Refreshing UITableview Section to One With Different Number of Rows - iphone

I've recently been working with a UITableView. It is dynamically populated once, then when a user selects an option, I want the list to change to a new one. I'm working with a grouped table with 3 sections and as you click on the rows the three groups need to be repopulated with a varying number of new rows. While my code works fine when there is the same number of rows in the new section as old, it crashes when that number changes. Interestingly though, it will wait to crash until it attempts to draw one of the cells that was there previously (the tableView still thinks the section has the old number of rows, tries to draw the cell that is no longer in my model object, and so I think it crashes because it's referencing a value in the new array that doesn't exist.
It crashes here:
- (UITableViewCell *)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView cellForRowAtIndexPath:(NSIndexPath *)indexPath{
UITableViewCell *cell = nil;
cell = [tableView dequeueReusableCellWithIdentifier:#"MyCell"];
if (cell == nil){
cell = [[UITableViewCell alloc] initWithStyle:UITableViewCellStyleDefault
reuseIdentifier:#"MyCell"];
}
if (indexPath.section==2){
//CRASH BELOW
cell.textLabel.text = [NSString stringWithFormat:#"%#", (NSString *)[[[[storyArray objectAtIndex:pageNumber]getChoices] objectAtIndex:(unsigned long)indexPath.row]objectAtIndex:0]] ;
}
return cell;
}
The function I use to reload the table is here:
-(void)changePage:(int)pageChangeNumber{
NSLog(#"The page change! Changing to: %#",[[storyArray objectAtIndex:pageChangeNumber]getTitle]);
pageHeader.text=[[storyArray objectAtIndex:pageChangeNumber] getTitle];
pageBody.text=[[storyArray objectAtIndex:pageChangeNumber] getBody];
[myTableView reloadSections:[NSIndexSet indexSetWithIndex:0] withRowAnimation:UITableViewRowAnimationFade];
[myTableView reloadSections:[NSIndexSet indexSetWithIndex:1] withRowAnimation:UITableViewRowAnimationFade];
[myTableView reloadSections:[NSIndexSet indexSetWithIndex:2] withRowAnimation:UITableViewRowAnimationFade];
[myTableView reloadData];
pageNumber=pageChangeNumber;
NSLog(#"Page Change Done");
}
I've also changed the numberofRowsInSection to be dynamic...
- (NSInteger)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView numberOfRowsInSection:(NSInteger)section{
NSLog(#"Recounting Rows");
if (section==2){
return [[[storyArray objectAtIndex:pageNumber]getChoices] count];
} else {
return 0;
}
}
Any ideas on how I can get this working when the number of rows per section changes?
Thanks!

I don't know what crash you're getting, but I ran into crashes if the numberOfSectionsInTableView: or tableView:numberOfRowsInSection: methods returned different numbers of rows while the table was restructuring itself.
For example, UITableView calls those methods many times while it is redrawing (including during animations). In my backend, some of the values were changing during animation.
I had to take special care to synchronize those values before changing the UITableView

Before you update your table view's data and call reloadSections you need to first call [myTableView beginUpdates] and once you're done [myTableView endUpdates]

Related

Unnatural jerk with UITableView whe cell height is changed dynamically

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?
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];
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];
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.
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

Selecting multiple rows in tableview

I implemented the UITableView in my iPhone application. Further more I added multiple selection of row in UITableView.But the problem is that when I select particular row and then scrolls table and come back then respective row in unselected(unmarked).Here is my didSelectRowAtIndexPath method.
-(void)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView didSelectRowAtIndexPath:(NSIndexPath *)indexPath
{
[tableView deselectRowAtIndexPath:indexPath animated:YES];
if([tableView cellForRowAtIndexPath:indexPath].accessoryType==UITableViewCellAccessoryNone)
{
[tableView cellForRowAtIndexPath:indexPath].accessoryType=UITableViewCellAccessoryCheckmark;
[selectedIndexes addObject:[NSNumber numberWithInt:indexPath.row]];
NSLog(#"Select now %d",[selectedIndexes count]);
}
else if([tableView cellForRowAtIndexPath:indexPath].accessoryType==UITableViewCellAccessoryCheckmark)
{
[tableView cellForRowAtIndexPath:in dexPath].accessoryType=UITableViewCellAccessoryNone;
[selectedIndexes removeObject:[NSNumber numberWithInt:indexPath.row]];
NSLog(#"DeSelect now %d",[selectedIndexes count]);
}
}
Please provide me solution.
While you are scrolling the table view every time,the delegate method cellForRowAtIndexPath method is called every time..So,it will load the data every time.Means, first you have to store which rows are clicked in didSelectRowAtIndexPath method, and according to these rows indexes in cellForRowAtIndexPath method you have to show that which table view rows are already selected with check marks and for remaining rows with out check mark...
check this. multiple-row-selection-and-editing
You will find really easy & usefull.
Enjoy Programming

