UITableView not scrolling smooth due to removeFromSuperview - iphone

Question

What makes scrolling so choppy on the UITableView? In my mind following code is a culprit. I am having very hard time to replace this logic with something other.
for (UIView *view in cell.contentView.subviews) {
[view removeFromSuperview]; }
This is what I am doing.
- (UITableViewCell *)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView cellForRowAtIndexPath:(NSIndexPath *)indexPath {
static NSString *CellIdentifier = #"Cell";
UITableViewCell *cell = [tableView dequeueReusableCellWithIdentifier:CellIdentifier];
if (cell == nil) {
cell = [[UITableViewCell alloc] initWithStyle:UITableViewCellStyleDefault reuseIdentifier:CellIdentifier];
}
for (UIView *view in cell.contentView.subviews) {
[view removeFromSuperview];
}
BGMArticleAbstract *articleAbstract = [self.section.articleAbstracts objectAtIndex:indexPath.row];
[cell.contentView addSubview:[self getHedlineFromArticleAbstract:articleAbstract]];
[cell.contentView addSubview:[self getThumbnailImageFromArticleAbstract:articleAbstract]];
[cell.contentView addSubview:[self getAbstractParaFromArticleAbstract:articleAbstract]];
cell.selectionStyle = UITableViewCellSelectionStyleNone;
return cell; }
I am doing, addSubview to contentview because I am creating a dynamic cell height. Is there any way I can make this scroll view work smooth ? Thank you for your help.

Answer 1

You should design your cell as you need it. Add labels and whatever you need to the cell, and then change the content of these already available subviews.
If you need to display an image, add once an UIImageView to the cell and only change the image property of it. Same for text fields and so on.
The way you do it makes the built-in cache useless, because you regenerate all subviews again and again..
To boost the performance even more, you can do the drawing of the cell by yourself.
Apple has a quite nice example project:
http://developer.apple.com/library/ios/#samplecode/AdvancedTableViewCells/Introduction/Intro.html

Answer 2

You are right that the problem is caused by how you return cells. The correct pattern is as follows...
- (UITableViewCell *)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView cellForRowAtIndexPath:(NSIndexPath *)indexPath {
static NSString *CellIdentifier = #"Cell";
UITableViewCell *cell = [tableView dequeueReusableCellWithIdentifier:CellIdentifier];
if (cell == nil) {
cell = [[UITableViewCell alloc] initWithStyle:UITableViewCellStyleDefault reuseIdentifier:CellIdentifier];
}
// see if cell contains our image views. A reused cell will, but a new cell won't
UIImageView *imageViewA = (UIImageView *)[cell viewWithTag:32];
UIImageView *imageViewB = (UIImageView *)[cell viewWithTag:33];
UIImageView *imageViewC = (UIImageView *)[cell viewWithTag:34];
if (!imageViewA) {
// the cell must be new, so create it's image views
// you should be able to borrow most of this code from your getHeadline/thumbnail/etc methods.
// the good news is that this relatively expensive code runs only for new
// cells and there are only a few of those - only enough to fill the visible frame
imageViewA = [[UIImageView alloc] initWithFrame:CGRectMake(/* frame it here */)];
[cell.contentView addSubview:imageViewA];
imageViewA.tag = 32;
imageViewB = [[UIImageView alloc] initWithFrame:CGRectMake(/* frame it here */)];
[cell.contentView addSubview:imageViewB];
imageViewB.tag = 33;
imageViewC = [[UIImageView alloc] initWithFrame:CGRectMake(/* frame it here */)];
[cell.contentView addSubview:imageViewC;
imageViewC.tag = 34;
// this too, need only be done upon creation
cell.selectionStyle = UITableViewCellSelectionStyleNone;
}
// now, whether it's a new cell or a reused cell, we have image views
BGMArticleAbstract *articleAbstract = [self.section.articleAbstracts objectAtIndex:indexPath.row];
// change your methods getHeadline... getThumbnail... etc to answer UIImages
// not UIImageViews, which are setup only for new cells
imageViewA.image = [self getHedlineFromArticleAbstract:articleAbstract]];
imageViewB.image = [self getThumbnailImageFromArticleAbstract:articleAbstract]];
imageViewC.image = [self getAbstractParaFromArticleAbstract:articleAbstract]];
// as a side note, once you get these methods returning images (more like model objects)
// rather than image views (view objects) they might be more appropriately placed
// in the BGMArticleAbstract class rather than the view controller
return cell;
}