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

Question

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?

Answer 1

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.