How to have UITableViewCell reference objects in an array?

Question

I have an array of objects that have multiple instance variables ( name , address , number , etc). I also have a UITableViewController whose table view is populated with the name variable of each of these objects.

I have also created a DetailViewController that should display the rest of the information held by these objects when that objects' designated cell is selected with tableView:didSelectRowAtIndexPath: . The problem is, these cells only have references to the cell's objects' name variable.

How should I go about fixing this problem? Would I need to subclass the cell so that I could give each cell a reference to the entire object? or is there an easier way?

This is my current tableView:cellForRowAtIndexPath: method:

- (UITableViewCell *)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView cellForRowAtIndexPath:(NSIndexPath *)indexPath{
    UITableViewCell* cell = [tableView dequeueReusableCellWithIdentifier:@"cell"];
    if(!cell){
        cell = [[UITableViewCell alloc] initWithStyle:UITableViewCellStyleSubtitle reuseIdentifier:@"cell"];
    }
    cell.textLabel.text = [[listings objectAtIndex:indexPath.row] objectForKey:@"listingName"];
    return cell;
}

update: it just occured to me that I could grab the row number from indexPath and grab the designated object from the array. Would this be more viable?

Answer 1

In tableView:didSelectRowAtIndexPath: you can just use [listings objectAtIndex:indexPath.row] to get the selected object, and pass that to the detail view controller.

(You should never try to use the table view cells as data source.)

Answer 2

Since you are displaying the listings directly from their array position, you get them out again the same way once you pressed the row.

In tableView:didSelectRowAtIndexPath: just do [listings objectAtIndex:indexPath.row] to get the object in question and send it over to the DetailViewController