UITableView and UIRefreshControl

Question

I'm trying to move the UIRefreshControl on top of my headerView or at least getting it to work with the contentInset. Anyone know how to use it?

I used a headerView to have a nice background when scrolling within the TableView. I wanted to have a scrollable background.

- (void)viewDidLoad
{
[super viewDidLoad];
// Do any additional setup after loading the view, typically from a nib.
// Set up the edit and add buttons.

self.tableView.separatorStyle = UITableViewCellSeparatorStyleNone;
self.tableView.backgroundColor = [UIColor clearColor];

[self setWantsFullScreenLayout:YES];

self.tableView.contentInset = UIEdgeInsetsMake(-420, 0, -420, 0);

UIImageView *top = [[UIImageView alloc] initWithImage:[UIImage imageNamed:@"top.jpg"]];
self.tableView.tableHeaderView = top;

UIImageView *bottom = [[UIImageView alloc] initWithImage:[UIImage imageNamed:@"bottom.jpg"]];
self.tableView.tableFooterView = bottom;

UIBarButtonItem *leftButton = [[UIBarButtonItem alloc]initWithImage:[UIImage imageNamed:@"settingsIcon"] style:UIBarButtonItemStylePlain target:self action:@selector(showSettings)];
self.navigationItem.leftBarButtonItem = leftButton;

UIBarButtonItem *addButton = [[UIBarButtonItem alloc] initWithBarButtonSystemItem:UIBarButtonSystemItemAdd target:self action:@selector(addList)];
self.navigationItem.rightBarButtonItem = addButton;

//Refresh Controls
self.refreshControl = [[UIRefreshControl alloc] init];

[self.refreshControl addTarget:self action:@selector(refreshInvoked:forState:) forControlEvents:UIControlEventValueChanged];
}

Answer 1

I'm not really sure what your intention is with the contentInset stuff, but in terms of adding a UIRefreshControl to a UITableView, it can be done. UIRefreshControl is actually intended for use with UITableViewController, but if you just add it as a subview to a UITableView it magically works. Please note this is undocumented behaviour, and may not be supported in another iOS release, but it is legal since it uses no private APIs.

- (void)viewDidLoad
{
    ...
    UIRefreshControl *refreshControl = [[UIRefreshControl alloc] init];
    [refreshControl addTarget:self action:@selector(handleRefresh:) forControlEvents:UIControlEventValueChanged];
    [self.myTableView addSubview:refreshControl];
}

- (void)handleRefresh:(id)sender
{
    // do your refresh here...
}

Credit to @Keller for noticing this.

Answer 2

@Echelon's answer is spot on, but I have one minor suggestion. Add the refresh control as a @property so you can access it later.

in YourViewController.h

@property (nonatomic, strong) UIRefreshControl *refreshControl;

in YourViewController.m

-(void) viewDidLoad {
    self.refreshControl = [[UIRefreshControl alloc] init];
    [self.refreshControl addTarget:self action:@selector(refresh) forControlEvents:UIControlEventValueChanged];
    [self.tableView addSubview:self.refreshControl]; //assumes tableView is @property
}

And the big reason to do it this way...

-(void)refresh {
    [self doSomeTask]; //calls [taskDone] when finished
}

-(void)taskDone {
    [self.refreshControl endRefreshing];
}

Just gives you class-wide access to the UIRefreshControl so you can endRefreshing or check the isRefreshing property of UIRefreshControl.