BackgroundColor of UITableViewCellStyleSubtitle labels ??!?

Question

I am trying to create a table with an image as a background. To achieve this, I started out with the background:

self.view.backgroundColor = [UIColor groupTableViewBackgroundColor];

This resulted in a background image which appears in tablecells as well. That is not something I want, so I tried to set the cell's backgroundColor:

cell.backgroundColor = [UIColor whiteColor];

This had no effect at all !!!. Hmmm strange. So I tried this:

UIView *backgroundView = [[UIView alloc] init];
backgroundView.backgroundColor = [UIColor whiteColor];
cell.backgroundView = backgroundView;
[backgroundView release];

This works almost. The only problem left is that the textLabel & the detailTextLabel still show the background behind them. Setting the backgroundColor on those labels to white doesn't do anything either.

How do I proceed? Where do I go wrong? I am trying to achieve a tableView like the worldClock app has.

Answer 1

Meh. I changed the table to use custom tablecells instead. It's a shame it is not possible on the default cell types....

Answer 2

To change the background colour of the table view cell, you'll need to set it in tableView:willDisplayCell:forRowAtIndexPath: rather than tableView:cellForRowAtIndexPath: otherwise it won't have any effect, for example:

- (void)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView willDisplayCell:(UITableViewCell *)cell forRowAtIndexPath:(NSIndexPath *)indexPath {
    cell.backgroundColor = [UIColor whiteColor];
}