MPMoviewPlayerController fullscreen playback rotation with underlying UIViewController with portrait mode only (rotation disallowed)

Question

Hallo,

I have a simple application, which does contain UITabBarController with two UIViewControllers. Both UIViewControllers are portrait only (no rotation allowed).

Answer 1

I have a very similar situation. My app is portrait-only. But I need to show full-screen videos in any orientation, and then get back to the portrait orientation, after the user quits full-screen mode.

Split's method doesn't work for me, because I would like to let user watch the video in fullscreen and embedded, and switch between modes, not loosing the play position, and without any pauses.

I found this workaround:

First, I have a root UINavigationController subclass, that receives all messages regarding rotation.

I forbid the rotation in this controller with:

- (BOOL) shouldAutorotateToInterfaceOrientation: (UIInterfaceOrientation)toInterfaceOrientation {
    return (UIInterfaceOrientationPortrait == toInterfaceOrientation);
}

I am overriding the

- (id) initWithRootViewController:(UIViewController *)rootViewController; method. 

Adding the support for device orientation modifications:

[[UIDevice currentDevice] beginGeneratingDeviceOrientationNotifications];

[[NSNotificationCenter defaultCenter] addObserver: self selector: @selector(receivedRotate:) name: UIDeviceOrientationDidChangeNotification object: nil];

Now I have a handler receivedRotate: - that catches all the device rotations in spite of not auto-rotating to any orientations except portrait:

- (void) receivedRotate:(NSNotification*) notify {
    if(isVideoFullscreen) {
        UIDeviceOrientation toInterfaceOrientation = [[UIDevice currentDevice] orientation];
        [UIView beginAnimations:nil context:NULL];
        [UIView setAnimationDuration:0.4];
        [UIView setAnimationCurve:2];

        if(toInterfaceOrientation == UIInterfaceOrientationLandscapeLeft){
            self.view.transform = CGAffineTransformMakeRotation(-M_PI_2);
            [[UIApplication sharedApplication] setStatusBarOrientation:UIInterfaceOrientationLandscapeLeft];
            self.view.bounds = CGRectMake(0, 0, 1024, 768);
        } else if(toInterfaceOrientation == UIInterfaceOrientationLandscapeRight) {
            self.view.transform = CGAffineTransformMakeRotation(M_PI_2);
            [[UIApplication sharedApplication] setStatusBarOrientation:UIInterfaceOrientationLandscapeRight]; 
            self.view.bounds = CGRectMake(0, 0, 1024, 768);            
        } else if(toInterfaceOrientation == UIInterfaceOrientationPortraitUpsideDown) {
            self.view.transform = CGAffineTransformMakeRotation(M_PI);
            [[UIApplication sharedApplication] setStatusBarOrientation:UIInterfaceOrientationPortraitUpsideDown];
            self.view.bounds = CGRectMake(0, 0, 768, 1024);
        } else if(toInterfaceOrientation == UIInterfaceOrientationPortrait) {
            self.view.transform = CGAffineTransformMakeRotation(0);
            [[UIApplication sharedApplication] setStatusBarOrientation:UIInterfaceOrientationPortrait];
            self.view.bounds = CGRectMake(0, 0, 768, 1024);
        }

        [UIView commitAnimations];
    }

}

I just check the rotations of the device, and rotate my view accordingly.

Then - how do the root controller knows, when the video is fullscreen? Just add two other message handlers to the init:

[[NSNotificationCenter defaultCenter] addObserver:self selector:@selector(willEnterFullscreen:) name:MPMoviePlayerWillEnterFullscreenNotification object:nil];
    [[NSNotificationCenter defaultCenter] addObserver:self selector:@selector(willExitFullscreen:) name:MPMoviePlayerWillExitFullscreenNotification object:nil];

And the handlers themselves:

- (void) willEnterFullscreen: (NSNotification *) notify {
    isVideoFullscreen = YES;
}

- (void) willExitFullscreen: (NSNotification *) notify {
    self.view.transform = CGAffineTransformMakeRotation(0);
    [[UIApplication sharedApplication] setStatusBarOrientation:UIInterfaceOrientationPortrait];
    self.view.bounds = CGRectMake(0, 0, 768, 1024);    
    isVideoFullscreen = NO;
}

When exiting fullscreen - we restore the portrait orientation. So, this works for me, hope it will help someone.