allowing for size variations

[Taurus]

I made a CD of my program to test installation on another computer. The
computer I installed it to has a different size monitor than the one where i
created it. My labels were partially cut off and my graphics did not look
good. I could make my graphics smaller I guess and my labels larger but then
the labels would probably look too large on another person's computer.

There must be some way to allow for this only I don't know how. Could
someone tell me how you can make your program adjust to the size monitor it
is being installed on?

Rachel

[Patrick Marshall]

Hi Rachel,

Your forms are sized usually in "twips".
Any monitor will show at least VGA (640
x 480 pixels or 9600 x 7200 twips)

From the VB help file:

twip

A screen-independent unit used to ensure that placement
and proportion of screen elements in your screen application
are the same on all display systems. A twip is a unit of
screen measurement equal to 1/20 of a printer's point.
There are approximately 1440 twips to a logical inch or
567 twips to a logical centimeter (the length of a screen
item measuring one inch or one centimeter when printed).

Use the constants TwipsPerPixelX, and TwipsPerPixelY to
convert horizontal and vertical pixels to twips.

It is usual to size your forms to VGA so that they always
fit the screen. Depending on your screen settings your
form will either fill the screen (VGA) or will be smaller.
The size of your MONITOR actually has nothing to do
with the size of the form on the screen, it is strictly
a matter of display area (e.g. 800 x 600, 1024 x 768 etc.).
The fraction of screen width/height of your form will
be constant for a given screen setting on any size
monitor (e.g. your form will take up 3/4 of the screen
width on any monitor set to 800 x 600, whether it
is a 13" monitor or 25").

Use small fonts when designing and choose font sizes
which fit your controls.

You can resize your form to fill the screen if you
like (me.windowstate = vbmaximized).

You can resize controls on your form if you like on
the form resize, but you should limit this to controls
such as grids or richText controls which are natural
to have large viewing/editing areas. Controls such
as command buttons are usually a fixed size.

If you give a rough description of the controls
on your form, I could show you an example of
form resizing (it varies with control placement,
so it's not easy to describe without specifics).

<Patrick>

"Taurus" <taurus@shentel.net> wrote:
>I made a CD of my program to test installation on another computer. The
>computer I installed it to has a different size monitor than the one where
i
>created it. My labels were partially cut off and my graphics did not look
>good. I could make my graphics smaller I guess and my labels larger but
then
>the labels would probably look too large on another person's computer.
>
>There must be some way to allow for this only I don't know how. Could
>someone tell me how you can make your program adjust to the size monitor
it
>is being installed on?
>
>Rachel
>
>

[Patrick Marshall]

Hi Rachel,

Just noticed that there is an ongoing thread on
the same topic, see:

http://news.devx.com/cgi-bin/dnewswe...em=14440&utag=

<Patrick>

[Taurus]

Thanks a lot Patrick. That article gave me a lot of info.

RAchel
<Patrick Marshall> wrote in message news:3959330c$1@news.devx.com...
>
> Hi Rachel,
>
> Just noticed that there is an ongoing thread on
> the same topic, see:
>
>
http://news.devx.com/cgi-bin/dnewswe....getting.start
ed&item=14440&utag=
>
> <Patrick>

[Kathleen Dollard-Joeris]

Taurus,

If you don't get an answer you are happy with, let's discuss it further. I
disagree with resizing things to fill the user's screen to the same
proportion as the programmers. I would not allow any such program on my own
computer.

Users are different. They have different vision and select how they run
their computers for their own convenience. It is a basic tenet of Windows
that color and font size is in the users control.

That does make us programmers work harder. But a lot of folks here have been
doing it for a long time. The most important point is that if you design for
the lowest resolution you will support (either 480x600 or 600x800). In many
cases, no resizing work is then needed. Your program simply takes up less of
the screen if your user has a higher resolution.

--
Kathleen
(MS-MVP)
Reply in the newsgroup so everyone can benefit
--

Taurus <taurus@shentel.net> wrote in message news:39595441@news.devx.com...
> Thanks a lot Patrick. That article gave me a lot of info.
>
> RAchel
> <Patrick Marshall> wrote in message news:3959330c$1@news.devx.com...
> >
> > Hi Rachel,
> >
> > Just noticed that there is an ongoing thread on
> > the same topic, see:
> >
> >
>
http://news.devx.com/cgi-bin/dnewswe....getting.start
> ed&item=14440&utag=
> >
> > <Patrick>
>
>

[Rick Rothstein]

Actually designing for 640x480 also adequately supports 1024x768 resolutions
too. The odds are great that if they are using that resolution, it is on a
"large" monitor and the extra screen area tend to compensate for the
"smallness" of your form at that resolution.

