TableViewController issue: won't save user input from textView - swift

Question

Update:
so goal of this to save the text that user enters in a UITextView in cell, so that the text is saved for that particular cell number and does not duplicate, move or remove the text.
as suggested I am trying to handle the textViewdidChange func inside of the custom cell, by doing the following:
var onTextEntered: ((String?) -> ())!
func setup() {
notesTextView.delegate = self
}
func textViewDidChange(_ textView: UITextView) {
onTextEntered(notesTextView.text)
}
making a string that holds the text and then adding the text to the String every time textViewDidChange is called (trying to explain this to myself as we go along, so please correct me if my explanation needs it).
next in CellForRowAt
override func tableView(_ tableView: UITableView, cellForRowAt indexPath: IndexPath) -> UITableViewCell {
let cellIdentifier = "TableViewNotesCell"
let cell = tableView.dequeueReusableCell(withIdentifier: cellIdentifier, for: indexPath) as! TableViewNotesCell
cell.setup()
cell.onTextEntered = {input in
if let text = input {
self.cellText[indexPath.row] = text // here is the error (index out of range)
}
if indexPath.row < self.cellText.count {
cell.notesTextView.text = self.cellText[indexPath.row] ?? "placeholder"
}
}
return cell
}
when I do the above code, as soon as textViewDidChange is called (when i type a single letter or digit in textView) the I get the error : "Fatal error: Index out of range" on the line which I use the array of cellText[indexPath.row] = text. please help or let me know if my understanding of the process is wrong would love to learn!

Answer 1

You can try to save for every single edit
override func tableView(_ tableView: UITableView, cellForRowAt indexPath: IndexPath) -> UITableViewCell {
// inside cellForRowAt
cell.textView.delegate = self
cell.textView.tag = indexPath.row
return cell
}
#objc func textViewDidChange(_ tex: UITextView) {
cellEndEdit[tex.tag] = tex.text!
}
class VC:UIViewController,UITextViewDelegate {
give default values for the array
var cellEndEdit = [String](repeating: "", count: numberOfRows)

Answer 2

Assuming, that you tableView has a variable number of cells, and all of them have a UITextView, whose content should be recorded and indexed, I would recommend to create a custom UITableViewCell, that handles the textView itself.
class CustomTableViewCell: UITableViewCell, UITextViewDelegate {
#IBOutlet weak var textView: UITextView()
var onTextEntered: ((String?) -> ()) //that's a callback
func setup() {
textView.delegate = self
}
override func textViewDidChange(textView: UITextView) {
onTextEntered(textView.text)
}
}
Since you're working with a sorted list of user inputs, you should have your array at hands, in which you can store and from which you can retrieve data. So if some data already exists, grep through your array and fill the cells that deserve it. Also define the onTextEntered callback here to tell the cell what to do, if it gets called (in your case, store the text of the UITextView in your array).
//your carrier, if you store the already existing user inputs some where, map them in here
//depending on how you calculate the number of cells, this array has to have the same size so use the same logic for this
var yourStringCarrierArray: [String?] = []
override func tableView(_ tableview: UITableView, cellForRowAt indexPath: IndexPath) -> UITableViewCell {
let cell = tableView.dequeueReusableCell(withIdentifier: "YourTableViewCell", for: indexPath) as! CustomTableViewCell
cell.setup()
cell.onTextEntered = { input in
if let text = input {
self.yourStringCarrierArray[indexPath.row] = text
}
if indexPath.row < yourStringCarrierArray.count {
cell.textView.text = yourStringCarrierArray[indexPath.row] ?? "placeholder string, because there's no input here so far"
}
}
I hope this will help or at least give you a new perspective, it has been a while, i coded in Swift. Feel free to ask me, if something is unclear.

Answer 3

Use an object to save the string value, since String in swift is value type. Here is an example:
class TestViewController: UIViewController {
#IBOutlet weak var tableView: UITableView!
var dataArray: [CellData] = []
override func viewDidLoad() {
super.viewDidLoad()
// Do any additional setup after loading the view.
tableView.delegate = self
tableView.dataSource = self
for _ in 0..<20 {
dataArray.append(CellData())
}
}
}
extension TestViewController: UITableViewDelegate, UITableViewDataSource {
func numberOfSections(in tableView: UITableView) -> Int {
return 1
}
func tableView(_ tableView: UITableView, numberOfRowsInSection section: Int) -> Int {
return 20
}
func tableView(_ tableView: UITableView, cellForRowAt indexPath: IndexPath) -> UITableViewCell {
let cell = tableView.dequeueReusableCell(withIdentifier: "TestTableViewCell", for: indexPath) as! TestTableViewCell
cell.setData(data: dataArray[indexPath.row])
return cell
}
}
class TestTableViewCell: UITableViewCell {
#IBOutlet weak var textView: UITextView!
var data: CellData!
override func awakeFromNib() {
super.awakeFromNib()
// Initialization code
textView.text = ""
textView.delegate = self
}
func setData(data: CellData) -> Void {
self.data = data
self.textView.text = data.stringValue
}
override func setSelected(_ selected: Bool, animated: Bool) {
super.setSelected(selected, animated: animated)
// Configure the view for the selected state
}
}
extension TestTableViewCell: UITextViewDelegate {
func textViewDidChange(_ textView: UITextView) {
self.data.stringValue = textView.text
}
}
class CellData {
var stringValue: String = ""
}