UICollectionView Multiple Sections and Headers

Question

I am struggling trying to do multiple sections in my collection view with a header for each section. I don't know Obj-C and I've found a good amount of tutorials for it, but haven't been able to figure out how to convert it into Swift.

All my data is static so all I need is some sort of array or dictionary that I can use to create the multiple sections. I already have a collection view with 1 section working, so if you have any insight or code for multiple sections that'd be helpful.

I know how to set multiple sections using

func numberOfSectionsInCollectionView(collectionView: UICollectionView) -> Int   {
    return sectionData.count
}

I think the main thing I need help with is implementing this func

func collectionView(collectionView: UICollectionView, cellForItemAtIndexPath indexPath: NSIndexPath) -> UICollectionViewCell { }

and setting up the data!

UICollectionView and UITableView are almost exactly the same, so if you know how to do multiple sections in a UITableView in Swift, your help is also appreciated

Answer 1

Define your UICollectionViewCell which will be your Header view of kind UICollectionElementKindSectionHeader - In my case I have two headers - OfferHeaderCell and APRHeaderCell defined as below:

verticalCollectionView.register(UINib(nibName: "OfferHeaderCell", bundle: nil), forSupplementaryViewOfKind:UICollectionElementKindSectionHeader, withReuseIdentifier: "OfferHeaderCell")
verticalCollectionView.register(UINib(nibName: "APRHeaderCell", bundle: nil), forSupplementaryViewOfKind:UICollectionElementKindSectionHeader, withReuseIdentifier: "APRHeaderCell")

Go ahead and return a header for each section and then set the size of the section header to have a size of zero in this UICollectionViewDelegateFlowLayout function

func collectionView(_ collectionView: UICollectionView, layout collectionViewLayout: UICollectionViewLayout, referenceSizeForHeaderInSection section: Int) -> CGSize {
    if(section==0) {
        return CGSize.zero
    } else if (section==1) {
        return CGSize(width:collectionView.frame.size.width, height:133)
    } else {
        return CGSize(width:collectionView.frame.size.width, height:100)
    }

}

Important to define the viewForSupplementaryElementOfKind for two different sections as below:

func collectionView(_ collectionView: UICollectionView, viewForSupplementaryElementOfKind kind: String, at indexPath: IndexPath) -> UICollectionReusableView {

    var reusableview = UICollectionReusableView()
    if (kind == UICollectionElementKindSectionHeader) {
        let section = indexPath.section
        switch (section) {
        case 1:
            let  firstheader: OfferHeaderCell = collectionView.dequeueReusableSupplementaryView(ofKind: kind, withReuseIdentifier: "OfferHeaderCell", for: indexPath) as! OfferHeaderCell
            reusableview = firstheader
        case 2:
            let  secondHeader: APRHeaderCell = collectionView.dequeueReusableSupplementaryView(ofKind: kind, withReuseIdentifier: "APRHeaderCell", for: indexPath) as! APRHeaderCell
            reusableview = secondHeader
        default:
            return reusableview

        }
    }
    return reusableview
}

And lastly the Datasource,

func numberOfSections(in collectionView: UICollectionView) -> Int {
    return 3
}

func collectionView(_ collectionView: UICollectionView, numberOfItemsInSection section: Int) -> Int {
    if (section==2) {
        return 2
    }
    return 0
}

func collectionView(_ collectionView: UICollectionView, cellForItemAt indexPath: IndexPath) -> UICollectionViewCell {
    let cell = verticalCollectionView.dequeueReusableCell(withReuseIdentifier: "ReviseOfferCell", for: indexPath)
    cell.backgroundColor = UIColor.white
    return cell
}

Note: Don't forgot to add UICollectionFlowLayout as below:

// MARK: UICollectionViewDelegateFlowLayout

extension MakeAnOfferController: UICollectionViewDelegateFlowLayout {

        func collectionView(_ collectionView: UICollectionView, layout collectionViewLayout: UICollectionViewLayout, sizeForItemAt indexPath: IndexPath) -> CGSize {

            if indexPath.item == 0 {
                return CGSize(width: self.view.frame.size.width, height: 626.0)
            }
            return CGSize()
        }

        func collectionView(_ collectionView: UICollectionView, layout collectionViewLayout: UICollectionViewLayout, referenceSizeForHeaderInSection section: Int) -> CGSize {

            if(section==0) {
                return CGSize.zero
            } else if (section==1) {
                return CGSize(width:collectionView.frame.size.width, height:133)
            } else {
                return CGSize(width:collectionView.frame.size.width, height:100)
            }
        }
    }