Screen Resolution

  • Thread starter Thread starter Guest
  • Start date Start date
G

Guest

I need to make sure the machine the db is on is set to a certain resolution
in order for the db to appear correctly (and probably reset back when the app
is closed??)

What are your thoughts about doing this and ... how might one go about it?
 
John said:
I need to make sure the machine the db is on is set to a certain
resolution in order for the db to appear correctly (and probably
reset back when the app is closed??)
Click to expand...

No, you *think* you need this. You actually don't. You should design your
apps for the lowest resolution that you intend to support and make that
minimum resolution part of the published specifications for running your
application. If USERS needs to change their resolution settings to
accomodate your application then that is their decision and they can do it
themselves.
What are your thoughts about doing this and ... how might one go
about it?
Click to expand...

The only software that "gets away with" messing with resolution settings are
games. Any other software that did this would quickly end up uninstalled
and on the trash heap. Do you expect people to not use any other programs
while your app is running? What if your app changes the resolution to a
setting that is not supported by the current display? This is more common
with LCD displays.
 
I would advise very strongly against that.

Remember: yours isn't the only application on the user's machine, nor likely
the only application they'll be using. Changing their resolution will impact
everything else they're doing at the same time. Some users have their
resolution set due to vision problems: changing it would be unreasonable to
them. I've always felt that developers have a responsibility to live with
the settings their users have chosen: I know I'd quickly scrap your
application if you changed my settings.

Instead, design your application for a reasonable setting (say 800x600) and
consider having it resize itself to fit the user's actual setting. There
have been numerous posts made about ways to do this.

The Access Developer's Handbook (see http://www.developershandbook.com/) has
sample code in it, or you can download an MDE to use in your application at
http://www.developershandbook.com/downloads.htm

You could also purchase ShrinkerStretcher from
http://www.peterssoftware.com/ss.htm
 
Great feedback from both of you, thanks! I had considered some of the ideas
you posited but wanted some 'expert' feedback to back it up. Thanks for the
pointers to the various sites.
 
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