Conditionally hiding cell separators and removing hidden section space Swift

Question

I want cell separators in every single one of my sections other than section 0.

Between "New Game", "Friends", "Random", "Judge", and "Challenges" I don't want any separators. The cell type in section "0" or "New Game" is different than the other sections' cell types so I tried this: iOS swift remove UITableView Cell separator space but it didn't work.

Another issue I'm facing is how to erase the space left when a header is gone because it has no rows in it.

Here is a picture:

As you can see, "Waiting For Opponent" has disappeared because there are no rows in the section.

So to be extremely clear:

1. How do I conditionally hide the separators in section 0 without hiding the entire tableView's separators?
2. How do I hide the space that is created when I hide a section header?

Answer 1

1. I can think of two options:
   • Hide the separators entirely and implement your own separator by adding a UIView with 1-2pt height placed at the bottom of the cell which can then be hidden/unhidden based on your requirements in cellForRowAtIndexPath.
     
     OR
     
     
   • In cellForRowAtIndexPath, change the insets of the separator for that cell so that the separator goes out of the view. Eg: cell.separatorInset = UIEdgeInsetsMake(0.f, 0.f, 0.f, cell.bounds.size.width-cell.layoutMargins.left)

---

2. Have you tried returning zero in tableView(_ tableView: UITableView, heightForHeaderInSection section: Int) -> CGFloat ??