The problem is, UITableViewController's view property is the same thing as the tableView property. I had the same problem, wanting to put some fixed content above the table. I didn't want to change the base class, as it provides lots of great functionality I didn't want to lose or disrupt.
The fix is actually easy. The trick is to create custom set and get for self.tableView property. Then, in loadView, you replace the view with a fresh UIView and add the tableView to it. Then you're free to add subviews around the tableView. Here's how it's done:
In header:
@interface CustomTableViewController : UITableViewController
{
UITableView *tableView;
}
In .m:
- (UITableView*)tableView
{
return tableView;
}
- (void)setTableView:(UITableView *)newTableView
{
if ( newTableView != tableView )
{
[tableView release];
tableView = [newTableView retain];
}
}
- (void)loadView {
[super loadView];
//save current tableview, then replace view with a regular uiview
self.tableView = (UITableView*)self.view;
UIView *replacementView = [[UIView alloc] initWithFrame:self.tableView.frame];
self.view = replacementView;
[replacementView release];
[self.view addSubview:self.tableView];
//code below adds some custom stuff above the table
UIView *customHeader = [[UIView alloc] initWithFrame:CGRectMake(0, 0, self.view.frame.size.width, 20)];
customHeader.backgroundColor = [UIColor redColor];
[self.view addSubview:customHeader];
[customHeader release];
self.tableView.frame = CGRectMake(0, customHeader.frame.size.height, self.view.frame.size.width, self.view.frame.size.height - customHeader.frame.size.height);
}
Enjoy!
