Problem with configuring a UITableView as a inclusive selection list - iphone

Question

I am programing a UITableView to behave as an inclusive selection list. My table displays correctly and allows for multiple cells to be selected with check boxes. My problem is that cells which have been selected (cells contain a check mark to the right) loose their selected status when scrolled out of view (cells check mark disappears). I want the selections made to cells in the table to be preserved even if cells are scrolled out of view. Does anyone have any idea what is causing this?
Here is my code inside of my TableViewController class:
- (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] autorelease];
}
NSUInteger row = [indexPath row];
cell.textLabel.text = [widgetTitles_glob objectAtIndex:row];
cell.detailTextLabel.text = #"";
cell.textLabel.textColor = [UIColor blackColor];
cell.textLabel.font = [UIFont boldSystemFontOfSize:15];
cell.accessoryType = UITableViewCellAccessoryNone;
return cell;
}
- (void)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView didSelectRowAtIndexPath:(NSIndexPath *)indexPath {
[tableView deselectRowAtIndexPath:[tableView indexPathForSelectedRow] animated:YES];
UITableViewCell *cell = [tableView cellForRowAtIndexPath:indexPath];
if (cell.accessoryType == UITableViewCellAccessoryNone) {
cell.accessoryType = UITableViewCellAccessoryCheckmark;
// Reflect selection in data model
} else if (cell.accessoryType == UITableViewCellAccessoryCheckmark) {
cell.accessoryType = UITableViewCellAccessoryNone;
// Reflect deselection in data model
}
}
Any help would be very much appreciated.

Answer 1

When you are using UITableView correctly, only as many UITableViewCell instances are allocated as are needed to fit on the screen. When you scroll down a table, and a cell disappears off the top of the screen, it is relocated to the bottom.
Your delegate method, tableView:cellForRowAtIndexPath: is responsible for setting up a cell, either creating a new one or reconfiguring a recycled one.
The proper thing to do is use an array to store your checked/unchecked values. When didSelectRowAtIndexPath: is called, you update the cell and your array. When tableView:cellForRowAtIndexPath: is called, you configure the cell based on the values in the array.
Based on your comments, you are already doing the right thing in didSelectRowAtIndexPath:; you just need to use those values when you set up the cell instance, because that cell could represent a row that has already been checked. Check the array and then set cell.accessoryType accordingly.

Answer 2

In cellForRowAtIndexPath: you were assigining the accessoryType as none, so whenever you scroll that delegate is called and set the accessory type as none. So you should change your code.
I have also faced this problem once; I came up with a solution as follows.
Store the indexPath.row values of selected indexPath in an array (this code should be in didSelectRowAtIndexPath delegate) if it is deselected remove from that array. In cellForRowAtIndexPath: method I have used a for loop and check if that indexPath.row is present then change it's accessory type to checkmark else none.

Answer 3

Thanks for your help. It actually turns out that the reason why the cells were getting reset to UITableViewCellAccessoryNone was becasue of the following line of code inside of cellForRowAtindexPath:
cell.accessoryType = UITableViewCellAccessoryNone;
Removing this has fixed the table.