iOS 9 UITableView separators insets (significant left margin)

Question

I have a problem with separators between UITableViewCells in UITableView on iOS 9. They have the significant left margin. I already have code for removing spacing introduced by iOS 8 but it doesn't work with iOS 9. It looks like they added something else. I suppose it might be connected with layoutMarginsGuide but I haven't figured it out yet. Does anyone had a similar problem and found out the solution?

Solution 1

Okay, I have found out the solution. The only thing required for that is to set on the presenting instance of UITableView that flag cellLayoutMarginsFollowReadableWidth

myTableView.cellLayoutMarginsFollowReadableWidth = NO;

I wanted to find some reference in the documentation but it looks like it is not ready yet, only mentioned on diff page.

As the flag was introduced in iOS 9 for the backward compatibility you should add a check before trying to set it:

if([myTableView respondsToSelector:@selector(setCellLayoutMarginsFollowReadableWidth:)])
{
    myTableView.cellLayoutMarginsFollowReadableWidth = NO;
}

For Swift 2.0 you can use #available to check iOS version.

if #available(iOS 9, *) {
    myTableView.cellLayoutMarginsFollowReadableWidth = false
}

Moreover you need to compile it with Xcode 7 or above.

EDIT

Please keep in mind that this is the only required fix if your separators looked "fine" up to iOS 8, otherwise you need to change a bit more. You can find info how to do this already on SO.

Solution 2

If you want to do it in interface builder. The default separator inset is Automatic. Change it to custom by selecting the dropdown.

Solution 3

Swift 2.2 iOS 9.3

In viewDidLoad

tableView.cellLayoutMarginsFollowReadableWidth = false

In UITableViewDelegates

func tableView(tableView: UITableView, willDisplayCell cell: UITableViewCell, forRowAtIndexPath indexPath: NSIndexPath) {
    if cell.respondsToSelector(Selector("setSeparatorInset:")){
        cell.separatorInset = UIEdgeInsetsZero
    }
    if cell.respondsToSelector(Selector("setPreservesSuperviewLayoutMargins:")) {
        cell.preservesSuperviewLayoutMargins = false
    }
    if cell.respondsToSelector(Selector("setLayoutMargins:")){
        cell.layoutMargins = UIEdgeInsetsZero
    }
}

Solution 4

Perfect Solution upto iOS 9

In viewDidLoad

- (void)viewDidLoad {
    [super viewDidLoad];
    //Required for iOS 9
    if ([[[UIDevice currentDevice]systemVersion]floatValue] >= 9.0) {
        self.testTableView.cellLayoutMarginsFollowReadableWidth = NO;
    }
}

In TableViewDelegate methods add following code:

- (void)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView willDisplayCell:(UITableViewCell *)cell forRowAtIndexPath:(NSIndexPath *)indexPath {

    // Remove seperator inset
    if ([cell respondsToSelector:@selector(setSeparatorInset:)]) {
        [cell setSeparatorInset:UIEdgeInsetsZero];
    }

    // Prevent the cell from inheriting the Table View's margin settings
    if ([cell respondsToSelector:@selector(setPreservesSuperviewLayoutMargins:)]) {
        [cell setPreservesSuperviewLayoutMargins:NO];
    }

    // Explictly set your cell's layout margins
    if ([cell respondsToSelector:@selector(setLayoutMargins:)]) {
        [cell setLayoutMargins:UIEdgeInsetsZero];
    }
}

Solution 5

Swift 3.0 / 4.0

tableView.cellLayoutMarginsFollowReadableWidth = false

func tableView(_ tableView: UITableView, willDisplay cell: UITableViewCell, forRowAt indexPath: IndexPath) {
    if cell.responds(to: #selector(setter: UITableViewCell.separatorInset)) {
        cell.separatorInset = UIEdgeInsets.zero
    }
    if cell.responds(to: #selector(setter: UIView.preservesSuperviewLayoutMargins)) {
        cell.preservesSuperviewLayoutMargins = false
    }
    if cell.responds(to: #selector(setter: UIView.layoutMargins)) {
        cell.layoutMargins = UIEdgeInsets.zero
    }
}

View more solutions

Comments

[Julian]

Not in my case. This was working fine up to the version 8 of iOS. Something else seems to be required for iOS 9.

[JonEasy]

Thanks for that! is there any option to turn this feature off for the whole app or do I have to manually Update all TableViewController properties?

[Julian]

Have you considered creating a base class for tableview (set it there) and use it wherever possible? Moreover I would look if it can be set by appearance.

[JonEasy]

yes this is what I'm doing right now (base class approach) I was just wondering if there would be some kind of "global switch" to shut this off completely. I tried the appearance stuff but this doesn't work with [[UITableView appearance] setCellLayoutMarginsFollowReadableWidth:NO];

[Julian]

Maybe that could be a next SO question how (if possible) to set it globally :)

[Julian]

First of all, if you copy code from the other answer on SO it would be nice if you mention the original author with a link to its answer (that would be fair). Secondly instead of checking iOS version you can check whether object responds to selector.

[Bhuvan Bhatt]

@JulianKról You are right about respond to selector its an alternative. And this is my solution I have created a demo project for this too and working properly on all iOS versions. It would really feel great if you appreciate.

[Julian]

yeah but the second part of the code I already seen on the SO with same comments etc. Moreover making every thing bold and italic also do not improves its readability :) Further, the question is explicit about iOS 9 assuming that up to iOS 8 everything was already done (that counts to the second part of your answer). I appreciate yours involvement but I'm giving you my feedback

[Bhuvan Bhatt]

Yeah that was actually I was using till iOS 8. But for iOS 9 besides this code one must set self.testTableView.cellLayoutMarginsFollowReadableWidth = NO . So for the proper answer I have mentioned the complete code.

[Julian]

what about link to the original answer on SO ? you didn't say anything about that :)

[Bhuvan Bhatt]

@JulianKról Ok noted. Will keep this in mind for future. Thnks.

[Qian Chen]

Doesn't seem to have any effect on iOS 9.1.

[Julian]

@ElgsQianChen has it worked for you for previous versions?

[Qian Chen]

@JulianKról I haven't tried with any earlier version yet.

[Julian]

So this is only the addition you need if your separators where fine on iOS 8. This is what changed between iOS 8 and 9. Find how to fix it on iOS 8 (it is already on SO) and add this and you are done.

[codelearner]

As a workaround, I have just put constraint of -14 for UITableView instead of using above codes to align the table manually.

[manroe]

this is what I needed! The order matters. For me, I noticed that the order mattered for iPad table views in landscape. Once rotated it was fixed, but the first sight of the table was wrong. Thank you!

[RanLearns]

Thanks for this! Any idea why, on iPad, this code makes a full width separator on empty cells, but when data is added to a cell there are a few pixels on the left side where the separator is missing? I found a patch/fix for this but just wondering if you may know more.

[Steffo Dimfelt]

The "Seperator Inset" is Automatic as default and do not show Left/Right unti it is changed to Custom.