how to retrieve all visible table section header views

Question

is there a way to get all the section header views that are visible?

something similar to UITableView's visibleCells instance method..

Answer 1

The problem with using indexPathsForVisibleRows is that it doesn't include sections without any rows. To get all visible section, including empty sections you have to check the rect of the section and compare it to the contentOffset of the table.

You also have to pay attention to the difference between plain style with floating sections and grouped style without floating sections.

I made a category that support this calculation:

@interface UITableView (VisibleSections)

// Returns an array of NSNumbers of the current visible section indexes
- (NSArray *)indexesOfVisibleSections;
// Returns an array of UITableViewHeaderFooterView objects of the current visible section headers
- (NSArray *)visibleSections;

@end

@implementation UITableView (VisibleSections)

- (NSArray *)indexesOfVisibleSections {
    // Note: We can't just use indexPathsForVisibleRows, since it won't return index paths for empty sections.
    NSMutableArray *visibleSectionIndexes = [NSMutableArray arrayWithCapacity:self.numberOfSections];
    for (int i = 0; i < self.numberOfSections; i++) {
        CGRect headerRect;
        // In plain style, the section headers are floating on the top, so the section header is visible if any part of the section's rect is still visible.
        // In grouped style, the section headers are not floating, so the section header is only visible if it's actualy rect is visible.
        if (self.style == UITableViewStylePlain) {
            headerRect = [self rectForSection:i];
        } else {
            headerRect = [self rectForHeaderInSection:i];
        }
        // The "visible part" of the tableView is based on the content offset and the tableView's size.
        CGRect visiblePartOfTableView = CGRectMake(self.contentOffset.x, self.contentOffset.y, self.bounds.size.width, self.bounds.size.height);
        if (CGRectIntersectsRect(visiblePartOfTableView, headerRect)) {
            [visibleSectionIndexes addObject:@(i)];
        }
    }
    return visibleSectionIndexes;
}

- (NSArray *)visibleSections {
    NSMutableArray *visibleSects = [NSMutableArray arrayWithCapacity:self.numberOfSections];
    for (NSNumber *sectionIndex in self.indexesOfVisibleSections) {
        UITableViewHeaderFooterView *sectionHeader = [self headerViewForSection:sectionIndex.intValue];
        [visibleSects addObject:sectionHeader];
    }

    return visibleSects;
}

@end