Force Landscape mode for SMS Application?

SephirothOS · 08-22-2009, 02:18 AM

First post here and hopefully someone can help me.

Alright, so my phone is in almost perfect working order EXCEPT for the very bottom touch strip seems to not work. I am able to use my dock buttons and such but whenever I'm in the SMS application and I have to hit the very bottom to bring the keyboard up that doesn't work because that's a dead strip. (Also when trying to hit .com or any of the bottom buttons in safari) The only way I can respond to a text is to turn it to the side, wait, and use landscape mode. Super annoying.

I was wondering if anyone could create a tweak that would make my sms application start up in landscape mode and stay in it so I don't have to deal with this. It's a 2G running 3.0.1.

Thank you very much. This has been extremely frustrating for me.

csnplt · 08-22-2009, 12:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SephirothOS

First post here and hopefully someone can help me.

Alright, so my phone is in almost perfect working order EXCEPT for the very bottom touch strip seems to not work. I am able to use my dock buttons and such but whenever I'm in the SMS application and I have to hit the very bottom to bring the keyboard up that doesn't work because that's a dead strip. (Also when trying to hit .com or any of the bottom buttons in safari) The only way I can respond to a text is to turn it to the side, wait, and use landscape mode. Super annoying.

I was wondering if anyone could create a tweak that would make my sms application start up in landscape mode and stay in it so I don't have to deal with this. It's a 2G running 3.0.1.

Thank you very much. This has been extremely frustrating for me.

Sounds like you should get a new iPhone. Other than that, though, the only way to do that would be if your iPhone is jailbroken. Otherwise, all apps sold in the app store are not allowed to run in the background, so they couldn't change anything related to the orientation another app launches in. Does it work if you launch SMS while holding your phone in landscape mode?

SephirothOS · 08-22-2009, 12:36 PM

It currently is jailbroken, sadly I just bought it and didn't notice this right away.

So I was just wondering if I could ssh into it and maybe find the plist of the sms application and change it?

csnplt · 08-22-2009, 01:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SephirothOS

It currently is jailbroken, sadly I just bought it and didn't notice this right away.

So I was just wondering if I could ssh into it and maybe find the plist of the sms application and change it?

Wow, sorry to hear that. Maybe you should try to get your money back and get a new phone. Otherwise, though, your idea is very smart. Just SSH into the /Applications/ folder, go into the folder for Messages.app, or whatever the name is (I don't have an iPhone, so I don't know), and search there for info.plist, or Messages-info.plist. Download it to a folder on your computer. Write down it's permissions, also. Now, do you have a mac or a PC? Macs can read an info.plist file really easily, but I don't know about how to do it on a PC.

So, if you don't have a mac, try to find a friend with one or go to the library. Once you are on a Mac, try to open the file. If you don't see a bunch of <key></key> and <string>, then it is in binary format and needs to be converted into xml. You can use this website for that:

Binary — XML .plist converter - iAppCat

Once you have the XML info.plist file, open it up in TextEdit. Look for a Key that says "UIInterfaceOrientation". If it is there, change the value to "UIInterfaceOrientationLandscapeRight". If not, at the bottom, paste this in:

<key>UIInterfaceOrientation</key>
<string>UIInterfaceOrientationLandscapeRight</string>

Now, convert it back to binary using the same website. You don't need to do this, I think, but you might as well. Then, SSH back into your iPhone and put it in the same place that you found it, with the same permissions as the old one. The messages app should now start up in landscape mode. If this doesn't work, tell me, but I hope it will.

SephirothOS · 08-22-2009, 03:43 PM

Awesome, I'll try that out. I have a Mac so it shouldn't be too difficult. I'll get back to you with responses. Too bad there wasn't just a cydia app I could download and install.

Thanks again and hopefully this won't take too long!

SephirothOS · 08-22-2009, 04:33 PM

I found an info.plist in applications/mobileSMS.app

I added the code you told me to add and now the application doesn't even show up. The permissions and everything are the same too.

SephirothOS · 08-22-2009, 04:46 PM

Here is the original file if you want to look at it.

MEGAUPLOAD - The leading online storage and file delivery service

SephirothOS · 08-22-2009, 04:51 PM

Ahhhh, It works. Damn. Thank you very much. It will tilt back if turn it so that would be nice to edit and turn off but as of now this seems to be my best bet.

Thanks again!