UITableViewCell - hiding unused views or not even adding them?

Question

I have a simple question for which I haven't found anything related online.

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What is more practical?

• Having a TableViewCell that has more than 10+ subviews (inside of a stackview), but generally only 3-4 is shown, others are hidden.
• Or having an empty stackview, and adding every view by code if needed.

For example for the second option:

func tableView(_ tableView: UITableView, cellForRowAt indexPath: IndexPath) -> UITableViewCell {

    var cell : PostCell

    guard let post = PostsStore.shared.posts.getPost(index: indexPath.row) else {
        return UITableViewCell()
    }



    // Remove reused cell's stackview's views
    cell.stackView.subviews.forEach({ $0.removeFromSuperview() })

    if post.voteAddon != nil {

        if let voteView = Bundle.main.loadNibNamed("VoteView", owner: self, options: nil)?.first as? VoteView {
            voteView.voteForLabel = "Vote for X or Y"

            voteView.buttonX.setTitle("\(post.votes.x) votes", for: .normal)
            voteView.buttonY.setTitle("\(post.votes.y) votes", for: .normal)

            cell.stackView.addArrangedSubview(voteView)
        }
    }
    if post.attachments != nil {

        if let attachmentsView = Bundle.main.loadNibNamed("AttachmentsView", owner: self, options: nil)?.first as? AttachmentsView {
            attachmentsView.attachmentImageView.image = UIImage()


            cell.stackView.addArrangedSubview(attachmentsView)
        }
    }


    cell.delegate = self


    return cell


}

This is just an example, in reality those views are more complex.

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What would be more practical? The first option is easier, but the second might be better for memory handling.. What are your thoughts about this?

Answer 1

Having a TableViewCell that has more than 10+ subviews (inside of a stackview), but generally only 3-4 is shown, others are hidden

3-4 shown means that 7+ - 6+ are hidden but still in memory , so i prefer instant processing load of the Add/Remove to the permanent memory existence when the cell is visible

It's also worth saying that this heavily depend on the number of visible cells at a time for e.x if it's full screen then option 1 is better than 2 because cells are dequeued as number of visible cells increase option 2 becomes more better