Unnatural jerk with UITableView whe cell height is changed dynamically - iphone

Question

Here is what I want in my app. Shown below are two screenshots of the iPhone app Store:
I basically need a "Read More" feature just like it is used in the app store (See the "Description" section in the two images above). I am assuming that each section here (Description, What's New, Information etc.) is a table view cell. And the text inside is a UILabel or UITextField.
Here is what I have tried so far to add this feature:
NSString *initialText = #"Something which is not a complete text and created just as an example to...";
NSString *finalText = #"Something which is not a complete text and created just as an example to illustrate my problem here with tableviews and cel heights. bla bla bla";
NSInteger isReadMoreTapped = 0;
My cellForRowAtIndexPath function:
// Other cell initialisations
if(isReadMoreTapped==0)
cell.label.text = initialText;
else
cell.label.text = finalText;
return cell;
My heightForRowAtIndexPath function:
// Other cell heights determined dynamically
if(isReadMoreTapped==0){
cell.label.text = initialText;
cellHeight = //Some cell height x which is determined dynamically based on the font, width etc. of the label text
}
else{
cell.label.text = finalText;
cellHeight = //Some height greater than x determined dynamically
}
return cellHeight;
Finally my IBAction readMoreTapped method which is called when the More button is tapped:
isReadMoreTapped = 1;
[self.tableView beginUpdates];
[self.tableView endUpdates];
NSIndexPath* rowToReload = [NSIndexPath indexPathForRow:2 inSection:0]; // I need to reload only the third row, so not reloading the entire table but only the required one
NSArray* rowsToReload = [NSArray arrayWithObjects:rowToReload, nil];
[self.tableView reloadRowsAtIndexPaths:rowsToReload withRowAnimation:UITableViewRowAnimationNone];
After doing all this, I do get the required functionality. The new height of that particular cell is calculated and the new text loaded into it. But there is a very unnatural jerk on the TableView which results in a bad User experience. That is not the case with the app store More button though. There is no unnatural jerk in its case. The TableView remains at its place, only the changed cell has its size increased with the text appearing smoothly.
How can I achieve the smoothness as done in the iPhone app store More button?

Answer 1

Your problem might come from reloading the row. You want to try to configure the cell properties directly. I usually use a dedicated method to configure my cell content so I don't have to reload rows.
- (void)configureCell:(UITableViewCell *)cell forRowAtIndexPath:(NSIndexPath *)indexPath {
if(isReadMoreTapped==0)
cell.label.text = initialText;
else
cell.label.text = finalText;
// all other cell configuration goes here
}
this method is called from the cellForRowAtIndexPath method and it will configure the cell
- (UITableViewCell *)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView cellForRowAtIndexPath:(NSIndexPath *)indexPath {
static NSString *CellIdentifier = #"Cell";
UITableViewCell *cell = [tableView dequeueReusableCellWithIdentifier:CellIdentifier];
[self configureCell:cell forRowAtIndexPath:indexPath];
return cell;
}
and you would call this method directly to avoid reloading:
isReadMoreTapped = 1;
[self.tableView beginUpdates];
[self.tableView endUpdates];
NSIndexPath* rowToReload = [NSIndexPath indexPathForRow:2 inSection:0];
UITableViewCell *cell = [self.tableView cellForRowAtIndexPath:rowToReload];
[self configureCell:cell forRowAtIndexPath:rowToReload];

Answer 2

Please try the following changes to your code, I think it will fix your problem.
no need to set cell.label.text in heightForRowAtIndexPath; Please remove them.
in the readMoreTapped, update table is enough:
isReadMoreTapped = 1;
[self.tableView beginUpdates];
[self.tableView endUpdates];

Answer 3

Either remove the calls to:
[self.tableView beginUpdates];
[self.tableView endUpdates];
Or change to ensure that your reloading code is between them. I would remove them as a single row reload is handled well with the method you use:
[self.tableView reloadRowsAtIndexPaths:rowsToReload withRowAnimation:UITableViewRowAnimationNone];
You just need to specify a row animation like fade.

Answer 4

Okay, I finally solved the problem with the help of Matthias's answer (the accepted answer) and my own optimisations. One thing that definitely should be done is to create a dedicated function like configureCell: forRowAtIndexPath: to directly configure cell properties (see Mathias's answer). Everything remains the same with Matthias's answer except:
Before, I was calculating the heights of each cell everytime the heightForRowAtIndexPath function was called without caching(saving) them anywhere and hence when [self.tableView beginUpdates]; and [self.tableView endUpdates]; were called each cell height was calculated again. Instead, what you have to do is to save these cell heights in an array/dictionary so that whenever the More button is tapped, you calculate the height of only the cell that was changed. For the other cells, just query the array/dictionary and return the saved cell height. This should solve any problems with the tableView scroll after the cell height update. If anyone else still face a similar issue as this, please comment on this post. I would be happy to help