M
Mark Jerde
Sorry but I don't have time to research or use Whidbey at present...
I love the power of VS .NET 2003 but I really miss VB6's MDI environment. I
develop on a 4-monitor desktop and because I haven't hit the lottery only
one is a 21". ;-) (The 4th monitor is a 17", very useful for testing at
"typical user resolution.") With VB6 I had the main menu & title bar,
properties window, immediate window, etc etc, positioned on the smaller
monitors to the left & right of the big one. Every single precious pixel of
the 21" was devoted to form and code windows. It's *so* much quicker to
just click on the About box form that's 4 inches down from the top of the
monitor than it is to move the mouse to the VS .NET tab bar, read the tabs
to see which one I want, click on the tab, then click on the About box form.
I spent lots of $ on pixels and I'd like to get the best use out of them.
<g>
VB6's MDI is also superior for debugging multiple programs at the same time.
While debugging an ActiveX EXE I had three instances of VB6 running, the
ActiveX EXE and two separate client programs. I had all the code and
immediate windows for all three programs spread out in non-overlapping
windows, and it was fantastic for debugging. The properties etc. windows
were right on top of one another but that's fine. It was the best use of
screen space. I could only make changes in one program at a time so the 3
properties windows might just as well be right on top of each other. The
active always comes to the top.
To save some possible responses, here are some comments on the VS .NET 2003
environment.
- Extending VS .NET across multiple monitors is sub optimal for two
reasons.
-- Since my monitors are different sizes the length & width are
limited by the smallest monitor used.
-- There is a huge waste of pixels in the title & menu bar.
- I haven't figured out how to drag MDI form & code windows outside of
the main screen.
- With all the pinned windows, VS .NET works quite well in single monitor
use, such as a laptop. (However, my laptop is 1600 x 1200 and can drive a
2nd monitor up to 2048 x 1536. <g> I want VB6 style MDI for it too.)
I've been using multiple monitors since 1983 when I hooked up a terminal to
my MSDOS 1.0 8086 computer and used it as a "glass printer." I work much
faster when I can *glance* at something rather than having to *find*
something. Not only is it slower, it can also break the "flow" so important
to maximum productivity.
So does anyone know if VB6 style MDI is part of Whidbey? If not, who do I
beg or who can I bribe? <g>
Lastly, some of my favorite multiple monitor shots.
http://www.seamlessdisplay.com/products_3x1.htm
http://www.9xmedia.com/pages-Build_a_system/X-Top_Design_a_system-Configurations.html
http://www.realtimesoft.com/multimon/gallery_browse.asp?ID=145
http://www.realtimesoft.com/multimon/gallery_browse.asp?ID=168
"Thanks for listening." "Thanks for sharing." (??) <g>
-- Mark
I love the power of VS .NET 2003 but I really miss VB6's MDI environment. I
develop on a 4-monitor desktop and because I haven't hit the lottery only
one is a 21". ;-) (The 4th monitor is a 17", very useful for testing at
"typical user resolution.") With VB6 I had the main menu & title bar,
properties window, immediate window, etc etc, positioned on the smaller
monitors to the left & right of the big one. Every single precious pixel of
the 21" was devoted to form and code windows. It's *so* much quicker to
just click on the About box form that's 4 inches down from the top of the
monitor than it is to move the mouse to the VS .NET tab bar, read the tabs
to see which one I want, click on the tab, then click on the About box form.
I spent lots of $ on pixels and I'd like to get the best use out of them.
<g>
VB6's MDI is also superior for debugging multiple programs at the same time.
While debugging an ActiveX EXE I had three instances of VB6 running, the
ActiveX EXE and two separate client programs. I had all the code and
immediate windows for all three programs spread out in non-overlapping
windows, and it was fantastic for debugging. The properties etc. windows
were right on top of one another but that's fine. It was the best use of
screen space. I could only make changes in one program at a time so the 3
properties windows might just as well be right on top of each other. The
active always comes to the top.
To save some possible responses, here are some comments on the VS .NET 2003
environment.
- Extending VS .NET across multiple monitors is sub optimal for two
reasons.
-- Since my monitors are different sizes the length & width are
limited by the smallest monitor used.
-- There is a huge waste of pixels in the title & menu bar.
- I haven't figured out how to drag MDI form & code windows outside of
the main screen.
- With all the pinned windows, VS .NET works quite well in single monitor
use, such as a laptop. (However, my laptop is 1600 x 1200 and can drive a
2nd monitor up to 2048 x 1536. <g> I want VB6 style MDI for it too.)
I've been using multiple monitors since 1983 when I hooked up a terminal to
my MSDOS 1.0 8086 computer and used it as a "glass printer." I work much
faster when I can *glance* at something rather than having to *find*
something. Not only is it slower, it can also break the "flow" so important
to maximum productivity.
So does anyone know if VB6 style MDI is part of Whidbey? If not, who do I
beg or who can I bribe? <g>
Lastly, some of my favorite multiple monitor shots.
http://www.seamlessdisplay.com/products_3x1.htm
http://www.9xmedia.com/pages-Build_a_system/X-Top_Design_a_system-Configurations.html
http://www.realtimesoft.com/multimon/gallery_browse.asp?ID=145
http://www.realtimesoft.com/multimon/gallery_browse.asp?ID=168
"Thanks for listening." "Thanks for sharing." (??) <g>
-- Mark
