Orientation Options

Launcher provides various options to rotate screen orientation.

On an unrestricted device, by default Android allows screens to rotate freely anytime the user adjusts the angle of the device.

The BlueFletch Launcher locks down Android's default rotation behavior so that the Launcher's app list and authentication screens only display in one selected orientation, usually portrait for handheld devices and landscape for tablets. To avoid confusion or mistaken taps for end-users, these screens cannot rotate freely.

However, BlueFletch provides a few options for changing the orientation of Launcher and apps within the Launcher.

Override Orientation

The base-level configuration object orientationOverride defines the orientation for the Launcher for all devices of a certain model, even if that orientation would not be standard operating behavior for the Launcher.

To specify an orientation for a given model, identify the model name of the device and the orientation for that model, either portrait or landscape.

Starting in Launcher 3.25.x, sensor orientation is also available, which will allow Launcher to rotate based on the device orientation.

For example, all Zebra ET51 model tablets could be configured to use a portrait orientation, while ET50s will be in landscape, and Samsung SM-T580s will be using the sensor mode:

  "orientationOverride": {
        "ET51": "portrait",
        "ET50": "landscape",
        "SM-T580": "sensor"
  }

Starting in Launcher 3.25.x, if the "sensor" orientation override is used, Toggle Orientation, Rotate Portrait and Rotate Landscape actions described below for that device will not be supported.

Toggle Orientation

Starting in Launcher version 3.13.20, a toggle orientation action object was made available:

{
      "label" : "Toggle Orientation", 
      "action": "com.bluefletch.launcher.ACTION_TOGGLE_ORIENTATION"   
}    

Clicking on this action button in a layout forces the Launcher to switch from whichever orientation is currently displayed to the alternative orientation. If the action is clicked while in portrait, the device orientation will switch to landscape, and vice versa.

Specify Orientation

Starting in Launcher version 3.21.17, platform actions were added to trigger screen rotation to a specified orientation. This action can be applied as a custom intent or as an action in a layout.

Portrait:

// CUSTOM INTENT
{
      "action": "com.bluefletch.launcher.ACTION_ROTATE_PORTRAIT",
      "typeIntent": "p"
}

// ACTION IN A LAYOUT
{
        "label": "Rotate to Portrait", 
        "action": "com.bluefletch.launcher.ACTION_ROTATE_PORTRAIT"
}

Landscape:

// CUSTOM INTENT
{
      "action":"com.bluefletch.launcher.ACTION_ROTATE_LANDSCAPE",
      "typeIntent": "p"
}

// ACTION IN A LAYOUT
{
        "label": "Rotate to Landscape", 
        "action": "com.bluefletch.launcher.ACTION_ROTATE_LANDSCAPE"
}

Disable Fix Orientation in Browser

Configuring the BlueFletch Browser's fixOrientation parameter to false allows the Browser to auto-rotate.

This parameter can be configured globally for the Browser:

"browser": {
    ...
    "fixOrientation": false
}

or for a specific web shortcut:

{
    "label" : "Web Shortcut",
    "url" : "https://example-web-site.com",
    "browser" : "com.bluefletch.ems.browser",
    "browserOverrides" : {
       "fixOrientation": false
    }
}