Access a property from the FirstViewController in a custom UITableViewCell

Question

In my iOS app I have a custom UITableViewCell that is part of a TableView in my FirstViewController. In the FirstViewController I have an array of objects that corresponds to populating the rows and then of course the objects in that array which have properties.

I have a timer in each cell and I need to get the length of the timer from a property of the corresponding object. I've tried importing FirstViewController.h but I get the error "property not found on object of type" no matter what.

I already have the object created and configured in the cellForRowAtIndexPath method of the FirstViewController but I was hoping to use it in a method in TableViewCell.m.

Is there a way I can use the array or the object in the TableViewCell? Or should the method be implemented in the FirstViewController?

EDIT #1:

I moved cell.timer = [NSTimer scheduledTimerWithTimeInterval:1.0 target:cell selector:@selector(startTimer) userInfo:nil repeats:YES]; into the cellForRow... method of the FirstViewController. Now the timer runs with the desired time but it's no longer started by a button. It immediately runs when the TableView is loaded and restarts every time the TableView is reloaded.

Here is my ATCTableViewCell.h file: (Updated with Edit #2)

#import <UIKit/UIKit.h>
#import "ATCFirstViewController.h"

@interface ATCTableViewCell : UITableViewCell

- (void)startTimer;
// Contents moved to cellForRow... -> - (IBAction)playTimer:(id)sender; 

@property (weak, nonatomic) IBOutlet UILabel *titleLabel;
@property (weak, nonatomic) IBOutlet UILabel *timeLabel;
@property (weak, nonatomic) IBOutlet UIButton *playButton;
@property (weak, nonatomic) IBOutlet UIButton *pauseButton;

@property NSTimer *timer;
@property int secondsCount; // initially the length in seconds and then decreased

@end

EDIT #2:

The timer is a decrementing timer that changes a label in the startTimer method which is in ATCTableViewCell.m. The label is a property of the cell at the moment along with another label and the buttons. I'll work on moving things to the object class instead of having them as properties the cell.

Here is the startTimer method:

- (void)startTimer {

    self.secondsCount--;
    int hours = self.secondsCount / 3600;
    int minutes = (self.secondsCount / 60) - (hours * 60);
    int seconds = self.secondsCount - (hours * 3600) - (minutes * 60);

    NSString *timerOutput = [NSString stringWithFormat:@"%02d:%02d:%02d", hours, minutes, seconds];
    self.timeLabel.text = timerOutput;

    if (self.secondsCount == 0) {
        [self.timer invalidate];
        self.timer = nil;
    }
}

Here is my ATCObject.h file:

#import <Foundation/Foundation.h>

@interface ATCObject : NSObject

@property NSString *title;

@property int lengthInSeconds;
@property int initialHours;
@property int initialMinutes;

@end

Thanks

Answer 1

I am updating this answer based on all of the previous discussion.

@interface ATCObject : NSObject
@property (nonatomic, strong) NSString *title;
@property (nonatomic, assign) NSInteger lengthInSeconds;
@property (nonatomic, assign) NSInteger initialHours;
@property (nonatomic, assign) NSInteger initialMinutes;
//Move the NSTimer and the -playTimer method to this class
@property (nonatomic,strong) NSTimer *timer;
-(void)startTimer;
-(void)timerTick;
-(void)pauseTimer;
@end

In your tableView controller class:

-(UITableViewCell *)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView cellForRowAtIndexPath:(NSIndexPath *)indexPath {
    static NSString *CellIdentifier = @"Identifier";
    ATCTableViewCell *cell = (ATCTableViewCell *)[tableView dequeueReusableCellForIdentifer:Identifier];
    if (!cell) {
        cell = [[ATCTableViewCell alloc] initWithStyle:UITableViewCellStyleDefault identifier:Identifier];
        [cell.playButton addTarget:self action:@selector(playTouched:) forControlEvents:UIControlEventTouchUpInside];
        [cell.pauseButton addTarget:self action:@selector(pauseTouched:) forControlEvents:UIControlEventTouchUpInside];
    }
    ATCObject *objectForRow = [myDataArray objectAtIndex:indexPath.row];
    cell.timeLabel.text = objectForRow.title; 
    return cell;
}

//Also in your controller class
-(void)playTouched:(id)sender {
    //you may need to change self.tableView to however you reference the table in your class
    CGPoint buttonPosition = [sender convertPoint:CGPointZero toView:self.tableView];
    NSIndexPath *indexPath = [self.tableView indexPathForRowAtPoint:buttonPosition];
    if (indexPath != nil) {
        ATCObject *currentObject = [myDataArray objectAtIndex:indexPath.row];
        [currentObject startTimer];
    }
}

//ATCObject.m
-(void)startTimer {
    if (!self.timer) {
        self.timer = [NSTimer scheduledTimerWithTimeInterval:1.0
                     target:self
                     selector:@selector(timerTick:)
                     userInfo:nil
                     repeats:YES];  
    }
}

-(void)timerTick {
    //Already assuming lengthInSeconds is set
    if (lengthInSeconds > 0) {
        lengthInSeconds--;
        //Do your math to get total hours and minutes
        NSInteger totalHours = //math stuff convert lengthInSeconds
        NSInteger totalMinutes = //more math stuff etc
        NSString *newTitle = [NSString stringWithFormat:@"%i:%i",totalHours,totalMinutes];
        self.title = newTitle;
    } else {
        self.title = @"00:00";
        [self.timer invalidate];
        self.timer = nil;
    }
}