Change an image in a UITableViewCell without reloading cell

I'm writing an iPhone app with a UITableView as the primary user interface. Each section consists of two rows, a header and the body. When the user clicks on the header, I remove the second row by changing the numberOfRowsInSection value:
- (NSInteger)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView numberOfRowsInSection:(NSInteger)section {
cbwComponent *comp = [_componentController objectInListAtIndex:section];
if([comp hasContentsView] && !comp.contentsHidden){
return 2;
}else
return 1;
}
When the user selects the header, I'm using the following code:
comp.contentsHidden = YES;
[self.tableView beginUpdates];
NSArray *deleteIndexPaths = [[NSArray alloc] initWithObjects:[NSIndexPath indexPathForRow:1 inSection:indexPath.section], nil];
[self.tableView deleteRowsAtIndexPaths:deleteIndexPaths withRowAnimation:UITableViewRowAnimationFade];
[self.tableView endUpdates];
It's working great, with a nice smooth fade effect. The problem is, I'm trying to add an indicator in the header cell (row 0) that changes when it's clicked on. To change that image I have to refresh the top row as well as the second row, which makes the transition look bad (well, not nearly as smooth). Is there a way to change the image in a UITableViewCell without refreshing the cell?
Thanks
EDIT: I figured it out! You can maintain the smooth transition as long as you reload that first row before you make the change to the second row. It has to be called inside of [tableView beginUpdates];
[self.tableView beginUpdates];
[self.tableView reloadRowsAtIndexPaths:[[NSArray alloc] initWithObjects:[NSIndexPath indexPathForRow:0 inSection:indexPath.section], nil] withRowAnimation:UITableViewRowAnimationNone];
...
[self.tableView endUpdates];
Did the trick.
You could also subclass a tableview cell and implement a view transition in it that can be called from your view controller. You could then call that without having to reload the cell.
[(YourCustomCell*)[tableView cellForRowAtIndexPath:indexPathOfYourCell] fadeInIndicator];

