iOS - Custom AccessoryView not showing in UITableViewCell

Question

I have tried to show a custom view with an accept button and decline button (as subviews) in a table view cell. I have the following code implemented:

tableView: cellForRowAtIndexPath: method

...
if ([status isEqualToString:@"pending"] || [status isEqualToString:@"declined"]){
    cell.accessoryView = [self setAccessoryViewForCell:cell];
} else {
    cell.accessoryType = UITableViewCellAccessoryNone;
}
...

- (UIView *)setAccessoryViewForCell:(UITableViewCell *)cell
{
    UIView *view = [[UIView alloc] initWithFrame:CGRectMake(192, 0, 128, 44)];
    UIButton *acceptButton = [[UIButton alloc] initWithFrame:CGRectMake(2, 5, 60, 34)];
    UIButton *declineButton = [[UIButton alloc] initWithFrame:CGRectMake(66, 5, 60, 34)];
    [acceptButton setTitle:@"A" forState:UIControlStateNormal];
    [declineButton setTitle:@"D" forState:UIControlStateNormal];
    [acceptButton addTarget:self action:@selector(acceptButtonTapped:) forControlEvents:UIControlEventTouchUpInside];
    [declineButton addTarget:self action:@selector(declineButtonTapped:) forControlEvents:UIControlEventTouchUpInside];
    [view addSubview:acceptButton];
    [view addSubview:declineButton];
    return view;
}

I have tried to debug it, but the methods are called appropriately.

what're you trying to achieve as by the look of your code it look like as if you want to display UIView containing two buttons on cell accessoryView, correct me if I am wrong? — ldindu

flizana flizana · Accepted Answer · 2014-12-22T18:58:08

Finally, the problem was not in the cellForRowAtIndexPath: method, but in the setAccessoryViewForCell: method. When creating a view for containing two buttons as subviews I really should not have used literal values for the frames. Instead of setting a view for accessoryView property, I rewrote the whole cellForRowAtIndexPath: method and added a subview to the cell's contentView.

 - (UITableViewCell *)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView cellForRowAtIndexPath:(NSIndexPath *)indexPath
 {
    static NSString *identifier = @"notificationsCell";
    UITableViewCell *cell = [tableView dequeueReusableCellWithIdentifier:identifier];
    if (!cell){
        cell = [[UITableViewCell alloc] initWithStyle:UITableViewCellStyleSubtitle reuseIdentifier:identifier];
    }
    PFObject *user = [self.objects objectAtIndex:indexPath.row];
    NSString *firstName = [user objectForKey:@"firstName"];
    NSString *lastName = [user objectForKey:@"lastName"];
    cell.textLabel.text = [NSString stringWithFormat:@"%@ %@", firstName, lastName];

    UIView *view = [UIView new];
    view.frame = CGRectMake(230, 2, 80, 40);
    view.backgroundColor = [UIColor whiteColor];

    UIButton *acceptButton = [UIButton buttonwithType:UIButtonTypeCustom];
    UIButton *declineButton = [UIButton buttonWithType:UIButtonTypeCustom];
    [acceptButton setTitle:@"" forState:UIControlStateNormal];
    [declineButton setTitle:@"" forState:UIControlStateNormal];
    [acceptButton setImage:[UIImage imageNamed:@"Ok.png"] forState:UIControlStateNormal];
    [declineButton setImage:[UIImage imageNamed:@"Close.png"] forState:UIControlStateNormal];
    [acceptButton addTarget:self action:@selector(acceptButtonTapped:) forControlEvents:UIControlEventTouchUpInside];
    [declineButton addTarget:self action:@selector(declineButtonTapped:) forControlEvents:UIControlEventTouchUpInside];
    acceptButton.frame = CGRectMake(CGRectGetMinX(view.bounds), CGRectGetMinY(view.bounds), CGRectGetWidth(view.bounds)/2, CGRectGetHeight(view.bounds));
    declineButton.frame = CGRectMake(CGRectGetMidX(view.bounds), CGRectGetMinY(view.bounds), CGRectGetWidth(view.bounds)/2, CGRectGetHeight(view.bounds));

    [view addSubview:acceptButton];
    [view addSubview:declineButton];
    [cell.contentView addSubview:view];

    return cell;
 }

The main difference was that when setting the frames for each button, I used literal values (not a good practice) and now I used the CGRect functions CGRectGetMinX(CGRect rect), CGRectGetMinY(CGRect rect), CGRectGetWidth(CGRect rect), CGRectGetMidX(CGRect rect) and CGRectGetHeight(CGRect rect) to get more accurate values for setting each button's frame. This was a misunderstanding of how a UIView's frames work, I recommend always to use these functions to get the origin and size of subviews and not to use literal values.

iOS - Custom AccessoryView not showing in UITableViewCell

2 Answers