UITableView does not automatically deselect the selected row when the table re-appears

Normally a selected row in a UITableView gets deselected with an animation when the user pops back from the detail view.

However, in my case where I have a UITableView embedded in a UIViewController I have to do it manually in viewWillAppear like so:

-(void)viewWillAppear:(BOOL)animated{
    [super viewWillAppear:animated];
    // For some reason the tableview does not do it automatically
    [self.tableView deselectRowAtIndexPath:self.tableView.indexPathForSelectedRow 
                                  animated:YES];  
}

Why is this and how to fix it?

Solution 1:

When your main ViewController is from type UITableViewController, it has a property clearsSelectionOnViewWillAppear, which is per default YES - so it will clear the selection automatically.

This property is not available for an UITableView, i guess it's because it has no ViewWillAppear method either.

A UIViewController doesn't need this property because it has no UITableView originally.

conclusion: you'll have to implement it by yourself when you do not use a UITableViewController.

Solution 2:

Do the deselection in didSelectRowAtIndexPath instead of viewWillAppear:

- (void)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView
                  didSelectRowAtIndexPath:(NSIndexPath *)indexPath{
     //show the second view..
     [tableView deselectRowAtIndexPath:indexPath animated:YES]; 
 }