Getting the data of all TableView Cell which all has TextFields in it (including the hidden views)

Question

I'd like to get every data that is within all cells in one tableview which is quite a long list.

I'm looking for an approach on how to retrieve everything including those hidden in view, which I know the views are reused. I think some of you might have experienced this problem before, what are your approach on this?

I've tried

let cells = self.tableView.visibleCells

then looping into every cell and saving each data to an array but it is not effective in getting those that aren't part of the view or hidden. Is there a way to get over this?

Is your table view showing texts in UITextFields correctly when you scroll fast? — The Mach System, Mar 08 '17 at 03:24
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/28431086/getting-data-from-each-uitableview-cells-swift Just go to this link — kunal pal, Oct 20 '17 at 18:16

score 3 · Accepted Answer · answered Mar 08 '17 at 02:44

In cellForRowAtIndexPath, YOU are telling the table what is in each cell. So why would you turn around and ask the table what's in each cell? If the user puts "Hello" in your first cell, then scrolls the table enough to push that first cell out of view, then when the user scrolls back to the top, YOU are the one telling it to put "Hello" back in that first cell. YOU own the data source, not the table.

You need a data source. That can be "empty" at first, maybe an array of empty strings if that's what you want (each index in the array could map to a table row for example). But then, as the user interacts with the text fields in the cells, you need to update that data source with the text they entered.

You should use that data source as your source for the cellForRowAtIndex method. That way you can handle populating the cells when they are requested by the table, and you also know all the data when the user is done.

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Mar 08 '17 at 02:46

Why not just update the model each time the user taps a key when editing a textfield? You could create a protocol for that cell subclass and make your view controller the delegate for each cell. As long as cells are guaranteed to stay on the screen while you're typing (you'll get some weird behaviors if not) the cell can send a message to the view controller or whatever you hook it up to telling it what new value to store. Then everything is already stored for you when you need the full list, and you don't have to interact with the tableview.

I'm not sure I get what you mean sir. Could you specify a sample snippet on this one? — Jojo Narte, Mar 08 '17 at 02:54

Getting the data of all TableView Cell which all has TextFields in it (including the hidden views)

2 Answers2