Question

I’ve got an app with several UITableViews in it, and if one of them is empty, I’d like to display a bit of help text, floating in front of the UITableView:

“Looks like you haven’t created anything for this list yet. Make your first entry by tapping the button above.”

How do I present this view, floating in front of the UITableView?

1. What method of the UITableViewDelegate would be used to present this view?
2. What would the code look like to present the view?
3. What method of the UITableViewDelegate would be used to hide this view once the user adds content?

Here’s a quick mockup:

Answer 1

declare in .h file

UIView *root;

in .m file

import QuartzCore/QuartzCore.h

- (void)viewDidLoad
{

[super viewDidLoad];

    root = [[UIView alloc] initWithFrame:CGRectMake(60, 50, 220, 250)];
    root.backgroundColor=[UIColor grayColor];
    root.layer.cornerRadius=10;
    UILabel *label=[[UILabel alloc] initWithFrame:CGRectMake(10, 100, 200, 50)];
    label.backgroundColor=[UIColor clearColor];
    label.numberOfLines=3;
    label.font=[UIFont fontWithName:@"Arial" size:14];
    label.lineBreakMode=UILineBreakModeTailTruncation;
    label.textColor=[UIColor whiteColor];
    label.text=@"Make your first entry by tapping the button at the top of the screen";
    [root addSubview:label];
    [self.view addSubview:root];
}

inside your button Event method

[root removeFromSuperview];