Question

I can’t get the size of font. Why does my font equal to zero?

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

        cell.textLabel.text = [self extractText:indexPath forLabelAttribute:kTextLabel];
        cell.textLabel.lineBreakMode = UILineBreakModeWordWrap;
        cell.textLabel.numberOfLines = 0;

        NSLog(@"______font family%@", cell.textLabel.font.familyName);
        NSLog(@"______font name%@", cell.textLabel.font.fontName);
        NSLog(@"______font size%f", cell.textLabel.font.pointSize);

And log:

______font family.Helvetica NeueUI 

______font name.HelveticaNeueUI-Bold

______font size0.000000

Answer 1

I’ve noticed this issue when the first table view presented is constructed. Subsequent views do not exhibit this behavior in my case. In other words, the font is clearly initialized after tableView:cellForRowAtIndexPath: for the first constructed table view only.

One way to get around this is to ensure the proper initialization of fonts in the cell constructor:
Define a new UITableViewCell constructor in a category and create new fonts for the textLabel and detailTextLabel with what ever defaults you choose after calling super initWithStyle:.

Two construction strategies:

• only use this new constructor in affected table views, and make
  sure your defaults are consistent with the OS defaults.

• Alternatively replace all UITableViewCell constructor calls with
  this new constructor to ensure consistency for all table views, and
  omit the check for the pointSize. I would likely side with this strategy since the defaults are subject to change in future OS revisions.

You can use the defaults listed here as a reference. Although, I think they have changed since iOS 4.2: Default font size of UITableViewCell

You could alternatively log them using the simulator to discover them yourself in the second UITableView constructed.

Example code:

Cell defaults:

#define kCellStyleSubtitleTextLabelFont @"Helvetica-Bold"
#define kCellStyleSubtitleTextLabelFontSize 18.0f
#define kCellStyleSubtitleDetailLabelFont @"Helvetica"
#define kCellStyleSubtitleDetailLabelFontSize 14.0f


#define kCellStyle1TextLabelFont @"Helvetica-Bold"
#define kCellStyle1TextLabelFontSize 17.0f
#define kCellStyle1DetailLabelFont @"Helvetica Bold"
#define kCellStyle1DetailLabelFontSize 15.0f


#define kCellStyle2TextLabelFont @"Helvetica-Bold"
#define kCellStyle2TextLabelFontSize 12.0f
#define kCellStyle2DetailLabelFont @"Helvetica"
#define kCellStyle2DetailLabelFontSize 15.0f

UITableViewCell Category:

@interface UITableViewCell (fontDefaults)

-(id) initWithCellStyle:(UITableViewCellStyle)style reuseIdentifier:(NSString *)reuseIdentifier;

@end

#define kCheckPointSize 0
@implementation UITableViewCell (fontDefaults)


-(id) initWithCellStyle:(UITableViewCellStyle)style reuseIdentifier:(NSString *)reuseIdentifier {

    self =  [self initWithStyle:style reuseIdentifier:reuseIdentifier];

    if(self == nil)
        return nil;

    switch (style) {

        case UITableViewCellStyleValue1: { //Left aligned label on left and right aligned label on right with blue text (Used in Settings)
#if kCheckPointSize    
            if(self.textLabel.font.pointSize == 0)
#endif    
                self.textLabel.font = [UIFont fontWithName:kCellStyle1TextLabelFont size:kCellStyle1TextLabelFontSize];
#if kCheckPointSize    
            if(self.detailTextLabel.font.pointSize == 0)
#endif    
                self.detailTextLabel.font = [UIFont fontWithName:kCellStyle1DetailLabelFont size:kCellStyle1DetailLabelFontSize];



            break;

        }

        case UITableViewCellStyleValue2: { //Right aligned label on left with blue text and left aligned label on right (Used in Phone/Contacts)
#if kCheckPointSize    
            if(self.textLabel.font.pointSize == 0)
#endif    
                self.textLabel.font = [UIFont fontWithName:kCellStyle2TextLabelFont size:kCellStyle2TextLabelFontSize];
#if kCheckPointSize    
            if(self.detailTextLabel.font.pointSize == 0)
#endif    
                self.detailTextLabel.font = [UIFont fontWithName:kCellStyle2DetailLabelFont size:kCellStyle2DetailLabelFontSize];

            break;

        }

        case UITableViewCellStyleSubtitle: { //Left aligned label on top and left aligned label on bottom with gray text (Used in iPod).
#if kCheckPointSize    
            if(self.textLabel.font.pointSize == 0)
#endif    
                self.textLabel.font = [UIFont fontWithName:kCellStyleSubtitleTextLabelFont size:kCellStyleSubtitleTextLabelFontSize];
#if kCheckPointSize    
            if(self.detailTextLabel.font.pointSize == 0)
#endif    
                self.detailTextLabel.font = [UIFont fontWithName:kCellStyleSubtitleDetailLabelFont size:kCellStyleSubtitleDetailLabelFontSize];

            break;

        }

        default: //default cell style
        case UITableViewCellStyleDefault: { //Simple cell with text label and optional image view (behavior of UITableViewCell in iPhoneOS 2.x).  No detailTextLabel
#if kCheckPointSize
            if(self.textLabel.font.pointSize == 0) //
#endif    
                self.textLabel.font = [UIFont fontWithName:kCellStyle1TextLabelFont size:kCellStyle1TextLabelFontSize];



            break;

        }

    }

    return self;

}


@end

Example construction in tableView:cellForRowAtIndexPath:

static NSString *CellIdentifier = @"Style2Cell";



UITableViewCell *cell = [tableView dequeueReusableCellWithIdentifier:CellIdentifier];

if (cell == nil) {

    cell = [[[UITableViewCell alloc]

              initWithCellStyle:UITableViewCellStyleValue2

             reuseIdentifier:CellIdentifier] autorelease];



    cell.accessoryType = UITableViewCellAccessoryDisclosureIndicator;



    cell.selectionStyle = UITableViewCellSelectionStyleNone;

}