Hello guys, This is an Example to Get Device Orientation and Set Preferred Orientation in React Native. In this example we will see how can you control screen orientation and how can you get the rotation of the screen. Sometimes it becomes very much important to manage the orientation of the screen and if it is done properly then it will provide a user-friendly experience to your app users which is very much important for a developer.
If I have to mention the most general example of screen rotation or the orientation of the screen then a video playing application like Youtube is the best example, it uses the screen very well using the orientation as users are very comfortable with portrait mode while searching and after playing a video it provides the landscape option to use your full screen.
In this example, we are going to see how to control screen rotation/orientation using react-native-orientation library.
You can also see How to Disable Screen Rotation in React Native.
Get Device Orientation
To get the orientation of the device react-native-orientation library provides two different categories:
1. Orientation
In the normal orientation we will get the following orientation as a response:
- LANDSCAPE
- PORTRAIT
- PORTRAITUPSIDEDOWN
- UNKNOWN
To get the Orientation any time use
1 | Orientation.getOrientation((err, orientation) => {}); |
To add the Orientation Listener for the change in the orientation which will be triggered automatically when the orientation of the device changes
1 | Orientation.addOrientationListener((orientation) => {}); |
To remove the Orientation Listener use
1 | Orientation.removeOrientationListener(); |
2. Specific Orientation
In the specific orientation we will get the following orientation as a response:
- LANDSCAPE-LEFT
- LANDSCAPE-RIGHT
- PORTRAIT
- PORTRAITUPSIDEDOWN
- UNKNOWN
To get the Specific Orientation any time use
1 | Orientation.getSpecificOrientation((err, specificOrientation) => {}); |
To add the Specific Orientation Listener for the change in the orientation which will be triggered automatically when the orientation of the device changes
1 | Orientation.addSpecificOrientationListener((specificOrientation) => {}); |
To remove the Specific Orientation Listener use
1 | Orientation.removeSpecificOrientationListener(); |
Set Preferred Orientation
Here are the all possible orientation which you can set using this library:
1. To Lock the View to Portrait Mode
1 | Orientation.lockToPortrait() |
2. To Locks the View to Landscape Mode
1 | Orientation.lockToLandscape() |
3. To Locks the View to Right Landscape Mode
1 | Orientation.lockToLandscapeLeft() |
4. To Locks the View to Left Landscape Mode
1 | Orientation.lockToLandscapeRight() |
5. Unlocks any Previous Locked Orientations
1 | Orientation.unlockAllOrientations() |
I think this is enough to know about the library, now let’s move towards the example. In this example, we are going to see 7 buttons on the screen in which 2 buttons will be used to get the orientation and specific orientation of the device at any time and 5 buttons to set the preferred orientation.
We have also added orientation listeners for the screen so that the current orientation of the device will be visible on the screen.
Now let’s get started with the example.
To Make a React Native App
Getting started with React Native will help you to know more about the way you can make a React Native project. We are going to use react-native init to make our React Native App. Assuming that you have node installed, you can use npm to install the react-native-cli command line utility. Open the terminal and go to the workspace and run
npm install -g react-native-cliRun the following commands to create a new React Native project
react-native init ProjectNameIf you want to start a new project with a specific React Native version, you can use the --version argument:
react-native init ProjectName --version X.XX.Xreact-native init ProjectName --version react-native@nextThis will make a project structure with an index file named App.js in your project directory.
Installation of Dependency
To use Orientation we have to install react-native-orientation dependency.
To install the dependencies open the terminal and jump into your project
1 | cd ProjectName |
Now install the dependency
1 | npm install react-native-orientation --save |
CocoaPods Installation
After the updation of React Native 0.60, they have introduced autolinking so we do not require to link the libraries but need to install pods.
In this example we need to install the pods for react-native-orientation.
Please use the following command to install CocoaPods
1 | cd ios && pod install && cd .. |
Code to Get Device Orientation and Set Preferred Orientation in React Native
Now Open App.js in any code editor and replace the code with the following code.
