As you've seen, if you want to animate an element in a cell you cannot do so at the same time as reloading the cell.
So, to get the effect you want, one approach will be to split your data into "section pairs."
So, instead of this:

you'll have this:

When tapping on a "header" section, you can animate the image view rotation for that cell while reloading the next section.
It takes a little more management of the data -- but, really, not that much.
For example, if the data structure is:
struct SortingSection {
var title: String = ""
var subtitle: String = ""
var options: [String] = []
var isOpened: Bool = false
}
in numberOfSections we can return sections.count * 2
Then, in numberOfRowsInSection, we'll get the "virtualSection" number to get the index into our data array - something like this:
override func tableView(_ tableView: UITableView, numberOfRowsInSection section: Int) -> Int {
let virtualSection: Int = section / 2
let secItem = sections[virtualSection]
if section % 2 == 0 {
return 1
}
if secItem.isOpened {
return secItem.options.count
}
return 0
}
similarly, in cellForRowAt:
override func tableView(_ tableView: UITableView, cellForRowAt indexPath: IndexPath) -> UITableViewCell {
let virtualSection: Int = indexPath.section / 2
let secItem = sections[virtualSection]
if indexPath.section % 2 == 0 {
// return a "header row cell"
}
// return a "option row cell"
}
and finally, in didSelectRowAt:
override func tableView(_ tableView: UITableView, didSelectRowAt indexPath: IndexPath) {
let virtualSection: Int = indexPath.section / 2
// if it's a "header row"
if indexPath.section % 2 == 0 {
sections[virtualSection].isOpened.toggle()
guard let c = tableView.cellForRow(at: indexPath) as? ExpandCell else { return }
UIView.animate(withDuration: 0.3) {
if self.sections[virtualSection].isOpened {
c.chevronImageView.transform = CGAffineTransform(rotationAngle: .pi/2)
} else {
c.chevronImageView.transform = .identity
}
// reload the NEXT section
tableView.reloadSections([indexPath.section + 1], with: .automatic)
}
}
}
Here's a complete implementation to try out. Everything is done via code (no @IBOutlet connections), so create a new UITableViewController and assign its custom class to ExpandSectionTableViewController:
struct SortingSection {
var title: String = ""
var subtitle: String = ""
var options: [String] = []
var isOpened: Bool = false
}
class ExpandCell: UITableViewCell {
let titleLabel = UILabel()
let subtitleLabel = UILabel()
let chevronImageView = UIImageView()
override init(style: UITableViewCell.CellStyle, reuseIdentifier: String?) {
super.init(style: style, reuseIdentifier: reuseIdentifier)
commonInit()
}
required init?(coder: NSCoder) {
super.init(coder: coder)
commonInit()
}
func commonInit() {
titleLabel.translatesAutoresizingMaskIntoConstraints = false
contentView.addSubview(titleLabel)
subtitleLabel.translatesAutoresizingMaskIntoConstraints = false
contentView.addSubview(subtitleLabel)
chevronImageView.translatesAutoresizingMaskIntoConstraints = false
contentView.addSubview(chevronImageView)
let g = contentView.layoutMarginsGuide
NSLayoutConstraint.activate([
titleLabel.topAnchor.constraint(equalTo: g.topAnchor),
titleLabel.leadingAnchor.constraint(equalTo: g.leadingAnchor),
subtitleLabel.topAnchor.constraint(equalTo: titleLabel.bottomAnchor, constant: 4.0),
subtitleLabel.leadingAnchor.constraint(equalTo: g.leadingAnchor),
chevronImageView.trailingAnchor.constraint(equalTo: g.trailingAnchor),
chevronImageView.widthAnchor.constraint(equalToConstant: 40.0),
