How to allow only single UIViewController to rotate in both Landscape and Portrait direction?

My app is only for iphone device (both iphone 4 and 5) and built to support only ios 6.

My whole app only supports portrait mode. But there is one view called "ChatView" , which i want to support both landscape and portrait modes.

I have set the required device rotations as follows -

I have also tried following code to support rotation in "ChatView" -

-(BOOL)shouldAutorotate
{
    return YES;
}

-(NSUInteger)supportedInterfaceOrientations
{
    return UIInterfaceOrientationMaskLandscape;
}

But it could not rotate that view.

I have searched a lot for this , but could not be able to find the solution for my issue.

And also in "ChatView" there are some objects like buttons, textfields whose frames are set programmaticaly. So i want to know should i have to set frames of all those objects for landscape mode also?

Please help me.

Thanks.....

Simple but it work very fine. IOS 7.1 and 8

AppDelegate.h

@property () BOOL restrictRotation;

AppDelegate.m

-(NSUInteger)application:(UIApplication *)application supportedInterfaceOrientationsForWindow:(UIWindow *)window
{
if(self.restrictRotation)
    return UIInterfaceOrientationMaskPortrait;
else
    return UIInterfaceOrientationMaskAll;
}

ViewController

-(void) restrictRotation:(BOOL) restriction
{
    AppDelegate* appDelegate = (AppDelegate*)[UIApplication sharedApplication].delegate;
    appDelegate.restrictRotation = restriction;
}

viewDidLoad

[self restrictRotation:YES]; or NO

I think if you want to support just one viewcontroller rotation, it is not possible since application will follow orientations set by you in .plist file. An alternate you can follow is to support your app for both landscape and portrait, freeze all viewcontrollers rotation to portrait except for chat view.

EDIT

To subclass UINavigationController, create a new file with name e.g. CustomNavigationController and make it subclass of UINavigationController.

.h file

#import <UIKit/UIKit.h>

@interface CustomNavigationController : UINavigationController

@end

.m file

#import "CustomNavigationController.h"

@interface CustomNavigationController ()

@end


@implementation CustomNavigationController

-(BOOL)shouldAutorotate
{
    return NO;
}

-(UIInterfaceOrientationMask)supportedInterfaceOrientations
{
    return UIInterfaceOrientationMaskAll;
}


- (BOOL)shouldAutorotateToInterfaceOrientation:(UIInterfaceOrientation)interfaceOrientation
{
    return UIInterfaceOrientationIsPortrait(interfaceOrientation);
}

@end

Set the class of your UINavigationController in your main class xib as CustomNavigationController. Hope it helps ypu..

Your view controller will never rotate to any position that is not supported by the app itself. You should enable all possible rotations and then in view controllers that are not supposed to rotate put the following lines

- (UIInterfaceOrientationMask)supportedInterfaceOrientations
{
    return UIInterfaceOrientationMaskPortrait;
}

In ChatView, it should be:

- (UIInterfaceOrientationMask)supportedInterfaceOrientations
{
    return UIInterfaceOrientationMaskAll;
}

If you need to change your layout after a rotation you should implement the appropriate changes to your subviews in

- (void)viewWillLayoutSubviews

Use self.view.bounds to check the current size of the view, since self.view.frame doesn't change after rotations.

for the specific viewcontroller.m you want to rotate

add this method:

- (BOOL)canAutoRotate
{
    return YES;
}

then inside your AppDelegate.m

- (NSUInteger)application:(UIApplication *)application supportedInterfaceOrientationsForWindow:(UIWindow *)window
{
    UIViewController *currentViewController = [self topViewController];

    if ([currentViewController respondsToSelector:@selector(canAutoRotate)]) {
        NSMethodSignature *signature = [currentViewController methodSignatureForSelector:@selector(canAutoRotate)];

        NSInvocation *invocation = [NSInvocation invocationWithMethodSignature:signature];

        [invocation setSelector:@selector(canAutoRotate)];
        [invocation setTarget:currentViewController];

