OT: Can you use two monitors with Viual Studio 2008?

[Martin]

Hi!

I Am thinking of purchasing a second monitor for a special work i do.

Now i am also using Visual Studio 2008, is it possible to have
a code window on one monitor and the studio/design on the other.

If so, does it work the same when developing internet applications?

Regards
Martin

 

[Mel]

Visual Studio has nothing to do with dual monitors. The operating
system/video card control this.

 

[Willy Denoyette [MVP]]

Hi!

I Am thinking of purchasing a second monitor for a special work i do.

Now i am also using Visual Studio 2008, is it possible to have a code
window on one monitor and the studio/design on the other.

If so, does it work the same when developing internet applications?

Regards
Martin

Sure, how would you use VS2008 otherwise ;-).
Seriously, this is an issue of the OS and the graphics adapter, if this
combination supports dual screens, then you can use both of them with VS.

Willy.

 

[John Vottero]

Sure, how would you use VS2008 otherwise ;-).
Seriously, this is an issue of the OS and the graphics adapter, if this
combination supports dual screens, then you can use both of them with VS.

I think the answer to the OP's question is, no. I don't believe that VS
2008 can show the code on one monitor and the studio/design on a second
monitor because, they are different tabs in the same O/S Window. You can
have VS 2008 in one monitor and VS Help and/or IE in the second monitor.

 

[Willy Denoyette [MVP]]

I think the answer to the OP's question is, no. I don't believe that VS
2008 can show the code on one monitor and the studio/design on a second
monitor because, they are different tabs in the same O/S Window. You can
have VS 2008 in one monitor and VS Help and/or IE in the second monitor.

Very true, you can drop some windows on a second monitor, but you can't have
the designer and the code window on different monitors, they are parented by
the same window.

Willy.

 

[Michael A. Covington]

A lot of people seem to have misunderstood your question.

I think you are asking: Can you put part of VS on one monitor (such as the
editor) and other parts (like the toolbox or some of the windows) on the
other monitor? That's the way Adobe graphics software works.

I think the answer is no, but even so, you can certainly read documentation
on one monitor while running VS on the other. I do this regularly -- MSDN
on the left, VS on the right.

 

[Peter Duniho]

Very true, you can drop some windows on a second monitor, but you can't
have the designer and the code window on different monitors, they are
parented by the same window.

Noting, however, that you can run multiple instances of VS, and within
those instances easily have one presenting code in one window, and a form
designer in the other.

It's sort of kludgy, and you may find yourself having to tell VS that it's
okay to reload some source file if it's open in both windows and has been
saved in one. But it would work.

Pete

 

[Willy Denoyette [MVP]]

Noting, however, that you can run multiple instances of VS, and within
those instances easily have one presenting code in one window, and a form
designer in the other.

It's sort of kludgy, and you may find yourself having to tell VS that it's
okay to reload some source file if it's open in both windows and has been
saved in one. But it would work.

Pete

Don't know, it largely depends on the size of the monitors, I'm running two
24" (1920X1200) monitors, and I'm finding myself wasting some time finding
the right window (must say I'm getting old too :-( ). Note that I'm not
doing any real development work using VS, only some prototyping. For my main
job I'm not using VS (even not Windows ;-)). So I'm not the right person to
suggest a good monitor set-up for VS I guess.

Willy.

 

[Gary Marshall]

A lot of people seem to have misunderstood your question.

I think you are asking: Can you put part of VS on one monitor (such as the
editor) and other parts (like the toolbox or some of the windows) on the
other monitor?

If this is your question, you certainly can do this - don't maximize
the Visual Studio window, instead resize the window so that it spans
both desktops. You can then dock tabs side-by-side inside of the
window allowing you to have a tab with the code on one monitor, and a
tab with design stuff on the other monitor. I have worked in this way
in the past.

Regards
Gareth Marshall

 

[RobinS]

I think the answer to the OP's question is, no. I don't believe that VS
2008 can show the code on one monitor and the studio/design on a second
monitor because, they are different tabs in the same O/S Window. You can
have VS 2008 in one monitor and VS Help and/or IE in the second monitor.

The answer is definitively yes. Been there, done that.

Did you know you can drag one of those tabs over to the side or bottom of
the middle window, and it will show where you can drop it, and you can drop
it and show two windows side by side or top and bottom? So you do this with
the code on one side, the designer on the other side, and make VS cover both
monitors. Done.

RobinS.
GoldMail, Inc. (provided me with a computer with 2 flat panel monitors.
Woo-hoo!)

 

[Willy Denoyette [MVP]]

The answer is definitively yes. Been there, done that.

Did you know you can drag one of those tabs over to the side or bottom of
the middle window, and it will show where you can drop it, and you can
drop it and show two windows side by side or top and bottom? So you do
this with the code on one side, the designer on the other side, and make
VS cover both monitors. Done.

Say you want VS with the designer on monitor 1 and the source code "window"
on monitor 2, this is not possible as you can't move a "tabbed" document
outside it's parent window, sure you can move the tabbed document in it's
container but this is not what the OP is looking for.
This is something that can be done with the other (real) windows like the
solution explorer, classview, properties..., these windows can be dropped on
the desktop outside of VS's main frame.

Willy.

 

[Marc Gravell]

Say you want VS with the designer on monitor 1 and the source code "window"

on monitor 2, this is not possible as you can't move a "tabbed" document
outside it's parent window

Well, you have have a vertical tab group, with the split on the join
between monitors; clumsy for sure, but it works...

It would be nice if they made these tabs "floatable"; teasingly, the
Start Page tab (that sits on the same tab list) *is* floatable. A
definite useful feature for a service pack ;-p (we can hope...)

Marc

 

[John B]

Hi!

I Am thinking of purchasing a second monitor for a special work i do.

Now i am also using Visual Studio 2008, is it possible to have a code
window on one monitor and the studio/design on the other.

If so, does it work the same when developing internet applications?

Regards
Martin

If you maximize the vs window across both desktops and right click on a
tab header (must have 2 or more open) and select "New vertical tab
group" it will split a tab group down the middle, effectively giving you
two workspace areas within vs.
Beware of having the design and code of a form open at the same time
though, it regularly invokes the double click when you single click onto
a form from a code window.

HTH

JB