Screen resolution

  • Thread starter Thread starter Derek Brown
  • Start date Start date
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Derek Brown

Hi all

How do I overcome the problem of different screen resolutions on different
PCs for my developed access application. Some one told me it is an almost
insermountable problem. Is this correct?.
 
Hi Derek,

Most people don't even bother thinking about this problem, yet from the
Access Databases I've encountered during my career, it is probably one of
the most annoying situations! Best advice I can give you is to design your
forms/reports at a reasonably small screen resolution (e.g. 800x600 is
probably the minimum resolution you will encounter), that way if your
viewing it on a larger screen it will simply appear smaller but at least you
can still see everything without annoying scrolling.

There is an alternative... Resizable GUIs...

Resizable GUIs are sometimes very difficult to design, especially in Access
because it doesn't natively support them.

I would recommend using a 'Form Auto Resizer' module or ActiveX control (or
write one yourself :))
I think a freeware version exists on the net - do a google search. These
methods usually resize all controls on a form/report and also adjust font
sizes proportianally. It's worth noting that this isn't always suitable if
the forms are not kept proportianal. Also, if you do choose this method,
design your forms at the smallest size and let the 'Resizer' increase the
size for the larger screens - don't do it the other way round else it will
likely be unreadable!

Hope this helps,

Wayne Phillips
http://www.everythingaccess.com/forums/ -> New Access forum!
 
How do I overcome the problem of different screen resolutions on different
PCs for my developed access application. Some one told me it is an almost
insermountable problem. Is this correct?.
Click to expand...

Hi,

Short answer: Yes, this can be done.

Long answer:
You can add code to your forms that will resize all
controls to various screen resolutions. Here are some
links for you if you want to pursue that option.

1. Download an MDE file from the Developer's Handbook web
site. You can then reference that MDE in your application
to use the resize code.
http://www.developershandbook.com/

2. Purchase the Developer's Handbook for your version of
Access. In my opinion the book is WELL worth the money.
Not only do you get the resize code, but a wealth of other
information, code, and database samples. Go to the same
site listed above for more information.

3. Peter's software has a resizing utility at:
http://www.peterssoftware.com/ss.htm

4. The following link has also been posted as an alternative:
http://www.jamiessoftware.tk

5. FMS has a sizer module:
http://www.fmsinc.com.

6. Here is another possibility, but I have no experience
with this one either:
http://www.pdtech.co.uk/prod01.htm
 
Derek said:
Hi all

How do I overcome the problem of different screen resolutions on
different PCs for my developed access application. Some one told me
it is an almost insermountable problem. Is this correct?.
Click to expand...

Why do you think you need to? A user running calculator on an 800 by 600
resolution setting sees an app that is taking up a larger percentage of his
screen than a user running calculator at 1024 by 768. These same two users will
see identical behavior when running your app.

Except for people with bad eyesight those who buy larger monitors and run them
at higher resolution do so with a goal of having MORE screen area, not so that
programs can be made larger except for cases where they want that larger app to
show more "stuff' without scrolling. A screen resizing tool circumvents this by
producing ridiculously large apps on high resoltuion systems.

Now, if your problem is that you are designing full-screen forms on a large
monitor running high resolution and find that your users with lower resolutions
can't see the entire form then the answer is to design smaller forms. You must
design for the anticipated hardware of your typical user, not the high end
system that you happen to have.
 
Derek Brown said:
Hi all

How do I overcome the problem of different screen resolutions on different
PCs for my developed access application. Some one told me it is an almost
insermountable problem. Is this correct?.
Click to expand...

You can change the screen resolution in addition to the form sizes, but I
don't recommend it:

http://www.mvps.org/access/api/api0029.htm

When size matters, what I do is to design at, and specify a minimum
resolution (usually 800x600) and require that all machines are set to that
ot higher. If my forms fit on an 800x600 screen, they'll also fit on a
1600xx1200 screen. For asethics reasons, I don't resize anything.
--
Arvin Meyer, MCP, MVP
Microsoft Access
Free Access downloads:
http://www.datastrat.com
http://www.mvps.org/access
 
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