UITableViewHeaderFooterView: Unable to change background color

Question

I\'m trying to change the background color of UITableViewHeaderFooterView. Although the view is appearing, the background color remains the default color. I\'m getting a log

Answer 1

Forget about difficulties.

Add to your project UITableViewHeaderFooterView+BGUpdate.swift with code below:

extension UITableViewHeaderFooterView {

    open override var backgroundColor: UIColor? {
        get {
            return self.backgroundColor
        }
        set {
            let bgView = UIView()
            bgView.backgroundColor = newValue
            backgroundView = bgView
        }
    }
}

Usage is simple as you expected before:

headerView.backgroundColor = .red

Usage examples:

1) In delegate's tableView:viewForHeaderInSection: :

func tableView(_ tableView: UITableView, viewForHeaderInSection section: Int) -> UIView? {
    let headerView = tv.dequeueReusableHeaderFooterView(withIdentifier: "MyHeaderView")
    headerView.backgroundColor = .red // <- here
    return headerView
}

or

2) In your custom header view class:

class MyHeaderView: UITableViewHeaderFooterView {

    override func awakeFromNib() {
        super.awakeFromNib()
        backgroundColor = .red // <- here
    }
}

Answer 2

For solid background colors, setting the contentView.backgroundColor should be enough:

func tableView(_ tableView: UITableView, willDisplayHeaderView view: UIView, forSection section: Int) {
    if let headerView = view as? UITableViewHeaderFooterView {
        headerView.contentView.backgroundColor = .red // Works!
    }
}

For colors with transparency, including .clear color, this no longer works:

func tableView(_ tableView: UITableView, willDisplayHeaderView view: UIView, forSection section: Int) {
    if let headerView = view as? UITableViewHeaderFooterView {
        headerView.contentView.backgroundColor = .clear // Does not work