Customize TableView Cells from ViewControllers sharing the same Custom Cell Class?

Question

I'd like to if there's a cleaner way to customize prototype cells than what I am currently doing as I feel as though I'm not writing clean and efficient code. Currently I have VC1 that segues to VC2, and both share the same Custom Cell Class to customize my tableview cells.

CustomCell:

class CustomCell: UITableViewCell
{
    // VC1
    @IBOutlet var someImageView: UIImageView!
    @IBOutlet var someLabel: UILabel!

    // VC2
    @IBOutlet var otherImageView: UIImageView!
    @IBOutlet var otherLabel: UILabel!

    ....

    customizeCellsByScreenSize()
    {
        if screen size is iPhone 5
            if someImageView != nil && someLabel != nil
            {
                // We are in VC1, customize cells
            }
            else if otherImageView != nil && otherLabel != nil
            {
                // We are in VC2, customize cells
            }

        if screen size is iPhone 6
            // Do the same check as above

        if screen size is iPhone 6 Plus
           // DO same check as above
    }
}

VC1:

class VC1: UIViewController
{
    @IBOutlet var someImageView: UIImageView!
    @IBOutlet var someLabel: UILabel!

    ...

    func tableView(_ tableView: UITableView, cellForRowAt indexPath: IndexPath) -> UITableViewCell
    {
        ...

        let cell = tableView.dequeueReusableCell(withIdentifier: "CustomCell", for: indexPath) as! CustomCell

        ...

    }
}

VC2:

class VC2: UIViewController
{
    @IBOutlet var otherImageView: UIImageView!
    @IBOutlet var otherLabel: UILabel!

    ...

    func tableView(_ tableView: UITableView, cellForRowAt indexPath: IndexPath) -> UITableViewCell
    {
        ...

        let cell = tableView.dequeueReusableCell(withIdentifier: "CustomCell", for: indexPath) as! CustomCell

        ...

    }
}

In the CustomCell class, I check what iPhone screen size is first, then customize the cells based on that, but to ensure I don't get a nil if I'm not in VC1 vs VC2, I have to check whether the IBOutlets are nil first to determine what ViewController I'm in before customize the cells.

This gets rather repetitive and messy for each check, and I like to implement a better method.

I know I can use a protocol and have VC1 and VC2 conform to it, then add a standard blueprint naming convention of the IBOutlets , but is a protocol ideal for this purpose?

Or is there a better alternative to implement that I can make my code cleaner?

Answer 1

enum TypeOfViewController {
    case vc1
    case vc2
}
class CustomCell: UITableViewCell
{

@IBOutlet weak var someImageView: UIImageView!
@IBOutlet weak var someLabel: UILabel!
var vcType: TypeOfViewController!


    func customizeCellsByViewController()
    { 
         switch vcType {
              case vc1:
              // do things that concern VC1
              case vc2:
              // do things that concern VC2
         }


    }
 func customizeCellsBySize() {
       if screen size is iPhone 5
        //DO things that concern size

       if screen size is iPhone 6
        // DO things that concern size

       if screen size is iPhone 6 Plus
        // DO things that concern size
    }
}

though i strongly recommend to use autolayout for setting height of table view cell. you can find a good tutorial here

Answer 2

There is an UITableViewCell resizing feature that is supported by UITableView itself.And you are making difficult things to your self even Apple has made easy for you to do.

https://www.hackingwithswift.com/read/32/2/automatically-resizing-uitableviewcells-with-dynamic-type-and-nsattributedstring

Else, use different custom cell for each VC