Rick



"Kathleen Dollard-Joeris" <kjoeris@noemailplease.com> wrote in message
news:3959d85d$1@news.devx.com...
> Taurus,
>
> If you don't get an answer you are happy with, let's discuss it further. I
> disagree with resizing things to fill the user's screen to the same
> proportion as the programmers. I would not allow any such program on my
own
> computer.
>
> Users are different. They have different vision and select how they run
> their computers for their own convenience. It is a basic tenet of Windows
> that color and font size is in the users control.
>
> That does make us programmers work harder. But a lot of folks here have
been
> doing it for a long time. The most important point is that if you design
for
> the lowest resolution you will support (either 480x600 or 600x800). In
many
> cases, no resizing work is then needed. Your program simply takes up less
of
> the screen if your user has a higher resolution.
>
> --
> Kathleen
> (MS-MVP)
> Reply in the newsgroup so everyone can benefit
> --
>
> Taurus <taurus@shentel.net> wrote in message
news:39595441@news.devx.com...
> > Thanks a lot Patrick. That article gave me a lot of info.
> >
> > RAchel
> > <Patrick Marshall> wrote in message news:3959330c$1@news.devx.com...
> > >
> > > Hi Rachel,
> > >
> > > Just noticed that there is an ongoing thread on
> > > the same topic, see:
> > >
> > >
> >
>
http://news.devx.com/cgi-bin/dnewswe....getting.start
> > ed&item=14440&utag=
> > >
> > > <Patrick>
> >
> >
>
>

[Taurus]

This may be a stupid question but if my computer is set at 600 x 800, how
would i design the program at the lower resolution? Would i change my
computer settings just for the design of my project, then change it back
later? I wasn't sure if it would work properly if i changed my resolution.
Rachel


Kathleen Dollard-Joeris <kjoeris@noemailplease.com> wrote in message
news:3959d85d$1@news.devx.com...
> Taurus,
>
> If you don't get an answer you are happy with, let's discuss it further. I
> disagree with resizing things to fill the user's screen to the same
> proportion as the programmers. I would not allow any such program on my
own
> computer.
>
> Users are different. They have different vision and select how they run
> their computers for their own convenience. It is a basic tenet of Windows
> that color and font size is in the users control.
>
> That does make us programmers work harder. But a lot of folks here have
been
> doing it for a long time. The most important point is that if you design
for
> the lowest resolution you will support (either 480x600 or 600x800). In
many
> cases, no resizing work is then needed. Your program simply takes up less
of
> the screen if your user has a higher resolution.
>
> --
> Kathleen
> (MS-MVP)
> Reply in the newsgroup so everyone can benefit
> --
>
> Taurus <taurus@shentel.net> wrote in message
news:39595441@news.devx.com...
> > Thanks a lot Patrick. That article gave me a lot of info.
> >
> > RAchel
> > <Patrick Marshall> wrote in message news:3959330c$1@news.devx.com...
> > >
> > > Hi Rachel,
> > >
> > > Just noticed that there is an ongoing thread on
> > > the same topic, see:
> > >
> > >
> >
>
http://news.devx.com/cgi-bin/dnewswe....getting.start
> > ed&item=14440&utag=
> > >
> > > <Patrick>
> >
> >
>
>

[Patrick Marshall]

Hi Rachel,

You can keep your screen resolution at 800 x 600,
just make sure your form is smaller than
9600 x 7200 twips in width x height (remember
to allow for toolbars and menu lines, etc.)

For testing purposes, I would do a final pass
with your screen settings to 640 x 480 just
to be sure, but you don't have to work that
way continuously. Note that VGA is also
only 16 color, so your app may have some
strange dithered colors.

BTW, I totally agree with Kathleen and Rick,
I personally never resize controls to take over
screen space (without the user selecting maximize).
If a user has a larger monitor it is usually so
(s)he can keep more applications side by side
rather than having a single dominant app. While
there are controls which allow you to automatically
expand your app to fill the screen, I see no real
need for this.

