Hi team.
We're developing our new software on 20 inch monitors (mmm...nice) running
in 1024 x 768 resolution, high color (15-bit according to the screen driver
software - strange, huh). The software is expected to run on smaller
monitors (15-17 inch) so we decided to build it for 800 x 600 resolution.
However, we discovered (again) that all 800 x 600 screens are not created
equal. Normally we get around this (for internal apps) by making the users
use the same screen configuration as the development team. However we are
building this app for external use, and I guess it's time we found out what
the heck is going on.
Example :
I wrote the first few screens for this application at home over the weekend
on my Phillips "Brilliance" 15 inch, 800 x 600 screen. When I installed it
at work on Monday the form was still 800 x 600 in size (and therefore
sitting in the middle of the screen), but all the components appeared to
have shrunk. They still looked ok (with everything in the right place
relative to each other) but they were huddled together in the top, left
corner of the form. When run on my big monitor (a Phillips 20 inch 20/B,
1024 x 768) it looked silly (as if we were scared to use all the form real
estate in case another idea came along). But on my co-workers big monitor
(another Phillips 20 inch, but this one is a 200/B, whatever that means),
running the same resolution (1024 x 768), it looks just the way I designed
it at home (ie: fine). Conversely, when I resize everything to fit on my
monitor at work, the reverse happens. My co-worker sees huge components
which are too big for the form holding them.
What gives here ? We first noticed this problem with screen resolutions in
Delphi 1, and it's still with us.
Now I'm not concerned about resizing components to fit within a form which
is made bigger or smaller on the fly. If our users are running in 800 x 600
mode there will be no need to change the form size at runtime.
What concerns me is that I set a control.height to 25 pixels on my 800 x 600
screen at home, and when I put it on my 1024 x 768 screen at work it had
shrunk to 21 pixels (according to the object inspector). Am I nuts ? Is
Borland/Inprise nuts ? Is this a Windows problem that will only be solved
when little Melinda Gates takes over the company from daddy ? Or is there
some kind of rationale behind this crazyness ?
Cheers,
Simon Mahony,
System Creator,
MetService.
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