If no Table View results, display "No Results" on screen

I have a tableview, where sometimes there might not be any results to list, so I would like to put something up that says "no results" if there are no results (either a label or one table view cell?).

Is there an easiest way to do this?

I would try a label behind the tableview then hide one of the two based on the results, but since I'm working with a TableViewController and not a normal ViewController I'm not sure how smart or doable that is.

I'm also using Parse and subclassing as a PFQueryTableViewController:

@interface TableViewController : PFQueryTableViewController

I can provide any additional details needed, just let me know!

TableViewController Scene in Storyboard:

EDIT: Per Midhun MP, here's the code I'm using

- (NSInteger)numberOfSectionsInTableView:(UITableView *)tableView
{
    NSInteger numOfSections = 0;
    if ([self.stringArray count] > 0)
    {
        self.tableView.separatorStyle = UITableViewCellSeparatorStyleSingleLine;
        numOfSections                 = 1;
        //yourTableView.backgroundView   = nil;
        self.tableView.backgroundView = nil;
    }
    else
    {
        UILabel *noDataLabel         = [[UILabel alloc] initWithFrame:CGRectMake(0, 0, self.tableView.bounds.size.width, self.tableView.bounds.size.height)];
        noDataLabel.text             = @"No data available";
        noDataLabel.textColor        = [UIColor blackColor];
        noDataLabel.textAlignment    = NSTextAlignmentCenter;
        //yourTableView.backgroundView = noDataLabel;
        //yourTableView.separatorStyle = UITableViewCellSeparatorStyleNone;
        self.tableView.backgroundView = noDataLabel;
        self.tableView.separatorStyle = UITableViewCellSeparatorStyleNone;
    }

    return numOfSections;
}

And here's the View I'm getting, it still has separator lines. I get the feeling that this is some small change, but I'm not sure why separator lines are showing up?

You can easily achieve that by using backgroundView property of UITableView.

Objective C:

- (NSInteger)numberOfSectionsInTableView:(UITableView *)tableView
{
    NSInteger numOfSections = 0;
    if (youHaveData)
    {
        yourTableView.separatorStyle = UITableViewCellSeparatorStyleSingleLine;
        numOfSections                = 1;
        yourTableView.backgroundView = nil;
    }
    else
    {   
        UILabel *noDataLabel         = [[UILabel alloc] initWithFrame:CGRectMake(0, 0, yourTableView.bounds.size.width, yourTableView.bounds.size.height)];
        noDataLabel.text             = @"No data available";
        noDataLabel.textColor        = [UIColor blackColor];
        noDataLabel.textAlignment    = NSTextAlignmentCenter;
        yourTableView.backgroundView = noDataLabel;
        yourTableView.separatorStyle = UITableViewCellSeparatorStyleNone;
    }

    return numOfSections;
}

Swift:

func numberOfSections(in tableView: UITableView) -> Int
{
    var numOfSections: Int = 0
    if youHaveData
    {
        tableView.separatorStyle = .singleLine
        numOfSections            = 1
        tableView.backgroundView = nil
    }
    else
    {
        let noDataLabel: UILabel  = UILabel(frame: CGRect(x: 0, y: 0, width: tableView.bounds.size.width, height: tableView.bounds.size.height))
        noDataLabel.text          = "No data available"
        noDataLabel.textColor     = UIColor.black
        noDataLabel.textAlignment = .center
        tableView.backgroundView  = noDataLabel
        tableView.separatorStyle  = .none
    }
    return numOfSections
}

Reference UITableView Class Reference

backgroundView Property

The background view of the table view.

Declaration

Swift

var backgroundView: UIView?

Objective-C

@property(nonatomic, readwrite, retain) UIView *backgroundView

Discussion

A table view’s background view is automatically resized to match the size of the table view. This view is placed as a subview of the table view behind all cells, header views, and footer views.

You must set this property to nil to set the background color of the table view.

For Xcode 8.3.2 - Swift 3.1

Here is a not-so-well-known but incredibly easy way to achieve adding a "No Items" view to an empty table view that goes back to Xcode 7. I'll leave it to you control that logic that adds/removes the view to the table's background view, but here is the flow for and Xcode (8.3.2) storyboard:

1. Select the scene in the Storyboard that has your table view.
2. Drag an empty UIView to the "Scene Dock" of that scene

3. Add a UILabel and any constraints to the new view and then create an IBOutlet for that view

4. Assign that view to the tableView.backgroundView

5. Behold the magic!

Ultimately this works anytime you want to add a simple view to your view controller that you don't necessarily want to be displayed immediately, but that you also don't want to hand code.