Unable to reach 0th section of UITableView from UITableViewController - objective-c

Question

I have a table view form which user is supposed to enter some information (question and choices) in. Basically, when user clicks the last section, text fields and other elements are being collected.
- (UITableViewCell *)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView cellForRowAtIndexPath:(NSIndexPath *)indexPath
{
if (indexPath.section==0) {
AskCellQuestion *cell;
cell = [tableView dequeueReusableCellWithIdentifier:#"askQuestionCell"];
if (cell == nil) {
cell = [[AskCellQuestion alloc] initWithStyle:UITableViewCellStyleDefault reuseIdentifier:#"askQuestionCell"];
}
...
cell.questionText.delegate = cell;
return cell;
} else if (indexPath.section==1) {
if (indexPath.row < numberOfChoices) {
AskCellChoice *cell;
cell = [tableView dequeueReusableCellWithIdentifier:#"askChoiceCell"];
if (cell == nil) {
cell = [[AskCellChoice alloc] initWithStyle:UITableViewCellStyleDefault reuseIdentifier:#"askChoiceCell"];
}
...
cell.choiceText.delegate = cell;
...
return cell;
} else {
AskCellChoiceAdd *cell;
cell = [tableView dequeueReusableCellWithIdentifier:#"askChoiceAddCell"];
if (cell == nil) {
cell = [[AskCellChoiceAdd alloc] initWithStyle:UITableViewCellStyleDefault reuseIdentifier:#"askChoiceAddCell"];
}
return cell;
}
} else if (indexPath.section==2) {
...
}
// Configure the cell...
return 0;
}
In didSelectRowAtIndexPathfunction, I'm trying to access these text fields and take their values:
UITableView * questionFormView = [self tableView];
AskCellQuestion * questionCell = (AskCellQuestion *)[questionFormView cellForRowAtIndexPath:[NSIndexPath indexPathForRow:0 inSection:0]];
NSString * questionText = questionCell.questionText.text;
NSLog(#"TXt: %#",questionText);
UIImage * questionImage = questionCell.questionImage;
NSLog(#"IMG: %#",questionImage);
NSString * questionVideo = questionCell.youtubeVideoID;
NSLog(#"VID: %#",questionVideo);
for (int i = 0; i < numberOfChoices; i++) {
AskCellChoice * choiceCell = (AskCellChoice *)[questionFormView cellForRowAtIndexPath:[NSIndexPath indexPathForRow:i inSection:1]];
NSLog(#"C TXt: %#",choiceCell.choiceText.text);
NSLog(#"C IMG: %#",choiceCell.choiceImage);
NSLog(#"C VID: %#",choiceCell.youtubeVideoID);
}
It is giving this output in console:
2012-03-17 01:04:46.700 x[2346:207] TXt: (null)
2012-03-17 01:04:46.701 x[2346:207] IMG: (null)
2012-03-17 01:04:46.701 x[2346:207] VID: (null)
2012-03-17 01:04:46.701 x[2346:207] C TXt: TEST CHOICE 1
2012-03-17 01:04:46.701 x[2346:207] C IMG: <UIImage: 0x6ec75f0>
2012-03-17 01:04:46.702 x[2346:207] C VID: FMij4sZioBM
2012-03-17 01:04:46.702 x[2346:207] C TXt: TEST CHOICE 2
2012-03-17 01:04:46.702 x[2346:207] C IMG: <UIImage: 0x6e7ce30>
2012-03-17 01:04:46.702 x[2346:207] C VID: GfIcEzFzqKE
In short, I can not access the text field in section 0. I tried adding a second row and it returned null too. I tried swapping question and choice cells' sections, that time it returned null for section 0 which corresponded to choices. Question cell worked well. I also tried increasing section numbers, so question cells were in section 1, choices were section 2 etc... then it returned null for section 1. I couldn't figure out what is going on, it's a really weird problem.
By the way, I can access the cell in didSelectRowAtIndexPath when indexPath is equal to the index path of the row in section 0. But when it's not, it's returning null when I do [NSIndexPath indexPathForRow:0 inSection:0].
For example in didSelectRowAtIndexPath:
if (indexPath.section==4) {
NSLog(#"TEST 1 - %#", ((AskCellQuestion *)[tableView cellForRowAtIndexPath:[NSIndexPath indexPathForRow:0 inSection:0]]).questionText.text);
//[self askTheQuestion];
} else if (indexPath.section==0) {
NSLog(#"TEST 2 - %#", ((AskCellQuestion *)[tableView cellForRowAtIndexPath:[NSIndexPath indexPathForRow:0 inSection:0]]).questionText.text);
NSLog(#"TEST 3 - %#", ((AskCellQuestion *)[tableView cellForRowAtIndexPath:indexPath]).questionText.text);
}
Gives this output when I write 'fooBar' to the question input in section 0 and click the cell at section 4 ('Ask' button):
2012-03-17 01:38:47.125 x2516:207] TEST 1 - (null)
and gives this when I click the cell at section 0, which is the cell with question input:
2012-03-17 01:38:44.782 x[2516:207] TEST 2 - fooBar
2012-03-17 01:38:44.793 x[2516:207] TEST 3 - fooBar
Thanks in advance...

Answer 1

I am thinking that to press the Add cell (indexPath section == 1, row == numberOfChoices), the cell at section 0, row 0 is outside the screen. As I understand UITableViews, UITableViewCells are being reused. Generally, if the cell is outside of the screen, it goes into the reusable pool. (If I'm wrong, please correct me.) Calling a cell outside the screen may or may not give the correct values. I would suggest storing the values in the cells somewhere else (like an #property) so that you can retrieve them later.