Question

How do I programmatically select a UITableView row so that

- (void)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView 
        didSelectRowAtIndexPath:(NSIndexPath *)indexPath

gets executed? selectRowAtIndexPath will only highlight the row.

Answer 1

From reference documentation:

Calling this method does not cause the delegate to receive a tableView:willSelectRowAtIndexPath: or tableView:didSelectRowAtIndexPath: message, nor does it send UITableViewSelectionDidChangeNotification notifications to observers.

What I would do is:

- (void)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView didSelectRowAtIndexPath:(NSIndexPath *)indexPath {
    [self doSomethingWithRowAtIndexPath:indexPath];
}

And then, from where you wanted to call selectRowAtIndexPath, you instead call doSomethingWithRowAtIndexPath. On top of that, you can additionally also call selectRowAtIndexPath if you want the UI feedback to happen.