Implement in Table with an API

[cbartellds]

I am wanting to implement a table view, which is populated by an API, in the drop down. I added a table to the XIB file and created another XIB file for the table cell.

Primary View Controller:

class EcardSingleCategoryViewController: UIViewController, UICollectionViewDataSource, UICollectionViewDelegate, UICollectionViewDelegateFlowLayout {

var ecards = Content
let imageCache = NSCache<NSString,AnyObject>()

@IBOutlet weak var ecardCollection: UICollectionView!

var name = ""
var id = ""

override func viewDidLoad() {
    super.viewDidLoad()
    
    let ZBdropDownViews = Bundle.main.loadNibNamed("EcardCategories", owner: nil, options: nil) as? [UIView]
    let view = YNDropDownMenu(frame:CGRect(x: 0, y: 64, width: UIScreen.main.bounds.size.width, height: 64), dropDownViews: ZBdropDownViews!, dropDownViewTitles: ["Choose Category"])

   self.view.addSubview(view)
}

In the initViews() function, I get the following error ... for the "categoryTable.register( ... " code

Thread 1: Fatal error: Unexpectedly found nil while unwrapping an Optional value

I'm not sure how I would go about calling the cell's XIB file and populate the data.

Drop Down code:

class EcardCategoriesMenu: YNDropDownView {

@IBOutlet var categoryTable: UITableView!

var categories = [CategoryItem]()

override init(frame: CGRect) {
    super.init(frame: frame)
    self.initViews()
}

required init?(coder aDecoder: NSCoder) {
    super.init(coder: aDecoder)
    
    self.initViews()
}

func initViews() {
    
  //  categoryTable.register(UINib(nibName: "EcardCategoriesCell", bundle: nil), forCellReuseIdentifier: "EcardCategoriesCell")
    
    categoryTable.delegate = self
    categoryTable.dataSource = self
    
    DispatchQueue.main.async {
        let jsonUrlString = "https://*****/category"
        guard let url = URL(string: jsonUrlString) else { return }

        URLSession.shared.dataTask(with: url) { (data, response, err) in
            guard let data = data else { return }
            
            if err == nil {
                do {
                    let decoder = JSONDecoder()
                    let ecardcategory = try decoder.decode(Category.self, from: data)
                    self.categories = ecardcategory.category
                    self.categories.sort(by: {$0.title < $1.title})
                } catch let err {
                    print("Err", err)
                }
                
                DispatchQueue.main.async {
                    print(self.categories.count)
                    self.categoryTable.reloadData()
                }
            }
        }.resume()
    }
}
}
extension EcardCategoriesMenu: UITableViewDelegate, UITableViewDataSource {

func numberOfSections(in tableView: UITableView) -> Int {
    return 1
}

func tableView(_ tableView: UITableView, numberOfRowsInSection section: Int) -> Int {
    return categories.count
}

func tableView(_ tableView: UITableView, cellForRowAt indexPath: IndexPath) -> UITableViewCell {
    guard let cell = tableView.dequeueReusableCell(withIdentifier: "EcardCategoriesCell", for: indexPath) as? EcardCategoriesCell else { return UITableViewCell() }
    cell.categoryName.text = ("\(categories[indexPath.row].title)")
    return cell
}

func tableView(_ tableView: UITableView, didSelectRowAt indexPath: IndexPath) {
    let mainStoryboard:UIStoryboard = UIStoryboard(name: "Ecard", bundle: nil)
    let desVC = mainStoryboard.instantiateViewController(withIdentifier: "EcardSingleCategoryViewController") as! EcardSingleCategoryViewController
    desVC.id = String(categories[indexPath.row].id)
    let navigationController = UIApplication.shared.keyWindow?.rootViewController as! UINavigationController
    navigationController.pushViewController(desVC, animated: true)
}
}

Cell Code:

class EcardCategoriesCell: UITableViewCell {
    @IBOutlet weak var categoryName: UILabel!
}

Any help sorting through this would be great.