UITableViewCell background color problem

Question

I subclassed UITableViewCell to set a cell background color to a color I need:

.h

@interface DataViewCustomCell : UITableViewCell {
    UIColor* cellColor;
    UIColor* standardColor;
}
- (void) setCellColor: (UIColor*)color;

@end

.m

@implementation DataViewCustomCell

- (id)initWithStyle:(UITableViewCellStyle)style reuseIdentifier:(NSString *)reuseIdentifier
{
    self = [super initWithStyle:style reuseIdentifier:reuseIdentifier];
    if (self) {
        // Initialization code
    }
    return self;
}

- (void) setCellColor: (UIColor*)color
{
    cellColor = color;
}

- (void) spreadBackgroundColor: (UIView*)that withColor: (UIColor*)bkColor
{
    NSEnumerator *enumerator = [that.subviews objectEnumerator];
    id anObject;

    while (anObject = [enumerator nextObject]) {
        if([anObject isKindOfClass: [UIView class]])
        {
            ((UIView*)anObject).backgroundColor = bkColor;
            [self spreadBackgroundColor:anObject withColor:bkColor];
        }
    }
}

- (void) layoutSubviews {
    [super layoutSubviews]; // layouts the cell as UITableViewCellStyleValue2 would normally look like

    if(!self.selected && NULL != cellColor)
    {
        [self spreadBackgroundColor:self withColor:cellColor];
    }
}

- (void)dealloc
{
    [super dealloc];
}

@end

When I call setCellColor with the color I want, all goes well, but when I haven't found a way to set the original color back: when I set [UIColor clearColor] with UITableViewStylePlain style the results is not good-looking.

How can I achieve a good result, without a missing cell separator line?

Answer 1

I was having a similar problem and found edo42's answer. However I was then having an issue with the background behind the text in the cell not displaying the background color I set. I believe this is due to the style: UITableViewCellStyleSubtitle.

In case others stumble upon this question, I believe the better solution for this is found in this question:

BackgroundColor of UITableViewCellStyleSubtitle labels? BackgroundColor of UITableViewCellStyleSubtitle labels?

Answer reprinted here:

To change the background color of the table view cell, you'll need to set it in tableView:willDisplayCell:forRowAtIndexPath: rather than tableView:cellForRowAtIndexPath: otherwise it won't have any effect, for example:

- (void)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView willDisplayCell:(UITableViewCell *)cell forRowAtIndexPath:(NSIndexPath *)indexPath {
    cell.backgroundColor = [UIColor whiteColor];
}

Answer 2

Finally, I solved it by myself. I used the following code in - (UITableViewCell *)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView cellForRowAtIndexPath:(NSIndexPath *)indexPath instead of subclassing:

    UIView *bg = [[UIView alloc] initWithFrame:cell.frame];
    bg.backgroundColor = [UIColor greenColor]; //The color you want
    cell.backgroundView = bg;
    cell.textLabel.backgroundColor = bg.backgroundColor;
    [bg release];