DZNEmptyDataSet
A drop-in UITableView/UICollectionView category for displaying customizable empty state views when content is unavailable.
What is DZNEmptyDataSet?
DZNEmptyDataSet is an open-source iOS library that provides a drop-in category for UITableView and UICollectionView to display customizable empty state views when there is no content to show. It solves the problem of blank screens in list views by offering informative placeholders, improving user experience and guiding interactions.
iOS developers building apps with table views or collection views who need to handle empty data states professionally, particularly those focused on UX polish and brand consistency.
Developers choose DZNEmptyDataSet for its seamless integration without requiring subclassing, extensive customization options via protocols, and broad compatibility across iOS versions and Apple platforms, making it a reliable, production-ready solution.
Overview
A drop-in UITableView/UICollectionView superclass category for showing empty datasets whenever the view has no content to display
Use Cases
Best For
- Displaying onboarding messages in empty list views
- Showing error or no-results states in search interfaces
- Adding branded empty screens for new user accounts
- Implementing call-to-action buttons in empty table views
- Replacing default loading indicators with custom empty views
- Handling empty states in UICollectionView layouts
Not Ideal For
- Apps built entirely with SwiftUI, as the library is UIKit-specific and lacks native SwiftUI support.
- Projects requiring dynamic empty states that update in real-time without reloading the table view, as it relies on manual refresh calls.
- Teams that avoid category-based libraries due to potential method swizzling conflicts or preference for subclassing approaches.
- Developers seeking built-in, pre-styled empty state templates, since customization requires manual NSAttributedString setup.
Pros & Cons
Pros
Works as a category on UIScrollView, allowing easy addition to existing UITableView or UICollectionView without subclassing, as highlighted in the README's 'Drop-in Integration' feature.
Supports images, titles, descriptions, buttons, and custom views with NSAttributedString for detailed appearance control, enabling branded empty states as shown in the sample projects.
Automatically centers content with rotation support and allows custom vertical/horizontal offsets, ensuring consistent layouts across devices, per the 'Auto-Layout & Alignment' feature.
Compatible with iOS 6+, tvOS 9+, and works with UITableView, UICollectionView, UISearchDisplayController, and Storyboards, covering a wide range of Apple platforms.
Cons
Primarily designed for Objective-C, leading to clunky integration in modern Swift projects with @objc annotations and potential bridging issues, despite some Swift support.
Requires implementing separate DZNEmptyDataSetSource and DZNEmptyDataSetDelegate protocols, adding code overhead compared to more streamlined, declarative approaches.
Empty states don't automatically update with data changes; developers must manually call reloadData or reloadEmptyDataSet, which can be inefficient for real-time apps.
Frequently Asked Questions
Related Projects
HGPlaceholdersNice library to show placeholders and Empty States for any UITableView/UICollectionView in your project
ListPlaceholderListPlaceholder is a swift library allows you to easily add facebook style animated loading placeholder to your tableviews or collection views.
WLEmptyStateWLEmptyState is an iOS based component that lets you customize the view when the dataset of a UITableView or a UICollectionView is empty. We created a sample project with the WLEmptyState component to show how you can use it.
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