reloadRowsAtIndexPaths:withRowAnimation: crashes my app

I got a strange problem with my UITableView: I use reloadRowsAtIndexPaths:withRowAnimation: to reload some specific rows, but the app crashes with an seemingly unrelated exception: NSInternalInconsistencyException - Attempt to delete more rows than exist in section.
My code looks like follows:
[self.tableView reloadRowsAtIndexPaths:[NSArray arrayWithObject:[NSIndexPath indexPathForRow:0 inSection:0]] withRowAnimation:UITableViewRowAnimationFade];
When I replace that reloadRowsAtIndexPaths:withRowAnimation: message with a simple reloadData, it works perfectly.
Any ideas?
The problem is that you probably changed the number of items of your UITableView's data source. For example, you have added or removed some elements from/to the array or dictionary used in your implementation of the UITableViewDataSource protocol.
In that case, when you call reloadData, your UITableView is completely reloaded including the number of sections and the number of rows.
But when you call reloadRowsAtIndexPaths:withRowAnimation: these parameters are not reloaded. That causes the next problem: when you are trying to reload some cell, the UITableView checks the size of the datasource and sees that it has been changed. That results in a crash. This method can be used only when you want to reload the content view of the cell (for example, label has changed or you want to change its size).
Now if you want to remove/add cells from/to a UITableView you should use next approach:
Inform the UITableView that its size will be changed by calling method beginUpdates.
Inform about inserting new row(s) using method - (void)insertRowsAtIndexPaths:(NSArray *)indexPaths withRowAnimation:(UITableViewRowAnimation)animation.
Inform about removing row(s) using method - (void)deleteRowsAtIndexPaths:(NSArray *)indexPaths withRowAnimation:(UITableViewRowAnimation)animation.
Inform the UITableView that its size has been changed by calling the method endUpdates.
I think the following code might work:
[self.tableView beginUpdates];
[self.tableView reloadRowsAtIndexPaths:[NSArray arrayWithObject:[NSIndexPath indexPathForRow:0 inSection:0]] withRowAnimation:UITableViewRowAnimationFade];
[self.tableView endUpdates];
I had this problem which was being caused by a block calling reloadRowsAtIndexPaths:withRowAnimation: and a parallel thread calling reloadData.
The crash was due to reloadRowsAtIndexPaths:withRowAnimation finding an empty table even though I'd sanity checked numberOfRowsInSection & numberOfSections.
I took the attitude that I don't really care if it causes an exception. A visual corruption I could live with as a user of the App than have the whole app crash out.
Here's my solution to this which I'm happy to share and would welcome constructive criticism. If there's a better solution I'm keen to hear it?
- (void) safeCellUpdate: (NSUInteger) section withRow : (NSUInteger) row {
// It's important to invoke reloadRowsAtIndexPaths implementation on main thread, as it wont work on non-UI thread
dispatch_async(dispatch_get_main_queue(), ^{
NSUInteger lastSection = [self.tableView numberOfSections];
if (lastSection == 0) {
return;
}
lastSection -= 1;
if (section > lastSection) {
return;
}
NSUInteger lastRowNumber = [self.tableView numberOfRowsInSection:section];
if (lastRowNumber == 0) {
return;
}
lastRowNumber -= 1;
if (row > lastRowNumber) {
return;
}
NSIndexPath *indexPath = [NSIndexPath indexPathForRow:row inSection:section];
#try {
if ([[self.tableView indexPathsForVisibleRows] indexOfObject:indexPath] == NSNotFound) {
// Cells not visible can be ignored
return;
}
[self.tableView reloadRowsAtIndexPaths:#[indexPath] withRowAnimation:UITableViewRowAnimationNone];
}
#catch ( NSException *e ) {
// Don't really care if it doesn't work.
// It's just to refresh the view and if an exception occurs it's most likely that that is what's happening in parallel.
// Nothing needs done
return;
}
});
}
After many try, I found "reloadRowsAtIndexPaths" can be only used in certain places if only change the cell content not insert or delete cells. Not any place can use it, even you wrap it in
[self beginUpdates];
//reloadRowsAtIndexPaths
[self endUpdates];
The places I found that can use it are:
- (void)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView didSelectRowAtIndexPath:(NSIndexPath *)indexPath
- (IBAction) unwindToMealList: (UIStoryboardSegue *) sender
Any try from other places like call it from "viewDidLoad" or "viewDidAppear", either will not take effect (For the cell already loaded I mean, reload will not take effect) or cause exception.
So try to use "reloadRowsAtIndexPaths" only in those places.
You should check cell visibility before reload. Here is Swift 3 code:
let indexPath = IndexPath(row: offset, section: 0)
let isVisible = tableView.indexPathsForVisibleRows?.contains{$0 == indexPath}
if let v = isVisible, v == true {
tableView.reloadRows(at: [indexPath], with: .automatic)
}
I had the same issue. In my case; it was happening only if another view controller pop/pushed over existing table view controller and then[self.tableView reloadRowsAtIndexPaths] function is called.
reloadRowsAtIndexPaths call was hiding/showing different rows in a table view which is having over 30, visually complex, rows. As i try to fix the issue i found that if i slightly scroll the table view app wasn't crashing. Also it wasn't crashing if i don't hide a cell (by returning 0 as height)
To resolve the issue, i simply changed the "(CGFloat)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView heightForRowAtIndexPath:(NSIndexPath *)indexPath" function and returned at least 0.01 as row height.
- (CGFloat)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView heightForRowAtIndexPath:(NSIndexPath *)indexPath
{
....
return rowModel.height + 0.01; // Add 0.01 to work around the crash issue.
}
it solved the issue for me.
THIS IS OLD. DO NOT USE.
I just bumped into this issue when I was calling reloadRowsAtIndexPaths... in order to change the cell to an editing cell containing a UITextField. The error told me I was deleting all of the rows in the table. To solve the problem, I removed:
[self.tableView beginUpdates];
NSArray *reloadIndexPath = [NSArray arrayWithObject:[NSIndexPath indexPathForRow:count inSection:section]];
[self.tableView reloadRowsAtIndexPaths:reloadIndexPath withRowAnimation:UITableViewRowAnimationFade];
[self.tableView endUpdates];
and replaced it with
[self.tableView reloadData];
The app crashes because you have made some changes to your tableView. Either you have added or deleted some rows to the tableView. Hence when the view controller asks your model controller class for data, there is a mismatch in the indexPaths. Since the indexPaths have changed after modification.
So either you simply remove the call
[self.tableView reloadRowsAtIndexPaths:[NSArray arrayWithObject:[NSIndexPath indexPathForRow:0 inSection:0]] withRowAnimation:UITableViewRowAnimationFade];
or replace it with
[self.tableView reloadData];
Calling reloadData checks your number of sections, number of rows in each section and then reloads the whole thing.
If data count changes completely, then use reloadData else, there is three functions to do it.
When data count changes we use insertRows / deleteRows and when data count still the same use reloadRows.
Important! don't forget call beginUpdates and endUpdates between insertRows/deleteRows/reloadRows calls.

