Shells and Multi-Monitor

  • Thread starter Thread starter Pascal Bouchard
  • Start date Start date
P

Pascal Bouchard

Monday morning questions....

I have two applications that must be ran at startup of my target; one is a
..NET based application and the second is WMP (Window Media Player); i have
two monitors and as much display adapter; (indeed, one application per
monitor)

Do i have to create two shells ?
If my .NET application is copied manually (not a component), is a shell
possible anyway ?
How can i specify on which monitor to display both application ?
How can i specify FullScreenMode for WMP ?
What is the best strategy for applications at startup (i will probably have
to call a few other processes at startup).

Regards.
 
Hi Pascal,
Do i have to create two shells ?
Click to expand...
This won't do any good for you :-(
If my .NET application is copied manually (not a component), is a shell
possible anyway ?
Click to expand...

Yes. Just modify registry to point to your app.
How can i specify on which monitor to display both application ?
Click to expand...
You must make your application that will start all programs and then tell them where to show them self.
How can i specify FullScreenMode for WMP ?
Click to expand...
From your shell application.
What is the best strategy for applications at startup (i will probably have
to call a few other processes at startup).
Click to expand...

Use CreateProcess from you shell application and you will be ok.

Regards,
Slobodan
PS:
For more info please ask more direct questions.
 
If i understand well, i shall write a shell application; that application
will starts all my processes using CreateProcess(); position and state
behaviors will be passed as arguments to the started processes ?

Thanks.
 
Pascal,
If i understand well, i shall write a shell application; that application
will starts all my processes using CreateProcess();
Correct.

position and state behaviors will be passed as arguments to the started processes ?
Click to expand...

It is going to be up to you and your app implementation. E.g., if you launch WMP as a standalone app - you pass <fullscreen> command
line switch (or whatever it is called). If you create an instance of WMP COM object(s), you specify the FullScreen mode through
properties, etc.
 
At this point, almost everything is done; i wrote a VB.Net application with
WMP activex control; the only remaining thing is to select my second audio
device for playback... do you have a hint for me ?
 
You probably want to take advantage of EnumDisplayDevices and
DEVMODE.dmPosition. Then set the app window in one screen and the
container window for the WMP activeX control on the other screen.
DEVMODE.dmPelsWidth and DEVMODE.dmPelsHeight will give you the
resolution, so you can then layout your windows accordingly.

-Ben

Ben Madsen
Systems Engineer
Massie Laboratories, Inc.
http://www.massie-labs.com
 
Back
Top