I am using Windows, and I have two monitors.
Some applications will always start on my primary monitor, no matter where they were when I closed them.
Others will always start on the secondary monitor, no matter where they were when I closed them.
Is there a registry setting buried somewhere, which I can manipulate to control which monitor applications launch into by default?
#rp: I have Ultramon, and I agree that it is indispensable, to the point that Microsoft should buy it and incorporate it into their OS. But as you said, it doesn't let you control the default monitor a program launches into.
Here's what I've found. If you want an app to open on your secondary monitor by default do the following:
1. Open the application.
2. Re-size the window so that it is not maximized or minimized.
3. Move the window to the monitor you want it to open on by default.
4. Close the application. Do not re-size prior to closing.
5. Open the application.
It should open on the monitor you just moved it to and closed it on.
6. Maximize the window.
The application will now open on this monitor by default. If you want to change it to another monitor, just follow steps 1-6 again.
Correctly written Windows apps that want to save their location from run to run will save the results of GetWindowPlacement() before shutting down, then use SetWindowPlacement() on startup to restore their position.
Frequently, apps will store the results of GetWindowPlacement() in the registry as a REG_BINARY for easy use.
The WINDOWPLACEMENTroute has many advantages over other methods:
Handles the case where the screen resolution changed since the last run: SetWindowPlacement() will automatically ensure that the window is not entirely offscreen
Saves the state (minimized/maximized) but also saves the restored (normal) size and position
Handles desktop metrics correctly, compensating for the taskbar position, etc. (i.e. uses "workspace coordinates" instead of "screen coordinates" -- techniques that rely on saving screen coordinates may suffer from the "walking windows" problem where a window will always appear a little lower each time if the user has a toolbar at the top of the screen).
Finally, programs that handle window restoration properly will take into account the nCmdShow parameter passed in from the shell. This parameter is set in the shortcut that launches the application (Normal, Minimized, Maximize):
if(nCmdShow != SW_SHOWNORMAL)
placement.showCmd = nCmdShow; //allow shortcut to override
For non-Win32 applications, it's important to be sure that the method you're using to save/restore window position eventually uses the same underlying call, otherwise (like Java Swing's setBounds()/getBounds() problem) you'll end up writing a lot of extra code to re-implement functionality that's already there in the WINDOWPLACEMENT functions.
It's not exactly the answer to this question but I dealt with this problem with the Shift + Win + [left,right] arrow keys shortcut. You can move the currently active window to another monitor with it.
Get UltraMon. Quickly.
http://realtimesoft.com/ultramon/
It doesn't let you specify what monitor an app starts on, but it lets you move an app to the another monitor, and keep its aspect ratio intact, with one mouse click. It is a very handy utility.
Most programs will start where you last left them. So if you have two monitors at work, but only one at home, it's possible to start you laptop at home and not see the apps running on the other monitor (which now isn't there). UltrMon also lets you move those orphan apps back to the main screen quickly and easily.
I'm fairly sure the primary monitor is the default. If the app was coded decently, when it's closed, it'll remember where it was last at and will reopen there, but -- as you've noticed -- it isn't a default behavior.
EDIT: The way I usually do it is to have the location stored in the app's settings. On load, if there is no value for them, it defaults to the center of the screen. On closing of the form, it records its position. That way, whenever it opens, it's where it was last. I don't know of a simple way to tell it to launch onto the second monitor the first time automatically, however.
-- Kevin Fairchild
Important note: If you remember the position of your application and shutdown and then start up again at that position, keep in mind that the user's monitor configuration may have changed while your application was closed.
Laptop users, for example, frequently change their display configuration. When docked there may be a 2nd monitor that disappears when undocked. If the user closes an application that was running on the 2nd monitor and the re-opens the application when the monitor is disconnected, restoring the window to the previous coordinates will leave it completely off-screen.
To figure out how big the display really is, check out GetSystemMetrics.
So I had this issue with Adobe Reader 9.0. Somehow the program forgot to open on my right monitor and was consistently opening on my left monitor. Most programs allow you to drag it over, maximize the screen, and then close it out and it will remember. Well, with Adobe, I had to drag it over and then close it before maximizing it, in order for Windows to remember which screen to open it in next time. Once you set it to the correct monitor, then you can maximize it. I think this is stupid, since almost all windows programs remember it automatically without try to rig a way for XP to remember.
So I agree there are some apps that you can configured to open on one screen by maximizing or right clicking and moving/sizing screen, then close and reopen. However, there are others that will only open on the main screen.
What I've done to resolve: set the monitor you prefer stubborn apps to open on, as monitor 1 and the your other monitor as 2, then change your monitor 2 to be the primary - so your desktop settings and start bar remain. Hope this helps.
Do not hold me to this but I am pretty sure it depends on the application it self. I know many always open on the main monitor, some will reopen to the same monitor they were previously run in, and some you can set. I know for example I have shortcuts to open command windows to particular directories, and each has an option in their properties to the location to open the window in. While Outlook just remembers and opens in the last screen it was open in. Then other apps open in what ever window the current focus is in.
So I am not sure there is a way to tell every program where to open. Hope that helps some.
I've noticed that if I put a shortcut on my desktop on one screen the launched application may appear on that screen (if that app doesn't reposition itself).
This also applies to running things from Windows Explorer - if Explorer is on one screen the launched application will pick that monitor to use.
Again - I think this is when the launching application specifies the default (windows managed) position. Most applications seem to override this default behavior in some way.
