How to programmatically create UIView -> UIViewController -> UITableView - iphone

Question

I've been struggling to add a UIView above my UITableViewController. Through searches, reading and experimenting I've determined that instead of a UITableViewController I should just be using a UIViewController. I'm having a hard time making this work for a variety of reasons and I'd like to just start fresh with a better architecture.
Basically I'm looking for sample code / tutorials that could help me create the following completely programmatically (no NIBS):
- Navigation-based Layout
- UIViewController
-- UIView
--- UITableView
--- Etc.
The reason why I want a UIView above my UITableView is I want to be able to add UIViews above my table.
-UPDATE-
Adding code to make this more clear:
JMoviesListViewController.m - UITableViewController subclass
- (void)loadView
{
NSLog(#"loadView called");
UIView *baseView = [[[UIView alloc] init] autorelease];
TISwipeableTableView * aTableView = [[[TISwipeableTableView alloc] init] autorelease];
[aTableView setDelegate:self];
[aTableView setDataSource:self];
[aTableView setSwipeDelegate:self];
[aTableView setRowHeight:54];
[baseView addSubview:aTableView];
self.view = baseView;
[super loadView];
}
- (void)viewDidLoad {
listOfMovies = [[NSMutableArray alloc] init];
UIView *myProgView = (UIView *)self.progView; // progView is a method that returns a UIView
[self.view insertSubview:myProgView aboveSubview:self.tableView];
[self.navigationItem setTitle:#"Now Playing"];
movies = [[Movies alloc] init];
movies.delegate = self;
[movies getMovies:[NSURL URLWithString:apiQuery]];
[super viewDidLoad];
}
- (UIView *)progView {
if (progView == nil)
{
// create a progress view
//x,y,w,h
progView = [[UIView alloc] initWithFrame:CGRectMake(110, 110, 95, 30)];
progView.backgroundColor = [UIColor grayColor];
progView.tag = 1; // tag this view for later so we can remove it from recycled table cells
progView.autoresizingMask = (UIViewAutoresizingFlexibleLeftMargin | UIViewAutoresizingFlexibleRightMargin | UIViewAutoresizingFlexibleTopMargin | UIViewAutoresizingFlexibleBottomMargin);
progView.layer.cornerRadius = 5;
UILabel *activityLabel = [[UILabel alloc] init];
activityLabel.text = NSLocalizedString(#"Loading...", #"string1");
activityLabel.backgroundColor = [UIColor grayColor];
activityLabel.textColor = [UIColor whiteColor];
activityLabel.font = [UIFont systemFontOfSize:14];
[progView addSubview:activityLabel];
activityLabel.frame = CGRectMake(5, 2, 70, 25);
UIActivityIndicatorView *activityIndicator = [[UIActivityIndicatorView alloc] initWithActivityIndicatorStyle:UIActivityIndicatorViewStyleWhite];
[activityIndicator startAnimating];
[progView addSubview:activityIndicator];
activityIndicator.frame = CGRectMake(70, 5, 20, 20);
}
return progView;
}
To be clear, the code works fine, the problem is that the cell lines of the table are "bleeding through" the UIView spinner that is inserted with this line:
[self.view insertSubview:myProgView aboveSubview:self.tableView];
leading me to believe that myProgView is not aboveSubview:self.tableView.

Answer 1

Views and controllers are separate things. You can have a hierarchy of view controllers and a hierarchy of views. But they're not interleaved, as the title of posts suggests (I know, Interface Builder displays them as a single hierarchy, but views and controllers are more like two parallel hierarchies).
Anyway, you can easily have a view controller set up whatever views you want in code. Override the loadView method, create a view that you assign to self.view, then add subviews to that view.
For example:
- (void)loadView
{
UIView *view = [[[UIView alloc] init] autorelease];
UITableView *tableView = [[[UITableView alloc] init] autorelease];
tableView.dataSource = self;
tableView.delegate = self;
[view addSubview:tableView];
self.view = view;
}
Your view controller should either inherit UITableViewController or implement the UITableViewDataSource and UITableViewDelegate protocols.

Answer 2

You have to actually specify the layout of your different views, not just add them as subviews. Try reading a tutorial about using AutoLayout programmatically.
You also want to set up all your views in loadView. There you can set the bottom of your extra view to the top of your table view.

Answer 3

- (void)viewDidLoad {
[super viewDidLoad];
UIView *view = [[[UIView alloc] initwithFrame:CGRectMake(set your frame)] autorelease];
UITableView *tableView = [[[UITableView alloc] initwithFrame:CGRectMake(set your frame)] autorelease];
tableView.dataSource = self;
tableView.delegate = self;
[view addSubview:tableView];
}
if you are using **ARC** remove autorelease.