<Patrick>


"Taurus" <taurus@shentel.net> wrote:
>This may be a stupid question but if my computer is set at 600 x 800, how
>would i design the program at the lower resolution? Would i change my
>computer settings just for the design of my project, then change it back
>later? I wasn't sure if it would work properly if i changed my resolution.
>Rachel

[Kathleen Dollard-Joeris]

Rick,

I am not sure I understand what you trying to say.

--
Kathleen
(MS-MVP)
Reply in the newsgroup so everyone can benefit
--
Rick Rothstein <rick_newsgroup@email.com> wrote in message
news:3959ee5b@news.devx.com...
> Actually designing for 640x480 also adequately supports 1024x768
resolutions
> too. The odds are great that if they are using that resolution, it is on a
> "large" monitor and the extra screen area tend to compensate for the
> "smallness" of your form at that resolution.
>
> Rick

[Kathleen Dollard-Joeris]

Patrick,

> While
> there are controls which allow you to automatically
> expand your app to fill the screen, I see no real
> need for this.

Except for one. Apps that are designed to be run on an overhead. And maybe a
kiosk.

I wonder if we should throw around resizing ideas again where the _use_
resizes the form.

--
Kathleen
(MS-MVP)
Reply in the newsgroup so everyone can benefit
--

[Rick Rothstein]

Let's say you have a 15-inch monitor and it is set to 640x480. You design a
program to nearly fill that screen. Now you decide that you would like to
use 1024x768 resolution so you reset your display properties. When you next
run your program, you find the text on your 640x480 project is hard to read
because it is now much smaller on the screen at this new resolution (it no
longer fills the whole display). Now, throw away that 15-inch monitor and
replace it with a larger one, say 19-inches. Now when you view your program
on this larger monitor, the *physical* size of your form is bigger than on
the 15-inch monitor (due to the "larger" pixels on the larger monitor for
the same fixed display setting). This larger displayed form is easier to
read (you don't have to squint anymore); sort of like looking through a
magnifying glass. The point I was trying to make is that people who use
higher resolutions tend to be doing so on larger monitors; hence the above
effect comes into play.

Rick


"Kathleen Dollard-Joeris" <kjoeris@noemailplease.com> wrote in message
news:395b4c3f@news.devx.com...
> Rick,
>
> I am not sure I understand what you trying to say.
>
> --
> Kathleen
> (MS-MVP)
> Reply in the newsgroup so everyone can benefit
> --
> Rick Rothstein <rick_newsgroup@email.com> wrote in message
> news:3959ee5b@news.devx.com...
> > Actually designing for 640x480 also adequately supports 1024x768
> resolutions
> > too. The odds are great that if they are using that resolution, it is on
a
> > "large" monitor and the extra screen area tend to compensate for the
> > "smallness" of your form at that resolution.
> >
> > Rick
>
>
>

[Patrick Marshall]

Hi Kathleen,

You are right, I've written apps for a video kiosk
where the keyboard was removed and the user
would point and click on icons on a maximized
screen with no means of exiting. I should have
been more specific and said that I see no real
need for an app that takes over the desktop in
a "general" user scenario. I've never written
an app to run on an overhead...I feel deprived.

On the flip side, I've also written apps where
the _users_ demanded so many features
on a single form that I mandated an 800 x 600
minimum size desktop. Since the app was
central to the group's job function, they went
along with this pretty readily. Obviously, in a
controlled business environment, you can
have some control over your users (at least
in desktop size ;-)

I'd be happy to throw around any ideas regarding
user form resizing. I've got numerous examples
(virtually all my non-fixed-sized forms have some
resizing features), though they do tend to be
rather specific to the form type and application
to defy formulaic generalization.

<Patrick>


"Kathleen Dollard-Joeris" <kjoeris@noemailplease.com> wrote:
>Patrick,
>
>> While
>> there are controls which allow you to automatically
>> expand your app to fill the screen, I see no real
>> need for this.
>
>Except for one. Apps that are designed to be run on an overhead. And maybe
a
>kiosk.
>
>I wonder if we should throw around resizing ideas again where the _use_
>resizes the form.
>
>--
>Kathleen
>(MS-MVP)
>Reply in the newsgroup so everyone can benefit
>--
>
>