HOWTO: Create a Form that Resizes Based on Resolution

ID: Q147596


The information in this article applies to:
  • Microsoft Visual FoxPro for Windows, versions 3.0, 3.0b, 5.0, 6.0


SUMMARY

Screens developed under one resolution might not look the way you want them to look when you run the screens on systems with different screen resolutions. One solution is to develop several different screens under different resolutions, and run the screen that is the same as the current resolution.

However, in Visual FoxPro, it is possible to dynamically resize the screen and reposition objects on it based on the current resolution. This article shows by example how to do this.


MORE INFORMATION

Step-by-Step Example

  1. Create a new form while under 640x480 resolution. Add some controls such as text boxes, command buttons, and labels to the form.


  2. Place the following code in the Init event of the form and in the Init event of any container objects such as a page on a pageframe that are on the form:


  3. 
    ** Assumes a screen built at 640x480
    Local lnHeight, lnWidth, lnHeightdiff, lnWidthdiff
    lnHeight=480 && The height of the original resolution
    lnWidth=640 && The width of the original resolution
    lnHeightdiff=0 && Variable to hold the height difference
    lnWidthdiff=0 && Variable to hold the width difference
    IF SYSMETRIC(2)<>lnHeight && If this is not 640x480 resolution
       LnHeightdiff=SYSMETRIC(2)/lnHeight
       lnWidthdiff=SYSMETRIC(1)/lnWidth
    
    ** You need to remark out the code down to, but not including the,
    ** ENDIF line of code if this is in the Init of a container object
    ** such as a page on a pageframe, or any other non-form container
    ** object that has a Controls and ControlsCount property.
    
    THIS.Height=THIS.height*lnHeightdiff
    THIS.Width=THIS.Width*lnWidthdiff
    THIS.Top=THIS.Top*lnHeightdiff
    THIS.Left=THIS.Left*lnHeightDiff
    
    ** The code goes through each object, resizes and
    ** repositions it.
    
    FOR i = 1 to THIS.ControlCount
       WITH THIS.controls(i)
          .Height=.Height*lnHeightdiff
          .Width=.Width*lnWidthdiff
          .Top=.Top*lnHeightdiff
          .Left=.Left*lnWidthdiff
    
    ** You could also resize the font at this point
    ** by changing the FontSize property, perhaps to
    ** IF TYPE(".FontSize") # "U"
    **    && The IF ensures the control has a FontSize property
    ** .FontSize=.Fontsize*((.5*lnWidthdiff)+(.5*lnHeightdiff))
    ** ENDIF
    ** However, some higher screen resolutions can change
    ** the appearance of fonts considerably, so testing is
    ** advised before trying that step.
    
          ENDWITH
       ENDFOR
    ENDIF
    THISFORM.Refresh 
  4. Run the form in a different resolution. Observe the automatic changes that are made.



REFERENCES

For more information about working with multiple screen resolutions, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Q114668 Using Multiple Screen Resolutions in FoxPro for Windows

Additional query words: page frame

Keywords : kbcode kbVFp300 kbVFp500 kbVFp600 FxotherDisplay
Version : WINDOWS:3.0,3.0b,5.0,6.0
Platform : WINDOWS
Issue type : kbhowto


Last Reviewed: July 6, 1999
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