Custom uitextview class is nil in a view controller

Question

I've been learning Objective-C by myself for a couple of months and I am currently stuck on this task for quite some time.

I am using storyboard for this project. I have a custom UITextView (PlaceholderTextView) implemented in a custom UITableViewCell (EditableTableViewCell) which is in WriteViewController.

This is my code in WriteViewController.h:

#import <UIKit/UIKit.h>
#import "EditableTableViewCell.h"
#import "PlaceholderTextView.h"


@interface WriteViewController : UIViewController <UITableViewDelegate, UITableViewDataSource, UITextViewDelegate>

- (IBAction)post:(id)sender;

@property (weak, nonatomic) IBOutlet UIBarButtonItem *postButton;

@end

This is my code in WriteViewController.m:

#import "WriteViewController.h"


@interface WriteViewController ()

@property (strong, readwrite, nonatomic) UITableView *tableView;

@end

@implementation WriteViewController

- (id)initWithNibName:(NSString *)nibNameOrNil bundle:(NSBundle *)nibBundleOrNil
{
    self = [super initWithNibName:nibNameOrNil bundle:nibBundleOrNil];
    if (self) {
        // Custom initialization
    }
    return self;
}

- (void)viewDidLoad
{
    [super viewDidLoad];

    EditableTableViewCell *post = [[EditableTableViewCell alloc] init];
    post.postField = [[PlaceholderTextView alloc] init];
    NSLog(@"after: %lu", (unsigned long)post.postField.text.length); 
    post.postField.delegate = self;
}

- (void)textViewDidChange:(UITextView *)textView
{
    EditableTableViewCell *post = [[EditableTableViewCell alloc] init];
    post.postField = [[PlaceholderTextView alloc] init];
    NSLog(@"begin: %lu", (unsigned long)post.postField.text.length);
    if ([post.postField.text length] != 0) {
        [self.postButton setEnabled:YES];
    }

}


- (NSInteger)numberOfSectionsInTableView:(UITableView *)tableView
{
    // Return the number of sections.
    return 1;
}

- (NSInteger)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView numberOfRowsInSection:(NSInteger)section
{
    // Return the number of rows in the section.
    return 2;
}

- (UITableViewCell *)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView cellForRowAtIndexPath:(NSIndexPath *)indexPath
{
    static NSString *CellIdentifier1 = @"PublicCell";
    static NSString* CellIdentifier2 = @"PostCell";

    if(indexPath.row==0){

        UITableViewCell *cell = [tableView dequeueReusableCellWithIdentifier:CellIdentifier1];
        if (cell == nil) {
            cell = [[UITableViewCell alloc] initWithStyle:UITableViewCellStyleValue1
                                          reuseIdentifier:CellIdentifier1];
        }
        return cell;
    }
    if(indexPath.row==1){

        UITableViewCell *cell = [tableView dequeueReusableCellWithIdentifier:CellIdentifier2];
        if (cell == nil) {
            cell = [[UITableViewCell alloc] initWithStyle:UITableViewCellStyleValue1
                                           reuseIdentifier:CellIdentifier2];
        }        
        return cell;
    }
    else{
        return 0;
    }    
}

- (IBAction)post:(id)sender
{
    EditableTableViewCell *post = [[EditableTableViewCell alloc] init];
    post.postField = [[PlaceholderTextView alloc] init];
    NSLog(@"Click: %@",post.postField.text);
}

@end

After compiling and running, I print a few NSLogs when interacting with the UITextView and the "Post" button to see where I am getting in my project. This is what I get after typing in the UITextView and clicking the "Post" button. It seems that post.postField.text is not being registered and keeps printing 0.

2014-05-02 16:47:27.906 PostGap [19024:60b] begin: 0 
2014-05-02 16:47:28.107 PostGap [19024:60b] begin: 0 
2014-05-02 16:47:28.173 PostGap [19024:60b] begin: 0 
2014-05-02 16:47:31.598 PostGap [19024:60b] Click: 
2014-05-02 16:47:33.786 PostGap [19024:60b] Click: 
2014-05-02 16:47:41.552 PostGap [19024:60b] Click:

Here is the EditableTableViewCell.h:

#import <UIKit/UIKit.h>
#import "PlaceholderTextView.h"

@interface EditableTableViewCell : UITableViewCell

@property (strong, nonatomic) IBOutlet PlaceholderTextView *postField;

@end

And here is the PlaceholderTextView.h:

#import <UIKit/UIKit.h>

@interface PlaceholderTextView : UITextView

@property (nonatomic, copy) NSString *placeholderText;

@end

All I want to do is get the NSLog to print what I am typing in the UITextView after clicking the "Post" button. I am getting stumped by this big time. Maybe it is due to my lack of understanding and experience in Objective-C.

Answer 1

Declare your cell like this:

    - (UITableViewCell *)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView cellForRowAtIndexPath:(NSIndexPath *)indexPath
{


    static NSString *CellIdentifier1 = @"PublicCell";
     static NSString* CellIdentifier2 = @"PostCell";


   if(indexPath.row==0){

        EditableTableViewCell *cell = [tableView dequeueReusableCellWithIdentifier:CellIdentifier1];
        if (cell == nil) {
            cell = [[EditableTableViewCell alloc] initWithStyle:UITableViewCellStyleValue1
                                          reuseIdentifier:CellIdentifier1];
            cell.postField.delegate = self;
        }
        return cell;

And remove all the code in your viewDidLoad..

Also change this:

    - (void)textViewDidChange:(UITextView *)textView
{

    NSLog(@"begin: %lu", (unsigned long)textView.text.length);
    if ([textView.text length] != 0) {
        [self.postButton setEnabled:YES];
    }

}

I haven´t test this but i think this should work, Good luck,

Answer 2

To print Log in - (IBAction)post:(id)sender

- (IBAction)post:(id)sender
{
    UIButton *button = (UIButton *)sender;
    CGPoint pointInSuperview = [button.superview convertPoint:button.center toView:self.tableView];
    NSIndexPath *indexPath = [self.tableView indexPathForRowAtPoint:pointInSuperview];
    EditableTableViewCell *cell = [tableView dequeueReusableCellWithIdentifier:CellIdentifier1 forIndexPath:indexPath];
    NSLog(@"postField = %@", cell.postField.text);
}