CollectionAndTableViewCompatible

CollectionAndTableViewCompatible provides the boilerplate code needed for writing UITableViewDataSource and UICollectionViewDataSource implementations. In fact, when using the classes provided here, in most cases you wont have to write these implementations at all.

Why you should use CollectionAndTableViewCompatible

Weather you are creating a new data source from scratch or you need to refactor old code that is getting hard to maintain you can probably benefit from adding CollectionAndTableViewCompatible to your project.

If you can say yes to one or more of the following this project is relevant to you:

• Your UIViewController is your data source.
• You like to keep your view controllers lightweight by separating out responsibility to relevant objects.
• You do not want to write boilerplate code.
• Your table or collection view consists of different cells with different layouts.
• You want to be able to change the layout of your table or collection view and it's cells fast (for instance to respond to design changes).
• Your table or collection view supports reordering or editing.
• Your existing table/collection view data source is tigthly coupled with the type of entities it presents.
• Your cellForRowAtIndexPath: is deciding which cell to return by switching on the section and row properties on the IndexPath parameter.
• Your cellForRowAtIndexPath: is handling laying out the cells.

The basics

The main idea behind CollectionAndTableViewCompatible is to make the data model, that is backing you table/collection view, more compatible with the data source protocols (UITableViewDataSource and UICollectionViewDataSource).

CollectionAndTableViewCompatible does so by providing a default and completely generic implementation of the two data source protocols so that changes made to your model (for instance an array holding you model entities) will be reflected directly in the table/collection view. It also provides a couple of protocols that will help you delegate work like laying out cells, reordering and editing, to the relevant objects.

Finally it provides a few other protocols that enables support for the display cycle of cells (willDisplay and didEndDisplay) and the new data source prefetching protocols (UITableViewDataSourcePrefetching and UICollectionViewDataSourcePrefetching).

Example project

You can find an example project demonstrating the use of CollectionAndTableViewCompatible here.

CocoaPods

If you are using CocoaPods you can run the example project by adding the pod (see below) and running pod install from the Example directory.

Requirements

• Swift4
• iOS 8+
• Xcode8

Support for older version(s)

• Swift3 is supported on older branches/pods. Use pod version 0.1.5.

Note that 0.2.x contains breaking changes if you update from 0.1.x

Installation

Git submodule

Add this project as a git submodule by running the following command from the root of you existing git repo:

git submodule add https://github.com/jayway/CollectionAndTableViewCompatible.git

When the submodule is cloned, add the files contained in the Classes folder to your Xcode project (make sure "Copy if needed" is unchecked).

CocoaPods

CollectionAndTableViewCompatible is also available through CocoaPods. To install it, simply add the following line to your Podfile:

pod "CollectionAndTableViewCompatible"

How to use

The project is designed to be used in a storyboard based application using prototype cells. For now, if you are using nibs or you are creating UI entirely in code you will have to manually register nibs or classes to you table/collection view.

These are the steps you need to perform to setup your table/collection view:

• Make your model object conform to the TableViewCompatible and/or CollectionViewCompatible protocol.
• Create a UITableViewCell and/or UIColllectionViewCell subclass and let them conform to the Configurable protocol. The model property type should be the type of your model object.
• Create a subclass of TableViewDataSource and/or CollectionViewDataSource and initialize it by calling init(tableView: UITableView) and/or init(collectionView: UICollectionView).
• Initialize the sections property of you data source instance by providing TableViewSection/CollectionViewSection instances containing your model objects.
• Call reloadData() on you table/collection view.

You are now free to add, remove and reorder sections and cells simply by modifying the sections property of your data source and calling reloadData() on the table/collection view.

To make your cells movable or editable, simply return true for the movable or editable properties of your TableViewCompatible/CollectionViewCompatible model object.

Below is an example of how the TableViewCompatible/CollectionViewCompatible and Configurable interacts when implemented:

class MyTableCell: UITableViewCell, Configurable {
    
    var model: MyCellModel?

    func configureWithModel(_ model: MyCellModel) {
        self.model = model
        titleLabel.text = model.title
    }

}

class MyCollectionCell: UICollectionViewCell, Configurable {

    @IBOutlet weak var titleLabel: UILabel!

    var model: MyCellModel?

    func configureWithModel(_ model: MyCellModel) {
        self.model = model
        titleLabel.text = model.title
    }

}

class MyCellModel: TableViewCompatible, CollectionViewCompatible {

    // Your custom properties
    var title: String = "Some title"

    // TableViewCompatible/CollectionViewCompatible conformance
    var reuseIdentifier: String = "MyCellIdentifier"
    var selected: Bool = false
    var editable: Bool = true
    var movable: Bool = true

    // TableViewCompatible
    func cellForTableView(tableView: UITableView, atIndexPath indexPath: IndexPath) -> UITableViewCell {
        let cell = tableView.dequeueReusableCell(withIdentifier: reuseIdentifier, for: indexPath) as! MyTableCell
        cell.configureWithModel(self)
        return cell
    }

    // CollectionViewCompatible
    func cellForCollectionView(collectionView: UICollectionView, atIndexPath indexPath: IndexPath) -> UICollectionViewCell {
        let cell = collectionView.dequeueReusableCell(withReuseIdentifier: reuseIdentifier, for: indexPath) as! MyCollectionCell
        cell.configureWithModel(self)
        return cell
    }

}

Author

• Fredrik Nannestad, [email protected] - Main author
• Jimmie Jensen, [email protected] - Contributer

License

CollectionAndTableViewCompatible is available under the Apache License Version 2.0. See the LICENSE file for more info.