ios 8 Swift - TableView with embedded CollectionView

Question

I am relatively new to iOS programming and have tried a few things but to no avail.

I would like to put a CollectionView inside a TableViewCell. I can code each individually, but dont understand how to set and reference each CollectionView within a TableViewCell.

I have found this tutorial, http://ashfurrow.com/blog/putting-a-uicollectionview-in-a-uitableviewcell/ which shows how it can be done in Objective-C but I have always struggled with Obj-C.

Does anyone know of a Swift Tutorial or can assist? I am in the process of creating a simple project/code which I will post shortly to try and assist.

EDIT 1

I have just found the swift version of the above link. I am working through this now, but seems over complicated, modifying the AppDelegate.

https://github.com/DahanHu/DHCollectionTableView

Many thanks Rob

Answer 1

Create a usual UITableView and in your UITableViewCell create the UICollectionView. Your collectionView delegate and datasource should conform to that UITableViewCell.

Just go through this

In your ViewController

// Global Variable
var tableView: UITableView!

override func viewDidLoad() {
    super.viewDidLoad()

tableView = UITableView(frame: self.view.bounds)
    tableView.delegate = self
    tableView.dataSource = self
    self.view.addSubview(tableView)

    tableView.registerClass(TableViewCell.self, forCellReuseIdentifier: "TableViewCell")
    tableView.registerClass(UITableViewCell.self, forCellReuseIdentifier: "NormalCell")
}

func numberOfSectionsInTableView(tableView: UITableView) -> Int {
    return 1
}

func tableView(tableView: UITableView, numberOfRowsInSection section: Int) -> Int {
    return 5
}

func tableView(tableView: UITableView, cellForRowAtIndexPath indexPath: NSIndexPath) -> UITableViewCell {
    if indexPath.row == 3 {
        var cell: TableViewCell = tableView.dequeueReusableCellWithIdentifier("TableViewCell", forIndexPath: indexPath) as! TableViewCell
        cell.backgroundColor = UIColor.groupTableViewBackgroundColor()
        return cell

    } else {
        var cell: UITableViewCell = tableView.dequeueReusableCellWithIdentifier("NormalCell", forIndexPath: indexPath) as! UITableViewCell
        cell.textLabel?.text = "cell: \(indexPath.row)"

        return cell
    }
}

As you can see I've created two different cells, a custom TableViewCell which is returned only when the row index is 3 and a basic UITableViewCell in other indices.

The custom "TableViewCell" will have our UICollectionView. So Create a UITableViewCell subclass and write down the below code.

import UIKit

class TableViewCell: UITableViewCell, UICollectionViewDataSource, UICollectionViewDelegate {

var collectionView: UICollectionView!

override init(style: UITableViewCellStyle, reuseIdentifier: String?) {
    super.init(style: style, reuseIdentifier: reuseIdentifier)

    let layout = UICollectionViewFlowLayout()
    layout.scrollDirection = UICollectionViewScrollDirection.Horizontal

    collectionView = UICollectionView(frame: self.bounds, collectionViewLayout: layout)
    collectionView.delegate = self
    collectionView.dataSource = self
    collectionView.registerClass(UICollectionViewCell.self, forCellWithReuseIdentifier: "CollectionViewCell")
    collectionView.backgroundColor = UIColor.clearColor()

    self.addSubview(collectionView)
}

required init(coder aDecoder: NSCoder) {
    super.init(coder: aDecoder)
}

// MARK: UICollectionViewDataSource
func numberOfSectionsInCollectionView(collectionView: UICollectionView) -> Int {
    return 1
}


func collectionView(collectionView: UICollectionView, numberOfItemsInSection section: Int) -> Int {
    return 10
}

func collectionView(collectionView: UICollectionView, cellForItemAtIndexPath indexPath: NSIndexPath) -> UICollectionViewCell {
    let cell: UICollectionViewCell = collectionView.dequeueReusableCellWithReuseIdentifier("CollectionViewCell", forIndexPath: indexPath) as! UICollectionViewCell
    if indexPath.row%2 == 0 {
        cell.backgroundColor = UIColor.redColor()
    } else {
        cell.backgroundColor = UIColor.yellowColor()
    }

    return cell
}
}

Hope it helps.