Fixed header to UITableview?

Question

I've got a UITableView that I'd like to stick a 44px subview on top of. I tried tableViewHeader, but that scrolls with the rest of the table.

I tried searching and have found many people saying I need to add a UIView superview and then add my header and the UITableView to it. However I can't find an example on exactly how to do this. I tried making a new UIView subclass and laying out the subviews in IB, but I ran into trouble getting the table controller to link w/ the UITable (because I don't know enough about IB).

How can I do this with XIBs? Can someone provide an example?

Thanks for any help you guys can provide.

Answer 1

I finally figured this out right after posting. Figures. :)

Here's what I did, in case others run into the same problem:

1. Delete the existing UITableViewController and its XIB. They're junk. Get really mad while you do.

2. Make a new UIViewController subclass with a XIB

3. Open XIB in IB and add your header stuff and a UITableView to the UIView

4. In the IB Outlets for UITableView make sure you connect Delegate and DataSource to your File Owner

5. In the header for your view controller, be sure to add <UITableViewDelegate, UITableViewDataSource> to implement these protocols

6. Implement all the regular UITableView delegate and data source methods you know and love, but in your UIViewController instead of the way you're used to doing it through UITableViewController

After this things should work.

Answer 2

The problem is, UITableViewController's view property is the same thing as the tableView property. I had the same problem, wanting to put some fixed content above the table. I didn't want to change the base class, as it provides lots of great functionality I didn't want to lose or disrupt.

The fix is actually easy. The trick is to create custom set and get for self.tableView property. Then, in loadView, you replace the view with a fresh UIView and add the tableView to it. Then you're free to add subviews around the tableView. Here's how it's done:

In header:

@interface CustomTableViewController : UITableViewController
{
    UITableView *tableView;
} 

In .m:

- (UITableView*)tableView
{
    return tableView;
}

- (void)setTableView:(UITableView *)newTableView
{
    if ( newTableView != tableView )
    {
        [tableView release];
        tableView = [newTableView retain];
    }        
}

- (void)loadView {
    [super loadView];
    //save current tableview, then replace view with a regular uiview
    self.tableView = (UITableView*)self.view;
    UIView *replacementView = [[UIView alloc] initWithFrame:self.tableView.frame];
    self.view = replacementView;
    [replacementView release];
    [self.view addSubview:self.tableView];    

    //code below adds some custom stuff above the table
    UIView *customHeader = [[UIView alloc] initWithFrame:CGRectMake(0, 0, self.view.frame.size.width, 20)];
    customHeader.backgroundColor = [UIColor redColor];
    [self.view addSubview:customHeader];
    [customHeader release];

    self.tableView.frame = CGRectMake(0, customHeader.frame.size.height, self.view.frame.size.width, self.view.frame.size.height - customHeader.frame.size.height);
}

Enjoy!