Technical Q&A QA1694

Handling Popover Controllers During Orientation Changes

Q: How do I handle popover controllers when the device orientation changes?

A: How do I handle popover controllers when the device orientation changes?

When showing a popover controller, there are times when you will need to handle how the popover controller appears after a change in device orientation.

Situations when handling is required:

If the popover controller is presented from a target rectangle using the –presentPopoverFromRect:inView:permittedArrowDirections:animated: method of UIPopoverController.
If the popover controller is presented from a bar button item that is removed after the rotation has finished.

Presenting a popover controller from a target rectangle after an orientation change

In the -didRotateFromInterfaceOrientation: method of UIApplication, present the popover controller again after the rotation has finished.

Listing 1 Presenting a popover controller from a target rectangle after the rotation has finished.

- (void)didRotateFromInterfaceOrientation:(UIInterfaceOrientation)fromInterfaceOrientation
{
    [aPopover presentPopoverFromRect:targetRect.frame inView:self.view permittedArrowDirections:UIPopoverArrowDirectionAny animated:YES];
}

Do not present more than one popover controller at a time. For more information on the proper usage of UIPopoverController, read the Popover section in the in the iOS Human Interface Guidelines.
Do not use self.popovercontroller for a custom popover controller, if you are using a split-view controller. The default popover controller should be reserved for the master list view controller.

Document Revision History

Date	Notes
2010-12-10	Updated to reflect consolidated iPad/iPhone Human Interface Guidelines.
2010-05-18	Removed situations where handling of popover controllers was not required.
2010-05-17	New document that shows best practices for handling popover controllers during device orientation changes.