A simple window created like so will do this:
hWnd = CreateWindow(windowClass, windowTitle, WS_VISIBLE | WS_OVERLAPPEDWINDOW, CW_USEDEFAULT, SW_SHOW, CW_USEDEFAULT, 0, NULL, NULL, hInst, NULL);
Right click the shortcut and select properties.
Make sure you are on the "Shortcut" Tab.
Select the RUN drop down box and change it to Maximized.
This may assist in launching the program in full screen on the primary monitor.
Related
I have Windows 10 and sqldeveloper 19.2.1.247. I have my laptop's and another monitor. When I start sqldeveloper the window is very wide and I have shrink it. I see several posts about fixing font size, but none about window size. Is it possible to set initial window size and save it? Right now it spans both monitors and I have to shrink the width quite a bit. It is Oracle sqldeveloper.
SQL Developer usually remembers the size and position when you relaunch. It seems either your config/cache is corrupt or locked, or something else is breaking when it tries to save on exit.
From a bit of poking around, the main window size and position is stored in
~\AppData\Roaming\SQL Developer\system19.2.1.247.2212\system_cache\config\Preferences\com\oracle\jdeveloper\nbwindowsystem\Default\mainwnd.properties
so you could potentially manually change that (while it isn't running).
It might be simpler to do a reset, from the application's Window menu - which has option
Reset Windows To Factory Settings
That clears all window/panel settings, not just the main window size/position, but as it seems to clear the cache it might clear the issue and let subsequent size/position changes be saved properly.
I just discovered I can launch more than one instance of my first chrome app at a time. And they stack directly on top of one another, which does not make it immediately detectable. Is there some kind of flag or lock file I can look for on startup?
If you give your app window an ID the system will only ever create one of it. The next time the window is 'created' the system will focus the existing window. Check out the CreateWindowOptions.id field for more info.
My Tk application has a main window, when executing, new window arises to show the running progress. I want all the events (mouse, keyboard, etc) are directed to the progress window, so when program is runned, user cannot interact with the main window, and must wait until execution is done and progress window destroyed.
I tried using grab to handle this.
grab set .progress_window
But it doesn't work. The progress window still disappears when mouse clicked somewhere outside it.
grab set -global .progress_window seems work but it block all the other windows running on my computer.
How to solve this problem?
Thank you so much.
You might need this too to keep it on top:
wm transient .progress_window .
Also, see how Tk itself creates modal dialogs.
There are some hoops to go through to get it fully right, e.g.:
https://github.com/tcltk/tk/blob/master/library/dialog.tcl
I have a user that would like to have value for vertical scrolling to be set to a certain number. When they've set the wanted value, it works ... Until they log off or reboot. The odd thing is that the horizontal scroll value will remain to set value even after reboot. I guess it's worth mentioning this is an HP laptop, but the user is using an external USB mouse.
I've tried to update the synaptics driver, uninstall it, remove it completely, check all it's settings for possible overwriting options... No result. Still keeps resetting the vertical scroll value upon reboot/log-on.
As the user is on a domain network, with a company computer, the registry is blocked for any user besides local computer admin OR domain admins, and the only way I've so far found to set scroll value in registry is by logging on as local admin, and then set the value for CURRENT user (aka local admin only, if I understand that function properly).
I am out of ideas, almost. There is only one thing I know of that could help, but there is no guarantee. A form of script (VBS/batch) that will run upon user loggin and set the users desired value. Problem is, I am not really familiar with VBS or batch scripts in any large scale, certainly not enough to help myself with this issue.
So, in the end. I am looking for alternate solutions to this pesky problem, or maybe a script that just sets the desired value at user loggin.
I had this same problem, and did a lot of digging to try to resolve it. Most tips on the web suggest to upgrade your mouse driver as some drivers have bugs that result in this problem. In my case I had the latest Logitech drivers already installed, so it didn't help me.
Today I stumbled on the cause of the problem, and hence also the solution: I use the excellent X-Mouse Button Control utility. For some reason I had modified its "Lines to scroll using the scroll wheel" setting (Settings > "Scrolling & Navigation" tab), and then forgotten about it. Whenever the program started (I have it auto-start with Windows), it reset the lines to scroll value in the Control Panel mouse settings to "1". Adjusting the value back to the default "3" in X-Mouse Button Control took care of the problem.
Even if you don't yet use the X-Mouse Button Control, this could help you: you could download and install the free X-Mouse Button Control, and make sure the lines to scroll is set to the value you desire in its settings (even if this is the the only thing you would use it for – the utility doesn't by default affect how your mouse works in any way). That way X-Mouse will reset the value to your liking at boot, even if the ultimate cause in your case is, for example, a mouse driver issue.
I know this has been answered already (please mark Ville as answerer if you're still active!) but I wanted to add a picture.
The option to set the amount of lines scrolled is set under the Scrolling & Navigation tab of the main X-Mouse control window:
In my case, this was set to 3, and had been resetting my Windows value on every reboot/logon.
I've searched for solutions in many forums but they all tell me that usign the WindowPattern and checkign the topmost value should return true if the window is on top. However, this isn't the case for me. I am testing an application that is housed within a tab in outlok. A user can then click within the application and open a new window. I'd like to verify this window is in the foreground. Also.. this is a WPF application so I cant grab separate handles for new windows that open.
thanks
This might be a terminology problem: 'Topmost' has a special meaning in Win32 (See description of WS_EX_TOPMOST here), which basically means "floats above other ordinary windows" - it's typically used for things like tooltips, menu popups, notification balloons and the like, which float above all other windows on the screen. It's rarely by actual application windows.
An application can be the currently foreground window, above other windows, but not have this property.
An alternate approach to see if the window is in the foreground is to see if it is or contains the contains the current focus or active window.