Help adding a backgroundView to UITableViewCell

Question

I'm getting really desperate trying to add a UIImageView to UITableViewCell.backgroundView. All my efforts have resulted in this crappy rendering:

alt text http://img.skitch.com/20091123-ch8wk6pdxqkrn9tpftnhusigcy.jpg

It looks like the cell's label's white background is sitting on top of cell's background and covering portions of it.

I tried setting the label's background color to clear, or some other color and it does not have any event. It is always white.

The reason I know it's the text label's background causing this white area is that if I don't do [cell setText:@"Cell text here"]; the white area is gone and I see just the cell's background image.

Here's the code that I'm using. The table view is added in the .xib file and UITableView is added to UIViewController:

- (NSInteger)numberOfSectionsInTableView:(UITableView *)tableView {
    return 1;
}

- (NSInteger)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView numberOfRowsInSection:(NSInteger)section {
    return [myCollection.items count];
}

- (UITableViewCell *)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView cellForRowAtIndexPath:(NSIndexPath *)indexPath {

    NSUInteger rowIndex = indexPath.row;
    static NSString *CellIdentifier = @"Cell";

    UITableViewCell *cell = [tableView dequeueReusableCellWithIdentifier:CellIdentifier];
    if (cell == nil) {
        cell = [[[UITableViewCell alloc] initWithStyle:UITableViewCellStyleDefault reuseIdentifier:CellIdentifier] autorelease];
        cell.backgroundView = [[UIImageView alloc] initWithImage:[UIImage imageNamed:@"darkCellBackground.png"]];
        cell.selectedBackgroundView = [[UIImageView alloc] initWithImage:[UIImage imageNamed:@"darkCellBackground.png"]];
    }


    [cell setText:@"Cell text here"];


    return cell;
}

- (void)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView didSelectRowAtIndexPath:(NSIndexPath *)indexPath {
    // Navigation logic may go here. Create and push another view controller.
    // AnotherViewController *anotherViewController = [[AnotherViewController alloc] initWithNibName:@"AnotherView" bundle:nil];
    // [self.navigationController pushViewController:anotherViewController];
    // [anotherViewController release];

    [tableView deselectRowAtIndexPath:indexPath animated:YES];
}

- (BOOL)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView canEditRowAtIndexPath:(NSIndexPath *)indexPath {
    return NO;
}

I'm sure I'm doing something wrong but cant quite figure out what.

Answer 1

The solution is here: Changing UITableViewCell textLabel background color to clear

- (void)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView willDisplayCell:(UITableViewCell *)cell forRowAtIndexPath:(NSIndexPath *)indexPath {
     [[cell textLabel] setBackgroundColor:[UIColor clearColor]];
     [[cell detailTextLabel] setBackgroundColor:[UIColor clearColor]];
}