import 495 Cell to TableView

Question

Hi I want to create a table-view with 495 cells.
I want to import cells with NSArray, is it right way?
If yes, how can create 495 cells with simple code?

Not like this :

@"Cell 1" @ "cell 2" @"cell 3", @"cell 4", @"cell 5" ............. @"cell 495" 

Answer 1

No, this is not the correct way. See the documentation for UITableViewDataSource. Specifically, you'll want to implement -tableView:numberOfRowsInSection: and -tableView:cellForRowAtIndexPath:.

Answer 2

The thing to remember with tables is that there is complete separation between the data and the actual cells displayed in the interface. The data list can be arbitrarily long but the tableview will only display as many actual cells as needed to fill up the physical screen. This is what -tableView:cellForRowAtIndexPath: is for. The table tracks which rows are actually visible to the user and then ask the datasource for data just for the displayed rows.

You can use an NSArray to hold your data and the easiest way to populate the array is to read it in from a file. You can create a plist file with the /Developer/Applications/Utilities/Property List Editor.app (part of the standard developers tools) that NSArray can read in directly with initWithContentsOfFile:. (If you just want to create a long list of data to experiment with, you can use NSMutableArray and populate it with a loop.)

In your case, you have 495 entries but the table will only display about 9 cells at a time (just simple default text cells). At the start it will display tables indexed 0-8. The table will call -tableView:cellForRowAtIndexPath: 9 times passing one index i.e. 0,1,2...7,8 each time. Your method will then find the the object in your array at that index e.g. [myArray objectAtIndex:index]. As the user scrolls, the index passed changes. When rows 300-308 are displayed the indexes passed are 300,301,...307,308.

Answer 3

you will have to return the value of 495 in the '-tableView:numberOfRowsInSection:' method like

- (NSInteger)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView numberOfRowsInSection:(NSInteger)section {
    NSLog(@"Returning num rows");
    return 495;
}

then populating the table with your array

- (UITableViewCell *)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView cellForRowAtIndexPath:(NSIndexPath *)indexPath {
     static NSString *CellIdentifier = @"Cell";

    UITableViewCell *cell = [tableView dequeueReusableCellWithIdentifier:CellIdentifier];
    if (cell == nil) {
        cell = [[[UITableViewCell alloc] initWithFrame:CGRectZero reuseIdentifier:CellIdentifier] autorelease];
    }
NSUInteger row = [indexPath row];
    cell.text = [array objectAtIndex:row];
      return cell;
}

here i assumed that you are storing text data in the cells. Also create the array in viewDidLoad method.