How do you load custom UITableViewCells from Xib files

Question

The question is simple  How do you load custom UITableViewCell from Xib files  Doing so allows you to use Interface Builder to design your cells  The answer apparently is not simple due to memory managment issues  This thread mentions the issue and suggests a solution  but is pre NDA-release and lacks code  Here s a long thread that discusses the issue without providing a definitive answer    Here s some code I ve used   static NSString  CellIdentifier     MyCellIdentifier    MyCell  cell    MyCell    tableView dequeueReusableCellWithIdentifier CellIdentifier   if  cell    nil        NSArray  nib     NSBundle mainBundle  loadNibNamed CellIdentifier owner self options nil       cell    MyCell    nib objectAtIndex 0       To use this code  create MyCell m  h  a new subclass of UITableViewCell and add IBOutlets for the components you want  Then create a new  Empty XIB  file  Open the Xib file in IB  add a UITableViewCell object  set its identifier to  MyCellIdentifier   and set its class to MyCell and add your components  Finally  connect the IBOutlets to the components  Note that we did not set the File s Owner in IB   Other methods advocate setting the File s Owner and warn of memory leaks if the Xib is not loaded via an additional factory class  I tested the above under Instruments Leaks and saw no memory leaks    So what s the canonical way to load cells from Xibs  Do we set File s Owner  Do we need a factory  If so  what s the code for the factory look like  If there are multiple solutions  let s clarify the pros and cons of each of them

User · Answer

This extension requires Xcode7 beta6

extension NSBundle {
    enum LoadViewError: ErrorType {
        case ExpectedXibToExistButGotNil
        case ExpectedXibToContainJustOneButGotDifferentNumberOfObjects
        case XibReturnedWrongType
    }

    func loadView<T>(name: String) throws -> T {
        let topLevelObjects: [AnyObject]! = loadNibNamed(name, owner: self, options: nil)
        if topLevelObjects == nil {
            throw LoadViewError.ExpectedXibToExistButGotNil
        }
        if topLevelObjects.count != 1 {
            throw LoadViewError.ExpectedXibToContainJustOneButGotDifferentNumberOfObjects
        }
        let firstObject: AnyObject! = topLevelObjects.first
        guard let result = firstObject as? T else {
            throw LoadViewError.XibReturnedWrongType
        }
        return result
    }
}

Create an Xib file that contains just 1 custom UITableViewCell.

Load it.

let cell: BacteriaCell = try NSBundle.mainBundle().loadView("BacteriaCell")

User · Answer

Loading UITableViewCells from XIBs saves a lot of code  but usually results in horrible scrolling speed  actually  it s not the XIB but the excessive use of UIViews that cause this    I suggest you take a look at this  Link reference

User · Answer

If you re using Interface Builder to make cells  check that you ve set the Identifier in the Inspector   Then check that it s the same when calling dequeueReusableCellWithIdentifier   I accidentally forgot to set some identifiers in a table-heavy project  and the performance change was like night and day

User · Answer

Here is my method for that  Loading Custom UITableViewCells from XIB Files    Yet Another Method  The idea is to create a SampleCell subclass of the UITableViewCell with a IBOutlet UIView  content property and a property for each custom subview you need to configure from the code  Then to create a SampleCell xib file  In this nib file  change the file owner to SampleCell  Add a content UIView sized to fit your needs  Add and configure all the subviews  label  image views  buttons  etc  you want  Finally  link the content view and the subviews to the file owner

User · Answer

What I do for this is declare an IBOutlet UITableViewCell  cell in your controller class  Then invoke the NSBundle loadNibNamed class method  which will feed the UITableViewCell to the cell declared above   For the xib I will create an empty xib and add the UITableViewCell object in IB where it can be setup as needed  This view is then connected to the cell IBOutlet in the controller class   -  UITableViewCell   tableView  UITableView   table          cellForRowAtIndexPath  NSIndexPath   indexPath       NSLog      loading RTEditableCell xib    self description          static NSString  MyIdentifier     editableCellIdentifier       cell    table dequeueReusableCellWithIdentifier MyIdentifier        if cell    nil              NSBundle mainBundle  loadNibNamed   RTEditableCell                                        owner self                                     options nil              return cell      NSBundle additions loadNibNamed  ADC login   cocoawithlove com article I sourced the concept from  get the phone numbers sample app

