Get button click inside UITableViewCell

I have a view controller with a table view and a separate nib for the table cell template. The cell template has some buttons. I want to access the button click along with the index of the cell clicked inside the view controller where I have defined the Table view.

So I have ViewController.h and ViewController.m where I have the UITableView and TableTemplate.h, TableTemplate.m and TableTemplate.xib where I have the nib defined. I want the button click event with cell index in ViewController.m.

Any help on how can I do that?


1) In your cellForRowAtIndexPath: method, assign button tag as index:

cell.yourbutton.tag = indexPath.row;

2) Add target and action for your button as below:

[cell.yourbutton addTarget:self action:@selector(yourButtonClicked:) forControlEvents:UIControlEventTouchUpInside];

3) Code actions based on index as below in ViewControler:

-(void)yourButtonClicked:(UIButton*)sender
{
     if (sender.tag == 0) 
     {
         // Your code here
     }
}

Updates for multiple Section:

You can check this link to detect button click in table view for multiple row and section.


Delegates are the way to go.

As seen with other answers using views might get outdated. Who knows tomorrow there might be another wrapper and may need to use cell superview]superview]superview]superview]. And if you use tags you would end up with n number of if else conditions to identify the cell. To avoid all of that set up delegates. (By doing so you will be creating a re usable cell class. You can use the same cell class as a base class and all you have to do is implement the delegate methods.)

First we need a interface (protocol) which will be used by cell to communicate(delegate) button clicks. (You can create a separate .h file for protocol and include in both table view controller and custom cell classes OR just add it in custom cell class which will anyway get included in table view controller)

@protocol CellDelegate <NSObject>
- (void)didClickOnCellAtIndex:(NSInteger)cellIndex withData:(id)data;
@end

Include this protocol in custom cell and table view controller. And make sure table view controller confirms to this protocol.

In custom cell create two properties :

@property (weak, nonatomic) id<CellDelegate>delegate;
@property (assign, nonatomic) NSInteger cellIndex;

In UIButton IBAction delegate click : (Same can be done for any action in custom cell class which needs to be delegated back to view controller)

- (IBAction)buttonClicked:(UIButton *)sender {
    if (self.delegate && [self.delegate respondsToSelector:@selector(didClickOnCellAtIndex:withData:)]) {
        [self.delegate didClickOnCellAtIndex:_cellIndex withData:@"any other cell data/property"];
    }
}

In table view controller cellForRowAtIndexPath after dequeing the cell, set the above properties.

cell.delegate = self;
cell.cellIndex = indexPath.row; // Set indexpath if its a grouped table.

And implement the delegate in table view controller:

- (void)didClickOnCellAtIndex:(NSInteger)cellIndex withData:(id)data
{
    // Do additional actions as required.
    NSLog(@"Cell at Index: %d clicked.\n Data received : %@", cellIndex, data);
}

This would be the ideal approach to get custom cell button actions in table view controller.


Instead of playing with tags, I took different approach. Made delegate for my subclass of UITableViewCell(OptionButtonsCell) and added an indexPath var. From my button in storyboard I connected @IBAction to the OptionButtonsCell and there I send delegate method with the right indexPath to anyone interested. In cell for index path I set current indexPath and it works :)

Let the code speak for itself:

Swift 3 Xcode 8

OptionButtonsTableViewCell.swift

import UIKit
protocol OptionButtonsDelegate{
    func closeFriendsTapped(at index:IndexPath)
}
class OptionButtonsTableViewCell: UITableViewCell {
    var delegate:OptionButtonsDelegate!
    @IBOutlet weak var closeFriendsBtn: UIButton!
    var indexPath:IndexPath!
    @IBAction func closeFriendsAction(_ sender: UIButton) {
        self.delegate?.closeFriendsTapped(at: indexPath)
    }
}

MyTableViewController.swift

class MyTableViewController: UIViewController, UITableViewDelegate, UITableViewDataSource, OptionButtonsDelegate {...

func tableView(_ tableView: UITableView, cellForRowAt indexPath: IndexPath) -> UITableViewCell {
    let cell = tableView.dequeueReusableCell(withIdentifier: "optionCell") as! OptionButtonsTableViewCell
    cell.delegate = self
    cell.indexPath = indexPath
    return cell   
}

func closeFriendsTapped(at index: IndexPath) {
     print("button tapped at index:\(index)")
}

This should help :-

UITableViewCell* cell = (UITableViewCell*)[sender superview];
NSIndexPath* indexPath = [myTableView indexPathForCell:cell];

Here sender is the UIButton instance that is sending the event. myTableView is the UITableView instance you're dealing with.

Just get the cell reference right and all the work is done.

You may need to remove the buttons from cell's contentView & add them directly to UITableViewCell instance as it's subview.

Or

You can formulate a tag naming scheme for different UIButtons in cell.contentView. Using this tag, later you can know the row & section information as needed.