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Benny Chew
Courses Plus Student 2,717 PointsQuestion about code generating the table cells
Hi, I don’t really understand the method for generating the table cells. The instructor didn’t really explain this. Can someone help me?
```- (UITableViewCell *)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView cellForRowAtIndexPath:(NSIndexPath *)indexPath { UITableViewCell *cell = [tableView dequeueReusableCellWithIdentifier:@"Cell" forIndexPath:indexPath];
NSDate *object = _objects[indexPath.row];
cell.textLabel.text = [object description];
return cell;
}```
What is the asterisk for right after - (UITableViewCell *)tableView and why is it not place before the method name like this: - (UITableViewCell)*tableView?
I understand this code: UITableViewCell *cell = [tableView dequeueReusableCellWithIdentifier:@"Cell" forIndexPath:indexPath]; makes sure the cells get generated and the other 2 lines defines the data in the cells, right?
2 Answers
Patrick Serrano
13,834 PointsThe - (UITableViewCell *) is saying that the method returns a pointer to a UITableViewCell.
If we break down the parts of the method I think it will make more sense.
This is the method:
- (UITableViewCell *)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView cellForRowAtIndexPath:(NSIndexPath *)indexPath
- (UITableViewCell *) says what the method returns. In this case it is a pointer to a UITableViewCell, but it could be anything including void. It just depends of the method and what it does.
tableView:(UITableView *)tableView the tableview: is part of the method name. The (UITableView *)tableview is the parameter. The part in the parentheses again is specifying the type that the parameter is, and in this case that is a UITableview. The tableview following the parentheses is the parameter name. This is what you use to access the UITableview that was passed into the method.
cellForRowAtIndexPath:(NSIndexPath *)indexPath the cellForRowAtIndexPath: is part of the method name. The part of (NSIndexPath *)indexPath in parentheses again is specifying the type of the parameter being passed in and the word indexPath after is the parameter.
I hope that helps.
Benny Chew
Courses Plus Student 2,717 PointsThanks for the explanation Patrick Serrano. I will study it in more depth, especially how you write methods in Objective C (I have an ActionScript 3 background). Perhaps it looks more complicated than it is. :)
Patrick Serrano
13,834 PointsBe sure to do the Objective-C Basics course if you haven't. They start with the basics of C, and move onto Objective-C and give you a pretty broad foundation from which to build on. The videos in the last section where Amit explains pointers is really helpful.