User · Answer

Create your own customized class AbcViewCell subclass from UITableViewCell  Make sure your class file name and nib file name are the same  Create this extension class method       extension UITableViewCell       class func fromNib lt T   UITableViewCell gt    - gt  T           return Bundle main loadNibNamed String describing  T self   owner  nil  options  nil   0  as  T          Use it   let cell  AbcViewCell   UITableViewCell fromNib

User · Answer

Took Shawn Craver s answer and cleaned it up a bit   BBCell h    import  lt UIKit UIKit h gt    interface BBCell   UITableViewCell         BBCell   cellFromNibNamed  NSString   nibName    end   BBCell m    import  BBCell h    implementation BBCell     BBCell   cellFromNibNamed  NSString   nibName       NSArray  nibContents     NSBundle mainBundle  loadNibNamed nibName owner self options NULL       NSEnumerator  nibEnumerator    nibContents objectEnumerator       BBCell  customCell   nil      NSObject  nibItem   nil      while   nibItem    nibEnumerator nextObject      nil            if   nibItem isKindOfClass  BBCell class                  customCell    BBCell   nibItem              break     we have a winner                     return customCell      end   I make all my UITableViewCell s subclasses of BBCell  and then replace the standard  cell      BBDetailCell alloc  initWithStyle UITableViewCellStyleDefault reuseIdentifier   BBDetailCell   autorelease     with   cell    BBDetailCell    BBDetailCell cellFromNibNamed   BBDetailCell

User · Answer

func tableView   tableView  UITableView  cellForRowAt indexPath  IndexPath  - gt  UITableViewCell                let cellReuseIdentifier    collabCell              var cell collabCell    tableView dequeueReusableCell withIdentifier  cellReuseIdentifier  as  collabCell             if cell    nil                   tableView register UINib nibName   collabCell   bundle  nil   forCellReuseIdentifier  cellReuseIdentifier                  cell   tableView dequeueReusableCell withIdentifier  cellReuseIdentifier  as  collabCell                              return cell

User · Answer

Here s the class method that I ve been using for creating custom cells out of XIBs      CustomCell   createNewCustomCellFromNib        NSArray  nibContents     NSBundle mainBundle                              loadNibNamed   CustomCell  owner self options NULL        NSEnumerator  nibEnumerator    nibContents objectEnumerator       CustomCell  customCell  nil      NSObject  nibItem   nil       while    nibItem    nibEnumerator nextObject      nil             if    nibItem isKindOfClass   CustomCell class                  customCell    CustomCell   nibItem               if   customCell reuseIdentifier isEqualToString    CustomCell                      break     we have a winner                           else                 fuelEntryCell   nil                      return customCell      Then  in the XIB  I set the class name  and reuse identifier  After that  I can just call that method in my view controller instead of the    UITableViewCell  alloc  initWithFrame     It s plenty fast enough  and being used in two of my shipping applications  It s more reliable than calling  nib objectAtIndex 0   and in my mind at least  more reliable than Stephan Burlot s example because you re guaranteed to only grab a view out of a XIB that is the right type

User · Answer

First import your custom cell file  import  CustomCell h  and then change the delegate method as below mentioned   -  UITableViewCell   tableView  UITableView   tableView cellForRowAtIndexPath  NSIndexPath   indexPath    static NSString  simpleTableIdentifier     CustomCell    CustomCell  cell    CustomCell    tableView dequeueReusableCellWithIdentifier simpleTableIdentifier   if  cell    nil        NSArray  nib     NSBundle mainBundle  loadNibNamed   CustomCell  owner self options nil       cell    nib objectAtIndex 0         cell setSelectionStyle UITableViewCellSelectionStyleNone                    return cell

