Update Specific cells in a tableView without calling reloadData

Question

I have an app in which I have a UITableview with custom cells and headers. The cells have an inputView so when selected they become first responder and allow the user to input data. I want to be able to update the visible TableViewCell and header information on the fly while the user is changing it.. easy, just call [tableview reloadData]; .. Unfortunately this causes the inputview to resign first responder and hide itself.

Is there any way that I can get a reference to the cell itself inside the UITableview so that I can just change the text property? ( cellForRow:atIndexPath: returns a new object with the same properties so doesn't work) It seems like the only easy solution may be to store a reference the cells in a dictionary each time a cell is populated, not really the ideal solution.

cellForRowAtIndexPath is literally just

-(UITableViewCell *)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView cellForRowAtIndexPath:(NSIndexPath *)indexPath
{
    CustomCell *orderCell;
    static NSString *productCellIdentifier = @"ImageDetailCellIdentifier";
    orderCell = [self.tableView dequeueReusableCellWithIdentifier:productCellIdentifier forIndexPath:indexPath];

//set a bunch of properties orderCell.blah
    return orderCell;
}

Answer 1

[tableView beginUpdates];
[tableView reloadRowsAtIndexPaths:@[indexPath] withRowAnimation:UITableViewRowAnimationFade]; ///as your choice in animation
[tableView endUpdates];

or else

 [tableView beginUpdates];
// do some work what ever u need
 [tableView endUpdates];

Answer 2

For reloading specific rows, you can use

- (void)reloadRowsAtIndexPaths:(NSArray *)indexPaths withRowAnimation:(UITableViewRowAnimation)animation;

For example,

NSIndexPath* indexPath = [NSIndexPath indexPathForRow:2 inSection:1];
NSArray* indexArray = [NSArray arrayWithObject:indexPath];

[self.tableView beginUpdates];
[self.tableView reloadRowsAtIndexPaths:indexArray withRowAnimation:UITableViewRowAnimationFade];
[self.tableView endUpdates];

Answer 3

According to UITableView documentation, -cellForRowAtIndexPath: returns an object representing a cell of the table or nil if the cell is not visible or indexPath is out of range.

That is also how I remember it. I don't think your observation is correct that it returns a new object. If the cell is visible you will get hold of it.