How to disable scrolling in UITableView table when the content fits on the screen

Question

I have a few (grouped style) tables in my iphone app (only on part of the screen and added with Interface Builder though, not subclassed from UITableViewController) that 80% of the time are small and will fit on the screen. When the table fits on the screen, I'd like to disable scrolling, to make it a bit cleaner. But if the table goes off the screen (when rows are later added to it), I'd like to enable scrolling again (because otherwise you can't see that content.)

Is there a way to do this? I can't seem to figure it out. I do know to do:

tableView.scrollEnabled = NO;

but I'm not sure where, or if I have to calculate the table object size or something to get this to work.

Update: Here's the solution that finally worked for me:

if (table.contentSize.height < table.frame.size.height) {
   table.scrollEnabled = NO;
 }
else {
   table.scrollEnabled = YES;
 }

I run this code after calling reloadData on the table, and it calculates the right sizes and appears to work.

table.frame.size.height is the actual size of the object (you can see this in Interface Builder) displayed on the screen, whereas table.contentSize.height is the heights of: the header, the footer, and the height of every cell added together.

Thanks. That solution worked for me. However, I ended up extending UITableView and overriding reloadData to disable scrollEnabled. The reason is that the table view is loaded when my view controller is created. That way you don't have to call reloadData twice. — Brandon O'Rourke, Jan 17 '12 at 21:30
@JoeBlow I think you missed OP's point. The question isn't how to disable bounce, it's how to only enable scrolling (and bounce, most likely) when the tableview needs to scroll. — Kyle Clegg, Sep 11 '14 at 08:20
Maybe is better to use bounds, because I think if you rotate a bit your table, frame.height is going to change. — Ricardo, Nov 05 '15 at 13:33
There should be: if (table.contentSize.height <= table.frame.size.height) — Grzegorz Krukowski, Mar 29 '16 at 21:34

score 435 · Answer 1 · edited Mar 15 '15 at 14:15

435

I think you want to set

tableView.alwaysBounceVertical = NO;

edited Mar 15 '15 at 14:15

swiftBoy

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answered Sep 14 '11 at 03:14

Lily Ballard

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6

This works better than contentSize < frame when you are using AutoLayout. Should be accepted answer. – Joshua Dance Sep 09 '13 at 20:12
1

I'm using auto layout and this answer is exactly what I need. – Golden Thumb Feb 10 '15 at 20:44
3

better than disabling scrolling – Kirit Vaghela Jul 03 '15 at 08:40
5

works like a charm, you can also disable it from the `interface builder` by unticking bounce and bounce horizontally/vertically. – Ahsan Ebrahim Khatri Aug 21 '15 at 11:38
13

for Swift - **tableView.alwaysBounceVertical = false** – swiftBoy Apr 01 '16 at 12:13
1

There is a checkbox in attribute inspector. You can uncheck instead of writing code – Frank Aug 04 '16 at 22:10
@Feng this checkbox doesn't seem to be working properly (or at all), I had to set it in code to make it work – Lope Aug 09 '16 at 13:55
Dude this solved one of the nastiest bugs we had in our app. What the heck did apple think when giving this property it's name !?!? – blackjacx Nov 16 '21 at 18:54
It works, but... The funny thing is that the Apple documentation says - "The default value is false." – flowGlen May 28 '23 at 11:26
@flowGen `UIScrollView` defaults it to false but `UITableView` defaults it to true. – Lily Ballard May 30 '23 at 07:49

score 69 · Answer 2 · answered Aug 01 '16 at 10:24

69

In Swift:

tableView.alwaysBounceVertical = false

answered Aug 01 '16 at 10:24

Nati Lara-Diaz

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I always upvote such a̶n̶s̶w̶e̶r̶s̶ "rewrites" because converting to modern syntax requires time. – Dmitry Isaev Oct 02 '17 at 08:28

Roberto Ferraz · Answer 3 · 2014-09-15T13:31:23.613

46

You can verify the number of visible cells using this function:

- (NSArray *)visibleCells

This method will return an array with the cells that are visible, so you can count the number of objects in this array and compare with the number of objects in your table.. if it's equal.. you can disable the scrolling using:

tableView.scrollEnabled = NO;

As @Ginny mentioned.. we would can have problems with partially visible cells, so this solution works better in this case:

tableView.scrollEnabled = (tableView.contentSize.height <= CGRectGetHeight(tableView.frame));

In case you are using autoLayout this solution do the job:

tableView.alwaysBounceVertical = NO.

