How to use pull to refresh in Swift?

Question

I am building an RSS reader using swift and need to implement pull to reload functionality.

Here is how i am trying to do it.

class FirstViewController: UIViewController,
    UITableViewDelegate, UITableViewDataSource {

   @IBOutlet var refresh: UIScreenEdgePanGestureRecognizer
   @IBOutlet var newsCollect: UITableView

   var activityIndicator:UIActivityIndicatorView? = nil

   override func viewDidLoad() {
       super.viewDidLoad()
       self.newsCollect.scrollEnabled = true
      // Do any additional setup after loading the view, typically from a nib.

      if nCollect.news.count <= 2{
          self.collectNews()
       }
      else{
          self.removeActivityIndicator()
       }
      view.addGestureRecognizer(refresh)
   }



@IBAction func reload(sender: UIScreenEdgePanGestureRecognizer) {
    nCollect.news = News[]()
    return newsCollect.reloadData()
}

I am getting :

Property 'self.refresh' not initialized at super.init call

Please help me to understand the behaviour of Gesture recognisers. A working sample code will be a great help.

Thanks.

Answer 1

I suggest to make an Extension of pull To Refresh to use in every class.

1) Make an empty swift file : File - New - File - Swift File.

2) Add the Following

    //  AppExtensions.swift

    import Foundation
    import UIKit    

    var tableRefreshControl:UIRefreshControl = UIRefreshControl()    

    //MARK:- VIEWCONTROLLER EXTENSION METHODS
    public extension UIViewController
    {
        func makePullToRefreshToTableView(tableName: UITableView,triggerToMethodName: String){

            tableRefreshControl.attributedTitle = NSAttributedString(string: "TEST: Pull to refresh")
            tableRefreshControl.backgroundColor = UIColor.whiteColor()
            tableRefreshControl.addTarget(self, action: Selector(triggerToMethodName), forControlEvents: UIControlEvents.ValueChanged)
            tableName.addSubview(tableRefreshControl)
        }
        func makePullToRefreshEndRefreshing (tableName: String)
        {
            tableRefreshControl.endRefreshing()
//additional codes

        }
    }    

3) In Your View Controller call these methods as :

  override func viewWillAppear(animated: Bool) {

self.makePullToRefreshToTableView(bidderListTable, triggerToMethodName: "pullToRefreshBidderTable")
}

4) At some point you wanted to end refreshing:

  func pullToRefreshBidderTable() {
self.makePullToRefreshEndRefreshing("bidderListTable")    
//Code What to do here.
}
OR    
self.makePullToRefreshEndRefreshing("bidderListTable")

Answer 2

you can use this subclass of tableView:

import UIKit

protocol PullToRefreshTableViewDelegate : class {
    func tableViewDidStartRefreshing(tableView: PullToRefreshTableView)
}

class PullToRefreshTableView: UITableView {

    @IBOutlet weak var pullToRefreshDelegate: AnyObject?
    private var refreshControl: UIRefreshControl!
    private var isFirstLoad = true

    override func willMoveToSuperview(newSuperview: UIView?) {
        super.willMoveToSuperview(newSuperview)

        if (isFirstLoad) {
            addRefreshControl()
            isFirstLoad = false
        }
    }

    private func addRefreshControl() {
        refreshControl = UIRefreshControl()
        refreshControl.attributedTitle = NSAttributedString(string: "Pull to refresh")
        refreshControl.addTarget(self, action: "refresh", forControlEvents: .ValueChanged)
        self.addSubview(refreshControl)
    }

    @objc private func refresh() {
       (pullToRefreshDelegate as? PullToRefreshTableViewDelegate)?.tableViewDidStartRefreshing(self)
    }

    func endRefreshing() {
        refreshControl.endRefreshing()
    }

}

1 - in interface builder change the class of your tableView to PullToRefreshTableView or create a PullToRefreshTableView programmatically

2 - implement the PullToRefreshTableViewDelegate in your view controller

3 - tableViewDidStartRefreshing(tableView: PullToRefreshTableView) will be called in your view controller when the table view starts refreshing

4 - call yourTableView.endRefreshing() to finish the refreshing