Is calling cellForRowAtIndexPath: ever practical?

Question

I\'ve seen many many developers when implementing a UITableViewDelegate and UITableViewDataSource directly call cellForRowAtIndexPat

Answer 1

I will say rmaddy is correct, though I have one case where it is arguably practical to use:

If you ever require a copy of a UITableViewCell to apply to another view.

(derived from https://github.com/Ice3SteveFortune/i3-dragndrop)

UIView* cellCopy;

UITableViewCell* cell = [self.tableView cellForRowAtIndexPath:indexPath];
NSData* viewCopyData = [NSKeyedArchiver archivedDataWithRootObject:cell];
cellCopy = [NSKeyedUnarchiver unarchiveObjectWithData:viewCopyData];

// Maybe to drag-and-drop outside of the UITableViewCell.
[self.otherView addSubview:cellCopy];  

I want to leave this here as an example of one of the few cases where it is remotely practical to call cellForRowAtIndexPath: