Overview

The UITableViewController class creates a controller object that manages a table view. It implements the following behavior:

• If a nib file is specified via the initWithNibName:bundle: method (which is declared by the superclass UIViewController), UITableViewController loads the table view archived in the nib file. Otherwise, it creates an unconfigured UITableView object with the correct dimensions and autoresize mask. You can access this view through the tableView property.

• If a nib file containing the table view is loaded, the data source and delegate become those objects defined in the nib file (if any). If no nib file is specified or if the nib file defines no data source or delegate, UITableViewController sets the data source and the delegate of the table view to self.

• When the table view is about to appear the first time it‚Äôs loaded, the table-view controller reloads the table view‚Äôs data. It also clears its selection (with or without animation, depending on the request) every time the table view is displayed. The UITableViewController class implements this in the superclass method viewWillAppear:. You can disable this behavior by changing the value in the clearsSelectionOnViewWillAppear property.

• When the table view has appeared, the controller flashes the table view‚Äôs scroll indicators. The UITableViewController class implements this in the superclass method viewDidAppear:.

• It implements the superclass method setEditing:animated: so that if a user taps an Edit|Done button in the navigation bar, the controller toggles the edit mode of the table.

You create a custom subclass of UITableViewController for each table view that you want to manage. When you initialize the controller in initWithStyle:, you must specify the style of the table view (plain or grouped) that the controller is to manage. Because the initially created table view is without table dimensions (that is, number of sections and number of rows per section) or content, the table view‚Äôs data source and delegate‚Äîthat is, the UITableViewController object itself‚Äîmust provide the table dimensions, the cell content, and any desired configurations (as usual). You may override loadView or any other superclass method, but if you do be sure to invoke the superclass implementation of the method, usually as the first method call.