How to initialize a custom prototype style table cell in iOS 5 storyboards?

ios ios5 uitableview storyboard

54,329

Solution 1

This way

- (UITableViewCell *)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView cellForRowAtIndexPath:(NSIndexPath *)indexPath {
    static NSString *CellIdentifier = @"Cell";
    CustomCell *cell = [tableView dequeueReusableCellWithIdentifier:CellIdentifier];
    if (cell == nil) {
        cell = [[CustomCell alloc] initWithStyle:UITableViewCellStyleDefault reuseIdentifier:CellIdentifier];
    }

    return cell;
}

Solution 2

This worked perfect for me (Xcode 4.5.2 and iOS 6.0):

-(UITableViewCell *) tableView:(UITableView *)tableView cellForRowAtIndexPath:(NSIndexPath *)indexPath{
    UITableViewCell *cell = [tableView dequeueReusableCellWithIdentifier:@"Cell"];

    if( cell == nil){
        cell = [[UITableViewCell alloc] initWithStyle:UITableViewCellStyleDefault reuseIdentifier:@"Cell"];
    }

    UILabel *title = (UILabel*) [cell viewWithTag:1000];
    UILabel *summary = (UILabel*) [cell viewWithTag:1001];
    [title setText:[ tableMainTitle objectAtIndex:indexPath.row]];
    [summary setText:[ tableSubTitle objectAtIndex:indexPath.row]];
    return cell;
}

Important: Do not forget setting delegate and datasource.

Solution 3

If you load your view controller that contains the tableview using:

MyViewController *myViewController = [self.storyboard instantiateViewControllerWithIdentifier:@"MyViewController"];

Then inside cellForRowAtIndexPath you just need one line:

UITableViewCell *cell = [tableView dequeueReusableCellWithIdentifier:@"MyIdentifierFromStoryboard"];

dequeueReusableCellWithIdentifier will instantiate one cell if there is none exists.

54,329

Author by

Tom Kincaid

Updated on May 23, 2020

Comments

Tom Kincaid almost 4 years

I am converting over to iOS 5 and storyboards. When I have a table view with default cell style, everything works fine.

- (UITableViewCell *)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView cellForRowAtIndexPath:(NSIndexPath *)indexPath {
    UITableViewCell *cell = [tableView dequeueReusableCellWithIdentifier:@"MyIdentifierFromStoryboard"];
    if (cell == nil) {
        cell = [[UITableViewCell alloc] initWithStyle:UITableViewCellStyleDefault reuseIdentifier:@"MyIdentifierFromStoryboard"];
    }
    return cell;
}

I have seen examples where the "if (cell == nil)" block is removed. However if I take it out, my app crashes with the message: "UITableView dataSource must return a cell from tableView:cellForRowAtIndexPath:". This is not a problem because it works as shown above.

My problem is that I want to use a custom style for the cell and thus cannot use initWithStyle. How do I initialize a custom cell that I have designed on the storyboard?

The old pre-5 app had a nib and class that used something like this, but now I'm using the storyboard.

- (UITableViewCell *)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView cellForRowAtIndexPath:(NSIndexPath *)indexPath {
    MyCustomTableCell *cell = (MyCustomTableCell *) [tableView dequeueReusableCellWithIdentifier:@"MyCustomIdentifier"];
    if (cell == nil) {
        NSArray *nib = [[NSBundle mainBundle] loadNibNamed:@"MyCustomTableCell" owner:self options:nil];
        cell = (MyCustomTableCell *) [nib objectAtIndex:0];
    }
    return cell;
}

Tom Kincaid about 12 years

That results in a cell with the default style and not the custom style from the storyboard.
Alejandro Rangel about 12 years

heres and example techotopia.com/index.php/…
Tom Kincaid about 12 years

Thanks for the link. I got it to work. A little tricky step is control dragging from an empty space on the view.
Claus almost 12 years

Can you be more precise? I still don't get it. Thanks
Alejandro Rangel almost 12 years

Sure, but it will be more easy to solve doubt if you give a little more info
mskw about 11 years

For iOS6 with storyboards, cell is never nil after dequeuing.
Nurbol almost 11 years

This should be the accepted answer as far as I can tell. Checking for nil cells etc is useless boilerplate when using storyboards.
twinlakes over 10 years

@mskw so a cell will always be valid and useable? or do they have some other method of identifying invalid cells (like a constant or something)
mskw over 10 years

Given you have the correct identifier yes. Otherwise it will crash complaining about it.
jackslash almost 10 years

This answer is outdated and now wrong. developer.apple.com/library/ios/documentation/uikit/referenc‌e/…:
qwerty_so almost 9 years

So what does that code mean? Some commentary would have helped.
datWooWoo almost 9 years

@jackslash We're not all using storyboards.
jackslash almost 9 years

Nope. Now you register table cell classes with the table view in advance and when you dequeue the cell is guaranteed to exist.
datWooWoo almost 9 years

Oh I see. I thought you were pointing something else out. Should try to edit the answer then.