Trouble setting properties and performing actions on a tableviewcell outside of cellForRowAtIndexPath: - objective-c

Question

I have a custom tableviewcell that I create a pointer to in the header of my view controller and init inside cellForRowAtIndexPath
if ([[cellOrder objectAtIndex:indexPath.section] isEqualToString:#"balanceCell"]) {
balanceCell = (BalanceCell *) [tableView dequeueReusableCellWithIdentifier:#"balanceCell"];
if (balanceCell == nil) {
NSArray *nib = [[NSBundle mainBundle] loadNibNamed:#"BalanceCell" owner:self options:nil];
balanceCell = (BalanceCell*) [nib objectAtIndex:0];
}
return balanceCell;
}
I only have one instance of balanceCell in the table view, so I assumed that if I wanted to set any properties of the cell, I could just refer to balanceCell
However, this is not working. When the user presses a button, the method below is called (I verified that it is actually being called). However, the methods called on balance cell don't work.
- (void)addBalanceCell {
[cellOrder addObject:#"balanceCell"];
[table reloadData];
balanceCell.leftEquation = equationCell.leftView.equationOrder;
balanceCell.rightEquation = equationCell.rightView.equationOrder;
[balanceCell setUpText]; // not called
}
What is the proper way to reference balanceCell?

Answer 1

Well this isn't the interface builder way but you should have an array that functions as your datasource.
That datasource should contain the objects that define a BalanceCell.
If you can't manage those objects and reload the table then you might want to consider changing it so.
A UITableViewCell should mainly be used as a View, a means to show the data, Model, that is stored somewhere else aka your datasource.
At the moment you do "addBalanceCell" you should make a new instance of the dataObject and manage your data here. After you manage it with the data you want you can just add if to your datasource and update the table, which means you then made a new cell since there is a new entry in the datasource.
The same way you update these cells by accessing those dataObjects in your datasource. You can ask for the object in your datasource and manage it the way you want it to. If you then update the table the cell should update itself with the new data.
In short, your cell should mainly hold the means to show data, not the data itself.