GenericTableView

GenericTableView with Examples (Simple - Dynamic - Testable)

Goals:

• Generic TableView Data Source / Delegate
• Dynamic TableView (Depends on protocols)
• Reusable TableView (We don't need storyboards for tableview, we only need xib files for cells)
• Better TableView Testability (The tableview will be generic and has zero business logic)
• Better Cells Testability (The cells will be depending on the Item -which is testable- for the logic)
• More...

Usage

• Adding the tableview would be like this

  let users = [UsersDataSource(user: User(firstname: "Adam", lastname: "Meguid")),
               UsersDataSource(user: User(firstname: "Ahmed", lastname: "Ali"))]
  
  func addTableView() {
      let usersList = GenericTableView(frame: view.bounds)
      usersList.updateDataSource(items: users)
      self.view.addSubview(usersList)
  }

  But first we need to add 3 things

  • Model

  struct User: GenericModel {
    var firstname: String
    var lastname: String
  } 

  • Cell

  class UserCell: UITableViewCell, GenericCell {
    @IBOutlet weak var firstname: UILabel!
    @IBOutlet weak var lastname: UILabel!
  
    func configure(model: GenericModel) {
        if let user = model as? User {
            firstname.text = user.firstname
            lastname.text = user.lastname
        }
    }
  }

  • Data Source

  class UsersDataSource: GenericDataSource {
  
    var type: UITableViewCell.Type = UserCell.self
    var action: (GenericModel) -> () = {_ in }
    var item: GenericModel
  
    init(user: User) {
        item = user
    }
  } 

And that's all you need.

More Customization

• Adding actions to cell selection

  func addTableView() {
      .
      .
      users.forEach({$0.action = navigateToUserView()})
      .
  }
  
  private func navigateToUserView() -> (GenericModel) -> Void {
      return { (user: GenericModel) in
          // here navigate to $user view
      }
  }

• Supporting Multi Actions

  func addTableView() {
      .
      users.forEach { (user) in
          if let userItem = user.item as? User {
              if userItem.activated {
                  user.action = navigateToUserView()
              } else {
                  user.action = blockUserAccess()
              }
          }
      }
      .
      .
  }
  
  private func navigateToUserView() -> (GenericModel) -> Void {
      return { (user: GenericModel) in
          // here navigate to $user view
      }
  }
  
  private func blockUserAccess() -> (GenericModel) -> Void {
      return { (user: GenericModel) in
          // here block access to $user
      }
  }
  
  struct User: GenericModel {
    .
    .
    var activated: Bool
  }

• Supporting Multi Cells with Multi Actions

  let users = [UsersDataSource(user: User(firstname: "Adam", lastname: "Meguid")),
               PremiumUsersDataSource(user: PremiumUser(firstname: "Ahmed", lastname: "Ali", grade: "Class A"))]
  
  struct PremiumUser: GenericModel {
      var firstname: String
      var lastname: String
      var grade: String
  }
  
  class PremiumUserCell: UserCell {
      @IBOutlet weak private var grade: UILabel!
  
      override func configure(model: GenericModel) {
          if let user = model as? PremiumUser {
              firstname.text = user.firstname
              lastname.text = user.lastname
              grade.text = user.grade
          }
      }
  }
  
  class PremiumUsersDataSource: GenericDataSource {
  
    var type: UITableViewCell.Type = PremiumUserCell.self
    var action: (GenericModel) -> () = {_ in }
    var item: GenericModel
  
    init(user: PremiumUserCell) {
        item = user
    }
  }