        [invocation invoke];

        BOOL canAutorotate = NO;
        [invocation getReturnValue:&canAutorotate];

        if (canAutorotate) {
            return UIInterfaceOrientationMaskAll;
        }
    }

    return UIInterfaceOrientationMaskPortrait;
}

- (UIViewController *)topViewController
{
    return [self topViewControllerWithRootViewController:[UIApplication sharedApplication].keyWindow.rootViewController];
}

- (UIViewController *)topViewControllerWithRootViewController:(UIViewController *)rootViewController
{
    if ([rootViewController isKindOfClass:[UITabBarController class]]) {
        UITabBarController* tabBarController = (UITabBarController*)rootViewController;
        return [self topViewControllerWithRootViewController:tabBarController.selectedViewController];
    } else if ([rootViewController isKindOfClass:[UINavigationController class]]) {
        UINavigationController* navigationController = (UINavigationController*)rootViewController;
        return [self topViewControllerWithRootViewController:navigationController.visibleViewController];
    } else if (rootViewController.presentedViewController) {
        UIViewController* presentedViewController = rootViewController.presentedViewController;
        return [self topViewControllerWithRootViewController:presentedViewController];
    } else {
        return rootViewController;
    }
}

Ted's answer works well with the issue mentioned by Alexander of Norway. But I figured that issue is not happening the way Alexander explained,

> When ViewController B which currently is in landscape (All > orientations enabled) returns back to ViewController A. (Portrait > only) after the user clicks on the back button, > supportedInterfaceOrientationsForWindow doesn't get called and > ViewController A ends up in landscape

Actually when ViewController B which currently is in landscape (All orientations enabled) returns back to ViewController A (Portrait only) after the user clicks on the back button, Appdelegate

- (BOOL)shouldAutorotateToInterfaceOrientation:(UIInterfaceOrientation)interfaceOrientation;

is getting called. But still root view controller is ViewController B (that rotation enabled view controller), ViewController A is not getting back to portrait orientation, since ViewController B is still returning

-(BOOL)shouldAutorotate{

    return YES;
}

So when you press back button return, "shouldAutorotate -> NO" in ViewController B. Then ViewController A will come to Portrait orientation. This is what I did

@property (nonatomic, assign) BOOL canAutoRotate;

#pragma mark - Public methods
- (BOOL)canAutoRotate
{
    return _canAutoRotate;
}

#pragma mark - Button actions
- (void)backButtonPressed:(UIButton *)sender {
    _canAutoRotate = NO;
   (...)
}

#pragma mark - Init
- (id)init{
    if(self=[super init]) {
        _canAutoRotate = YES;
    }
    return self;
}

Swift 3 Kosher Version

I've left this here just for a case somebody has the problem.

Apple's documentation for supportedInterfaceOrientations says:

> When the user changes the device orientation, the system calls this method on the root view controller or the topmost presented view controller that fills the window. If the view controller supports the new orientation, the window and view controller are rotated to the new orientation. This method is only called if the view controller's shouldAutorotate method returns true.

In few words you have to override supportedInterfaceOrientations in root view controller so that it returns the value for its top child view controller and default value otherwise.

What you should do is checking if app supports all modes (go to Deployment info in targets General settings or Info.plist), find out the class of your root view controller. It can be generic UIViewController, UINavigationController, UITabBarController or some custom class. You can check it out this way:

dump(UIApplication.shared.keyWindow?.rootViewController)

Or any other way you like.

Let it be some CustomNavigationController. So you should override supportedInterfaceOrientations like this:

class CustomNavigationController: UINavigationController {

    override var supportedInterfaceOrientations: UIInterfaceOrientationMask {
        return topViewController?.supportedInterfaceOrientations ?? .allButUpsideDown
    }
}

In any view controller which should support only portrait orientation for instance override supportedInterfaceOrientations this way:

class ChildViewController: UIViewController {

    override var supportedInterfaceOrientations: UIInterfaceOrientationMask {
        return .portrait
    }
}

Then don't forget to check if shouldAutorotate of you root view controller and topmost presented view controller already returns true. If not, add this to classes definitions:

override var shouldAutorotate: Bool {
    return true
}

Otherwise supportedInterfaceOrientations will nor be called at all.

Here you go!

If you need to fix the opposite problem when only one view controller should support a bunch of orientations and others don't, make this changes to every view controller but this one.

Hope this will help.

I know this questions is very old but It needs an updated answer. The easiest and most correct way to achieve this result is to enable Portrait and Landscape in your app settings. Then add this code to your app delegate:

 func application(application: UIApplication, supportedInterfaceOrientationsForWindow window: UIWindow?) -> UIInterfaceOrientationMask {

    if let navigationController = self.window?.rootViewController as? UINavigationController {

        if navigationController.visibleViewController is INSERTYOURVIEWCONTROLLERHERE  {
            return UIInterfaceOrientationMask.All
        }
            
        else {
            return UIInterfaceOrientationMask.Portrait
        }
    }

    return UIInterfaceOrientationMask.Portrait
}

Dont forget to replace "INSERTYOURVIEWCONTROLLERHERE" with your view controller.

I'm not sure about the history of this issue (now = iOS 10 timeframe), but the easiest solution was missing as I posted this in Oct. 2016.

Assuming you want this:

1. Supporting iOS 7 and newer only (including iOS 10)
2. Some view controllers should support all orientations, others should support a subset of orientations. Example of what I mean: one view controller should only support portrait, while all others should support all orientations
3. All view controllers must auto-rotate if they support rotation (meaning, you don't want the code that fixes this issue in your view controllers)
4. Support adding UINavigationControllers in XIBs/NIBs/Storyboards without having to do anything to them

... then (IMO) the easiest solution is to make a UINavigationControllerDelegate, NOT sub-class UINavigationController (which violates assumption 4 above).

When I solved this, I decided to make my first ViewController a UINavigationControllerDelegate. This view controller sets itself as the navigation controller's delegate, and returns which orientations are allowed. In my case the default is that all orientations are allowed, with portrait preferred, but in one particular case only portrait is allowed. Code below is from Swift 3 / XCode 8:

    class iPhoneStartViewController: UIViewController {
	    
	    var navInterfaceOrientationMask: UIInterfaceOrientationMask?
	    var navInterfaceOrientationPreferred: UIInterfaceOrientation! = .portrait

	    override func viewDidLoad() {
	        super.viewDidLoad()
	        self.navigationController?.delegate = self
	    }

	    @IBAction func cameraButtonPressed(_ sender: AnyObject) {
	        if PermissionsHelper.singleton().photosPermissionGranted() == false {
	            self.navInterfaceOrientationMask = nil   // default is: all orientations supported
	            self.performSegue(withIdentifier: "segueToPhotoAccess", sender: self)
	        } else {
	            self.navInterfaceOrientationMask = .portrait // this stops the next view controller from being to rotate away from portrait
	            self.performSegue(withIdentifier: "segueToCamera", sender: self)
	        }
	    }
	 }

	 // lock orientation to portrait in certain cases only. Default is: all orientations supported
	extension iPhoneStartViewController : UINavigationControllerDelegate {
	    public func navigationControllerSupportedInterfaceOrientations(_ navigationController: UINavigationController) -> UIInterfaceOrientationMask {
	        if let mask = self.navInterfaceOrientationMask {
	            return mask
	        } else {
	            return .all
	        }
	    }
	    
	    public func navigationControllerPreferredInterfaceOrientationForPresentation(_ navigationController: UINavigationController) -> UIInterfaceOrientation {
	        return self.navInterfaceOrientationPreferred
	    }
	}

Based on @iAnum's answer, I've enabled autorotate and UIViewController class detection.

This is because otherwise transitioning into and out of the "special view controller" won't correct to portrait orientation, and you'll be stuck in an unsupported orientation.

