Resolving compile-time error regarding custom cells

Question

I am writing an app in iOS 6. This is a snippet of code from ViewController.m file:

- (UITableViewCell *)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView cellForRowAtIndexPath:(NSIndexPath *)indexPath
{
    CustomCell *cell = (CustomCell *)[tableView dequeueReusableCellWithIdentifier:@"CustomCellIdentifier"];

    if (cell == nil) {

        [[NSBundle mainBundle] loadNibNamed:@"CustomCell" owner:self options:nil];

        cell = _customCell;
        _customCell = nil;

    }

    cell.firstName.textLabel = @"dsdsds";
    cell.middleName.textLabel = @"N/A";
    cell.lastName.textLabel = @"daasdsdasa";

    return cell;
}

These lines of code give me error (Property 'firstName' not found on object of type 'CustomCell*'):

cell.firstName.textLabel = @"dsdsds";
        cell.middleName.textLabel = @"N/A";
        cell.lastName.textLabel = @"daasdsdasa";

CustomeCell.h:

#import <UIKit/UIKit.h>


@interface CustomCell : UITableViewCell
@property (strong, nonatomic) IBOutlet UILabel *firstName;

@property (strong, nonatomic) IBOutlet UILabel *middleName;
@property (strong, nonatomic) IBOutlet UILabel *lastName;

+(NSString*) reuseIdentifier;
@end

In the Outlets of CustomCell.xib:
firstName -> label
middleName -> label
lastName -> label

Referencing Outlets:
customCell -> File's Owner

Selecting the firstName label:
Referencing Outlets:
firstName -> CustomCell
firstName -> CustomCell -CustomCellIdentifier

Selecting the middleName label:
lastName -> Custom Cell - CustomCellIdentifier
middleName -> Custom Cell

Selecting the lastName label:
lastName -> Custom Cell
middleName -> Custom Cell- Custom Cell Identifier

So, what is the prob? In my opinion it has something to do with Outlets.

In fact I cannot synthesize them in hat file cause first of all it must be declared at .h file. Although now it is in different file — uml, Jan 30 '13 at 04:30
What's the File's owner class and is the `customCell` property of that class a CustomCell or a UITableViewCell ? — Andrew Tetlaw, Jan 30 '13 at 04:33
There are two .xib's files. Regarding CustomCell.xib in the compartment of 'Referencing Outlets' customCell -> File's Owner. Yes, customCell is a property: @property(assign, nonatomic) IBOutlet CustomCell *customCell; has been held at VieController.h — uml, Jan 30 '13 at 04:48
xib's and outlets have nothing to do with this error. It may not work as you want it to because of them, but they do not cause this error.... — lnafziger, Jan 30 '13 at 04:49

score 1 · Answer 1 · answered Jan 30 '13 at 04:43

1

The error (Property 'firstName' not found on object of type 'CustomCell*'): means that the compiler does not know about a property by the name of firstName. You need to inform the compiler what properties are available within a class, typically by importing the header file.

So, at the top of the file where your table view code is, put:

#import "CustomCell.h"

(Note that it goes before your @implementation block, up with the other #import's.

answered Jan 30 '13 at 04:43

lnafziger

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It has been imported. No affect as you may see. – uml Jan 30 '13 at 04:46
Really? At the top of ViewController.m? Is that the only error that you are getting? – lnafziger Jan 30 '13 at 04:48
Ooops, there are two more errors regarding middle and last name – uml Jan 30 '13 at 05:03
Can you copy and paste your entire ViewController.m into your question? – lnafziger Jan 30 '13 at 16:29

Midhun MP · Answer 2 · 2013-01-30T05:37:19.980

1

I saw a couple of mistakes in your code:

cell.firstName.textLabel = @"dsdsds";
cell.middleName.textLabel = @"N/A";
cell.lastName.textLabel = @"daasdsdasa";

The issue is there is no property like textLabel for UILabel.

Change it to:

cell.firstName.text  = @"dsdsds";
cell.middleName.text = @"N/A";
cell.lastName.text   = @"daasdsdasa";

If you not synthesized the property use the following instead:

cell._firstName.text  = @"dsdsds";
cell._middleName.text = @"N/A";
cell._lastName.text   = @"daasdsdasa";

Also change:

if (cell == nil) {

        [[NSBundle mainBundle] loadNibNamed:@"CustomCell" owner:self options:nil];
}

to

if (cell == nil) {
         NSArray *nib = [[NSBundle mainBundle] loadNibNamed:@"CustomCell" owner:self options:nil];
        cell = (CustomCell *)[nib objectAtIndex:0];
}

edited Jan 30 '13 at 05:37

answered Jan 30 '13 at 05:04

Midhun MP

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According to XCODE text has been deprecated, I shall use textLabel. The resy fix is not helping either. – uml Jan 30 '13 at 05:21
@uml: that is for cell. Cell.text is deprecated so you need to use cell.textLabel. There is no property like textLabel for UILabel – Midhun MP Jan 30 '13 at 05:24
@uml: that was a typo. please check it – Midhun MP Jan 30 '13 at 05:37
Nope. Same errors. I followed your suggestion regarding naming and so on – uml Jan 30 '13 at 05:47
@uml: did you changed to _firstName ? – Midhun MP Jan 30 '13 at 05:48
He is using iOS 6.0 which has auto-synthesis, therefore he has setters and getters.... – lnafziger Jan 30 '13 at 05:54
@Inafiziger: in iOS 6 if you not synthesized your property iOS will wutomatically synthesize that in the form of `_yourIvar` – Midhun MP Jan 30 '13 at 05:56
Yes, and therefore he shouldn't be using cell._firstName. He should use cell.firstName as he is... Plus in your answer you say "If you not synthesized the property". (ergo my previous comment) – lnafziger Jan 30 '13 at 05:56
auto-synthesize is a function of the compiler, not the OS. Newer XCode is just injecting that code for us. – Dave Jan 30 '13 at 06:00
@Dave: Yes, but if he is targeting iOS 6 then his compiler supports auto-synthesis... – lnafziger Jan 31 '13 at 06:09

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Jan 30 '13 at 05:00

why do you have the class method +reuseIdentifier in your .h file? The UITableViewCell class that you inherit from has a property with that name, so that's a tad confusing.

Also, the convention is to use "weak" for your outlets: @property (weak, nonatomic) IBOutlet UILabel *firstName; because the view will have a strong copy of it's subviews.

I'm not sure why your property isn't being found. It's a runtime error. If things were not wired up in the nib correctly; you'd get an exception as soon as you try to instantiate the that view. Did you set the "class" of that view to CustomCell? (Though if you didn't you should be dequeuing a regular TableViewCell and wouldn't have been able to set your outlets, so...) Hmm.

Weak is not allowed in ARC and GC. An error received once switching to weak and performing synthesizing. The class for .xib has been set to CustomCell — uml, Jan 30 '13 at 05:18
There's no GC for iOS; and strong/weak are specifically for ARC. If you're targeting older iOS; you can sometimes use unsafe_unretained in lieu of weak. Anyway, good luck with your issue. — Dave, Jan 30 '13 at 05:35

Resolving compile-time error regarding custom cells

3 Answers3