DETableViewCell

https://github.com/dreamengine/DETableViewCell

What It Does

DETableViewCell is an MIT-licensed UITableViewCell replacement that makes table cell management easy. It takes care of creating and maintaining UINibs for each DETableViewCell subclass, allowing the UINibs to be reused across multiple controllers without ever worrying about them.

How It Works

DETableViewCell Subclassing

When creating custom cells, subclass from DETableViewCell instead of UITableViewCell. DETableViewCell is itself a subclass of UITableViewCell, so nothing is lost by changing your custom cell's superclass.

Example

@interface MyCustomCell : DETableViewCell
...
@end

@implementation MyCustomCell
...
@end

Accessing UINibs

To access a cell class's UINib, simply use +cellNib on that class. If a UINib instance has already been created for that class, this method will simply return that object. Otherwise, this method will automatically create a new UINib for the class, store it in the DETableViewCell cache, and return that object. The nib instantiation process requires that the .xib/.nib file has the same name as the DETableViewCell subclass.

Example

#import "MyCustomCell.h"
#import "OtherCustomCell.h"

@implementation SomeObject

-(void)someMethod {
	UINib *myNib = [MyCustomCell cellNib];	// returns a UINib loaded with "MyCustomCell.nib"
	UINib *otherNib = [OtherCustomCell cellNib];	// returns a UINib loaded with "OtherCustomCell.nib"
}

@end

Manual Instantiation

If the need arises to manually create a cell instance, you can simply use +cell on your DETableViewCell subclass, which will utilize the UINib caching system to inflate from the corresponding nib file.

Example

-(void)someMethod {
	MyCustomCell *customCell = [MyCustomCell cell];
}

Reuse Identifiers

To further simplify table cell usage in apps, DETableViewCell provides a default reuse identifier using NSStringFromClass(). Both +reuseIdentifier as well as -reuseIdentifier return the same string, making both registering nibs in as well as dequeuing cells from UITableViews easier.

Example

#import "MyCustomCell.h"
#import "OtherCustomCell.h"

@implementation SomeController

-(void)viewDidLoad {
	[super viewDidLoad];
	
	[self.tableView registerNib:MyCustomCell.cellNib forCellReuseIdentifier:MyCustomCell.reuseIdentifier];
	[self.tableView registerNib:OtherCustomCell.cellNib forCellReuseIdentifier:OtherCustomCell.reuseIdentifier];
}

- (UITableViewCell *)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView cellForRowAtIndexPath:(NSIndexPath *)indexPath {
	if (indexPath.section == 0) {
		MyCustomCell *customCell = [self.tableView dequeueReusableCellWithIdentifier:MyCustomCell.reuseIdentifier forIndexPath:indexPath];
		return customCell;
	}
	else {
		OtherCustomCell *otherCell = [self.tableView dequeueReusableCellWithIdentifier:OtherCustomCell.reuseIdentifier forIndexPath:indexPath];
		return otherCell;
	}
}

UITableView Category

A UITableView category has also been provided to simplify reuse registration. Instead of using -registerNib:forCellReuseIdentifier:, simply use -registerDETableViewCellClass:.

Example

-(void)viewDidLoad {
	[super viewDidLoad];
	
	[self.tableView registerDETableViewCellClass:MyCustomCell.class];
	[self.tableView registerDETableViewCellClass:OtherCustomCell.class];
}

Manual Cache Management

DETableViewCell uses a custom NSCache object that is also sensitive to low memory warnings. The cache will automatically evict items as memory constraints increase, which means you don't have to worry about DETableViewCell's caching strategies.

However, there may be times where you want to manually remove a cached UINib from memory before memory constraints occur. To do so, call +removeCellNibFromCache on the corresponding class.

There may also be situations where it makes sense to manually clear the UINib cache entirely. To do so, call +removeAllCellNibsFromCache on any DETableViewCell class.

Example

-(void)someMethod {
	[MyCustomCell removeCellNibFromCache];	// remove MyCustomCell's UINib from the cache
	[DETableViewCell removeAllCellNibsFromCache]; // remove all UINibs from the cache
}