imageNamed:#"my_head_bg"]];
lbl.alpha = 0.9;
return lbl;
}

Answer 7

Try this
UILabel *tableHeader = [[UILabel alloc] initWithFrame:CGRectMake(0, 0, 320, 30)];
[tableHeader setText:#"This is header"];
[tableHeader setTextAlignment:UITextAlignmentCenter];
UITableView *newTable = [[UITableView alloc] initWithFrame:CGRectMake(20, 0, 280, 200) style:UITableViewStylePlain];
[newTable setBackgroundColor:[UIColor clearColor]];
[newTable setTableHeaderView:tableHeader];
self.view = newTable;

Answer 8

In Xamarin:
// Center Header
public override void WillDisplayHeaderView(UITableView tableView, UIView headerView, nint section)
{
if (headerView.GetType() == typeof(UITableViewHeaderFooterView))
{
UITableViewHeaderFooterView tableViewHeaderFooterView = (UITableViewHeaderFooterView)headerView;
tableViewHeaderFooterView.TextLabel.TextAlignment = UITextAlignment.Center;
}
}

Answer 9

To change height, implement this method:
- (UIView *)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView viewForHeaderInSection:(NSInteger)section {
return 15;
}
I am not really sure about the default header thing - that should be way easier than it is. Maybe someone has a nice background image you can use with a white font. But for the centering thing, try this:
UILabel *label = [[UILabel alloc] initWithFrame:CGRectMake(0,0,320,15)];
label.textAlignment = UITextAlignmentCenter
label.text = #"Text Should Be Centered";