Settings-style grouped table

Question

So it's trivial to create a Settings style table on the iPhone. The problem is, they add a great deal of code as your Settings have a gamut of options/styled cells. One section might have a check list, another might have cells with accessory disclosures to drill down further, another might be labels with UITextFields.

My question here is, what's the cleanest way to go about creating this table. Do you typically create a subclass of UITableViewController and then subclass UITableViewCell for each different type of cells, and write supporting classes for those cells? Meaning if you have a Settings style table with 4 sections, all different types of cells, you will load 4 nibs into the table and import 4 class files? Programmatically set the frame, views, textfields and tag them for later access?

The answer(s) to this is probably subjective, but I'd like to know what you experts consider the most elegant approach to this common problem.

Answer 1

The easiest way to do this is to simply add your controls during the tableView:cellForRowAtIndexPath: method.

I also recommend this to help corral your code: A technique for using UITableView and retaining your sanity

Answer 2

I would rather set most of the settings that I can in Interface Builder, instead of writing a whole bunch of code to make the visual/layout just right. As you can imagine, it will take quite a few rounds of "modify - build - test" in the iPhone Simulator to get this special table view laid out the way you want it.

I feel it's probably a bit easier to do all of these rough visual changes in IB, then load all of the custom UITableViewCell dynamically via their identifiers in code. You could then do one final round of tweaking on this code, if something that you want is not doable in IB.

Answer 3

Three20 library (extracted from Facebook iPhone app) has a set of ready-made cells that contain various controls.

(Not sure you want to use them, however. Three20 suffers from “not-invented-here” a little bit and tries to subclass and extend everything, so adding it adds quite a bit of a mess to your project. But at least you can use it as an example.)

P.S. Your question inspired me to open a “What are your favourite UITableView / UITableViewCell tricks?” thread on Stack Overflow, check it out for more tips.