How to set background color for specific section header?

Question

I have a TableView with 10 sections that are loaded from a plist file and I have switches with which some of the sections can be turned off. I need to set a specific background color for each section with the fact that the section can be disabled.

Example:

for section Black I need to set black background

for section Red I need to set red background

and so on...

-(UIView *)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView viewForHeaderInSection:(NSInteger)section { UIView *tempHeaderView=[[UIView alloc]initWithFrame:CGRectMake(0,0,320,44)]; tempHeaderView.backgroundColor=[UIColor blackColor]; [tempHeaderView addSubView: tempHeaderLabel]; return tempHeaderView; }

Unless you are using ARC (Automatic reference counting), your code is leaking tempHeaderView. Check out my answer for a fix in that case. — Nicolas Miari
– Nicolas Miari, Commented Jun 18, 2012 at 6:49

Nicolas Miari · Accepted Answer · 2012-06-18 07:04:26Z

Keep an NSArray of UIColor objects as an instance variable of your class (the view controller that acts as delegate/data source), say you call it sectionColors. You can initialize the colors in this array from values in your plist, or hard-code the colors.

Then, use this code:

-(UIView *)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView viewForHeaderInSection:(NSInteger)section { UIView *tempHeaderView=[[UIView alloc]initWithFrame:CGRectMake(0,0,320,44)]; // This changed: tempHeaderView.backgroundColor = [sectionColors objectAtIndex:section]; [tempHeaderView addSubView: tempHeaderLabel]; return tempHeaderView; // Use 'return [tempHeaderView autorelease];' in a non-ARC environment }

This is how you could initialize the array:

// Assuming your table has three sections (indices 0 through 2) UIColor* colorForSection0 = [UIColor colorwithRed:redValue0 green:greenValue0 blue:blueValue0 alpha:1.0]; // redValue0, etc. are floats between 0.0 and 1.0 that you can read from a .plist // Alternatively, store them as integers between 0 and 255, and divide them by 255.0 // and store on CGFloat variables before creating color. // ...Do the same for the other colors... // Now that you have the colors, create array and store in ivar 'sectionColors' sectionColors = [[NSArray alloc] initWithObjects: ColorforSection0, ColorForSection1, colorForSection2, nil];

(the code above should go inside the table view data source's initializer)

UIColor is not directly storable in a plist, but this concept could easily be adapted to use strings in the plist to represent which color to use.
Of course... But you can read the R,G,B values from the plist and initialize the colors accordingly. But the idea is the same: he needs an array of UIColor and to select the color at index 'section'. I didn't go into detail of HOW he is supposed to create the array.
I just edited the answer to make it clear that you can't read UIColor from .plist directly.
Note on MVC purity; it is recommended that anything in the plist be model only (i.e. a sections 'enabled' state), and not style (i.e. what color a disabled section should be). So a solution like this should involve the view being responsible for contraction the array of UIColors. Pedantic, perhaps, but we have these patterns for a reason so it's worth mentioning.

Chris Trahey · Accepted Answer · 2012-06-18 06:29:21Z

You will need to use the passed-in section and relate it to one of the sections in your plist file. You will probably load a dictionary of the "section" as it exists in the plist (probably loaded based on it's position in an array being the same as section), and then use valueForKey:@"enabled" or similar in an if() check, and set your state accordingly.

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