User · Answer

I used bentford s Method  2   -  UITableViewCell   tableView  UITableView   tableView cellForRowAtIndexPath  NSIndexPath   indexPath       UITableViewCell  cell    tableView dequeueReusableCellWithIdentifier   BDCustomCell        if  cell    nil               Load the top-level objects from the custom cell XIB          NSArray  topLevelObjects     NSBundle mainBundle  loadNibNamed   BDCustomCell  owner self options nil              Grab a pointer to the first object  presumably the custom cell  as that s all the XIB should contain           cell    topLevelObjects objectAtIndex 0              return cell      It works  but watch out for connections to File s Owner in your custom UITableViewCell  xib file   By passing owner self in your loadNibNamed statement  you set the UITableViewController as File s Owner of your UITableViewCell   If you drag and drop to the header file in IB to set up actions and outlets  it will set them up as File s Owner by default    In loadNibNamed owner options  Apple s code will try to set properties on your UITableViewController  since that s the owner  But you don t have those properties defined there  so you get an error about being key value coding-compliant       Terminating app due to uncaught exception  NSUnknownKeyException   reason         lt MyUITableViewController 0x6a383b0 gt  setValue forUndefinedKey    this class is not key value coding-compliant for the key myLabel     If an Event gets triggered instead  you ll get an NSInvalidArgumentException   - MyUITableViewController switchValueDidChange    unrecognized selector sent to instance 0x8e9acd0     Terminating app due to uncaught exception  NSInvalidArgumentException   reason   - MyUITableViewController switchValueDidChange    unrecognized selector sent to instance 0x8e9acd0      First throw call stack   0x1903052 0x15eed0a 0x1904ced 0x1869f00 0x1869ce2 0x1904ec9 0x5885c2 0x58855a 0x62db76 0x62e03f 0x77fa6c 0x24e86d 0x18d7966 0x18d7407 0x183a7c0 0x1839db4 0x1839ccb 0x1f8b879 0x1f8b93e 0x585a9b 0xb904d 0x2c75  terminate called throwing an exceptionCurrent language   auto  currently objective-c   An easy workaround is to point your Interface Builder connections at the UITableViewCell instead of File s Owner    Right click on File s Owner to pull up the list of connections Take a screen capture with Command-Shift-4  drag to select the area to be captured  x out the connections from File s Owner Right click on the UITableCell in the Object hierarchy and re-add the connections

User · Answer

I ve decided to post since I don t like any of these answers -- things can always be more simple and this is by far the most concise way I ve found   1  Build your Xib in Interface Builder as you like it   Set File s Owner to class NSObject Add a UITableViewCell and set its class to MyTableViewCellSubclass -- if your IB crashes  happens in Xcode   4 as of this writing   just use a UIView of do the interface in Xcode 4 if you still have it laying around Layout your subviews inside this cell and attach your IBOutlet connections to your  interface in the  h or  m   m is my preference    2  In your UIViewController or UITableViewController subclass   implementation ViewController  static NSString  cellIdentifier     MyCellIdentier    -  void  viewDidLoad                 self tableView registerNib  UINib nibWithNibName   MyTableViewCellSubclass  bundle nil  forCellReuseIdentifier cellIdentifier      -  UITableViewCell   tableView  UITableView   tableView cellForRowAtIndexPath  NSIndexPath   indexPath       MyTableViewCellSubclass  cell    tableView dequeueReusableCellWithIdentifier cellIdentifier                 return cell      3  In your MyTableViewCellSubclass  -  id  initWithCoder  NSCoder   aDecoder       if  self    super initWithCoder aDecoder                            return self

User · Answer

The right solution is this   -  void viewDidLoad        super viewDidLoad       UINib  nib    UINib nibWithNibName   ItemCell  bundle nil         self tableView  registerNib nib forCellReuseIdentifier   ItemCell       - UITableViewCell   tableView  UITableView   tableView cellForRowAtIndexPath  NSIndexPath   indexPath          Create an instance of ItemCell     PointsItemCell  cell    tableView dequeueReusableCellWithIdentifier   ItemCell         return cell