chevronImageView.heightAnchor.constraint(equalTo: chevronImageView.widthAnchor),
chevronImageView.centerYAnchor.constraint(equalTo: g.centerYAnchor),
subtitleLabel.bottomAnchor.constraint(equalTo: g.bottomAnchor),
])
subtitleLabel.font = .systemFont(ofSize: 12.0, weight: .regular)
subtitleLabel.textColor = .gray
chevronImageView.contentMode = .center
let cfg = UIImage.SymbolConfiguration(pointSize: 24.0, weight: .regular)
if let img = UIImage(systemName: "chevron.right", withConfiguration: cfg) {
chevronImageView.image = img
}
}
}
class SubCell: UITableViewCell {
let titleLabel = UILabel()
override init(style: UITableViewCell.CellStyle, reuseIdentifier: String?) {
super.init(style: style, reuseIdentifier: reuseIdentifier)
commonInit()
}
required init?(coder: NSCoder) {
super.init(coder: coder)
commonInit()
}
func commonInit() {
titleLabel.translatesAutoresizingMaskIntoConstraints = false
contentView.addSubview(titleLabel)
let g = contentView.layoutMarginsGuide
NSLayoutConstraint.activate([
titleLabel.topAnchor.constraint(equalTo: g.topAnchor),
titleLabel.leadingAnchor.constraint(equalTo: g.leadingAnchor, constant: 20.0),
titleLabel.bottomAnchor.constraint(equalTo: g.bottomAnchor),
])
titleLabel.font = .italicSystemFont(ofSize: 15.0)
}
}
class ExpandSectionTableViewController: UITableViewController {
var sections: [SortingSection] = []
override func viewDidLoad() {
super.viewDidLoad()
let optCounts: [Int] = [
2, 3, 2, 5, 4, 2, 2, 3, 3, 4, 2, 1, 2, 3, 4, 3, 2
]
for (i, val) in optCounts.enumerated() {
var opts: [String] = []
for n in 1...val {
opts.append("Section \(i) - Option \(n)")
}
sections.append(SortingSection(title: "Title \(i)", subtitle: "Subtitle \(i)", options: opts, isOpened: false))
}
tableView.register(ExpandCell.self, forCellReuseIdentifier: "expCell")
tableView.register(SubCell.self, forCellReuseIdentifier: "subCell")
}
override func numberOfSections(in tableView: UITableView) -> Int {
return sections.count * 2
}
override func tableView(_ tableView: UITableView, numberOfRowsInSection section: Int) -> Int {
let virtualSection: Int = section / 2
let secItem = sections[virtualSection]
if section % 2 == 0 {
return 1
}
if secItem.isOpened {
return secItem.options.count
}
return 0
}
override func tableView(_ tableView: UITableView, cellForRowAt indexPath: IndexPath) -> UITableViewCell {
let virtualSection: Int = indexPath.section / 2
let secItem = sections[virtualSection]
if indexPath.section % 2 == 0 {
let c = tableView.dequeueReusableCell(withIdentifier: "expCell", for: indexPath) as! ExpandCell
c.titleLabel.text = secItem.title
c.subtitleLabel.text = secItem.subtitle
c.chevronImageView.transform = secItem.isOpened ? CGAffineTransform(rotationAngle: .pi/2) : .identity
c.selectionStyle = .none
return c
}
let c = tableView.dequeueReusableCell(withIdentifier: "subCell", for: indexPath) as! SubCell
c.titleLabel.text = secItem.options[indexPath.row]
return c
}
override func tableView(_ tableView: UITableView, didSelectRowAt indexPath: IndexPath) {
let virtualSection: Int = indexPath.section / 2
// if it's a "header row"
if indexPath.section % 2 == 0 {
sections[virtualSection].isOpened.toggle()
guard let c = tableView.cellForRow(at: indexPath) as? ExpandCell else { return }
UIView.animate(withDuration: 0.3) {
if self.sections[virtualSection].isOpened {
c.chevronImageView.transform = CGAffineTransform(rotationAngle: .pi/2)
} else {
c.chevronImageView.transform = .identity
}
// reload the NEXT section
tableView.reloadSections([indexPath.section + 1], with: .automatic)
}
}
}
}