I am using grouped tableview for developing a contact list using database. I have to show the message "No Contacts" on tableview when there is no contact in list. how can I do it?
Share your ideas..
Thanks in Advance
supposing that you are using an array to store all the contacts then use the following delegate
-(NSInteger)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView numberOfRowsInSection:(NSInteger)section
{
// You can also modify this condition according to a specific section
if([YOUR_ARRAY count] == 0)
{
return 1;
}
else
return [YOUR_ARRAY count];
}
Now adding data to table in following delegate
-(UITableViewCell*)tableView:(UITableView*)tableView cellForRowAtIndexPath:(NSIndexPath *)indexPath
{
// Initialise your cell
if([YOUR_ARRAY count] > 0){
// add your array data to cells
}
if([YOUR_ARRAY count] == 0){
// this means no contacts in array and therfore you have only one cell to display NO CONTACTS
}
return cell;
}
For cases like this one we used table headers.
If the table had elements in his data source, the table header was clear and had a 1px height.
If the data source had no elements, then the table header view was set as big as the table's frame and contained a message, an image or whatever you might need.
The functions (table view delegate methods, actually) we used were height for header in section and view for header in section. We verified the data source inside the viewForHeader function
You can achieve the same effect using the table footers as well
you can add UILabel
ande set the text of the label
label.text = #"No results ";
and you make a test
if ([contacts count] == 0)
{
yourTableview.hidden = YES;
yourLabel.hidden = NO;
}
else
{
yourTableview.hidden = NO;
yourLabel.hidden = YES;
}`
Related
I have implemented an iPhone app that uses UITableViewController/UITableView and Core Data. Further, I use a NSFetchedResultsController to manage the table data. This was all very straight forward and works great. I then decided that I should display a message in the UITableView when no rows where found/retrieved. After researching this, it appeared that the best way (perhaps the only way) to do this was to return a "dummy" cell that contains the message. However, when I do this, I get a nastygram from the runtime system that complains (and rightfully so) about data inconsistencies: "Invalid update: invalid number of sections. The number of sections contained in the table view ...". Here is the relevant code:
- (NSInteger) numberOfSectionsInTableView: (UITableView *)tableView
{
if ([[self.fetchedResultsController fetchedObjects] count] == 0) return 1;
return [[self.fetchedResultsController sections] count];
}
- (NSInteger) tableView: (UITableView *)tableView numberOfRowsInSection:(NSInteger)section
{
if ([[self.fetchedResultsController fetchedObjects] count] == 0) return 1;
id <NSFetchedResultsSectionInfo> sectionInfo = [[self.fetchedResultsController sections] objectAtIndex: section];
return [sectionInfo numberOfObjects];
}
- (UITableViewCell *) tableView: (UITableView *)tableView cellForRowAtIndexPath: (NSIndexPath *)indexPath
{
if ([[self.fetchedResultsController fetchedObjects] count] == 0) {
UITableViewCell *cell = [[UITableViewCell alloc] init];
cell.textLabel.text = #"No widgets found.";
return cell;
}
STCellView *cell = (STCellView *)[tableView dequeueReusableCellWithIdentifier: #"ShieldCell"];
[self configureCell: cell atIndexPath: indexPath];
return cell;
}
I have read responses from similar questions and it appears that I should use
insertRowsAtIndexPaths: withRowAnimation:
to insert the "dummy" message row into my table. However, this also means removing the "dummy" row when a real row is inserted. I can do this, but it seems like there should be an easier way to accomplish this. All I want to do, is to display a message indicating that there are no rows in the table (simple enough?). So, my question is this: Is there a way to display a message in an UITableView without using the "dummy" cell approach OR is there a way to convince UITableViewController/NSFetchResulsController that this is only a "dummy" row and they should not get so upset about it because it is not a real row (from my point of view) in the table?
Any help you can provide would be very appreciated (I am a struggling newbie to iPhone development and I want to learn the best practices). Thanks.
