Editing UITextView in UITableViewCell via delegate method

First you have to create the UITableViewCell class that will contain your delegate function.

This delegate function is responsible for passing data back to your class ... for example, - (NSIndexPath *)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView willSelectRowAtIndexPath:(NSIndexPath *)indexPath function that you definitely have to know :) is a delegate method as well ... its passing the information abou what row you have selected back from the table view intor class.

Code for the EditFieldCell.h:

//
//  EditFieldCell.h
//  iBlog
//
//  Created by Ondrej Rafaj on 12.11.09.
//  Copyright 2009 Home. All rights reserved.
//

#import 

@class EditFieldCell;

@protocol EditFieldCellDelegate 

// we will make one function mandatory to include
- (void)editDidFinish:(NSMutableDictionary *)result;

@optional
// and the other one is optional (this function has not been used in this tutorial)
- (void)editStarted:(UITextField *)field;

@end


@interface EditFieldCell : UITableViewCell  {
	
	IBOutlet UITextField *textField;
	
	id  delegate;
	
	NSString *key;
	
}

@property (nonatomic, retain) IBOutlet UITextField *textField;

@property (nonatomic, assign) id  delegate;

@property (nonatomic, retain) NSString *key;


@end

Code for the EditFieldCell.m:

//
//  EditFieldCell.m
//  iBlog
//
//  Created by Ondrej Rafaj on 12.11.09.
//  Copyright 2009 Home. All rights reserved.
//

#import "EditFieldCell.h"


@implementation EditFieldCell

@synthesize textField, delegate, key;



- (void)textFieldDidBeginEditing:(UITextField *)tf {
	[[self delegate] editStarted:tf];
}

- (void)dealloc {
	[textField, key release];
    [super dealloc];
}


@end

You have to of course create a new cell view in the Interface Builder and assign all the necessary variables onto your class :) ... I assume that you already know that stuff when you are reading a tutorial about delegate methods :))

and this is how to set the delegate in the main view:

@interface EditBlogController : BasicTableController 

And we can't forget the function that will receive your data:

- (void)editDidFinish:(NSMutableDictionary *)result {
	NSString *key = [result objectForKey:@"key"];
	NSString *value = [result objectForKey:@"text"];
}

And finally here we have the cellForRowAtIndexPath function:

- (UITableViewCell *)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView cellForRowAtIndexPath:(NSIndexPath *)indexPath {
	static NSString *CellIdentifier = @"MyCell";
	EditFieldCell *cell = (EditFieldCell *) [super.table dequeueReusableCellWithIdentifier:CellIdentifier];
	if (cell == nil){
		NSArray *topLevelObjects = [[NSBundle mainBundle] loadNibNamed:@"EditFieldCell" owner:nil options:nil];
		for(id currentObject in topLevelObjects) {
			if([currentObject isKindOfClass:[EditFieldCell class]]) {
				cell = (EditFieldCell *) currentObject;
				break;
			}
		}
	}
	int index = [indexPath indexAtPosition: [indexPath length] - 1];
	// next line is very important ... 
	// you have to set the delegate from the cell back to this class
	[cell setDelegate:self];
	// I am using the key to identify what field is user editing
	NSString *key = @"key_for_your_value";
	NSString *placeholder = @"Your placeholder";
	cell.key = key;
	cell.textField.text = [blogData objectForKey:key];
	cell.textField.placeholder = placeholder;
    return cell;
}

As I said before, I'm assuming that you already know how to create a table view and display data in it, but if you'll have any question please feel free to post a comment, I'll be happy to help you with that :).

Cheers,

Ondrej