App.js
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 | /*Example of react native orientation*/ import React, { Component } from 'react'; import { Platform, StyleSheet, Text, View, TouchableOpacity, ScrollView, } from 'react-native'; import Orientation from 'react-native-orientation'; export default class App extends Component { constructor(props) { super(props); this.state = { currentOrientation: '', currentSpecificOrientation: '', }; } componentDidMount() { // The getOrientation method is async. It happens sometimes that // you need the orientation at the moment the JS runtime starts running on device. // `getInitialOrientation` returns directly because its a constant set at the // beginning of the JS runtime. const initial = Orientation.getInitialOrientation(); this.setState({ currentOrientation: 'Current Device Orientation: ' + initial, }); //Listner for general orientation LANDSCAPE / PORTRAIT Orientation.addOrientationListener(this._orientationChange); //Listner for more Specific Orientation //LANDSCAPE-LEFT / LANDSCAPE-RIGHT / PORTRAIT / PORTRAITUPSIDEDOWN / UNKNOWN Orientation.addSpecificOrientationListener(this._specificOrientationChange); } _orientationChange = orientation => { this.setState({ currentOrientation: 'Current Device Orientation: ' + orientation, }); }; _specificOrientationChange = specificOrientation => { this.setState({ currentSpecificOrientation: 'Current Device Specific Orientation: ' + specificOrientation, }); }; componentWillUnmount() { // Remember to remove listener Orientation.removeOrientationListener(this._orientationChange); Orientation.removeSpecificOrientationListener( this._specificOrientationChange ); } _getCurrentOrientation() { Orientation.getOrientation((err, orientation) => { alert('Orientation: ' + orientation); }); } _getCurrentSpecificOrientation() { Orientation.getSpecificOrientation((err, specificOrientation) => { alert('Specific Orientation: ' + specificOrientation); }); } render() { return ( <View style={{ flex: 1, marginTop: 30, padding: 20 }}> <ScrollView> <View style={styles.container}> <Text style={styles.textLarge}> Example of React Native Orientation </Text> <Text style={styles.textSmall}> {this.state.currentOrientation} </Text> <Text style={styles.textSmall}> {this.state.currentSpecificOrientation} </Text> <TouchableOpacity style={styles.button} onPress={() => this._getCurrentOrientation()}> <Text>get Current Orientation</Text> </TouchableOpacity> <TouchableOpacity style={styles.button} onPress={() => this._getCurrentSpecificOrientation()}> <Text>get Current Specific Orientation</Text> </TouchableOpacity> <TouchableOpacity style={styles.button} onPress={() => Orientation.lockToPortrait()}> <Text>Locks the View to Portrait Mode</Text> </TouchableOpacity> <TouchableOpacity style={styles.button} onPress={() => Orientation.lockToLandscape()}> <Text>Locks the View to Landscape Mode</Text> </TouchableOpacity> <TouchableOpacity style={styles.button} onPress={() => Orientation.lockToLandscapeLeft()}> <Text>Locks the View to Right Landscape Mode</Text> </TouchableOpacity> <TouchableOpacity style={styles.button} onPress={() => Orientation.lockToLandscapeRight()}> <Text>Locks the View to Left Landscape Mode</Text> </TouchableOpacity> <TouchableOpacity style={styles.button} onPress={() => Orientation.unlockAllOrientations()}> <Text>Unlocks any Previous Locked Orientations</Text> </TouchableOpacity> </View> </ScrollView> </View> ); } } const styles = StyleSheet.create({ container: { flex: 1, justifyContent: 'center', alignItems: 'center', }, textLarge: { fontSize: 20, textAlign: 'center', margin: 10, }, textSmall: { fontSize: 16, textAlign: 'center', margin: 10, }, button: { alignItems: 'center', backgroundColor: '#DDDDDD', padding: 10, width: 300, marginTop: 16, }, }); |
To Run the React Native App
Open the terminal again and jump into your project using.cd ProjectNamereact-native run-androidreact-native run-ios (macOS only).
This is how you can Get Device Orientation and Set Preferred Orientation in React Native. If you have any doubt or you want to share something about the topic you can comment below or contact us here. There will be more posts coming soon. Stay tuned!
Hope you liked it. 🙂
Hello !
Great article, I tried and follow it but I must have been wrong, I’ve got this error. Maybe you have an idea of where it comes from ?
TypeError: null is not an object (evaluating ‘Orientation.initialOrientation’)
– node_modules\react-native-orientation\index.js:98:23 in getInitialOrientation
* App.js:27:20 in componentDidMount
– node_modules\react-native\Libraries\Renderer\oss\ReactNativeRenderer-dev.js:15
036:10 in commitLifeCycles
– node_modules\react-native\Libraries\Renderer\oss\ReactNativeRenderer-dev.js:16
636:8 in commitAllLifeCycles
– … 21 more stack frames from framework internals
Can you please install the pods?