Rather than hack with the tableview datasource to get the intended UI you should add the "No rows found" message to the tableview header instead.
I did as follows in viewDidLoad.
UILabel *label = [[UILabel alloc] init];
[label setTextColor:[UIColor lightGrayColor]];
[label setText:#"No widgets found."];
[label sizeToFit];
label.frame = CGRectMake((self.tableView.bounds.size.width - label.bounds.size.width) / 2.0f,
(self.tableView.rowHeight - label.bounds.size.height) / 2.0f,
label.bounds.size.width,
label.bounds.size.height);
[self.tableView insertSubview:label atIndex:0];
In this case, each TableViewCells must be opaque to hide the label. or need to toggle the hidden property of the label according to the row count.
An alternative approach, which I have used before is to use Core Data to manage the update for you by inserting a 'no rows' entity for the section where no rows have been detected in your model class, which handles the data update.
There are a number of ways to implement this e.g. set the name/title field to a known status message or a flag within the entity. Once inserted you can detect the 'no rows' entity in the cellForRowAtIndexPath delegate method and insert an alternative table cell to show the message.
Just remove the 'no rows' entity before refreshing the data for that section.
My simple suggestion to display an empty message is to rearrange your controller to be a simple UIViewController (not a UITableViewController).
This UIViewController is composed by a UITableView (the controller is the data source and the delegate for your table) and by a UILabel (or a UIView that contains a UILabel) that displays the empty row message.
In this manner you can control the visibility of the table and the label based on the retrieved rows.
This approach could be laborious but I think it's good to avoid hacking NSFetchResultsController and data source. Furthermore you could have a complete control on arranging the position for your empty message.
As #Rog suggested you could also use the table view header to display that message. As you prefer.
Hope it helps.
This is related to another question of mine which wasn't answered in a helpful way (message when a UITableView is empty).
I'm trying to show an UIImage graphic that says You haven't saved any bookmarks over an UITableView when it's empty. I have NSNotification set-up so that when bookmarks are added or deleted, a message is sent so that the UITableView can be updated.
I've been trying to do it with this code. Why won't this work?
- (void)bookmarksChanged:(NSNotification*)notification
{
[self.tableView reloadData];
UIImageView* emptyBookmarks = [[UIImageView alloc] initWithFrame:CGRectMake(75, 100, 160, 57)];
emptyBookmarks.alpha = 1;
emptyBookmarks.image = [UIImage imageNamed:#"emptyBookmark.png"];
[self.view addSubview:emptyBookmarks];
[emptyBookmarks release];
if ([self.dataModel bookmarksCount] == 0)
{
emptyBookmarks.alpha = 1;
}
else
{
emptyBookmarks.alpha = 0;
}
}
I'm probably approaching this the wrong way... But if salvageable, what am I doing wrong?
When I initially have an empty bookmarks tableview, there's no image displayed. After I add a bookmark and then delete it, the image shows. Grrh.
Another way (and IMO the correct way) to do this is to manipulate the backgroundView property on the UITableView.
While making a single cell with a custom image cell would certainly works, I think it overly complicates the logic of your UITableViewController's data source. It feels like a kludge.
According to UITableView documentation:
A table view’s background view is automatically resized to match the
size of the table view. This view is placed as a subview of the table
view behind all cells , header views, and footer views.
Assigning an opaque view to this property obscures the background color
set on the table view itself.
While you probably don't want to just set it to your UIImageView, it is very easy to make a UIView that contains the UIImageView that you want.
Well first off if you were going to do it that way, you would need to reload the tableView after updating the image or model etc. and not before.
But you are probably making things more complicated than they need to be!
Why not just check to see if the data for section 0 and indexPath.row 0 are empty and if so in cellForRowAtIndexPath display a text message accordingly.
// First make sure there is always one row returned even if the dataModel is empty.
