UITableViewCell setSelected:animated: not working

Question

This is driving me crazy. I've looked here on S.O. for what I thought was a simple answer but couldn't find one.

In my custom UITableViewCell:

- (void)setSelected:(BOOL)selected animated:(BOOL)animated
{   
    // Configure the view for the selected state
    if (selected) {        
        [self.languageLevelNameLabel setTextColor:[UIColor blackColor]];        
    }
    else {        
        [self.languageLevelNameLabel setTextColor:[UIColor colorMessageCountZero]];
    }

    [self setNeedsDisplay];
}

In tableView:cellForRowAtIndexPath: of the controller:

 if ([level integerValue] == indexPath.row) {

        [cell setSelected:YES];
    }

I've inserted break points and selected == YES is getting passed for the correct cell, and the if statement is being executed when it should be, but the text never gets set to blackColor.

Answer 1

For the cell to appear selected, you have to call -setSelected:animated: from within -tableView:willDisplayCell:forRowAtIndexPath: like so:

Objective C:

- (void)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView willDisplayCell:(UITableViewCell *)cell forRowAtIndexPath:(NSIndexPath *)indexPath
{
    if (/* should be selected */) {
        [cell setSelected:YES animated:NO];
        [tableView selectRowAtIndexPath:indexPath animated:NO scrollPosition:UITableViewScrollPositionNone];  // required, as noted below
    }
}

Swift 3:

override func tableView(_ tableView: UITableView, willDisplay cell: UITableViewCell, forRowAt indexPath: IndexPath) {
    if (/* should be selected */) {
        cell.setSelected(true, animated: false)
        tableView.selectRow(at: indexPath, animated: false, scrollPosition: .none)  // required, as noted below
    }
}

Calling -setSelected from anywhere else has no effect.

Why? After initializing or dequeueing a cell, but before displaying it, the table view calls a private method called -_configureCellForDisplay:forIndexPath: which, among other things, sets the cell's selected property to NO. The delegate's willDisplayCell:forRowAtIndexPath: gets called after this, letting you set anything needed for display.

Answer 2

If you want to set your cell as selected use the method selectRowAtIndexPath:animated:scrollPosition: like this in your cellForRowAtIndexPath method of your table view

Objective-C

[self.tableView selectRowAtIndexPath:indexPath animated:NO scrollPosition:UITableViewScrollPositionNone];

swift 4

tableView.selectRow(at: indexPath, animated: false, scrollPosition: .none)