UITableView infinite scrolling - iphone

Question

How do I do an infinite scrolling in a UITableView? I know how to do it using a UIScrollView, in which apple has demonstrated in one of the WWDC's video. I tried doing the following in tableView:cellForRowAtIndexPath::
if (indexPath.row == [self.newsFeedData_ count] - 1)
{
[self.newsFeedData_ addObjectsFromArray:self.newsFeedData_];
[self.tableView reloadData];
}
but this fails. Any other idea?

Answer 1

If you need to know when you hit the bottom of the UITableView, become it's delegate (because it is a subclass of UIScrollView), and use the -scrollViewDidScroll: delegate method to compare the table's content height and it's actual scroll position.
EDIT (something like this):
- (void)scrollViewDidScroll:(UIScrollView *)scrollView_
{
CGFloat actualPosition = scrollView_.contentOffset.y;
CGFloat contentHeight = scrollView_.contentSize.height - (someArbitraryNumber);
if (actualPosition >= contentHeight) {
[self.newsFeedData_ addObjectsFromArray:self.newsFeedData_];
[self.tableView reloadData];
}
}

Answer 2

You can support infinite scroll with pull to refresh at the top and/or scroll continuously at the bottom with a spinner wheel using:
https://github.com/samvermette/SVPullToRefresh
SVPullToRefresh handles the logic when UITableView reaches the bottom. A spinner is shown automatically and a callback block is fired. You add in your business logic to the callback block.
Here's an example:
#import "UIScrollView+SVInfiniteScrolling.h"
// ...
[tableView addInfiniteScrollingWithActionHandler:^{
// append data to data source, insert new cells at the end of table view
// call [tableView.infiniteScrollingView stopAnimating] when done
}];
This project can be added to your project using CocoaPods or directly compiled into your project.

Answer 3

Here's a very quick and complete demo of an infinite scrolling UITableView I put together...
#interface InfiniteScrollViewController ()
#property (nonatomic) NSMutableArray *tableViewData;
#property (nonatomic) BOOL loadingMoreTableViewData;
#end
#implementation InfiniteScrollViewController
- (void)viewDidLoad {
self.tableViewData = [[NSMutableArray alloc] init];
[self addSomeMoreEntriesToTableView];
}
- (NSInteger)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView numberOfRowsInSection:(NSInteger)section {
return self.tableViewData.count + 1;
}
- (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];
}
if (indexPath.row < self.tableViewData.count) {
cell.textLabel.text = [self.tableViewData objectAtIndex:indexPath.row];
} else {
cell.textLabel.text = #"Loading more data...";
// User has scrolled to the bottom of the list of available data so simulate loading some more if we aren't already
if (!self.loadingMoreTableViewData) {
self.loadingMoreTableViewData = YES;
[self performSelector:#selector(addSomeMoreEntriesToTableView) withObject:nil afterDelay:5.0f];
}
}
return cell;
}
- (void)addSomeMoreEntriesToTableView {
int loopTill = self.tableViewData.count + 20;
while (self.tableViewData.count < loopTill) {
[self.tableViewData addObject:[NSString stringWithFormat:#"%i", self.tableViewData.count]];
};
self.loadingMoreTableViewData = NO;
[self.tableView reloadData];
}
#end

Answer 4

'UITableView' is same as 'UIScrollView' in 'scrollViewDidScroll' method.
So, its easy to emulate infinite scrolling.
double the array so that head and tail are joined together to emulate circular table
use my following code to make user switch between 1st part of doubled table and 2nd part of doubled table when they tend to reach the start or the end of the table.
:
/* To emulate infinite scrolling...
The table data was doubled to join the head and tail: (suppose table had 1,2,3,4)
1 2 3 4|1 2 3 4 (actual data doubled)
---------------
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 (visualising joined table in eight parts)
When the user scrolls backwards to 1/8th of the joined table, user is actually at the 1/4th of actual data, so we scroll instantly (we take user) to the 5/8th of the joined table where the cells are exactly the same.
Similarly, when user scrolls to 6/8th of the table, we will scroll back to 2/8th where the cells are same. (I'm using 6/8th when 7/8th sound more logical because 6/8th is good for small tables.)
In simple words, when user reaches 1/4th of the first half of table, we scroll to 1/4th of the second half, when he reaches 2/4th of the second half of table, we scroll to the 2/4 of first half. This is done simply by subtracting OR adding half the length of the new/joined table.
*/
-(void)scrollViewDidScroll:(UIScrollView *)scrollView_
{
CGFloat currentOffsetX = scrollView_.contentOffset.x;
CGFloat currentOffSetY = scrollView_.contentOffset.y;
CGFloat contentHeight = scrollView_.contentSize.height;
if (currentOffSetY < (contentHeight / 8.0)) {
scrollView_.contentOffset = CGPointMake(currentOffsetX,(currentOffSetY + (contentHeight/2)));
}
if (currentOffSetY > ((contentHeight * 6)/ 8.0)) {
scrollView_.contentOffset = CGPointMake(currentOffsetX,(currentOffSetY - (contentHeight/2)));
}
}
P.S. - I've used this code on one of my apps called NT Time Table (Lite). If you want the preview, you can check out the app: https://itunes.apple.com/au/app/nt-time-table-lite/id528213278?mt=8
If your table can sometimes be too short, at the beginning of the above method you can add a if logic to exit the method when data count is say for example less than 9.