-(NSInteger)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView numberOfRowsInSection:(NSInteger)section
{
NSInteger numRows = 0;
if ([self.dataModel lastObject]) {
// Return the number of rows in the section.
numRows = [self.dataModel count]; // etc.
}
if (numRows < 1) numRows = 1;
return numRows;
}
// Then display the data if there is some, otherwise a message if empty.
-(UITableViewCell *)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView cellForRowAtIndexPath:(NSIndexPath *)indexPath {
static NSString *CellIdentifier = #"Cell";
UITableViewCell *cell = [tableView dequeueReusableCellWithIdentifier:CellIdentifier];
if (cell == nil) {
cell = [[UITableViewCell alloc] initWithStyle:UITableViewCellStyleSubtitle reuseIdentifier:CellIdentifier];
}
if ([self.dataModel lastObject]) {
// setup the cell the normal way here.
} else { // the datasource is empty - print a message
cell.textLabel.text = nil;
cell.detailTextLabel.text = NSLocalizedString(#"You haven't saved any bookmarks", #"");
cell.detailTextLabel.textColor = [UIColor colorWithRed:0/255.0 green:0/255.0 blue:0/255.0 alpha:0.7];
cell.accessoryType = UITableViewCellAccessoryNone;
}
return cell;
}
Are you sure [self.dataModel bookmarksCount] is equal to 0 ?
While I agree that you are probably going about this the wrong way,
your image is allocated and added in your bookmark changed, your notification does not trigger when there are no bookmarks initially. Hence you don't see the image. Call the bookmar changed when your table view inits or appears.
Probably the best way to achieve this is to perform a check in your numberOfRowsInSection method to return 1 if your data source is empty. Then in cellForRowAtIndexPath check if your data source is empty and if it is, create a custom cell that contains whatever you want. In heightForRowAtIndexPath you need to return your custom cell height if your datasource is empty, but only if you want the cell larger than the default. At least that is how I would approach it.
when bookmarks count is nil add one to your row method:
- (NSInteger)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView numberOfRowsInSection:(NSInteger)section{
int c;
c = bookmarks.count;
if(c == 0){
c = 1;
}
return c;
}
and then the same check again in your cellforrowatindexpath.
Another thing to be aware of in this situation is that if you're using core data and you're datasource is feeding off an entity, you will want to make sure your model matches. You can get some weird side-effect behavior in certain situations. This is especially true if you allow editing and core data has an empty model but you're tableview is still showing a cell.
I need to return cell in tableView:cellForRowAtIndexPath: only when some condition is true,for example:
if (condition == true)
return nil;
else
return cell;
Returning nil gives me an error.
You'll need to do a little more to conditionally have a cell in a UITableView.
Let's assume you have 3 cells, and the first one is conditional. The first thing you need to do make your table have either 2 or 3 cells based on this condition:
- (NSInteger)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView numberOfRowsInSection:(NSInteger)section {
if(condition) {
return 3;
} else {
return 2;
}
}
Next you can return the actual cell.
- (UITableViewCell *)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView cellForRowAtIndexPath:(NSIndexPath *)indexPath {
if(condition) {
if(indexPath.row == 0) {
//create and return conditional cell
} else {
//create and return normal cell
}
} else {
//create and return normal cell
}
}
And voila!
PS: (This is assuming everything is done in a single section. If you need to break that out into multiple sections we can get into that as well).
This is because you cannot have blank spaces in your UITableView, that is not allowed, you must at least return an empty cell. What are you trying to do?
The error presents when the TableView tries to retrieve the next cell and gets nil, it has to get the next cell no matter what.
Depending on exactly what you are intending to do here could you not do perform the conditional test before making a call to tableview:cellForRowAtIndexPath:
EG
if( someCondition )
{
[self.tableview cellForRowAtIndexPath:indexPath]
}
Or if your out come is to only display the table cells that meet a certain condition the I suggest you create a function that would copy those elements from your tableview data into an NSArray that you would use to display the desired/conditional table data.