User · Answer

Register  After iOS 7  this process has been simplified down to  swift 3 0       For registering nib files tableView register UINib nibName   MyCell   bundle  Bundle main   forCellReuseIdentifier   cell       For registering classes tableView register MyCellClass self  forCellReuseIdentifier   cell         Note  This is also achievable by creating the cells in the  xib or  stroyboard files  as prototype cells    If you need to attach a class to them  you can select the cell prototype and add the corresponding class  must be a descendant of UITableViewCell  of course     Dequeue  And later on  dequeued using  swift 3 0    override func tableView tableView  UITableView  cellForRowAtIndexPath indexPath  NSIndexPath  - gt  UITableViewCell       let cell   UITableViewCell   tableView dequeueReusableCell withIdentifier   cell   for  indexPath       cell textLabel  text    Hello       return cell     The difference being that this new method not only dequeues the cell  it also creates if non-existant  that means that you don t have to do if  cell    nil  shenanigans   and the cell is ready to use just as in the example above       Warning  tableView dequeueReusableCell withIdentifier for   has the new behavior  if you call the other one  without indexPath   you get the old behavior  in which you need to check for nil and instance it yourself  notice the UITableViewCell  return value    if let cell   tableView dequeueReusableCell withIdentifier   cell   for  indexPath  as  MyCellClass          Cell be casted properly     cell myCustomProperty   true   else          Wrong type  Wrong identifier      And of course  the type of the associated class of the cell is the one you defined in the  xib file for the UITableViewCell subclass  or alternatively  using the other register method   Configuration  Ideally  your cells have been already configured in terms of appearance and content positioning  like labels and image views  by the time you registered them  and on the cellForRowAtIndexPath method you simply fill them in   All together  class MyCell   UITableViewCell          Can be either created manually  or loaded from a nib with prototypes      IBOutlet weak var labelSomething   UILabel    nil    class MasterViewController  UITableViewController        var data     Hello    World    Kinda    Cliche    Though           Register     override func viewDidLoad                 super viewDidLoad            tableView register MyCell self  forCellReuseIdentifier   mycell              or the nib alternative            override func tableView tableView  UITableView  numberOfRowsInSection section  Int  - gt  Int               return data count               Dequeue     override func tableView tableView  UITableView  cellForRowAtIndexPath indexPath  NSIndexPath  - gt  UITableViewCell               let cell   tableView dequeueReusableCell withIdentifier   mycell   for  indexPath  as  MyCell          cell labelSomething  text   data indexPath row           return cell           And of course  this is all available in ObjC with the same names

User · Answer

Here are two methods which the original author states was recommended by an IB engineer   See the actual post for more details   I prefer method  2 as it seems simpler   Method  1   -  UITableViewCell   tableView  UITableView   tableView cellForRowAtIndexPath  NSIndexPath   indexPath       UITableViewCell  cell    tableView dequeueReusableCellWithIdentifier   BDCustomCell        if  cell    nil               Create a temporary UIViewController to instantiate the custom cell          UIViewController  temporaryController     UIViewController alloc  initWithNibName   BDCustomCell  bundle nil              Grab a pointer to the custom cell          cell    BDCustomCell   temporaryController view            cell retain  autorelease              Release the temporary UIViewController           temporaryController release              return cell      Method  2   -  UITableViewCell   tableView  UITableView   tableView cellForRowAtIndexPath  NSIndexPath   indexPath       UITableViewCell  cell    tableView dequeueReusableCellWithIdentifier   BDCustomCell        if  cell    nil               Load the top-level objects from the custom cell XIB          NSArray  topLevelObjects     NSBundle mainBundle  loadNibNamed   BDCustomCell  owner self options nil              Grab a pointer to the first object  presumably the custom cell  as that s all the XIB should contain           cell    topLevelObjects objectAtIndex 0              return cell      Update  2014   Method  2 is still valid but there is no documentation for it anymore  It used to be in the official docs but is now removed in favor of storyboards   I posted a working example on Github  https   github com bentford NibTableCellExample  edit for Swift 4 2  override func viewDidLoad         super viewDidLoad           Do any additional setup after loading the view      self tblContacts register UINib nibName  CellNames ContactsCell  bundle  nil   forCellReuseIdentifier  MyIdentifier     func tableView   tableView  UITableView  cellForRowAt indexPath  IndexPath  - gt  UITableViewCell        let cell   tableView dequeueReusableCell withIdentifier  MyIdentifier  for  indexPath  as  ContactsCell      return cell

