Android. How to make application completely ignore screen orientation change?

Question

Hi,

is there a way to make application to completely ignore screen orientation change?

Thanks.

Answer 1

It is possible, quite easily, to override default behavior and forbid screen orientation change when keyboard is open/closed.

Modifying manifest

Open manifest, switch to Application tab and select desired Activity you wish to override orientation change behavior.

1. Within Attributes you need to change two fields: Screen orientation: select either portrait or landscape - whichever is desired. This will be default layout.
2. Select events for Config changes you wish to override: In this case these are keyboardHidden and orientation.

Modifying Activity implementation

Now you need to override single function within desired Activity.

Just add below function to your Activity's class.

@Override public void onConfigurationChanged(Configuration newConfig) { super.onConfigurationChanged(newConfig); }

This is default implementation if using Source->Override/Implement Methods menu option.

That's it! Now your orientation will be kept always.

Remeber that this setting is per Activity - so you need to repeat this step for each Activity you wish to forbid orientation change!

(based on SDK 1.1)

Answer 2

You can make the same change in code with the following line (called in an activity):

setRequestedOrientation(ActivityInfo.SCREEN_ORIENTATION_LANDSCAPE);

Once you make this call, your application will stay in landscape (or portrait), you can use the same call (with a different ActivityInfo enum) to make it sensitive to the orientation shifting again.

There's a full DevX article on the topic here: http://www.devx.com/wireless/Article/40792

(WARNING: since I've posted this link devx has put up a registration wall)

Answer 3

You can define your activity in AndroidManifest.xml like this:

<activity android:name=".MyActivity" android:screenOrientation="portrait" android:configChanges="orientation|keyboardHidden|keyboard"/>

In this case you should set the property for each activity. I didn't find inline solution for all application.

Answer 4

Just one note that apparently in Android 1.5 there is a bug. If you use a custom screen size (e.g. 800x480, like on the Apad) and force it to landscape (either via XML or from the code) then it will be in fact in portrait.