Place activity indicator over uitable view

Question

I've placed an Activity indicator in a UITableView within the storyboard. How can I center it in the middle of the screen and in front of the table view?

I've tried:

self.activityIndicator.center = self.tableView.center

But now, the activity indicator is in the top-middle of the view!

Answer 1

To display an activity indicator while data is loading in a UITableView, you can create a UIView and add it to the main view (in the center of the UITableView). If you want to display it as shown bellow:

You can do that with the fnuctions setLoadingScreen and removeLoadingScreen (if you want to see a sample project you can go here):

class TableViewController: UITableViewController {

    // MARK: Properties

    /// Data source of the tableView
    var rows: [String] = []

    /// View which contains the loading text and the spinner
    let loadingView = UIView()

    /// Spinner shown during load the TableView
    let spinner = UIActivityIndicatorView()

    /// Text shown during load the TableView
    let loadingLabel = UILabel()


    // MARK: Methods

    override func viewDidLoad() {

        super.viewDidLoad()

        setLoadingScreen()

        loadData()

    }

    override func didReceiveMemoryWarning() {

        super.didReceiveMemoryWarning()

    }


    // MARK: - Table view data source

    override func numberOfSections(in tableView: UITableView) -> Int {

        return 1

    }

    override func tableView(tableView: UITableView, numberOfRowsInSection section: Int) -> Int {

        return rows.count

    }

    override func tableView(tableView: UITableView, cellForRowAt indexPath: NSIndexPath) -> UITableViewCell {

        let cell = tableView.dequeueReusableCell(withIdentifier: "myCell", for: indexPath)!
        cell.textLabel!.text = rows[indexPath.row]

        return cell

    }


    // MARK: Private methods

    // Load data in the tableView
    private func loadData() {

        // Simulate a delay of some operations as a HTTP Request            
        DispatchQueue.main.asyncAfter(deadline: .now() + .milliseconds(20)) {

            self.rows = ["Row 1", "Row 2", "Row 3", "Row 4", "Row 5"]

            self.tableView.reloadData()
            self.tableView.separatorStyle = .singleLine
            self.removeLoadingScreen()

        }

    }

    // Set the activity indicator into the main view
    private func setLoadingScreen() {

        // Sets the view which contains the loading text and the spinner
        let width: CGFloat = 120
        let height: CGFloat = 30
        let x = (tableView.frame.width / 2) - (width / 2)
        let y = (tableView.frame.height / 2) - (height / 2) - (navigationController?.navigationBar.frame.height)!
        loadingView.frame = CGRect(x: x, y: y, width: width, height: height)

        // Sets loading text
        loadingLabel.textColor = .gray
        loadingLabel.textAlignment = .center
        loadingLabel.text = "Loading..."
        loadingLabel.frame = CGRect(x: 0, y: 0, width: 140, height: 30)

        // Sets spinner
        spinner.activityIndicatorViewStyle = .gray
        spinner.frame = CGRect(x: 0, y: 0, width: 30, height: 30)
        spinner.startAnimating()

        // Adds text and spinner to the view
        loadingView.addSubview(spinner)
        loadingView.addSubview(loadingLabel)

        tableView.addSubview(loadingView)

    }

    // Remove the activity indicator from the main view
    private func removeLoadingScreen() {

        // Hides and stops the text and the spinner
        spinner.stopAnimating()
        spinner.isHidden = true
        loadingLabel.isHidden = true

    }

}

Answer 2

Here's the steps: Followed Chrissukhram instructions.

1. drag a view on top of table view Step
2. drag activity indicator on to the view

3. Align the activity indicator to horizontal and vertical centre in container

4. make IBOutlet connection for both view and activity indicator

5. start the activity indicator
6. stop and hide : activityIndicatorLarge.hidesWhenStopped = true activityView.hidden = true

Answer 3

The easiest way is to add a UIActivityIndicatorView in your tableView backgroundView

    let spinner = UIActivityIndicatorView(activityIndicatorStyle: .gray)

    spinner.startAnimating()
    tableView.backgroundView = spinner

it will be centered by default.