Swift - initialize UITableViewCell

Question

my problem is quite simple.. All I want is to set up a UITableView programmatically without the Storyboard.

I created my TableView and that works fine.. The problem is the UITableViewCell. It should only contain a UILabel but I don't get how to initialize it inside the class. And all the tutorials I have watched about UITableViews are done within Storyboard .. At least the set-up.

I am new to this and I know this is probably super easy but I couldn't find a solution for my problem. I am grateful for every help!

    import UIKit

class WhishCell: UITableViewCell {

    var whishText: String

    init(whishText: String){
        self.whishText = whishText
    }

    required init?(coder: NSCoder) {
        fatalError("init(coder:) has not been implemented")
    }

}

UPDATE

This is how i set up my UITableView inside my UIViewController:

let theTableView: WhishlistTableViewController = {
       let v = WhishlistTableViewController()
        v.view.layer.masksToBounds = true
        v.view.layer.borderColor = UIColor.white.cgColor
        v.view.layer.borderWidth = 2.0
        v.view.translatesAutoresizingMaskIntoConstraints = false
        return v
    }()

and then I also activate it like the rest of the items inside my UIViewController:

// constrain tableView
theTableView.view.topAnchor.constraint(equalTo: wishlistView.topAnchor, constant: 180.0),
theTableView.view.bottomAnchor.constraint(equalTo: wishlistView.bottomAnchor, constant: 0),
theTableView.view.leadingAnchor.constraint(equalTo: wishlistView.safeAreaLayoutGuide.leadingAnchor, constant: 30.0),
theTableView.view.trailingAnchor.constraint(equalTo: wishlistView.safeAreaLayoutGuide.trailingAnchor, constant: -30.0),

The TableView is inside a UIView which I let appear if the user taps on a button:

cell.wishlistTapCallback = {
        // let wishlistView appear
        UIView.animate(withDuration: 0.3, delay: 0, options: .curveEaseIn, animations: {
            self.wishlistView.transform = CGAffineTransform(translationX: 0, y: 0)
        })}

Answer 1

You are doing one thing very wrong there. You are setting your data directly on the cell (that var called whishText). Think about it, the name of a wish belongs to a wish, not to a cell. A name of a person belongs to a person, not to a cell. The cell just presents/shows the name of whatever object it is given. With that in mind. You need to have a class called Wish, and implement the UITableView Data source methods. Here is the code:

Wish Cell:

class WhishCell: UITableViewCell {

    public static let reuseID = "WhishCell"

    required init?(coder: NSCoder) {fatalError("init(coder:) has not been implemented")}

    override init(style: UITableViewCell.CellStyle, reuseIdentifier: String?) {
        super.init(style: style, reuseIdentifier: reuseIdentifier)
        backgroundColor = .systemTeal
        //other common things,
    }
}

WishTableViewController:

class WishTableViewController: UITableViewController {

    public var wishList : [Wish]?

    override func viewDidLoad() {
        super.viewDidLoad()
        self.tableView.register(WhishCell.self, forCellReuseIdentifier: WhishCell.reuseID)
    }

    // MARK: - Table view data source
    override func numberOfSections(in tableView: UITableView) -> Int {
        return 1
    }

    override func tableView(_ tableView: UITableView, numberOfRowsInSection section: Int) -> Int {
        return wishList?.count ?? 0
    }

    override func tableView(_ tableView: UITableView, cellForRowAt indexPath: IndexPath) -> UITableViewCell {
        let cell = tableView.dequeueReusableCell(withIdentifier: WhishCell.reuseID, for: indexPath)
        let currentWish = self.wishList![indexPath.row]
        cell.textLabel?.text = currentWish.wishName
        return cell
    }

}

Wish Model:

class Wish: NSObject {
    public var wishName : String?
    init(withWishName name: String) {
        super.init()
        wishName = name
    }
}

Usage Example:

@IBAction func showExampleWishTable(_ sender: Any) {
    let wishTableView = WishTableViewController()

    let wish1 = Wish(withWishName: "Bicycle")
    let wish2 = Wish(withWishName: "Macbook")
    let wish3 = Wish(withWishName: "Printer")

    wishTableView.wishList = [wish1, wish2, wish3]

    self.navigationController?.pushViewController(wishTableView, animated: true)
}

Result: