iPhone app : MPMoviePlayer: PlayVideo in Landscape mode only - iphone

Question

I have an iPhone app which runs in portrait mode only. But I want to make mpmovieplayer to play video in landscape mode only.
How can I achieve that?
Here is the code.
NSString *path = [[NSBundle mainBundle] pathForResource:lblVideoName.text ofType:#"mp4" inDirectory:nil];
NSURL *url = [[NSURL alloc] initFileURLWithPath:path];
NSLog(#"URL== %#",url);
moviePlayer = [[MPMoviePlayerController alloc]
initWithContentURL:url];
moviePlayer.controlStyle = MPMovieControlStyleDefault;
moviePlayer.shouldAutoplay = YES;
[self.view addSubview:moviePlayer.view];
[moviePlayer setFullscreen:YES animated:YES];

Answer 1

You can present the movie in it's own view controller that's setup for landscape.
// in the VC where the user indicates he wants to see a movie...
- (void)startTheMovie {
// run a storyboard segue with a modal transition, or ...
MyMovieVC *movieVC = [[MyMovieVC alloc] initWithNibName:#"MyMovieVC" bundle:nil];
[self presentModalViewController:movieVC animated:YES];
}
// in MyMovieVC
- (BOOL)shouldAutorotateToInterfaceOrientation:(UIInterfaceOrientation)interfaceOrientation
{
return (interfaceOrientation == UIInterfaceOrientationLandscapeLeft) ||
(interfaceOrientation == UIInterfaceOrientationLandscapeRight);
}
// and the code that you wrote on view will appear
You can include a dismiss button in this interface, or, the youtube way is to have it dismiss itself. You can do that by subscribing to the finished notification:
[[NSNotificationCenter defaultCenter] addObserver:self
selector:#selector(moviePlayerFinished:)
name:MPMoviePlayerPlaybackDidFinishNotification object:nil];
then, on the finished message
- (void)moviePlayerFinished:(NSNotification*)notification {
[self dismissModalViewControllerAnimated:YES];
}
Note, if you're doing this in a tabbed interface, all the tabs - even the ones not visible - need to agree to let the interface turn landscape. This makes some sense but has caused me heartache in the past. I don't have a pretty solution to this. My approach has been a publicly accessible BOOL isLandscapeOK on my AppDelegate. This MovieVC would set it to YES, and the other tab VCs would answer portrait or landscape if isLandscapeOK==YES.