Question

I’ve created a custom cell with a textField but I’m not able to retrieve its value.
In my tableView, there are 3 of these custom cells, together with other default cells.
When I try this:

NSString *string = customCell.textField.text;

I always get a null value…
This is my code:

TextFieldCell.m

#import "TextFieldCell.h"

@implementation TextFieldCell

@synthesize label;
@synthesize textField;

- (id)initWithStyle:(UITableViewCellStyle)style reuseIdentifier:(NSString *)reuseIdentifier
{
    self = [super initWithStyle:style reuseIdentifier:reuseIdentifier];
    if (self)
    {
        label = [[UILabel alloc] initWithFrame:CGRectZero];
        label.backgroundColor = [UIColor clearColor];
        label.textAlignment = UITextAlignmentRight;
        label.textColor = [UIColor blackColor];
        label.font = [UIFont boldSystemFontOfSize:16.0];
        label.adjustsFontSizeToFitWidth = YES;
        label.baselineAdjustment = UIBaselineAdjustmentNone;
        label.numberOfLines = 20;
        [self.contentView addSubview:label];

        textField = [[UITextField alloc] initWithFrame:CGRectZero];
        textField.contentVerticalAlignment = UIControlContentVerticalAlignmentCenter;
        textField.backgroundColor = [UIColor clearColor];
        textField.font = [UIFont boldSystemFontOfSize:16.0];
        textField.delegate = self;
        textField.returnKeyType = UIReturnKeyDone;
        [self.contentView addSubview:textField];
    }

    return self;
}

-(void)layoutSubviews
{
    [super layoutSubviews];

    CGRect r = CGRectInset(self.contentView.bounds, 8, 8);
    CGRect r1 = CGRectInset(self.contentView.bounds, 8, 8);

    if (label.text != nil)
    {
        r.size = CGSizeMake(12, 27);
        label.frame = r;

        r1.origin.x += self.label.frame.size.width + 6;
        r1.size.width -= self.label.frame.size.width + 6;
        textField.frame = r1;
    }
    else
    {
        textField.frame = r;
    }
}

-(BOOL)textFieldShouldReturn:(UITextField *)aTextField
{
    [textField resignFirstResponder];
    return NO;
}

- (void)setSelected:(BOOL)selected animated:(BOOL)animated
{
    [super setSelected:selected animated:animated];
}

@end

Table View Data Source

- (UITableViewCell *)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView cellForRowAtIndexPath:(NSIndexPath *)indexPath
{
    if (indexPath.section == 0)
    {
        if (indexPath.row == 0)
        {
            return [self textFieldCellForTableView:tableView atIndexPath:indexPath];
        }
        else if (indexPath.row == 1)
        {
            return [self textFieldCellForTableView:tableView atIndexPath:indexPath];
        }
        else
        {
            return [self defaultCellForTableView:tableView atIndexPath:indexPath];
        }
    }
    else if (indexPath.section == 1)
    {
        if (indexPath.row == 0)
        {
            return [self textFieldCellForTableView:tableView atIndexPath:indexPath];
        }
        else
        {
            return [self defaultCellForTableView:tableView atIndexPath:indexPath];
        }
    }
    else if (indexPath.section == 2)
    {
        return [self defaultCellForTableView:tableView atIndexPath:indexPath];
    }
    else
    {
        return [self chooseFotoCellForTableView:tableView atIndexPath:indexPath];
    }
}

-(TextFieldCell *)textFieldCellForTableView:(UITableView *)tableView atIndexPath:(NSIndexPath *)indexPath
{
    static NSString *TextFieldCellIdentifier = @"TextFieldCellIdentifier";

    TextFieldCell *cell = [tableView dequeueReusableCellWithIdentifier:TextFieldCellIdentifier];
    if (cell == nil)
    {
        cell = [[[TextFieldCell alloc] initWithStyle:UITableViewCellStyleDefault reuseIdentifier:TextFieldCellIdentifier] autorelease];
        cell.selectionStyle = UITableViewCellSelectionStyleNone;
    }

    if (indexPath.section == 0)
    {
        if (indexPath.row == 0)
        {
            cell.label.text = nil;
            cell.textField.placeholder = NSLocalizedString(@"Nome", @"");
        }
        else
        {
            cell.label.text = [[NSLocale currentLocale] objectForKey:NSLocaleCurrencySymbol];
            cell.textField.placeholder = NSLocalizedString(@"Costo", @"");
        }
    }
    else
    {
        cell.label.text = nil;
        cell.textField.placeholder = NSLocalizedString(@"URL", @"");
    }

    return cell;
}

Code To Retrieve TextField Value

TextFieldCell *nomeCell = (TextFieldCell *)[self tableView:self.tableView cellForRowAtIndexPath:[NSIndexPath indexPathForRow:0 inSection:0]];
TextFieldCell *costoCell = (TextFieldCell *)[self tableView:self.tableView cellForRowAtIndexPath:[NSIndexPath indexPathForRow:1 inSection:0]];
TextFieldCell *linkCell = (TextFieldCell *)[self tableView:self.tableView cellForRowAtIndexPath:[NSIndexPath indexPathForRow:0 inSection:1]];

NSLog(@"nomeCell textField = %@", nomeCell.textField.text);
NSLog(@"costoCell textField = %@", costoCell.textField.text);
NSLog(@"linkCell textField = %@", linkCell.textField.text);

I tried to log nomeCell, costoCell and linkCell and they are correctly allocated and initialized and I’m not using ARC here…
Can anyone help me?
Thank you so much!

Answer 1

I assume that you have actually entered some text in the text field by the time you are trying to retrieve the values, and you are retrieving the values to update your data model rather than relying on the table view / cells to store your data?

Don’t obtain the current cell by calling your table view controller’s tableView:cellForRowAtIndexPath:. This should only be called by the table view when it needs a new cell.

Call the cellForRowAtIndexPath: method on the table view directly. Instead of this:

TextFieldCell *nomeCell = (TextFieldCell *)[self tableView:self.tableView cellForRowAtIndexPath:[NSIndexPath indexPathForRow:0 inSection:0]];

Do this:

TextFieldCell *nomeCell = (TextFieldCell *)[self.tableView cellForRowAtIndexPath:[NSIndexPath indexPathForRow:0 inSection:0]];