Question

I’m having problems figuring out how to display different cell styles as well as custom cells together within a UITableView. I understand how to set up and put cells together and the construction of a basic UITableView, but just not how to “mix and match” cell within one.

The best example I can show you on what I am trying to achieve is with the Tweetie 2 application.

The top of the segment there is a block paragraph, then below it there UITableViewCell’s with the UITableViewCellStyleValue2 style set. How exactly would I go about achieving this effect?

Thanks ahead of time

Answer 1

The main layout is a grouped table. Each cluster of cells is a table section. The top most cell is set with a transparent background.

The key to making this work is to have a logical structure in the tableview delegate that understands which cell layout goes in which section and which row. A switch statement is usually easiest although you can also use arrays or dictionaries configure to reflect the layout.

So, in tableView:cellForRowAtIndexPath: you would have something like:

switch (indexPath.section) {
    case 0:
        cell= //configure cell with transparent background
        break;
    case 1:
        if (indexPath.row==0) {
            cell = // configure cell for multiline
        }else {
            cell = // configure for UITableViewCellStyleValue2
        }
        break;
    case 2:
        // .. and so on for each section and cell
        break;
    default:
        break;
}

In this layout, the tableview is being used less as a logical table (which displays repeating units of list structured data) and more as convenient mechanism for managing a layout. The logic managing the tableview has to be more complex and reflect the needs of the layout.