Re: Multi-monitor test-and-feedback app for Windows

Thanks JB for this very interesting reply.

Are (dissimilar, identifyable) multi-headed displays even generally used any more?

A good question, and one of the reasons I wrote this test program (did the attachment get through btw?). It uses EnumDisplayDevices() to get information about graphic cards and connected monitors.

From a software perspective, I found that the transparent-to-the-app "span"
capability of modern 2-monitor cards (where 2 heads just look like one big desktop) to be a big win, we just required them as a simplifification, and save a *lot* of old code headaches from the old days before spanning/"Xinerama" mode.

The customer for whom I package my existing code has some experience with this. I have no doubt that spanning at the driver level simplifies things for the app programmer, but I'd like my UI library to cover all angles. My own setup doesn't use transparent spanning, just Vista's run-of-the-mill virtual screen, although both monitors are connected to the same (and only) graphic card.

A *lot* of headaches. Different resolutions, depth, performance characteristics & cabailities,. ugh, can o' worms -- can't move one window to another display...as a user i'd never put up with that.

Tell me about it. The more thinking I've done on this, the smellier the can became. And yet someone has to do it; if I can pull it off, I'd like my library to take care of it all. I kinda see a way to do that; but I need more data.

From the reverse side, the way JAVA handles 2 spanned monitors on say nVidia or ATI is
just criminal. These devices can treat the 2 monitors as one big virtual desktop. But Java
insists that they are separate, it has multi-displays all "nicely abstracted" -- so it *deletes and recreates* windows that move from one side to the other. Arghhh.

This is a very interesting thing for me to learn. I don't code any Java at this time, and in fact I've been wondering how all the other guys handle the multi-monitor problems.

Still, what you say is hard to believe. What back-end is Java using for its rendering ? And did you mean a standard UI or something like Java3D ?

So, consider; to you need to go down this road at all?

Perhaps I should give Reinhold Messner's answer here (why climb a mountain ? "because it's there) but actually I do believe I could do some good by cracking this.

If you do, look at how JAVA does it & consider the ramifications.

I won't have the time to jump into Java, but the ramifications are exactly what I'm interested in, and the reason why I wrote the test proggie.

Thanks,

-- Jean-Pierre
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: HardBound and SoftBound
    ... and neither C# nor Java come close to C/C++. ... from time to time when changes are required or for speed reasons. ... speeds comparable with the C++ C# compiler from MS. ... In practice RISC wasn't such a big change, ...
    (comp.arch)
  • Re: Java and .NET (no Flames Pls)
    ... I like .NET over Java for a couple of reasons. ... ingrained concept in some developers mind that all MS products suck (not ... Visual Studio has superior support for Web Services. ...
    (microsoft.public.dotnet.framework)
  • Re: (1/2 OT) Reasons to begin with .Net
    ... If you aren't familiar with .NET (or Java or C++ etc) then I honestly would be very suspicious of any controls you attempt to market. ... The market for VB6 controls is effectively dead today.NET is continuing going from strength to strength. ... But if you are looking at the booming market sectors, then .Net and Java are still the two leaders. ... I want to clarify to myself the reasons to write programs in .Net and the reasons not to do it. ...
    (microsoft.public.vb.general.discussion)
  • Re: Correct Semaphore Implementation in Java
    ... this isn't how I would have said monitors should ... describes enough different variations to make it ... "signal all waiting threads" operation -- notifyAll, ... Lea's "Concurrent Programming in Java" and Bloch's "Effective Java". ...
    (comp.lang.java.programmer)
  • Re: JNI JNI_CreateJavaVM hangs Linux
    ... my test program works fine and runs my Java ... > NetBeans, my user environment is the same, My kernel configuration ... What exact commands do you use to compile and link your launcher? ...
    (comp.lang.java.programmer)
Loading