UICollectionView: How to get the header view for a section?

Question

There is a method to get a cell by indexPath (UICollectionView cellForItemAtIndexPath:). But I can"t find a method to get one of the supplementary views like a header or footer, after it has been created. Any ideas?

Answer 1

UPDATE

As of iOS 9, you can use -[UICollectionView supplementaryViewForElementKind:atIndexPath:] to get a supplementary view by index path.

ORIGINAL

Your best bet is to make your own dictionary mapping index paths to supplementary views. In your collectionView:viewForSupplementaryElementOfKind:atIndexPath: method, put the view into the dictionary before returning it. In your collectionView:didEndDisplayingSupplementaryView:forElementOfKind:atIndexPath:, remove the view from the dictionary.