User · Answer

I dont know if there is a canonical way  but here s my method    Create a xib for a ViewController Set the File Owner class to UIViewController Delete the view and add an UITableViewCell Set the Class of your UITableViewCell to your custom class Set the Identifier of your UITableViewCell Set the outlet of your view controller view to your UITableViewCell   And use this code   MyCustomViewCell  cell    MyCustomViewCell     tableView dequeueReusableCellWithIdentifier CellIdentifier   if  cell    nil      UIViewController  c     UIViewController alloc  initWithNibName CellIdentifier bundle nil     cell    MyCustomViewCell   c view     c release       In your example  using   nib objectAtIndex 0    may break if Apple changes the order of items in the xib

User · Answer

Here is a universal approach for registering cells in UITableView   protocol Reusable       static var reuseID  String   get      extension Reusable       static var reuseID  String           return String describing  self           extension UITableViewCell  Reusable      extension UITableView    func register lt T  UITableViewCell gt  cellClass  T Type   T self        let bundle   Bundle for  cellClass self      if bundle path forResource  cellClass reuseID  ofType   nib      nil           let nib   UINib nibName  cellClass reuseID  bundle  bundle          register nib  forCellReuseIdentifier  cellClass reuseID        else           register cellClass self  forCellReuseIdentifier  cellClass reuseID            Explanation    Reusable protocol generates cell ID from its class name  Make sure you follow the convention  cell ID    class name    nib name  UITableViewCell conforms to Reusable protocol  UITableView extension abstracts away the difference in registering cells via nib or class    Usage example   override func viewDidLoad         super viewDidLoad       let tableView   UITableView       let cellClasses   UITableViewCell Type     PostCell self  ProfileCell self  CommentCell self      cellClasses forEach tableView register     override func tableView   tableView  UITableView  cellForRowAt indexPath  IndexPath  - gt  UITableViewCell       let cell   tableView dequeueReusableCell withIdentifier  PostCell self reuseID  as  PostCell             return cell

User · Answer

Correct Solution is this  -  void viewDidLoad        super viewDidLoad        self tableView registerNib  UINib nibWithNibName   CustomCell  bundle  NSBundle mainBundle   forCellReuseIdentifier   CustomCell       -  UITableViewCell   tableView  UITableView   tableView cellForRowAtIndexPath  NSIndexPath   indexPath      UITableViewCell   cell    tableView dequeueReusableCellWithIdentifier   CustomCell        return cell

User · Answer

NSString  CellIdentifier    NSString stringWithFormat   cell  ld  ld   long indexPath row  long indexPath section         NewsFeedCell  cell    NewsFeedCell    tableView dequeueReusableCellWithIdentifier CellIdentifier       cell nil       if  cell    nil                NSArray  topLevelObjects     NSBundle mainBundle  loadNibNamed   NewsFeedCell  owner nil options nil            for id currentObject in topLevelObjects                        if  currentObject isKindOfClass  NewsFeedCell class                                  cell    NewsFeedCell   currentObject                  break                            return cell