Answer 5

For me worked better scrollViewDidEndDragging: than scrollViewDidScroll:.
The second approach will send you each position during scroll and cause, if you are fetching remote resources you will hit your endpoint several times, which is not good.
Complete example based on #codafi solution with comments from #danielgomezrico about how to calculate contentHeight:
- (void)scrollViewDidEndDragging:(UIScrollView *)scrollView
willDecelerate:(BOOL)decelerate {
CGFloat actualPosition = scrollView.contentOffset.y;
CGFloat contentHeight = scrollView.contentSize.height - (self.tableView.frame.size.height);
if (actualPosition >= contentHeight) {
// fetch resources
[self.tableView reloadData];
}
}

Answer 6

Generally I override scrollViewDidEndDecelerating and inside it I put my code to request more data.
Example:
- (void)scrollViewDidEndDecelerating:(UIScrollView *)scrollView{
float endScrolling = scrollView.contentOffset.y + scrollView.frame.size.height;
if (endScrolling >= scrollView.contentSize.height){
//put here your code
}
}
Recently I uploaded on GitHub a subclass of UITableView, that implements the infinite scroll.
You can download it here:
https://github.com/alchimya/iOS-LazyTableView

Answer 7

rather than overriding we can do this optimally in layoutSubviews.
Here's how I got it implemented. You can get to know more about the implementation here
- (void)layoutSubviews{
[super layoutSubviews];
if(self.delegateForViews){
CGPoint contentOffset = self.contentOffset;
if([self.delegateForViews noOfViews]>numOfReusableViews){
NSUInteger centerIndex=visibleViews.count/2;
NSUInteger noOfViews=[self.delegateForViews noOfViews];
UIView *centerView=[visibleViews objectAtIndex:centerIndex];
CGPoint centerViewOrigin=centerView.frame.origin;
CGSize centerViewSize=centerView.frame.size;
CGFloat offsetDifference=contentOffset.x-centerViewOrigin.x;
CGFloat offsetDifferenceAbs=fabs(contentOffset.x-centerViewOrigin.x);
if(offsetDifferenceAbs>=centerViewSize.width){
if(offsetDifference<0){
currentPosition--;
}else{
currentPosition++;
}
self.contentOffset=centerViewOrigin;
currentPosition=[self getPosition:currentPosition noOfViews:noOfViews];
[self.delegateForViews clearView:centerView];
[self.delegateForViews setupView:centerView forPosition:currentPosition];
for (int i=centerIndex-1; i>=0; i--) {
UIView* prevView=[visibleViews objectAtIndex:i];
[self.delegateForViews clearView:prevView];
[self.delegateForViews setupView:prevView forPosition:
[self getPosition:currentPosition-1 noOfViews:noOfViews]];
}
for (int i=centerIndex+1; i<visibleViews.count; i++) {
UIView* nextView=[visibleViews objectAtIndex:i];
[self.delegateForViews clearView:nextView];
[self.delegateForViews setupView:nextView forPosition:
[self getPosition:currentPosition+1 noOfViews:noOfViews]];
}
}
}
}
}

Answer 8

One of the simple and that offered me everything i need is this class:
https://github.com/jakemarsh/JMStatefulTableViewController
You just need to subclass JMStatefulTableViewController and the it has 3 methods that you need to overwrite:
one that is called on init, to get the initial data
statefulTableViewControllerWillBeginInitialLoading
one when the user pull to refresh
statefulTableViewControllerWillBeginLoadingFromPullToRefresh
one when is called for the infinite scroll (next page)
statefulTableViewControllerWillBeginLoadingNextPage
This can be used from Cocoapods too.

Answer 9

scrollviewDidScroll will call when you move through the rows in tableview
func scrollViewDidScroll(_ scrollView: UIScrollView) {
//check for the visible rows
let indexpath = self.tableView.indexPathsForVisibleRows?.last
//check if the visible row last is equal to the total number of counts
if(indexpath?.last == self.listCount){
//code for adding data to the tableview and reload the table view.
}
}
look in the link for more details about indexPathForVisibleRows
https://developer.apple.com/documentation/uikit/uitableview/1614885-indexpathsforvisiblerows