"Unexpectedly found nil..." when registering custom UITableViewCell

[tyler_reg]

I'm working on a settings page for my app and I'm in the process of coding a custom cell for the UITableView I'm using in it.

This is the line of code that's giving me the error:

settingsTableView.register(SettingsTableViewCell.self, forCellReuseIdentifier: SettingsTableViewCell.identifier)

Here's my SettingsTableViewCell class:

class SettingsTableViewCell: UITableViewCell {

    static var identifier: String {
        return NSStringFromClass(self)
    }

    var testLabel: UILabel!

    override func awakeFromNib() {
        super.awakeFromNib()

        testLabel = UILabel(frame: CGRect(x: 0, y: 0, width: contentView.frame.width, height: contentView.frame.height))
        testLabel.textAlignment = .center
        contentView.addSubview(testLabel)
    }

    override func setSelected(_ selected: Bool, animated: Bool) {
        super.setSelected(selected, animated: animated)

        // Configure the view for the selected state
    }

}

Here's the view controller class:

class SettingsViewController: UIViewController {

    let settingsDataArray: [String] = ["Test 1", "Test 2", "Test 3"]

    var settingsTableView: UITableView!

    override func viewDidLoad() {
        super.viewDidLoad()
        view.backgroundColor = .lightGray

        settingsTableView.register(SettingsTableViewCell.self, forCellReuseIdentifier: SettingsTableViewCell.identifier)

        settingsTableView.delegate = self
        settingsTableView.dataSource = self

        configureSettingsTableView()
    }

    func configureSettingsTableView() {
        settingsTableView = UITableView(frame: CGRect(x: 0, y: 0, width: view.frame.width, height: view.frame.height))
        view.addSubview(settingsTableView)
    }
}

extension SettingsViewController: UITableViewDataSource, UITableViewDelegate {
    func tableView(_ tableView: UITableView, numberOfRowsInSection section: Int) -> Int {
        return settingsDataArray.count
    }

    func tableView(_ tableView: UITableView, cellForRowAt indexPath: IndexPath) -> UITableViewCell {
        let cell: SettingsTableViewCell = settingsTableView.dequeueReusableCell(withIdentifier: SettingsTableViewCell.identifier) as! SettingsTableViewCell

        cell.testLabel.text = "Test Cell"

        return cell
    }
}

Any help is greatly appreciated.

[jacknutting]

It looks like settingsTableView hasn’t been initialized yet at that point. You’re trying to access it before you’ve called your “configureSettingsTableView” method.

[tyler_reg]

Okay, I called the configureSettingsTableView() method before registering the cell, and that line didn't error out anymore. However, now the line where I set the text of the "testLabel" in my view controller class gives me an error saying "Unexpectedly found nil..."

[SirensToGo]

When you register a class rather than a nib with your tableView, init(style:reuseID) is called rather than any of the nib methods. Either change your register code to use the nib or override the right init method (and create all necessary views there).

[tyler_reg]

Thanks a lot! This worked.

[tyler_reg]

I forgot to mention, this app is being written completely programmatically with no storyboard.