How to position UITableViewCell at bottom of screen?

Call this method whenever a row is added:

- (void)updateContentInset { NSInteger numRows=[self tableView:_tableView numberOfRowsInSection:0]; CGFloat contentInsetTop=_tableView.bounds.size.height; for (int i=0;i<numRows;i++) { contentInsetTop-=[self tableView:_tableView heightForRowAtIndexPath:[NSIndexPath indexPathForItem:i inSection:0]]; if (contentInsetTop<=0) { contentInsetTop=0; break; } } _tableView.contentInset = UIEdgeInsetsMake(contentInsetTop, 0, 0, 0); } 

You can set a header in your table view and make it tall enough to push the first cell down. Then set the contentOffset of your tableView accordingly. I don't think there is a quick built in way to do this though.

I didn't like empty-cell, contentInset or transform based solutions, instead I came up with other solution:

UITableView's layout is private and subject to change if Apple desires, it's better to have full control thus making your code future-proof and more flexible. I switched to UICollectionView and implemented special layout based on UICollectionViewFlowLayout for that (Swift 3):

override func layoutAttributesForElements(in rect: CGRect) -> [UICollectionViewLayoutAttributes]? { // Do we need to stick cells to the bottom or not var shiftDownNeeded = false // Size of all cells without modifications let allContentSize = super.collectionViewContentSize() // If there are not enough cells to fill collection view vertically we shift them down let diff = self.collectionView!.bounds.size.height - allContentSize.height if Double(diff) > DBL_EPSILON { shiftDownNeeded = true } // Ask for common attributes let attributes = super.layoutAttributesForElements(in: rect) if let attributes = attributes { if shiftDownNeeded { for element in attributes { let frame = element.frame; // shift all the cells down by the difference of heights element.frame = frame.offsetBy(dx: 0, dy: diff); } } } return attributes; } 

It works pretty well for my cases and, obviously, may be optimized by somehow caching content size height. Also, I'm not sure how will that perform without optimizations on big datasets, I didn't test that. I've put together sample project with demo: MDBottomSnappingCells.

Here is Objective-C version:

- (NSArray *)layoutAttributesForElementsInRect:(CGRect)rect; { // Do we need to stick cells to the bottom or not BOOL shiftDownNeeded = NO; // Size of all cells without modifications CGSize allContentSize = [super collectionViewContentSize]; // If there are not enough cells to fill collection view vertically we shift them down CGFloat diff = self.collectionView.bounds.size.height - allContentSize.height; if(diff > DBL_EPSILON) { shiftDownNeeded = YES; } // Ask for common attributes NSArray *attributes = [super layoutAttributesForElementsInRect:rect]; if(shiftDownNeeded) { for(UICollectionViewLayoutAttributes *element in attributes) { CGRect frame = element.frame; // shift all the cells down by the difference of heights element.frame = CGRectOffset(frame, 0, diff); } } return attributes; } 

Here is the Swift 3 version of the @Brennan accepted solution, tested and approved :)

func updateContentInsetForTableView( tableView:UITableView,animated:Bool) { let lastRow = tableView.numberOfRows(inSection: 0) let lastIndex = lastRow > 0 ? lastRow - 1 : 0; let lastIndexPath = IndexPath(row: lastIndex, section: 9) let lastCellFrame = tableView.rectForRow(at: lastIndexPath) let topInset = max(tableView.frame.height - lastCellFrame.origin.y - lastCellFrame.height, 0) var contentInset = tableView.contentInset; contentInset.top = topInset; _ = UIViewAnimationOptions.beginFromCurrentState; UIView.animate(withDuration: 0.1, animations: { () -> Void in tableView.contentInset = contentInset; }) } 

This can be done by in swift using below funcation

func updateContentInsetForTableView(tblView: UITableView, animated: Bool) { let lastRow: NSInteger = self.tableView(tblView, numberOfRowsInSection: 0) let lastIndex: NSInteger = lastRow > 0 ? lastRow - 1 : 0 let lastIndexPath: NSIndexPath = NSIndexPath(forRow: lastIndex, inSection: 0) let lastCellFrame: CGRect = tblView.rectForRowAtIndexPath(lastIndexPath) let topInset: CGFloat = max(CGRectGetHeight(tblView.frame) - lastCellFrame.origin.y - CGRectGetHeight(lastCellFrame), 0) var contentInset: UIEdgeInsets = tblView.contentInset contentInset.top = topInset let option: UIViewAnimationOptions = UIViewAnimationOptions.BeginFromCurrentState UIView.animateWithDuration(animated ? 0.25 : 0.0, delay: 0.0, options: option, animations: { () -> Void in tblView.contentInset = contentInset }) { (_) -> Void in } } 

USE THIS. Surely this will help.