I only had one view supporting landscape, so I just hard-coded it in the custom navigation view controller:

-(BOOL)shouldAutorotate
{
    return YES;
}

-(NSUInteger)supportedInterfaceOrientations
{
    //Access the current top object.
    UIViewController *viewController = [self.viewControllers lastObject];
    //Is it one of the landscape supported ones?
    if ([viewController isMemberOfClass:[SpecialViewController class]]) {
        return UIInterfaceOrientationMaskPortrait | UIInterfaceOrientationMaskLandscapeLeft | UIInterfaceOrientationMaskLandscapeRight;
    } else
        return UIInterfaceOrientationMaskPortrait;
}

- (BOOL)shouldAutorotateToInterfaceOrientation:(UIInterfaceOrientation)interfaceOrientation
{
    //Access the current top object.
    UIViewController *viewController = [self.viewControllers lastObject];
    //Is it one of the landscape supported ones?
    if ([viewController isMemberOfClass:[SpecialViewController class]]) {
        return interfaceOrientation;
    } else
        return UIInterfaceOrientationIsPortrait(interfaceOrientation);
}

There's a problem popping VCs discussed here https://stackoverflow.com/a/15057537/1277350 where pressing back while in landscape won't even call the orientation methods, so you've got to hack it a bit by showing and dismissing a modal view.

And then just remember that if you want willShowViewController to fire, you need to set self.delegate = self and add the UINavigationControllerDelegate to your custom navigation controller along with the code below.

- (UIInterfaceOrientation)preferredInterfaceOrientationForPresentation
{
    return UIInterfaceOrientationPortrait;
}

- (void)navigationController:(UINavigationController *)navigationController willShowViewController:(UIViewController *)viewController animated:(BOOL)animated
{
    UIApplication* application = [UIApplication sharedApplication];
    if (application.statusBarOrientation != UIInterfaceOrientationPortrait)
    {
        UIViewController *c = [[UIViewController alloc]init];
        [c.view setBackgroundColor:[UIColor clearColor]];
        [navigationController presentViewController:c animated:NO completion:^{
            [self dismissViewControllerAnimated:YES completion:^{
            }];
        }];
    }
}

make a subclass of UINavigationController like so:

MyNavigationController.h

#import <UIKit/UIKit.h>

@interface MyNavigationController : UINavigationController

@end

MyNavigationController.m

#import "MyNavigationController.h"
#import "ServicesVC.h"

@implementation MyNavigationController

-(BOOL)shouldAutorotate{
    
    return YES;
}

-(NSUInteger)supportedInterfaceOrientations{
    
    if ([[self.viewControllers lastObject] isKindOfClass:[ServicesVC class]]) {
        return UIInterfaceOrientationMaskLandscapeLeft | UIInterfaceOrientationMaskLandscapeRight;
    }
    
    return UIInterfaceOrientationMaskAll;
}

@end

assuming that your viewcontroller is named: ServicesVC

Here is the answer of Alexander (https://stackoverflow.com/posts/25507963/revisions) in Swift:

func application(application: UIApplication, supportedInterfaceOrientationsForWindow window: UIWindow?) -> Int {
    
    var currentViewController: UIViewController? = self.topViewController()
    if currentViewController != nil && currentViewController!.canAutoRotate() {
        return Int(UIInterfaceOrientationMask.All.rawValue)
    }
    return Int(UIInterfaceOrientationMask.Portrait.rawValue)

    
}

func topViewController() -> UIViewController? {
    if UIApplication.sharedApplication().keyWindow != nil
    {
        return self.topViewControllerWithRootViewController(UIApplication.sharedApplication().keyWindow!.rootViewController!)
    }
    return nil
}

func topViewControllerWithRootViewController(rootViewController: UIViewController?) -> UIViewController? {
    if rootViewController == nil {
        return nil
    }
    if rootViewController!.isKindOfClass(UITabBarController) {
        var tabBarController: UITabBarController = (rootViewController as? UITabBarController)!
        return self.topViewControllerWithRootViewController(tabBarController.selectedViewController)
    }
    else {
        if rootViewController!.isKindOfClass(UINavigationController) {
            var navigationController: UINavigationController = (rootViewController as? UINavigationController)!
            return self.topViewControllerWithRootViewController(navigationController.visibleViewController)
        }
        else {
            if (rootViewController!.presentedViewController != nil) {
                var presentedViewController: UIViewController = rootViewController!.presentedViewController!
                return self.topViewControllerWithRootViewController(presentedViewController)
            }
            else {
                return rootViewController
            }
        }
    }
}