edited Sep 15 '14 at 13:31

answered Sep 14 '11 at 03:27

Roberto Ferraz

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Thank you! This is mostly working for me now. Only problem I'm having now is when cells are partially visible they still count as visible and thus scrolling gets disabled when in that case I want it to be enabled. – Ginny Sep 14 '11 at 04:53
7

Figured it out! Turns out you can't really use visibleCells at all, because of the partially visible cell problem, but this works: `if (table.contentSize.height < table.frame.size.height)` >> see edit in the original post. – Ginny Sep 14 '11 at 07:22

score 29 · Answer 4 · edited Jan 17 '19 at 14:46

So there's are multiple answers and requires a all content at once place so I'm adding this answer:

If you're using AutoLayout, by setting this only should work for you:

In code:

tableView.alwaysBounceVertical = false

or In Interface Builder:

Just find this option and untick "Bounce Vertically" option.

Here's the reference:

If you're not using AutoLayout:

 override func viewDidLayoutSubviews() {
    // Enable scrolling based on content height
    tableView.isScrollEnabled = tableView.contentSize.height > tableView.frame.size.height
 }

score 14 · Answer 5 · answered Jul 31 '14 at 09:12

14

try this

[yourTableView setBounces:NO];

answered Jul 31 '14 at 09:12

codercat

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@kyle -- thanks for the note! -- but look that's what happens automatically. If it is shorter than the screen (or other holder), it does NOT scroll (and obviously won't bounce, coz it won't even scroll). If it is longer than the screen, it will then scroll (and indeed bounce). No?? – Fattie Sep 11 '14 at 08:26
Maybe I've been using collection views too much ... maybe it works as I describe for collection views, but not for UITableView?? – Fattie Sep 11 '14 at 08:27

ajw · Answer 6 · 2016-11-22T13:35:06.093

10

You can set enable/disable bounce or scrolling the tableview by selecting/deselecting these in the Scroll View area

Scroll View editing area

edited Nov 22 '16 at 13:35

answered Nov 22 '16 at 13:33

ajw

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score 6 · Answer 7 · answered Mar 31 '17 at 01:23

6

// Enable scrolling based on content height self.tableView.scrollEnabled = table.contentSize.height > table.frame.size.height;

answered Mar 31 '17 at 01:23

rjobidon

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I think I was enlightened after reading your solution. Many thanks – Congruent Tech. UG Dec 14 '17 at 10:15
1

I used this in my viewDidAppear – Maria Apr 16 '18 at 16:24
3

I meant viewDidLayoutSubviews not viewDidAppear – Maria Apr 16 '18 at 20:00

ericmarkmartin · Answer 8 · 2016-05-15T03:01:05.600

3

You can edit this in your storyboard (if you are using one). Under the table view there is a checkbox that says "Scrolling Enabled". Uncheck it and you're done.

edited May 15 '16 at 03:01

answered Dec 04 '14 at 05:35

ericmarkmartin

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score 0 · Answer 9 · edited Jan 30 '15 at 05:42

0

The default height is 44.0f for a tableview cell I believe. You must be having your datasource in hand in a Array? Then just check if [array count]*44.0f goes beyond the frame bounds and if so set tableview.scrollEnabled = NO, else set it to YES. Do it where you figure the datasource out for that particular tableview.

edited Jan 30 '15 at 05:42

codercat

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answered Sep 14 '11 at 03:18

Bourne

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My table cells are different sizes (and may change size at any time; I'm using the heightForRowAtIndexPath method) so I probably wouldn't want to hardcode 44.0f. I believe that number is the same as tableView.rowHeight anyway? – Ginny Sep 14 '11 at 03:43
You would then be doing your total height calculation in that method. Simple right? If that exceeds screen bound, enable scroll, else leave it disabled.The method would be called for all the visible cells. If you don't have enough data to exceed screen, you can calculate the total height right in that method. Keep adding to a global variable the height it returns on each call and you have your total height. – Bourne Sep 14 '11 at 03:47
Roberto's answer is an easier way of achieving all this and leaving the calculation to the tableview. – Bourne Sep 14 '11 at 03:48

score -2 · Answer 10 · edited Nov 01 '22 at 16:39

-2

This is what worked for me.

tableView.isUserInteractionEnabled = false

edited Nov 01 '22 at 16:39

udi

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answered Oct 27 '22 at 11:40

Saad Zbidi

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How to disable scrolling in UITableView table when the content fits on the screen

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