- (void)reloadData { [super reloadData]; [self recalculateContentInset]; [self recalculateScrollIndicator]; } - (void)recalculateContentInset { CGFloat contentInsetHeight = MAX(self.frame.size.height - self.contentSize.height, 0); CGFloat duration = 0.0; [UIView animateWithDuration:duration delay:0 options:UIViewAnimationOptionCurveEaseOut animations:^{ [self setContentInset:UIEdgeInsetsMake(contentInsetHeight, 0, 0, 0)]; }completion:nil]; } - (void)recalculateScrollIndicator { if(self.contentSize.height >= self.frame.size.height){ [self setShowsVerticalScrollIndicator:YES]; } else { [self setShowsVerticalScrollIndicator:NO]; } } 

I would resize and re-position the UITableView in its parent view depending on the number of cells. I guess it's the solution that involves minimum workarounds. Also, do you really need to use a UITableView?

if(indexPath.row!=CategoriesArray.count-1) { cell.hidden = YES; } return cell; 

Add a blank cell in a new section and make it the section at index zero.

-(NSInteger) numberOfSectionsInTableView:(UITableView *)tableView { return 2; } -(NSInteger)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView numberOfRowsInSection:(NSInteger)section { if (section==0) { return 1; } return [self.yourArray count]; } 

Now in

tableView cellForRowAtIndexPath:(NSIndexPath *)indexPath //method add following in beginnig// if (indexPath.section == 0 ) { UITableViewCell * cell = [[UITableViewCell alloc]initWithStyle:UITableViewCellStyleDefault reuseIdentifier:nil]; // cell.backgroundColor = [UIColor clearColor]; return cell; } 

Now

-(CGFloat)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView heightForRowAtIndexPath:(NSIndexPath *)indexPath { if (indexPath.section == 0 ) { if (self.yourArray.count>0) { CGFloat totalCellHeight = self.messages.count * yourCellHeight; if (totalCellHeight>= self.table.bounds.size.height) { return 0; } return self.table.bounds.size.height - totalCellHeight; } else return self.table.bounds.size.height; } return yourCellHeight; } 

Now paste this where you are reloading the tableView

[self.table reloadData]; [self.table scrollToRowAtIndexPath:[NSIndexPath indexPathForRow:[self.yourArray count]-1 inSection:1] atScrollPosition:UITableViewScrollPositionBottom animated:YES]; 

It worked for me. Hope this helps.

Elegant and quick solution without a line of code.

Use container view and put UITableViewController into container( embed segue ).

You can set any height you want to this container.

The best way of doing this I found is to observe the content size of the tableview and adjust the inset if necessary. For example:

static char kvoTableContentSizeContext = 0; - (void) viewWillAppear:(BOOL)animated { [_tableView addObserver:self forKeyPath:@"contentSize" options:0 context:&kvoTableContentSizeContext]; } - (void) viewWillDisappear:(BOOL)animated { [_tableView removeObserver:self forKeyPath:@"contentSize"]; } - (void)observeValueForKeyPath:(NSString *)keyPath ofObject:(id)object change:(NSDictionary *)change context:(void *)context { if (context == &kvoTableContentSizeContext) { CGFloat contentHeight = _tableView.contentSize.height; CGFloat tableHeight = _tableView.frame.size.height; if (contentHeight < tableHeight) { UIEdgeInsets insets = _tableView.contentInset; insets.top = tableHeight - contentHeight; _tableView.contentInset = insets; } else { _tableView.contentInset = UIEdgeInsetsZero; } } else { [super observeValueForKeyPath:keyPath ofObject:object change:change context:context]; } } 

All answers got some quirks with dynamic rowHeight and/or animations. For me the best working solution was a transformation of the table (flipY):

tableView.transform = CGAffineTransform (scaleX: 1,y: -1) 

inside cellForRowAt:

cell.contentView.transform = CGAffineTransform (scaleX: 1,y: -1) cell.accessoryView?.transform = CGAffineTransform (scaleX: 1,y: -1) 

You may also reverse your data-array and may also flip section-header/footer. Also your footer becomes your new header - but hey, it works.

func updateContentInsetForTableView( tableView:UITableView,animated:Bool) { let lastRow = tableView.numberOfRows(inSection: 0) let lastIndex = lastRow > 0 ? lastRow - 1 : 0; let lastIndexPath = IndexPath(row: lastIndex, section: 9) let lastCellFrame = tableView.rectForRow(at: lastIndexPath) let topInset = max(tableView.frame.height - lastCellFrame.origin.y - lastCellFrame.height, 0) var contentInset = tableView.contentInset; contentInset.top = topInset; _ = UIViewAnimationOptions.beginFromCurrentState; UIView.animate(withDuration: 0.1, animations: { () -> Void in tableView.contentInset = contentInset; }) if self.commesnts.count > 0 { tableView.scrollToRow(at: IndexPath(item:self.commesnts.count-1, section: 0), at: .bottom, animated: true) } } 

I used @bkokot solution with little addition. It does two things

1. Start showing cells from bottom of UITableView 2. Scroll cells to bottom so that last inserted row become visible (just like chat)