Using a UITableViewController with a small-sized table?

Question

When using a UITableViewController, the initWithStyle: method automatically creates the underlying UITableView with - according to the documentation - "the correct dimensions".

My problem is that these "correct dimensions" seem 320x460 (the iPhone's screen size), but I'm pushing this TableView/Controller pair into a UINavigationController which is itself contained in a UIView, which itself is about half the height of the screen.

No frame or bounds wrangling I can come up with seems to correctly reset the table's size, and as such it's "too long", meaning there are a collection of rows that are pushed off the bottom of the screen and are not visible nor reachable by scrolling.

So my question comes down to: what is the proper way to tell a UITableViewController to resize its component UITableView to a specified rectangle?

Thanks!

Update I've tried all the techniques suggested here to no avail, but I did find one interesting thing: if I eschew the UINavigationController altogether (which I'm not yet willing to do for production, but as an experiment), and add the table view as a direct subview of the enclosing view I mentioned, the frame size given is respected. The very moment I re-introduce the UINavigationController into the mix, no matter if it is added as a subview before or after the table view, and no matter if alloc/init it before or after the table view is added as a subview, the result is the same as it was before.

I'm beginning to suspect UINavigationController isn't much of a team player...

Update 2 The suggestion to check frame size after the table view on screen was a good one: turns out that the navigation controller is in fact resizing it some time in between load and display. My solution, hacky at best, has been to cache the frame given on load and to reset it if changed at the beginning of tableView:cellForRowAtIndexPath:. Why there you ask? Because it's the one place I found that worked, that's why!

I don't consider this a solution as it's obviously improper, but for the benefit of anyone else reading, it does seem to work.

Answer 1

Why not just use a regular UIViewController and create the table manually?

Answer 2

I agree with Ben's answer. I've often run into the situation where I need to resize a UITableVIew due to other controls on a view.

I usually just have a regular UIViewController with a UITableView IBOutlet. Then, if I need to, I can just manipulate the UITableView object's frame to get it to the size I need.

Answer 3

I must be doing something incorrectly, because even using the solution presented doesn't seem to work. Ie: even using a bare UIViewController (well, a subclass of one), I still run into the same problem.

Here is example code:

CGRect oFrame = theEnclosingUIView.frame;
oFrame.origin.x = 0;
oFrame.origin.y = 44;
oFrame.size.height -= 44;

NSLog(@"FRAME: %@", NSStringFromCGRect(oFrame));
UITableView* table = [[UITableView alloc] initWithFrame:oFrame style:UITableViewStylePlain];
_tableControl = [[MyUIViewControllerSubclass alloc] init];
_tableControl.view = table;
table.delegate = _tableControl;
table.dataSource = _tableControl;
_navControl = [[NavController alloc] initWithRootViewController:_tableControl];

The NSLog prints a frame size that appears correct ({{0, 44}, {320, 199}}) given that theEnclosingUIView's height is 243), but again I have rows that are unreachable. When trying to scroll to them, they appear but the "bounce" happens above the unreachable rows, making them unclickable.

Thanks again for the help everyone.

Answer 4

I'm not sure why you're creating an additional view controller for your table. However, in your code, I don't see you adding the table view to its parent. You might also try reducing the bounds height until the whole thing appears on screen; once you do that, it may give you insight as to why it's not working the way you expect.

Answer 5

Check the autoresizingMask and contentMode properties of the UITableView. These can both affect the frame.

Answer 6

If you are using Interface Builder, you can simply go to "Table View Size" properties window, and change Bottom Insets for both Content and Scroller with the height of another widget.

Answer 7

Ryan - I've been struggling with the same problem -- no amount of frame setting in the "right" place and disabling autoresizing and such helped. BUT your fix (hacky as it may be) works!

FWIW, in an, uh, upcoming software release, this weird overly-aggressive-autoresizing behavior has changed, such that the hack isn't necessary. But until that reaches my user, this works.

Answer 8

I had the same problem and I solved it by resizing the tableView in the viewDidAppear function of the UITableViewController. Not the ideal solution but it works.

Answer 9

I think I have a solution that works. I posted info here: mitchallen.com/iphone/archives/184

(Sorry, you'll have to cut and paste - I'm a new user and can't post live links yet).

Answer 10

I had the same problem and I solved it with:

-(void) loadView {
    [self setView:[[[UIView alloc] initWithFrame:CGRectZero] autorelease]];
    [[self view] setAutoresizesSubviews:NO];

    /* Create & configure table and other views... */

    [self setResultsTable:[[RadarTableViewController alloc] initWithNibName:nil bundle:nil]];
    [[resultsTable view] setFrame:CGRectMake(0,45,320,200)];
}

This is done in the parent (just a plain UIViewController in my case) controller.

Answer 11

Hi

Did you manager to get this quirk fixed in your App? It is driving me crazy!! I did what you said putting the setFrame method in the cellForRowAtIndexPath function, however on the navigation controller clicking on didSelectRow and going back to the table default the size back to normal instead of the size I want grrrrr

Answer 12

Hi, I found this post, hope it useful.

Just don't use the UITableViewController