highlighting uicollectionview cell on tap

Question

I have a slide-out menu that I have implemented as a UICollectionViewController. I have created custom cells for the collection view as well. The navigation and everything works as expected. What I am having trouble with is changing the cells appearance when I click on an actual cell.

I've tried several approaches based on solutions(1)(2) I've seen here on stack but nothing to my satisfaction.

Solution 1: implement the UICollectionViewController delegate methods:

class SlideOutMenuViewController: UICollectionViewController, UICollectionViewDelegateFlowLayout{
   //Setup code and other delegate methods….

    override func collectionView(_ collectionView: UICollectionView, didHighlightItemAt indexPath: IndexPath) {
        let cell = collectionView.dequeueReusableCell(withReuseIdentifier: cellId, for: indexPath) as! SlideOutMenuCells

        cell.backgroundColor = .white
    }

    override func collectionView(_ collectionView: UICollectionView, didUnhighlightItemAt indexPath: IndexPath) {
        let cell = collectionView.dequeueReusableCell(withReuseIdentifier: cellId, for: indexPath) as! SlideOutMenuCells

        cell.backgroundColor = UIColor.mainGreen()
    }
}

When I tried this solution, nothing happens. The cells background color doesn't change colors.

Solution 2: This solution results in better results except the cell on changes colors when I hold the cell. I'd like the cells background color to flash or highlight quickly on a tap and not really just if the user holds the cell down.

class SlideOutMenuCells: UICollectionViewCell {

    //Setup code...

    override var isHighlighted: Bool {
        didSet {
            if self.isHighlighted {
                backgroundColor = UIColor.darkGreen()
            } else {
                backgroundColor = UIColor.mainGreen()
            }
        }
    }
}

Neither solution really works as intended. I've seen several posts here that try addressing this but haven't found one with a solution that works really. I would like the cell to flash highlight with a tap, and not just when a user clicks and holds on a cell...

Answer 1

I had the exact same problem and the solution is actually much simpler then the one posted above.

In your view controller, add collectionView.delaysContentTouches = false.

And then your other code within the cell was fine as is:

class SlideOutMenuCells: UICollectionViewCell {

    //Setup code...

    override var isHighlighted: Bool {
        didSet {
            if self.isHighlighted {
                backgroundColor = UIColor.green
            } else {
                backgroundColor = UIColor.red
            }
        }
    }
}

But now that annoying delay is gone!