In addition, you will need to add the following snippet in AppDelegate.swift:

extension UIViewController {
func canAutoRotate() -> Bool {
    return false
}}

And for ViewControllers for which you want to allow all rotations, add this function:

override func canAutoRotate() -> Bool {
    return true
}

// paste this method in app deligate class

- (UIInterfaceOrientationMask)application:(UIApplication )application supportedInterfaceOrientationsForWindow:(UIWindow )window
{
 if ([self.window.rootViewController.presentedViewController isKindOfClass: [_moviePlayerController class]])
  {
   if (self.window.rootViewController.presentedViewController)
        return UIInterfaceOrientationMaskAll;
    else return UIInterfaceOrientationMaskPortrait;
  }
 else return UIInterfaceOrientationMaskPortrait;
}   

I had the same situation. So I subclassed UINavigationController into CustomNavigationController, and inside this CustomNavigationController, I wrote

#define IOS_OLDER_THAN_6 ( [ [ [ UIDevice currentDevice ] systemVersion ] floatValue ] < 6.0 )
#define IOS_NEWER_OR_EQUAL_TO_6 ( [ [ [ UIDevice currentDevice ] systemVersion ] floatValue ] >= 6.0 )


#pragma mark - Rotation

#ifdef IOS_OLDER_THAN_6
- (BOOL)shouldAutorotateToInterfaceOrientation:(UIInterfaceOrientation)toInterfaceOrientation{
      return (toInterfaceOrientation == UIInterfaceOrientationPortrait);
}
#endif
#ifdef IOS_NEWER_OR_EQUAL_TO_6
-(BOOL)shouldAutorotate {
    return YES;
}
- (NSUInteger)supportedInterfaceOrientations {
    return UIInterfaceOrientationMaskPortrait;;
}
#endif

I used this CustomNavigationController instead of existing NavigationController.

Then inside the view controller that you have to display in LandScape Orientation say LandScapeView, I wrote

#pragma mark - Rotation

#ifdef IOS_OLDER_THAN_6

- (BOOL)shouldAutorotateToInterfaceOrientation:(UIInterfaceOrientation)toInterfaceOrientation{
    return (toInterfaceOrientation == UIInterfaceOrientationLandscapeRight | toInterfaceOrientation == UIInterfaceOrientationLandscapeLeft);
}

#endif

#ifdef IOS_NEWER_OR_EQUAL_TO_6

-(BOOL)shouldAutorotate {
    return YES;
}
- (NSUInteger)supportedInterfaceOrientations {
    return UIInterfaceOrientationMaskLandscapeRight | UIInterfaceOrientationMaskLandscapeLeft;
}

#endif

Inside CustomNavigationController, I presented this view controller, not pushed into Navigation Stack. So the LandScapeView appeared in LandScape Orientation.

LandScapeView *graph = [[LandScapeView alloc]init....];
[self presentViewController:graph animated:YES completion:nil];

I did not change anything in the Supported Interface Orientation in Project Settings.

If the App is supporting from IOS7 to IOS9 use this code for Orientation:

#if __IPHONE_OS_VERSION_MAX_ALLOWED < 90000
- (NSUInteger)supportedInterfaceOrientations
#else
- (UIInterfaceOrientationMask)supportedInterfaceOrientations
#endif
{
    if([AppDelegate isPad]) return UIInterfaceOrientationMaskAll;
    else return UIInterfaceOrientationMaskPortrait | UIInterfaceOrientationMaskPortraitUpsideDown;
}