Qt C++ / objective-C application, lock iPad screen orientation programmatically - c++

Question

I have a Qt / QML application on iOS. It is coded in C++ but I can include objective-c code in it.
I can change programmatically the orientation of the screen, which changes the orientation of the application, without changing the orienation of the iPad, and the user has to turn it when he notices the change of orientation of the screen.
I do that as I need to force the orientation depending on what I display on the application.
What I need to do now is to lock the automatic change of orientation (due to physical change) as I need it to be landscape sometimes and portrait other times.
To change the orientation programmatically, I found the above solution which works:
in my plist file, orientations must be allowed:
<key>UISupportedInterfaceOrientations</key>
<array>
<string>UIInterfaceOrientationPortrait</string>
<string>UIInterfaceOrientationLandscapeRight</string>
</array>
in my C++ code where I can insert objective-c:
void setScreenOrientation(bool inIsPortrait)
{
if(#available(iOS 16, *))
{
NSArray *array = [[[UIApplication sharedApplication] connectedScenes] allObjects];
UIWindowScene *scene = (UIWindowScene *)array[0];
UIInterfaceOrientationMask newOrientation;
if(inIsPortrait)
newOrientation = UIInterfaceOrientationMaskPortrait;
else
newOrientation = UIInterfaceOrientationMaskLandscapeRight;
UIWindowSceneGeometryPreferencesIOS *geometryPreferences = [[UIWindowSceneGeometryPreferencesIOS alloc] initWithInterfaceOrientations:newOrientation];
[scene requestGeometryUpdateWithPreferences:geometryPreferences errorHandler:^(NSError * _Nonnull error) { }];
}
else
{
//does not work on iOS 16, outputs following error:
//[Orientation] BUG IN CLIENT OF UIKIT: Setting UIDevice.orientation is not supported. Please use UIWindowScene.requestGeometryUpdate(_:)
NSNumber *newOrientation;
if(inIsPortrait)
newOrientation = [NSNumber numberWithInt:UIInterfaceOrientationPortrait];
else
newOrientation = [NSNumber numberWithInt:UIInterfaceOrientationLandscapeRight];
[[UIDevice currentDevice] setValue:newOrientation forKey:#"orientation"];
}
}
}
So with that, when I want to change the orientation from portrait to landscape or vice versa, I just call the function with the correct parameter.
The problem is that when I physically turn the iPad, the screen automatically changes its orientation due to the plist file. So when I force to landscape, the user sees the change so turns its iPad, but if he turns back to portrait, the automatic change will put back the screen to portrait, without calling my function of course.
I can't remove the orientations from the plist file as they are required if I want to change it programmatically.
But I would like to lock the screen in the selected orientation at the end of the function, and of course, unlock it at the beginning, so that physically turn the iPad won't change the screen orientation.
I found solutions with the function "shouldAutorotate" but it has to be overwritten and called in viewDidLoad or supportedInterfaceOrientationsForWindow which are specific to an objective-c implementation and architecture.
I found : Lock orientation with native Objective-C code from Qt
but I can't do that in my code as I don't have any ViewController, ... it's a Qt / QML application.
I would like to have something that I can call in my function, something to change the supported orientations, so modify "supportedInterfaceOrientationsForWindow" by calling it directly in a function. Something like:
[[UIApplication ???] supportedInterfaceOrientationsForWindow] = UIInterfaceOrientationMaskPortrait; //or UIInterfaceOrientationMaskLandscapeRight depending on what I need
or any other instructions but without having to override supportedInterfaceOrientationsForWindow.
Thanks