IE
-(void)composeVisibleTableData
{
[m_visibleTableData removeAllObjects];
for( NSObject* dataObject in m_tableDataArray )
{
if( someCondition )//dataObject meetsCondition
{
m_visibleTableData addObject:dataObject];
}
}
}
Then in your UITableDelegate functions for numberOfRowsInSection: and tableview:cellForRowAtIndexPath: reference m_visibleTableData as the UITableView Data Source.
You should check condition when Cell's datasource is set :)
and Filter your data with condition.
I am implementing a table index view and amazed to see how my table indexes are working even without implementing:
- (NSInteger)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView sectionForSectionIndexTitle:(NSString *)title atIndex:(NSInteger)index method.
I have only implemented:
- (NSArray *)sectionIndexTitlesForTableView:(UITableView *)tableView
Strangely, when I am running in breakpoints, Once i click on any of the index values my
- (UITableViewCell *)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView cellForRowAtIndexPath:(NSIndexPath *)indexPath
method is getting called.
Any clue why this is so happening and what is the significance of sectionForSectionIndexTitle method then.
if you have a list of all letters in alphabet and your list only contains some entries, you could use the following code:
//Asks the data source to return the index of the section having the given title and section title index.
- (NSInteger)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView sectionForSectionIndexTitle:(NSString *)title atIndex:(NSInteger)index {
if (tableView == self.searchDisplayController.searchResultsTableView || self.searchBar.text.length > 0)
{
return 0;
}
else
{
//direct - firsttime match
if([self.realMIndexArray containsObject:title]) {
NSInteger count = 0;
for(NSString *character in self.realMIndexArray)
{
if([character isEqualToString:title]){
return count;
}
count ++;
}
}
else {
//take next higher letter from alphabet and check if its contained in the "available letters list"
//if not, select last entry of list
for(int i = [self.indexArray indexOfObject:title] + 1; i < [self.indexArray count]; i++) {
NSString* character = [self.indexArray objectAtIndex:i];
if([self.realMIndexArray containsObject:character]) {
return [self.realMIndexArray indexOfObject:character];
}
}
return [self.realMIndexArray count] - 1;
}
return 0;// in case of some eror donot crash d application
}
}
realMIndexArray count == letters really existing in list
indexArray = list of all letters in alphbeth.
hope this helps someone (took me a little bit of time to figure it out)
Any clue why this is so happening
Yes. When you tap (you do not click on an iPhone) on a table's index, the underlying table view will want to jump to that section, and the cells in that section. In order to do that, it has to ask the data source for those cells so it can render them on the screen.
what is the significance of
sectionForSectionIndexTitle method
then.
The documentation for tableView:sectionForSectionIndexTitle:atIndex: (which is an optional method in the UITableViewDataSource protocol) says:
Asks the data source to return the
index of the section having the given
title and section title index.
and
You implement this method only for
table views with a section index
list—which can only be table views
created in the plain style
(UITableViewStylePlain).
Does this apply for your UITableView? In other words, are you using a grouped table view style?
I would like to use and display two tables on a UI view. Please let me know how to do this. Any code same will also be appreciated.
Thanks,
Sandeep
Add 2 UITableViews to your view in IB and connect them to 2 different outlets in file owner (or simply assign different tag properties).
Set delegate and data source for them (may be same view controller for both).
In delegate/data source methods you do the following:
-(NSInteger)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView numberOfRowsInSection:(NSInteger)section{
if (tableView == myFirstTable)
// return value for 1st table
if (tableView == mySecondTable)
// return value for 2nd table
return 0;
}
or if you use tag approach:
- (NSInteger)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView numberOfRowsInSection:(NSInteger)section{
switch(tableView.tag){
case firstTag:
// return value for 1st table
case secondTag:
// return value for 2nd table
}
return 0;
}