How to stop UITableView from loading until data has been fetched?

Question

I understand that UITableView will call -(UITableViewCell *)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView cellForRowAtIndexPath:(NSIndexPath *)indexPath method to get each of the cells for the table view. Say I have my data source is fetched over the internet and I have to account for latency. What will be the best way of "stopping" this method from being called? Should it block on a boolean flag in the application? Should I just call cellForRowAtIndexPath again from within my application?

I am uncertain as to when the function gets called, ie, how often the UITableView "refreshes" itself. Any explanations will be helpful! Thanks!

Answer 1

If you don't have data, or you don't have the data for additional cells, then cellForRowAtIndex: will not be called as long as you don't tell the UTableView that you have rowCounts or new rowCounts. That value is being set in numberOfRowsInSection:.

In other words, don't report any new cells in numberOfRowsInSection:, until you actually have that data in hand, and then cellForRowAtIndexPath: won't be called prematurely.

When you do get the additional row data, then call reloadData to get the UITableView to ask for the number of rows and then call cellForRowAtIndex:.