UITextField in UITableViewCell - adding new cells

I am trying to create a table view similar to the YouTube video uploader view in the Photo Gallery on the iPhone.
Here's the basic setup.
I have a custom UITableViewCell created that contains a UITextField. Displaying the cell in my table works great and I can edit the text with no problems. I created an event hook so I can view when the text has changed in the text field.
[textField addTarget:self action:#selector(textFieldDidChange:) forControlEvents:UIControlEventEditingChanged]
What I want to do is this. When the user first edits the text I want to insert a new cell into the table view below the current cell (newIndexPath is calculated prior to the proper position):
[self.tableView beginUpdates];
[self.tableView insertRowsAtIndexPaths:[NSArray arrayWithObject:newIndexPath] withRowAnimation:UITableViewRowAnimationBottom];
[self.tableView endUpdates];
Problem is when I run the cell insert code the cell is created but the text field's text updated briefly, but then the keyboard is dismissed and the text field is set back to an empty string.
Any help would be awesome! I've been banging my head about this one all day.
- (NSInteger)tableView:(UITableView *)table numberOfRowsInSection:(NSInteger)section
{
if (section == 0)
return 2;
else
return self.tags.count;
}
- (UITableViewCell *)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView cellForRowAtIndexPath:(NSIndexPath *)indexPath {
...
cell = (SimpleTextFieldTableCell *)[tableView dequeueReusableCellWithIdentifier:tagCellIdentifier];
if (cell == nil)
{
cell = [[[NSBundle mainBundle] loadNibNamed:#"SimpleTextFieldTableCell" owner:nil options:nil] lastObject];
}
((SimpleTextFieldTableCell *)cell).textField.delegate = self;
((SimpleTextFieldTableCell *)cell).textField.tag = indexPath.row;
((SimpleTextFieldTableCell *)cell).textField.text = [self.tags objectAtIndex:indexPath.row];
[((SimpleTextFieldTableCell *)cell).textField addTarget:self action:#selector(textFieldDidChange:) forControlEvents:UIControlEventEditingChanged];
cell.selectionStyle = UITableViewCellSelectionStyleNone;
}
- (void)textFieldDidChange:(id)sender
{
UITextField *textField = sender;
[self.tags replaceObjectAtIndex:textField.tag withObject:textField.text];
if (textField.text.length == 1)
{
[textField setNeedsDisplay];
[self addTagsCell];
}
}
- (void)addTagsCell
{
NSString *newTag = #"";
[self.tags addObject:newTag];
NSIndexPath *newIndexPath = [NSIndexPath indexPathForRow:self.tags.count - 1 inSection:1];
[self.tableView beginUpdates];
[self.tableView insertRowsAtIndexPaths:[NSArray arrayWithObject:newIndexPath] withRowAnimation:UITableViewRowAnimationBottom];
[self.tableView endUpdates];
}
Only thing i can think of here is that perhaps when you insert a row the whole table view is reloaded, if you did not add your cell properly to the cell queue, they wont come back in the state that they were , therefore you are seeing empty cells as a result of the insert, just a guess, hope it helps.
Quick update:
Shouldn't matter but I notices you don't need:
[self.tableView beginUpdates]
[self.tableView endUpdates]
since you are performing one operation. Not sure if that matters (it shouldn't).
Update:
I should have said that such issues are pretty common. Here is a post related to your issue
http://www.bdunagan.com/2008/12/08/uitextview-in-a-uitableview-on-the-iphone/
Also, others have abstracted this out. Specifically I have tried this with no such issues:
http://furbo.org/2009/04/30/matt-gallagher-deserves-a-medal/
You could use:
http://github.com/joehewitt/three20/
But it has a bit of a learning curve.
Another Stackoverflow question tackling this issue:
Editing a UITextField inside a UITableViewCell fails
Excuse me not answering your issue directly, but I think that the solution might be contained in one of these links.
Original Answer:
Try:
[newTextField setNeedsDisplay];
Sometimes the tableviews can be "sticky" with updating UITextView/UITextField content.
If that doesn't work, be sure that you're backing model is also updated properly. You haven't displayed any code indicating you updated the model (although I assume you did, otherwise it would have likely thrown an exception).