Screen size

[DanBrill]

Hello all,

Even short forum outages leave me on edge. What if it never comes back? What will I do? How will I get high-quality free help? Argh! Well it seems to be back for the time being, so I'll sneak in a question or two.

I need to have various windows sized to fit on various users' monitor. I've read enough to know that the way to force the size of a window in FM is to create a blank layout and then put a rectangle object on it the size that you want the screen. Switch to the layout, zoom to the rectangle to force the size of the window, and then go back to the original layout. (This is one way to do it at least. There may be more, but I've got this working well enough.) I've got various layouts: one with an 800 x 600 rectangle, another with a 1024 x 768 rectangle, and so on. The user's monitor size preference is held in a seperate file that holds user preferences and security permissions.

So my question is in 2 parts. If I always want a window to cover the whole screen, do I really need to make rectangles of every conceivable monitor size? If I just made 1 layout with a rectangle that was, for example, 3000 x 3000 pixels, would that force the window to cover the whole screen no matter what the monitor size? (Assuming there are no monitors with higher resolution than this.)

Second, if I do need to have every possible monitor size accounted for, then how many sizes are there? Right now I have:

800 x 600

1024 x 768

1280 x 1024

1400 x 1050

1600 x 1200

These are the sizes that my monitor will support. Are there more? Does the Mac OS have more sizes than Windows? Do I really need to worry about all of them?

Thanks for any insights and tips on this issue.

Dan

[rogermax]

Could you not just invoke the Toggle Window - maximize step? This forces the current window to fill up the screen - assuming of course that the user has the FileMaker window maximized.

If you make a box larger than the maximum screen and zoom then you will get scroll bars on the side and bottom, taking up valuable real estate on the smaller screens.

[DanBrill]

Hi Roger,

I tried that, but when I want to switch between windows -- minimizing one and maximizing the other and bringing it to the front -- it looks really jerky. The one that had been maximized first "windowizes" itself to its last defined size, and then minimizing to an icon. Also, I sometimes want one window to float over another. If one is maximized and I bring another to the front, that window becomes maximized too, even if I only wanted it to look like a popup.

Your point about scroll bars is a good one, one that I hadn't thought of. This leads me to believe I will need to account for all of the monitor sizes. Is there an exhaustive list, or will every video card / monitor have its own set?

Thanks,

Dan

[Fenton]

On Macs you don't really need to bother with screen sizes so much or even the 2nd layout. Just issue the Toggle Window [Zoom] step. That's all it needs to zoom to the size of the rightmost, bottom-most object. In List view, rightmost is all there is (the botton is always the bottom of the screen), so a Header line will suffice. In Form view I often do this with just a tiny rectangle in the bottom right corner, same as background, or transparent.

There are no "side-effects" on Macs. It's on Windows that more work is needed to get what you want. When you Zoom on PCs it enters Restore mode, and you get an extra menu bar, which reduces your usable area. I'm not even sure what the best method is on Windows to get a smaller window of the size you want, while still remaining Maximized so you don't get the extra menu bar. Does your layout method solve that? Can you remain Maximized?

Use Abs(Status(CurrentPlatform)) = 1 for Macs (you knew that :-0

[rogermax]

You are right on the jerkiness of the way the windows resize. I have never tried to get one to float over the other like a message box or such so I can't help there.

I have gone to making almost every screen within a solution as close in size and format to each other as possible to eliminate the flash effect. Usually I try to format for the 800x600 world, though that may change.

[DanBrill]

Yeah, I whish I knew then what I knew now. I've been developing for non-profits, which usually means a low tech budget, and many volunteer staff members, often of retirement age and not having the eyesight they used to. So 800 x 600 is pretty common. Unfortunately I started developing the solution (really my first and only real database app) at a much higher resolution.

There's so much info that it really helps to have more on a screen. But now having those wonderful data-rich layouts is giving me headaches. Vaughn's advice of a few days ago to get it in writing is very sound.

So anyway, does anyone have a list of possible screen resolutions?

Thanks,

Dan

[Vaughan]

512x382 -- original "classic" Macintosh

640x400 -- original Macintosh Powerbook

640x480

640x870 -- Macintosh Portrait monitor

800x600

800x640

832x624 -- Macintosh 16"

1024x768

1152x870

1280x960

1280x1024

1600x1200

That's as big as my monitor supports. There may be higher resolutions, and resolutions for cinema screen that are not listed here.

[stanley]

I believe Windows also has some other very odd resolutions in addition to Vaughan's list. And, yes, the cinema screens and the 17 inch Powerbook have their own quirky resolutions...

-Stanley

[DanBrill]

Thanks guys. As I expect only a few cinema showings of my solution, I'll stick with the traditionals. If only I had gotten this project finished in time for Oscar consideration.

Dan

[Kundinger]

Hi Dan,

Quick answer... take a look at the 'Status' functions...

Status (CurrentPlatform)

Status (CurrentScreenWidth)

Status (CurrentScreenHeight)

Status (CurrentScreenDepth)

You could have a startup script that determines the platform & display settings... then automatically set your solution to go to an appropriate layout with the proper OS GUI & display setting.

Hope this helps... let us know...

Bob Kundinger

[email protected]

[kenneth2k1]

Hi Dan.

It sounds like you already have a system where it will zoom toggle the window based on Status(CurrentScreenWidth). So that is good. Here are a few of my observations in the business world:

Resolutions are more video driver dependent than platform. The only two resolutions I would worry about are 800x600 and 1024x768. You may notice that other peoples' FM solutions' layouts are set to the lowest common denominator - 800x600. Personally I can't stand it because it fits perfectly at that low resolution, but looks all small and off-center for higher resolutions. Consider your business environment also. What reslolutions do those around you use? Unless you work for some graphic design or photography company, you probably see a majority of Windows. Unless the person has some sort of big cinema display, 1024x768 is the most common. 800x600 is becoming extinct, but a few secretaries and iMac users still have it because of the dinky screen or bad eyes. We are trying to eradicate this resolution.

What I have done sounds pretty similar to what you have - a workable boxed area for both 800 and 1024 screen widths. Then a script checks what the screen width is and zooms accordingly.

But, if you want to include every resolution possible and accomodate for them, you have too much time on your hands.

[DanBrill]

Thanks guys. Personally I have mine set at a 1400 width on a sony Vaio laptop. I can see it fine, but lcd helps, and others often ask me how I can see it so small.

Thanks for the input.

Dan