UIView backgroundColor disappears when UITableView

Question

I have a simple tableViewCell build in interface builder. It contains a UIView which contains an image. Now, when I select the cell, the default blue selection background is shown, but the backgroundColor of my UIView is gone.

My UITableViewCell's implementation file doesn't do anything special. It just init's & returns self and all I do in setSelected is call super.

How do I get my UIView backgroundColor to show when the tableView is selected?

Answer 1

In iOS 7, what worked for me is to override setSelected:animated: in the UITableViewCell subclass, but contrary to @Brooks' tip, I called [super setSelected:selected animated:animated].

- (void)setSelected:(BOOL)selected animated:(BOOL)animated
{
    [super setSelected:selected animated:animated];

    // Reassert the background color of the color view so that it shows
    // even when the cell is highlighted for selection.
    self.colorView.backgroundColor = [UIColor blueColor];
}

This lets me keep the system's default selection animation when the user taps on the cell, and also to deselect it in the table view delegate's didSelectRowAtIndexPath:.

Answer 2

From that you said you built a tableViewCell using IB, I'd like to check whether you are adding your view as a subview of contentView of UITableViewCell, not view. The content view is the default superview for content displayed by the cell.

From the reference:

The content view of a UITableViewCell object is the default superview for content displayed by the cell. If you want to customize cells by simply adding additional views, you should add them to the content view so they will be positioned appropriately as the cell transitions into and out of editing mode.

Answer 3

- (void)setHighlighted:(BOOL)highlighted animated:(BOOL)animated
{
    UIColor *backgroundColor = self.channelImageView.backgroundColor;
    [super setHighlighted:highlighted animated:animated];
    self.channelImageView.backgroundColor = backgroundColor;
}

- (void)setSelected:(BOOL)selected animated:(BOOL)animated
{
    UIColor *backgroundColor = self.channelImageView.backgroundColor;
    [super setSelected:selected animated:animated];
    self.channelImageView.backgroundColor = backgroundColor;
}

Answer 4

You need to override the next two methods in your custom cell:

- (void) setSelected:(BOOL)selected animated:(BOOL)animated;
- (void) setHighlighted:(BOOL)highlighted animated:(BOOL)animated;

Note that:

• you should call [super setSelected:animated:] and [super setHighlighted:animated:] in the beginning of your custom implementation or correspond methods;
• you should set the UITableViewCellSelectionStyleNone selectionStyle for your custom cell, to disable any default UITableViewCell styling;

Here the example of the implementation:

- (void) setHighlighted:(BOOL)highlighted animated:(BOOL)animated
{
    [super setHighlighted:highlighted animated:animated];
    [self setHighlightedSelected:highlighted animated:animated];
}

- (void) setSelected:(BOOL)selected animated:(BOOL)animated
{
    [super setSelected:selected animated:animated];
    [self setHighlightedSelected:selected animated:animated];
}

- (void) setHighlightedSelected:(BOOL)selected animated:(BOOL)animated
{
    void(^selection_block)(void) =
    ^
    {
        self.contentView.backgroundColor = selected ? SELECTED_BACKGROUND_COLOR : NORMAL_BACKGROUND_COLOR;
    };

    if(animated)
    {
        [UIView animateWithDuration:SELECTION_ANIMATION_DURATION
                              delay:0.0
                            options:UIViewAnimationOptionBeginFromCurrentState
                         animations:selection_block
                         completion:NULL];
    }
    else
        selection_block();
}

The contentView is the property of UITableViewCell that is appeared in iOS 7. Note that you can use your own cell's child view or views instead of it.

Answer 5

You can change the behavior of the tableViewCell by overriding the function setHighlighted in UITableViewCell class (you will need to inherit from it). Example of my code where I change the background image of my cell :

// animate between regular and highlighted state
- (void)setHighlighted:(BOOL)highlighted animated:(BOOL)animated; {
    [super setHighlighted:highlighted animated:animated];

    //Set the correct background Image
    UIImageView* backgroundPicture = (UIImageView*)[self viewWithTag:HACK_BACKGROUND_VIEW_TAG];
    if (highlighted) {
        backgroundPicture.image = [UIImage imageNamed:@"FondSelected.png"]; 
    }
    else {
        backgroundPicture.image = [UIImage imageNamed:@"Fond.png"]; 
    }
}

You can also change the selection mode to gray, blue or none in the interface builder.

Answer 6

Previously I have done as @P5ycH0 said (1x1 image stretched), but following @Brooks I figured that overriding -(void)setHighlighted:(BOOL)highlighted animated:(BOOL)animated in my custom UITableViewCell implementation and resetting the the background colors after calling [super setHighlighted:highlighted animated:animated]; keeps my background colors when the cell is selected/highlighted

-(void)setHighlighted:(BOOL)highlighted animated:(BOOL)animated {
    [super setHighlighted:highlighted animated:animated];
    myView.backgroundColor = myColor;
}