jomo It's funny I had tried this and it didn't work, thank you for the help though...
Was also wondering how to lock orientation...as the option below it didn't work either.. :/
In XDK, set <orientation> to <portrait> would lock to portrait. If you've tried everything but it still doesn't work, send me your capx and I'll give it a try(hide the bar & lock portrait).
Oh there's one more thing: If you are using Crosswalk, be aware you chose the correct tab.