Checkbox cell in a table view: User can't check it

Question

I need help in using checkbox cell. I currently added the object to tableview. It looks ok until i tried building and running the program where I cannot check the checkbox. I am currently using a tableview which displays items runtime with a checkbox for each item so i can have multiple selections.

I am new to xcode and I have been stuck for a week with this problem. i tried google but still no luck.

Any snippets, answers, or explanations is very much appreciated.

Answer 1

First we need to edit this method: - (void)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView didSelectRowAtIndexPath:(NSIndexPath *)indexPath. Assuming you generated a Navigation-based application, this method should already be there, only commented out. I don't know the exact details of your implementation, but you somehow have to keep track of the checkbox state for each cell in the tableView. For example, if you had a BOOL array, the following code would work:

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

 if (checkboxArray[indexPath.row])
  checkboxArray[indexPath.row] = NO;
 else 
  checkboxArray[indexPath.row] = YES;

 [self.tableView reloadData];
}

Now that we know what cells need to have a checkmark next to them, the next step is to modify how the cell is displayed. - (UITableViewCell *)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView cellForRowAtIndexPath:(NSIndexPath *)indexPath handles the drawing of each cell. Building off the previous example, this is how you would display the checkbox:

- (UITableViewCell *)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView cellForRowAtIndexPath:(NSIndexPath *)indexPath {

    static NSString *CellIdentifier = @"Cell";

    UITableViewCell *cell = [tableView dequeueReusableCellWithIdentifier:CellIdentifier];
    if (cell == nil) {
        cell = [[[UITableViewCell alloc] initWithStyle:UITableViewCellStyleDefault reuseIdentifier:CellIdentifier] autorelease];
    }

 if (checkboxArray[indexPath.row]) {
  cell.accessoryType = UITableViewCellAccessoryCheckmark;
 }
 else
  cell.accessoryType = UITableViewCellAccessoryNone;

 // Configure the cell.

    return cell;
}

If we don't call reloadData, the checkmark will not show up until it goes off-screen and reappears. You need to explicitly set the accessoryType each time because of the way cells are reused. If you set the style only when a cell is checked, other cells that may not necessarily be checked will have a checkmark when you go to scroll. Hopefully this gives you a general idea on how to use checkmarks.