User · Answer

The correct way to do it is to create a UITableViewCell subclass implementation  header  and XIB  In the XIB remove any views and just add a table cell  Set the class as the name of the UITableViewCell subclass  For file owner  make it the UITableViewController subclass class name  Connect the file owner to the cell using the tableViewCell outlet   In the header file   UITableViewCell   tableViewCell   property  assign  IBOutlet UITableViewCell  tableViewCell    In the implementation file    synthesize tableViewCell    tableViewCell   -  UITableViewCell   tableView  UITableView   tableView cellForRowAtIndexPath  NSIndexPath   indexPath       static NSString  kCellIdentifier     reusableCell        UITableViewCell  cell    tableView dequeueReusableCellWithIdentifier kCellIdentifier       if  cell    nil              NSBundle mainBundle  loadNibNamed kCellIdentifier owner self options nil           cell    tableViewCell          self tableViewCell   nil             return cell

User · Answer

In Swift 4 2 and Xcode 10  I have three XIB cell files  in ViewDidLoad register your XIB files like this     This is first approach  tableView register UINib init nibName   XIBCell   bundle  nil   forCellReuseIdentifier   cell1   tableView register UINib init nibName   XIBCell2   bundle  nil   forCellReuseIdentifier   cell2     tableView register UINib init nibName   XIBCell3   bundle  nil   forCellReuseIdentifier   cell3     Second approach directly register XIB files in cellForRowAt indexPath   This is my tableview delegate functions    MARK  - Tableview delegates override func numberOfSections in tableView  UITableView  - gt  Int        return 1    override func tableView   tableView  UITableView  numberOfRowsInSection section  Int  - gt  Int        return 6    override func tableView   tableView  UITableView  cellForRowAt indexPath  IndexPath  - gt  UITableViewCell         This is first approach     if indexPath row    0    Load first XIB cell         let placeCell   tableView dequeueReusableCell withIdentifier   cell1   as  XIBCell         return placeCell       Second approach       else if indexPath row    5    Load XIB cell3         var cell   tableView dequeueReusableCell withIdentifier  cell3   as  XIBCell3         if cell    nil              let arrNib Array   Bundle main loadNibNamed  XIBCell3  owner  self  options  nil               cell   arrNib first as  XIBCell3                      ADD action to XIB cell button         cell  btn tag   indexPath row  Add tag to button         cell  btn addTarget self  action   selector self bookbtn1       for   touchUpInside    selector          return cell        This is first approach       else    Load XIB cell2         let placeCell   tableView dequeueReusableCell withIdentifier   cell2   as  XIBCell2          return placeCell

User · Answer

Reloading the NIB is expensive  Better to load it once  then instantiate the objects when you need a cell  Note that you can add UIImageViews etc to the nib  even multiple cells  using this method  Apple s  registerNIB  iOS5 allows only one top level object - Bug 10580062  iOS5 tableView registerNib  overly restrictive   So my code is below - you read in the NIB once  in initialize like I did or in viewDidload - whatever  From then on  you instantiate the nib into objects then pick the one you need  This is much more efficient than loading the nib over and over   static UINib  cellNib      void initialize       if self     ImageManager class             cellNib    UINib nibWithNibName   ImageManagerCell  bundle nil           assert cellNib            -  UITableViewCell   tableView  UITableView   tableView cellForRowAtIndexPath  NSIndexPath   indexPath       static NSString  cellID     TheCell        UITableViewCell  cell    tableView dequeueReusableCellWithIdentifier cellID       if cell    nil            NSArray  topLevelItems    cellNib instantiateWithOwner nil options nil           NSUInteger idx    topLevelItems indexOfObjectPassingTest  BOOL id obj  NSUInteger idx  BOOL  stop                                                                UITableViewCell  cell    UITableViewCell   obj                                  return  cell isKindOfClass  UITableViewCell class    amp  amp   cell reuseIdentifier isEqualToString cellID                                            assert idx    NSNotFound           cell    topLevelItems objectAtIndex idx             cell textLabel text    NSString stringWithFormat   Howdie  d   indexPath row        return cell

User · Answer

Check this - http   eppz eu blog custom-uitableview-cell  - really convenient way using a tiny class that ends up one line in controller implementation   - UITableViewCell  tableView  UITableView   tableView cellForRowAtIndexPath  NSIndexPath   indexPath       return  TCItemCell cellForTableView tableView                           atIndexPath indexPath                       withModelSource self

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