UITableView No Data Screen

Question

My UITableView get data off the internet. Sometimes it doesn't receive any (cell) data. It just shows a blank table.

How can I show a message/cell to the user that no data records have been found?

Answer 1

You can add a test in your -tableView:cellForRowAtIndexPath: implementation and display a special UITableViewCell saying "no results available" when you get no data.

Another approach, which generally looks better, is to add a custom view to the UITableView directly. Don't forget to remove it when there are results to display.

Answer 2

You want to return one cell reporting on the lack of data.

If you're keeping your cell data in an array that's a class property (let's say NSArray *listings), you can go:

-(NSInteger)tableView:(UITableView *)table numberOfRowsInSection:(NSInteger)section
{
    if ([self.listings count] == 0) {
         return 1; // a single cell to report no data
    }
    return [self.listings count];
}

-(UITableViewCell *)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView cellForRowAtIndexPath:(NSIndexPath *)indexPath
{
    if ([self.listings count] == 0) {
        UITableViewCell *cell = [[[UITableViewCell alloc] init] autorelease];
        cell.textLabel.text = @"No records to display";
        //whatever else to configure your one cell you're going to return
        return cell;
    }

    // go on about your business, you have listings to display
}