Yes, you can set the screen orientation programatically anytime you want using:
setRequestedOrientation(ActivityInfo.SCREEN_ORIENTATION_LANDSCAPE);
setRequestedOrientation(ActivityInfo.SCREEN_ORIENTATION_PORTRAIT);
for landscape and portrait mode respectively. The setRequestedOrientation() method is available for the Activity class, so it can be used inside your Activity.
And this is how you can get the current screen orientation and set it adequatly depending on its current state:
Display display = ((WindowManager) getSystemService(WINDOW_SERVICE)).getDefaultDisplay();
final int orientation = display.getOrientation();
// OR: orientation = getRequestedOrientation(); // inside an Activity
// set the screen orientation on button click
Button btn = (Button) findViewById(R.id.yourbutton);
btn.setOnClickListener(new View.OnClickListener() {
public void onClick(View v) {
switch(orientation) {
case Configuration.ORIENTATION_PORTRAIT:
setRequestedOrientation (ActivityInfo.SCREEN_ORIENTATION_LANDSCAPE);
break;
case Configuration.ORIENTATION_LANDSCAPE:
setRequestedOrientation (ActivityInfo.SCREEN_ORIENTATION_PORTRAIT);
break;
}
}
});
Taken from here: http://techblogon.com/android-screen-orientation-change-rotation-example/
EDIT
Also, you can get the screen orientation using the Configuration:
Activity.getResources().getConfiguration().orientation