How to force view controller orientation in iOS 8?

Question

Before iOS 8, we used below code in conjunction with supportedInterfaceOrientations and shouldAutoRotate delegate methods to force app orientation to any particular orientation. I used below code snippet to programmatically rotate the app to desired orientation. Firstly, I am changing the status bar orientation. And then just presenting and immediately dismissing a modal view rotates the view to desired orientation.

[[UIApplication sharedApplication] setStatusBarOrientation:UIInterfaceOrientationLandscapeRight animated:YES];
UIViewController *c = [[UIViewController alloc]init];
[self presentViewController:vc animated:NO completion:nil];
[self dismissViewControllerAnimated:NO completion:nil];

But this is failing in iOS 8. Also, I have seen some answers in stack overflow where people suggested that we should always avoid this approach from iOS 8 onwards.

To be more specific, my application is a universal type of application. There are three controllers in total.

1. First View controller- It should support all orientations in iPad and only portrait (home button down) in iPhone.

2. Second View controller- It should support only landscape right in all conditions

3. Third View controller- It should support only landscape right in all conditions

We are using navigation controller for page navigation. From the first view controller, on a button click action, we are pushing the second one on stack. So, when the second view controller arrives, irrespective of device orientation, the app should lock in landscape right only.

Below is my shouldAutorotate and supportedInterfaceOrientations methods in second and third view controller.

-(NSUInteger)supportedInterfaceOrientations{
    return UIInterfaceOrientationMaskLandscapeRight;
}

-(BOOL)shouldAutorotate {
    return NO;
}

Is there any solution for this or any better way of locking a view controller in particular orientation for iOS 8. Please help!!

Answer 1

This should work from iOS 6 on upwards, but I've only tested it on iOS 8. Subclass UINavigationController and override the following methods:

- (UIInterfaceOrientation)preferredInterfaceOrientationForPresentation {
    return UIInterfaceOrientationLandscapeRight;
}

- (BOOL)shouldAutorotate {
    return NO;
}

Or ask the visible view controller

- (UIInterfaceOrientation)preferredInterfaceOrientationForPresentation {
    return self.visibleViewController.preferredInterfaceOrientationForPresentation;
}

- (BOOL)shouldAutorotate {
    return self.visibleViewController.shouldAutorotate;
}

and implement the methods there.

Answer 2

According to Korey Hinton's answer

Swift 2.2:

extension UINavigationController {
    public override func supportedInterfaceOrientations() -> UIInterfaceOrientationMask {
        return visibleViewController!.supportedInterfaceOrientations()
    }
    public override func shouldAutorotate() -> Bool {
        return visibleViewController!.shouldAutorotate()
    }
}


extension UITabBarController {
    public override func supportedInterfaceOrientations() -> UIInterfaceOrientationMask {
        if let selected = selectedViewController {
            return selected.supportedInterfaceOrientations()
        }
        return super.supportedInterfaceOrientations()
    }
    public override func shouldAutorotate() -> Bool {
        if let selected = selectedViewController {
            return selected.shouldAutorotate()
        }
        return super.shouldAutorotate()
    }
}

Disable Rotation

override func shouldAutorotate() -> Bool {
    return false
}

Lock to Specific Orientation

override func supportedInterfaceOrientations() -> UIInterfaceOrientationMask {
    return UIInterfaceOrientationMask.Portrait
}

Answer 3

According to solution showed by @sid-sha you have to put everything in the viewDidAppear: method, otherwise you will not get the didRotateFromInterfaceOrientation: fired, so something like:

- (void)viewDidAppear:(BOOL)animated {
    [super viewDidAppear:animated];
    UIInterfaceOrientation interfaceOrientation = [[UIApplication sharedApplication] statusBarOrientation];
    if (interfaceOrientation == UIInterfaceOrientationLandscapeLeft ||
        interfaceOrientation == UIInterfaceOrientationLandscapeRight) {
        NSNumber *value = [NSNumber numberWithInt:interfaceOrientation];
        [[UIDevice currentDevice] setValue:value forKey:@"orientation"];
    }
}

Answer 4

I have tried many solutions, but the one that worked for is the following:

There is no need to edit the info.plist in ios 8 and 9.

- (BOOL) shouldAutorotate {
    return NO;
}   

- (UIInterfaceOrientationMask)supportedInterfaceOrientations {
    return (UIInterfaceOrientationPortrait | UIInterfaceOrientationPortraitUpsideDown);
}

Possible orientations from the Apple Documentation:

UIInterfaceOrientationUnknown

The orientation of the device cannot be determined.

UIInterfaceOrientationPortrait

The device is in portrait mode, with the device held upright and the home button on the bottom.

UIInterfaceOrientationPortraitUpsideDown

The device is in portrait mode but upside down, with the device held upright and the home button at the top.

UIInterfaceOrientationLandscapeLeft

The device is in landscape mode, with the device held upright and the home button on the left side.

UIInterfaceOrientationLandscapeRight

The device is in landscape mode, with the device held upright and the home button on the right side.

Answer 5

This way work for me in Swift 2 iOS 8.x:

PS (this method dont require to override orientation functions like shouldautorotate on every viewController, just one method on AppDelegate)

Check the "requires full screen" in you project general info.

So, on AppDelegate.swift make a variable:

var enableAllOrientation = false

So, put also this func:

func application(application: UIApplication, supportedInterfaceOrientationsForWindow window: UIWindow?) -> UIInterfaceOrientationMask {
        if (enableAllOrientation == true){
            return UIInterfaceOrientationMask.All
        }
        return UIInterfaceOrientationMask.Portrait
}

So, in every class in your project you can set this var in viewWillAppear:

override func viewWillAppear(animated: Bool)
{
        super.viewWillAppear(animated)
        let appDelegate = UIApplication.sharedApplication().delegate as! AppDelegate
        appDelegate.enableAllOrientation = true
}

If you need to make a choices based on the device type you can do this:

override func viewWillAppear(animated: Bool)
    {
        super.viewWillAppear(animated)
        let appDelegate = UIApplication.sharedApplication().delegate as! AppDelegate
        switch UIDevice.currentDevice().userInterfaceIdiom {
        case .Phone:
        // It's an iPhone
           print(" - Only portrait mode to iPhone")
           appDelegate.enableAllOrientation = false
        case .Pad:
        // It's an iPad
           print(" - All orientation mode enabled on iPad")
           appDelegate.enableAllOrientation = true
        case .Unspecified:
        // Uh, oh! What could it be?
           appDelegate.enableAllOrientation = false
        }
    }

Answer 6

Use this to lock view controller orientation, tested on IOS 9:

// Lock orientation to landscape right

-(UIInterfaceOrientationMask)supportedInterfaceOrientations {
    return UIInterfaceOrientationMaskLandscapeRight;
}

-(NSUInteger)navigationControllerSupportedInterfaceOrientations:(UINavigationController *)navigationController {
    return UIInterfaceOrientationMaskLandscapeRight;
}