Grouped UITableView shows blank space when section is empty

In the above screenshot, is your numberOfSectionsInTableView: method returning a value of 5? And then is your getRowCount: method (called from numberOfRowsInSection:) returning a value of 0 for those "missing" sections (e.g. 1, 3 and 4)?

If you don't want gaps in between, the likely solution is to only declare the number of sections you want to be visible. In your example above, you'd only want to return value of 3 from numberOfSectionsInTableView:.

Here is the solution that worked for me

- (CGFloat)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView heightForHeaderInSection:(NSInteger)section {
    switch (section) {  
      case 1: case 3: case 5: return 20.0f; break;
      default: return 0.01f; // for some reason 0 is not accepted - give something :)
    }
}

- (CGFloat)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView heightForFooterInSection:(NSInteger)section {
    switch (section) {  
      case 1: case 3: case 5: return 20.0f; break;
      default: return 0.01f; // for some reason 0 is not accepted - give something :)
    }
}

I have a similar situation and my data model really works better if I can let it have empty sections.

Your problem can be solved if you set self.tableView.sectionHeaderHeight = 0; and self.tableView.sectionFooterHeight = 0; in your tableview controller. These must be 0 because the delegate methods somehow ignore a return value of 0. Then you have to override some delegate methods:

- (CGFloat)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView heightForHeaderInSection:(NSInteger)section {
    if (section==0)
        return sectionGapHeight;
    if ([self tableView:tableView numberOfRowsInSection:section]==0) {
        return 0;
    }
    return sectionGapHeight;
}
- (CGFloat)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView heightForFooterInSection:(NSInteger)section {
    if (section==[self numberOfSectionsInTableView:tableView]-1) {
        return sectionGapHeight;
    }
    return 0;
}
- (UIView *)sectionFiller {
    static UILabel *emptyLabel = nil;
    if (!emptyLabel) {
        emptyLabel = [[UILabel alloc] initWithFrame:CGRectZero];
        emptyLabel.backgroundColor = [UIColor clearColor];
    }
    return emptyLabel;
}
- (UIView *)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView viewForHeaderInSection:(NSInteger)section {
    return [self sectionFiller];
}
- (UIView *)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView viewForFooterInSection:(NSInteger)section {
    return [self sectionFiller];
}

This code will also make the gap between sections the same height as the gap before the first section and the gap below the last. That looks better in my opinion than the default where the gap between is twice as big as the ones at the top and the bottom.

This solution is based on user362178 solution. But keeps the labels of the sections intact:

Define somewhere at the top of your code:

#define HEIGHT_FOR_HEADER_AND_FOOTER 50

Add to the view did load:

self.tableView.sectionHeaderHeight = 0;
self.tableView.sectionFooterHeight = 0; 

Add these methods:

- (CGFloat)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView heightForHeaderInSection:(NSInteger)section 
{
    // Needed because if this does not return a value, the header label of the section will
    // be at the top of the screen.
    if (section == 0)
    {
        return HEIGHT_FOR_HEADER_AND_FOOTER;
    }

    if ([self tableView:tableView numberOfRowsInSection:section] == 0) 
    {
        return 0;
    }
    else   
    {
        return HEIGHT_FOR_HEADER_AND_FOOTER;
    }
}

- (CGFloat)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView heightForFooterInSection:(NSInteger)section 
{
    // if last section
    if (section == [self numberOfSectionsInTableView:tableView] - 1) 
    {
        return HEIGHT_FOR_HEADER_AND_FOOTER;
    }

    return 0;
}