Unable to use dequeueReusableCell(withIdentifier: for:) from a xib file

Question

I am having trouble casting my table view cell to my custom table view cell in the dequeueReusableCell(withIdentifier: for:) step.

My code:

override func tableView(_ tableView: UITableView, cellForRowAt indexPath: IndexPath) -> UITableViewCell {
    let cell = tableView.dequeueReusableCell(withIdentifier: "TextFieldcell", for: indexPath) as! TextFieldTableViewCell
    cell.labelTitle.text = array[indexPath.row]
    return cell
}

I have registered my cell in viewDidLoad():

tableView.register(TextFieldTableViewCell.self, forCellReuseIdentifier: "TextFieldcell")

And I got an error saying:

fatal error: unexpectedly found nil while unwrapping an Optional value

I bet it failed the casting and that is why the cell is empty. Can anybody see the error?

Thanks!

UPDATED CODE

 override func viewDidLoad() {
        super.viewDidLoad()
        let bundle = Bundle(for: TextFieldTableViewCell.self)
        let nib = UINib(nibName: "MyTableViewCell", bundle: bundle)
        tableView.register(nib, forCellReuseIdentifier: "TextFieldcell")
    }

    override func numberOfSections(in tableView: UITableView) -> Int {
        return 1
    }

    override func tableView(_ tableView: UITableView, numberOfRowsInSection section: Int) -> Int {
        return array.count
    }

    override func tableView(_ tableView: UITableView, cellForRowAt indexPath: IndexPath) -> UITableViewCell {
        let cell = tableView.dequeueReusableCell(withIdentifier: "TextFieldcell", for: indexPath) as! TextFieldTableViewCell
        cell.labelTitle.text = array[indexPath.row]
        return cell
    }
}

So apparently the issue still persists, to clarify, here are the steps I took to create this custom UITableViewCell

1. Create a .swift file and a .xib file
2. inside of the .xib file, I have deleted the boilerplate code and added in two UILabels
3. I set the file owner of the .xib file to my swift, which has my two IBOutlets
4. Next, inside of my tableViewController where I want to instantiate my custom tableViewCell, inside the viewDidLoad() method, I added in the following:

let bundle = Bundle(for: TextFieldTableViewCell.self)

let nib = UINib(nibName: "MyTableViewCell", bundle: bundle)

tableView.register(nib, forCellReuseIdentifier: "TextFieldcell")

My reasoning for creating this code are as follow: since I have create my custom table view cell using a .xib file and interface builder, I need to load the xib into my tableViewController (correct me if I am wrong) using tableView.register(nibName: forCellReuseIdentifier:) function.

However, when I run the code, I got an error saying: reason: 'Could not load NIB in bundle: 'NSBundle

Here is my code for my custom cell:

class TextFieldTableViewCell: UITableViewCell {

    @IBOutlet weak var labelTitle: UILabel!
    @IBOutlet weak var userInput: UITextField!
}

Can anybody see where the problem is? thanks!

Answer 1

You need to register your nib object.

In viewDidLoad():

let nib = UINib(nibName: "nameOfYourNibFile", bundle: nil)

tableView.register(nib, forCellReuseIdentifier: "yourIdentifier")

Answer 2

If your UITableViewCell subclass is designed in Interface Builder you should use the

func register(_ nib: UINib?, forCellReuseIdentifier identifier: String)

method. For example:

let nib = UINib(nibName: "\(TextFieldTableViewCell.self)", bundle: nil)
tableView.register(nib, forCellReuseIdentifier: "TextFieldcell")

If your UITableViewCell subclass is created entirely in code you should use the

func register(_ cellClass: Swift.AnyClass?, forCellReuseIdentifier identifier: String) 

method.

If you're using prototype cells in a storyboard you should not register your cells at all.