Long press on UITableView

Question

I would like to handle a long press on a UITableViewCell to print a "quick access menu". Did someone already do this?

Particularly the gesture recognize on UITableView?

Answer 1

First add the long press gesture recognizer to the table view:

UILongPressGestureRecognizer *lpgr = [[UILongPressGestureRecognizer alloc] 
  initWithTarget:self action:@selector(handleLongPress:)];
lpgr.minimumPressDuration = 2.0; //seconds
lpgr.delegate = self;
[self.myTableView addGestureRecognizer:lpgr];
[lpgr release];

Then in the gesture handler:

-(void)handleLongPress:(UILongPressGestureRecognizer *)gestureRecognizer
{
    CGPoint p = [gestureRecognizer locationInView:self.myTableView];

    NSIndexPath *indexPath = [self.myTableView indexPathForRowAtPoint:p];
    if (indexPath == nil) {
        NSLog(@"long press on table view but not on a row");
    } else if (gestureRecognizer.state == UIGestureRecognizerStateBegan) {
        NSLog(@"long press on table view at row %ld", indexPath.row);
    } else {
        NSLog(@"gestureRecognizer.state = %ld", gestureRecognizer.state);
    }
}

You have to be careful with this so that it doesn't interfere with the user's normal tapping of the cell and also note that handleLongPress may fire multiple times (this will be due to the gesture recognizer state changes).