What are the pros and cons of an embedded UITableViewController over a UITableView?

Question

I'm creating my first iPad app and I have a UIView which has a table as well as other views. I've noticed I have the option of creating a 'Container View' in which I can then embed a UITableViewContoller.

What are the advantages and disadvantages of embedding a UITableViewContoller rather than just using a UITableView?

score 2 · Answer 1 · answered Jan 16 '13 at 15:23

A UITableViewController adds some subtle (but helpful) functionality that using a UITableView by itself does not have.

Some examples (I don't know if this is a complete list, there may be more):

in viewWillAppear, clears and reloads the table automatically
In viewWillAppear, it flashes the scroll indicators to indicate the view is scrollable
if you have edit fields in your UITableView, it will automatically scroll the table to the appropriate location when the Keyboard is displayed.

Hope that helps!

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Jan 14 '13 at 22:38

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A UiTableViewController is simply a subclassed UIViewController which has a UITableView as its "view". The benefits of using it are having the boiler plate code written for you and having less setup.

answered Jan 14 '13 at 22:38

rooster117

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score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Jan 17 '13 at 12:02

Here's a big disadvantage of using a Container View and embedding: it only works on iOS 6+. Trying to run a storyboard with an embedded Container View on iOS 5 results in the error message "Could not instantiate class named UIStoryboardEmbedSegueTemplate"

score 0 · Answer 4 · answered Dec 23 '13 at 17:35

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UITableViewController is your only option for static/grouped cells.

answered Dec 23 '13 at 17:35

maksa

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What are the pros and cons of an embedded UITableViewController over a UITableView?

4 Answers4