Here is the most efficient way I have come across to solve this problem, use the willDisplayCell delegate method (this takes care of the white color for the text label background as well when using cell.textLabel.text and/or cell.detailTextLabel.text):
- (void)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView willDisplayCell:(UITableViewCell *)cell forRowAtIndexPath:(NSIndexPath *)indexPath { ... }
When this delegate method is called the color of the cell is controlled via the cell rather than the table view, as when you use:
- (UITableViewCell *) tableView: (UITableView *) tableView cellForRowAtIndexPath: (NSIndexPath *) indexPath { ... }
So within the body of the cell delegate method add the following code to alternate colors of cells or just use the function call to make all the cells of the table the same color.
if (indexPath.row % 2)
{
[cell setBackgroundColor:[UIColor colorWithRed:.8 green:.8 blue:1 alpha:1]];
}
else [cell setBackgroundColor:[UIColor clearColor]];
This solution worked well in my circumstance...
UPDATE: In iPhone OS 3.0 and later UITableViewCell
now has a backgroundColor
property that makes this really easy (especially in combination with the [UIColor colorWithPatternImage:]
initializer). But I'll leave the 2.0 version of the answer here for anyone that needs it…
It's harder than it really should be. Here's how I did this when I had to do it:
You need to set the UITableViewCell's backgroundView property to a custom UIView that draws the border and background itself in the appropriate colors. This view needs to be able to draw the borders in 4 different modes, rounded on the top for the first cell in a section, rounded on the bottom for the last cell in a section, no rounded corners for cells in the middle of a section, and rounded on all 4 corners for sections that contain one cell.
Unfortunately I couldn't figure out how to have this mode set automatically, so I had to set it in the UITableViewDataSource's -cellForRowAtIndexPath method.
It's a real PITA but I've confirmed with Apple engineers that this is currently the only way.
Update Here's the code for that custom bg view. There's a drawing bug that makes the rounded corners look a little funny, but we moved to a different design and scrapped the custom backgrounds before I had a chance to fix it. Still this will probably be very helpful for you:
//
// CustomCellBackgroundView.h
//
// Created by Mike Akers on 11/21/08.
// Copyright 2008 __MyCompanyName__. All rights reserved.
//
#import <UIKit/UIKit.h>
typedef enum {
CustomCellBackgroundViewPositionTop,
CustomCellBackgroundViewPositionMiddle,
CustomCellBackgroundViewPositionBottom,
CustomCellBackgroundViewPositionSingle
} CustomCellBackgroundViewPosition;
@interface CustomCellBackgroundView : UIView {
UIColor *borderColor;
UIColor *fillColor;
CustomCellBackgroundViewPosition position;
}
@property(nonatomic, retain) UIColor *borderColor, *fillColor;
@property(nonatomic) CustomCellBackgroundViewPosition position;
@end
//
// CustomCellBackgroundView.m
//
// Created by Mike Akers on 11/21/08.
// Copyright 2008 __MyCompanyName__. All rights reserved.
//
#import "CustomCellBackgroundView.h"
static void addRoundedRectToPath(CGContextRef context, CGRect rect,
float ovalWidth,float ovalHeight);
@implementation CustomCellBackgroundView
@synthesize borderColor, fillColor, position;
- (BOOL) isOpaque {
return NO;
}
- (id)initWithFrame:(CGRect)frame {
if (self = [super initWithFrame:frame]) {
// Initialization code
}
return self;
}
- (void)drawRect:(CGRect)rect {
// Drawing code
CGContextRef c = UIGraphicsGetCurrentContext();
CGContextSetFillColorWithColor(c, [fillColor CGColor]);
CGContextSetStrokeColorWithColor(c, [borderColor CGColor]);
if (position == CustomCellBackgroundViewPositionTop) {
CGContextFillRect(c, CGRectMake(0.0f, rect.size.height - 10.0f, rect.size.width, 10.0f));
CGContextBeginPath(c);
CGContextMoveToPoint(c, 0.0f, rect.size.height - 10.0f);
CGContextAddLineToPoint(c, 0.0f, rect.size.height);
CGContextAddLineToPoint(c, rect.size.width, rect.size.height);
CGContextAddLineToPoint(c, rect.size.width, rect.size.height - 10.0f);
CGContextStrokePath(c);
CGContextClipToRect(c, CGRectMake(0.0f, 0.0f, rect.size.width, rect.size.height - 10.0f));
} else if (position == CustomCellBackgroundViewPositionBottom) {
CGContextFillRect(c, CGRectMake(0.0f, 0.0f, rect.size.width, 10.0f));
CGContextBeginPath(c);
CGContextMoveToPoint(c, 0.0f, 10.0f);
CGContextAddLineToPoint(c, 0.0f, 0.0f);
CGContextStrokePath(c);
CGContextBeginPath(c);
CGContextMoveToPoint(c, rect.size.width, 0.0f);
CGContextAddLineToPoint(c, rect.size.width, 10.0f);
CGContextStrokePath(c);
CGContextClipToRect(c, CGRectMake(0.0f, 10.0f, rect.size.width, rect.size.height));
} else if (position == CustomCellBackgroundViewPositionMiddle) {
CGContextFillRect(c, rect);
CGContextBeginPath(c);
CGContextMoveToPoint(c, 0.0f, 0.0f);
CGContextAddLineToPoint(c, 0.0f, rect.size.height);
CGContextAddLineToPoint(c, rect.size.width, rect.size.height);
CGContextAddLineToPoint(c, rect.size.width, 0.0f);
CGContextStrokePath(c);
return; // no need to bother drawing rounded corners, so we return
}
// At this point the clip rect is set to only draw the appropriate
// corners, so we fill and stroke a rounded rect taking the entire rect
CGContextBeginPath(c);
addRoundedRectToPath(c, rect, 10.0f, 10.0f);
CGContextFillPath(c);
CGContextSetLineWidth(c, 1);
CGContextBeginPath(c);
addRoundedRectToPath(c, rect, 10.0f, 10.0f);
CGContextStrokePath(c);
}
- (void)dealloc {
[borderColor release];
[fillColor release];
[super dealloc];
}
@end
static void addRoundedRectToPath(CGContextRef context, CGRect rect,
float ovalWidth,float ovalHeight)
{
float fw, fh;
if (ovalWidth == 0 || ovalHeight == 0) {// 1
CGContextAddRect(context, rect);
return;
}
CGContextSaveGState(context);// 2
CGContextTranslateCTM (context, CGRectGetMinX(rect),// 3
CGRectGetMinY(rect));
CGContextScaleCTM (context, ovalWidth, ovalHeight);// 4
fw = CGRectGetWidth (rect) / ovalWidth;// 5
fh = CGRectGetHeight (rect) / ovalHeight;// 6
CGContextMoveToPoint(context, fw, fh/2); // 7
CGContextAddArcToPoint(context, fw, fh, fw/2, fh, 1);// 8
CGContextAddArcToPoint(context, 0, fh, 0, fh/2, 1);// 9
CGContextAddArcToPoint(context, 0, 0, fw/2, 0, 1);// 10
CGContextAddArcToPoint(context, fw, 0, fw, fh/2, 1); // 11
CGContextClosePath(context);// 12
CGContextRestoreGState(context);// 13
}
Best Answer
If by "border color" in a plain table view you mean the separator lines between the cells (default color gray), you can customize this color for the whole table view via:
See the UITableView reference.