UITableView background color does not change

Question

In a model UIViewController I have the following implementation of loadView (everything is created programmatically):

- (void)loadView {

    // Add Basic View
    UIView *myView = [[UIView alloc] initWithFrame:CGRectMake(0, 0, 540, 620)];
    myView.backgroundColor = [UIColor clearColor];
    self.view = myView;
    [myView release];

    // Add NavigationBar

    // Add a BG image

    // Add Table
    UITableView *tbView = [[UITableView alloc] initWithFrame:CGRectMake(30, 80, 480, 250) style:UITableViewStyleGrouped];
    tbView.dataSource = self;
    tbView.delegate = self;
    tbView.scrollEnabled = NO;
    tbView.backgroundColor = [UIColor clearColor];
    [tbView reloadData];

    [self.view addSubview:tbView];
    [tbView release];

    // some more code
}

As you can see I set backgroundColor to clearColor, yet when I compile and run the code I always see a gray background behind the table: enter image description here

I don't understand what I am doing wrong (sounds stupid, I know), I used to have the very same code and it worked perfectly fine. I am compiling with iOS SDK 4.2.1

You shouldn't be doing all this setup in `loadView`, it should be in `viewDidLoad`. In `loadView` you should *just* create the view, not set colors, etc. Its ok to set the frame to `CGRectZero` in `loadView`. You can change it later in `viewDidLoad`. — Robotbugs, Mar 19 '13 at 04:45

score 45 · Accepted Answer · answered Jan 24 '11 at 18:34

45

You also need to set your UITableView's backgroundView property to nil on recent (since 3.2) versions of iOS.

As such, adding...

tbView.backgroundView = nil;

...should sort your problems.

That said, if you want to maintain compatibilty with pre-3.2 devices, you should check for the existence of this via the instancesRespondToSelector method before calling it.

answered Jan 24 '11 at 18:34

John Parker

54,048
11
129
129

that worked, thanks! I don't quite understand why they added this view though, what would be the difference to just adding the UITableView as a subview of any custom view? – Robin Jan 24 '11 at 18:40
@Robin I suppose it's a cleaner path if the UITableView is effectively your top level view, but that's pretty much it. – John Parker Jan 24 '11 at 18:42
It's weird that I never had to do this until just recently. +1 – James Sep 19 '13 at 17:38

score 14 · Answer 2 · answered Jan 24 '11 at 18:40

14

Make sure you have the following 3 options set:

tbView.opaque = NO;
tbView.backgroundColor = [UIColor clearColor];
tbView.backgroundView  = nil;

answered Jan 24 '11 at 18:40

WrightsCS

50,551
22
134
186

3

This worked for me, but I had to put the code in the `viewWillAppear`. It did not work if I put it in the `viewDidLoad`. – Guruniverse Jun 15 '16 at 21:55
@Guruniverse That response is what fixed my problem after over an hour of searching. Thank you! – kmell96 Mar 28 '18 at 18:23

score 3 · Answer 3 · answered Jan 24 '11 at 18:34

3

try

tbView.backgroundView = nil;

answered Jan 24 '11 at 18:34

vikingosegundo

52,040
14
137
178

score 1 · Answer 4 · edited Feb 01 '21 at 09:14

1

I tried to change from storyboard. It works fine in

tbView.backgroundColor = .white

edited Feb 01 '21 at 09:14

Osadhi Virochana

1,294
2
11
21

answered Feb 01 '21 at 05:20

Yana Honchar

11
3

UITableView background color does not change

4 Answers4

Linked