What is the best way to implement a variable-sized multi-line UITableCell?

Question

I'm trying to display a table full of twitter statuses (yes, this is the Stanford Presence 2 assignment), which are variably sized. I can relatively easily determine the appropriate height for my rows with code that approximates (from accompanying lecture 9):

- (CGFloat)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView heightForRowAtIndexPath:(NSIndexPath *) indexPath
{
    NSString *text = ...;
    UIFont *font = [UIFont systemFontOfSize:...];
    CGSize withinSize = CGSizeMake(tableView.width, 1000];
    CGSize size = [text sizeWithFont:font constrainedToSize:withinSize lineBreakMode:UILineBreakModeWordWrap];

    return size.height + somePadding;
}

I have tried two approaches (and some tweaks to both) to get a multi-line word-wrapping field of text into my table row.

1. Add a UILabel as a subview to my custom UITableCell subclass, and set the numberOfLines property to either a calculated number based on the height above (say, 6), or to 0 (theoretically unlimited). The numberOfLines is ignored; I see either 1 or 2 lines, and no more.

2. Add a read-only UITextView as a subview. This has the problem that the UITextView eats my scrolling; I end up scrolling inside a UITextView row instead of moving smoothly from row to row. If I disable scrolling on the UITextView, I end up being unable to scroll at all.

This is a pretty common thing to do; what's the best way to accomplish it?

Answer 1

You might want to look at the userInteractionEnabled property of the UITextView. That should allow input to be passed through to the UITableView so you get scrolling.

Answer 2

While playing with userInteractionEnabled=NO, scrollEnabled=NO, and getting the right autosizing parameters set in IB worked, I think that going with a UILabel with numberOfLines=0 and the same autosizing parameters is ultimately a better idea, for the next person.

Answer 3

Here's a link to a blog I posted on this subject. I used a UILabel with numberOfLInes = 0. I hope this will be of some help.

Sample Project with Variable Sized UITableViewCell