UITableViewCell background size

Question

I'm trying to set the size of my background to be a little shorter than the default, creating some space between the cells. This has proven to be difficult. Setting the frame of the background view seems to do nothing:

- (UITableViewCell *)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView cellForRowAtIndexPath:(NSIndexPath *)indexPath
{ 
    NSString *reuseIdentifier = @"cell";
    UITableViewCell *cell = [self.tableView dequeueReusableCellWithIdentifier:reuseIdentifier];

    if (!cell)
        cell = [[[UITableViewCell alloc] initWithFrame:CGRectZero reuseIdentifier:reuseIdentifier] autorelease];

    // Set up the cell...

    cell.contentView.backgroundColor = [UIColor clearColor];

    cell.backgroundView = [[[UIView alloc] initWithFrame:CGRectMake(0, 4, 320, 42)] autorelease];
    cell.backgroundView.backgroundColor = [UIColor blackColor];
    cell.backgroundView.alpha = .2;

    cell.selectedBackgroundView = [[[UIView alloc] initWithFrame:CGRectMake(0, 4, 320, 42)] autorelease];
    cell.selectedBackgroundView.backgroundColor = [UIColor whiteColor];
    cell.selectedBackgroundView.alpha = .2;

    cell.font = [UIFont fontWithName:@"MarkerFelt-Thin" size:22.0f];
    cell.selectedTextColor = [UIColor blackColor];
    cell.textColor = [UIColor whiteColor];

    NSDictionary *dict = [files objectAtIndex:indexPath.row];

    cell.text = [dict objectForKey:@"name"];

    return cell;
}

Any help?

Also, setting the selected background view doesn't do anything. When a cell is selected, the background is completely blank. Why is this?

I'm using iPhone OS 2.2.1.

I also do this:

- (void)viewDidLoad
{
    [super viewDidLoad];

    self.tableView.separatorStyle = UITableViewCellSeparatorStyleNone;
    self.tableView.backgroundColor = [UIColor clearColor];
    self.tableView.rowHeight = 50.0f;
}

You can download the code here (made a small project for this issue only):

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/608462/tabletest2.zip

Answer 1

Try this:

UIView *bg = [[UIView alloc] initWithFrame: CGRectInset(cell.frame, 0.0, 2.0)];
bg.backgroundColor = [UIColor whiteColor];
cell.backgroundView = bg;

Also don't forget to set background color and separator color to clear in viewDidLoad():

- (void)viewDidLoad {
    [super viewDidLoad];
    self.tableView.separatorColor = [UIColor clearColor];
    self.tableView.backgroundColor = [UIColor clearColor];
}

Answer 2

Try using:

cell.backgroundView = [[UIView alloc] initWithFrame:CGRectMake(0.0, 4.0, 320.0, 40.0)]];

For the second question, did you implement:

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

Answer 3

Here's a completely different method from what you're trying.

One thing I like to do is use a custom image for the backgroundView and selectedBackgroundView, rather than let the iPhone handle the coloring tasks. This gives me a lot more flexibility on how the cell is rendered. All it takes is adding something like this:

  cell.backgroundView = [[UIImageView alloc] initWithImage:[UIImage imageNamed:@"normal.png"]];
  cell.selectedBackgroundView = [[UIImageView alloc] initWithImage:[UIImage imageNamed:@"selected.png"]];

To:

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

Answer 4

What i think is happening, is that when you select a row, internally the selectedbackgroundview's alpha value is se to 1, thus showing it completely white.