tableview with 2 sections different design for cells

Question

I need 2 have 2 tables in the same screen(different design of the cells for each table).

I am not sure if I should work with 2 tables in the same view(the scroll gets messed up right now) or have a table with 2 sections and design de cells in each sections differently.

I haven't managed to find any example with a table view with 2 sections and different design of cells in the 2 sections.

Is it possible?

Or should I try to make it work out with 2 different tables?

Answer 1

I haven't managed to find any example with a table view with 2 sections and different design of cells in the 2 sections. Is it possible?

Yes it is possible :)

This is where you use the method tableView(tableView: UITableView, cellForRowAtIndexPath indexPath: NSIndexPath) -> UITableViewCell from the UITableViewDataSource protocol.

You check which section you are to return a subclass of UITableViewCell for, create an instance, maybe populate it and then you return that.

So for this to work you'd need.

• To create a number of subclasses of UITableViewCell with NIB files.

• For instance in viewDidLoad() you register the NIBs like so:

  tableView.registerNib(UINib(nibName: "Cell1", bundle: nil), forCellReuseIdentifier: "Cell1")
  tableView.registerNib(UINib(nibName: "Cell2", bundle: nil), forCellReuseIdentifier: "Cell2")
  

• In tableView(tableView: UITableView, cellForRowAtIndexPath indexPath: NSIndexPath) you check which section is asked for and return the proper subclass like so (with room for improvements :-)):

  func tableView(tableView: UITableView, cellForRowAtIndexPath indexPath: NSIndexPath) -> UITableViewCell {
      switch indexPath.section {
      case 0:
          if let cell1 = tableView.dequeueReusableCellWithIdentifier("Cell1") as? Cell1 {
              //populate your cell here
              return cell1
          }
      case 1:
          if let cell2 = tableView.dequeueReusableCellWithIdentifier("Cell2") as? Cell2 {
              //populate your cell here
              return cell2
          }
      default:
          return UITableViewCell()
      }
      return UITableViewCell()
  }
  

Hope that helps