How can I do variable height table cells on the iPhone properly?

Question

My app needs to have variable height table cells (as in each table cell differs in height, not that each cell needs to be able to resize itself).

I have a solution t

Answer 1

I realise this won't work for you due to the infinite loop you mention, but I've had some success with calling the cells layoutSubViews method

Though this may be a little inefficient due to multiple calls to both cellForRowAtIndexPath and layoutSubViews, I find the code is cleaner.

-(float)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView heightForRowAtIndexPath:(NSIndexPath *)indexPath
{
    MyCell *cell = (MyCell *)[self tableView:tableView cellForRowAtIndexPath:indexPath];

    [cell layoutSubviews];

    return CGRectGetHeight(cell.frame);
}

And in the layout code:

- (void)layoutSubviews
{
    [super layoutSubviews];

    //First expand the label to a large height to so sizeToFit isn't constrained
    [self.myArbitrarilyLengthLabel setFrame:CGRectMake(self.myArbitrarilyLengthLabel.frame.origin.x,
                                          self.myArbitrarilyLengthLabel.frame.origin.y,
                                          self.myArbitrarilyLengthLabel.frame.size.width,
                                          1000)];


    //let sizeToFit do its magic
    [self.myArbitrarilyLengthLabel sizeToFit];

    //resize the cell to encompass the newly expanded label
    [self setFrame:CGRectMake(self.frame.origin.x,
                             self.frame.origin.y,
                             self.frame.size.width,
                              CGRectGetMaxY(self.myArbitrarilyLengthLabel.frame) + 10)];
}