VB.Net adjusting forms and controls to display resolution

Question

There are many explanations on how to develop an application that will use the display resolution to adjust automatically its forms and controls.

But it becomes confusing and I tried so many things that didn't work so my question is:

Someone knows an example (solution) that works perfectly with the display resolution an .sln file or .csproj
in VB.Net?

If I would have an example of one form, then I can apply the configuration to all my forms.

Claude from Quebec, Canada
Thanks in advance
******@autocaisse.onmicrosoft.com

Answer 1

My two cents is that (and I realize this is not what you are working with) WPF handles resizing a good deal better than Windows forms, kind of like responsive design for a web app say using Bootstrap with containers.

What I've seen work pretty good is a third party library from a company known as Progress and in the following blog there is a good discussion steps to follow for auto resizing with and without their product.

WinForms Scaling at Large DPI Settings–Is It Even Possible?

Unfortunately most developer are squeamish about purchasing products to make their life easier and that is okay yet they miss out on simple solutions.

Answer 2

I ran into the same problem with the form not fitting on the screen.
I solved my problem like this:
Dim screenwidth As Integer = My.Computer.Screen.Bounds.Width
'screenwidth on my computer is 1600. The controls have been designed for that width.
factor = screenwidth / 1600 'this is screenwidth of computer where the program has been installed.
If factor < 1 Then
For Each control In Controls
control.width = factor control.width
control.left = factor control.left
Next
End If

It is amazingly simple so maybe this is not what you are looking for.

Answer 3

Somewhere in all my clicking about I found this solution to a slightly different problem, but I think it can be easily adapted. To resize all the elements of a form when the form is resized do this:

'At the beginning of the form:

    Private isLoading As Boolean = True
    Private origFormSize As Rectangle
    Private originalControlRectangles(100) As Rectangle
    Private originalControlFontSizes(100) As Single
    Private FontScale As Single = 1.0

'In the form.load event:

        origFormSize = New Rectangle(Me.Location, Me.Size)
        Dim controlCount As Integer
        Dim ctrl As Control = Me.GetNextControl(Me, True)
        Do Until ctrl Is Nothing
            originalControlRectangles(controlCount) = New Rectangle(ctrl.Location, ctrl.Size)
            originalControlFontSizes(controlCount) = ctrl.Font.Size
            controlCount += 1
            ctrl = Me.GetNextControl(ctrl, True)
        Loop
        isLoading = False

'In the form.resize event:

        If isLoading Then Exit Sub
        Dim controlCount As Integer
        Dim ctrl As Control = Me.GetNextControl(Me, True)
        Do Until ctrl Is Nothing
            ResizeChildControl(ctrl, originalControlRectangles(controlCount), originalControlFontSizes(controlCount))
            controlCount += 1
            ctrl = Me.GetNextControl(ctrl, True)
        Loop

'Add the method:

 Private Sub ResizeChildControl(ByRef aControl As Control, ByRef origControl As Rectangle, ByRef origFontSize As Single)
        Dim xRatio As Single, yRatio As Single
        Try
            xRatio = Me.ClientRectangle.Width / origFormSize.Width
            yRatio = Me.ClientRectangle.Height / origFormSize.Height

            Dim newX As Single = origControl.Location.X * xRatio
            Dim newy As Single = origControl.Location.Y * yRatio

            aControl.Location = New Point(CInt(newX), CInt(newy))
            aControl.Width = CInt(xRatio * origControl.Width)
            aControl.Height = CInt(yRatio * origControl.Height)

            Dim ratio As Single
            If xRatio >= yRatio Then
                ratio = yRatio
            Else
                ratio = xRatio
            End If

            Dim newFontSize As Single
            newFontSize = origFontSize * ratio * FontScale
            Dim newFont As Font
            newFont = New Font(aControl.Font.FontFamily, newFontSize)
            aControl.Font = newFont

        Catch ex As Exception
            MessageBox.Show(ex.Message)
        End Try

    End Sub

I'll say again: I did not write this code, but I have tested it. It works well for smaller Windows forms, but not forms with more than, say, 25 controls.

Thank you to whoever did write this code it has saved me hours of form design time.

Answer 4

Hi

I have had similar issues as OP and over a long time I have periodically tried various options from articles on the internet. Many did not offer any real improvement and a few offered some improvement. I gradually collected from several articles, some code that I put together to try and get a solution.

I have posted a link here to the end result. This has been the best that I have managed to find.

I only have one computer (well, 2 actually but both same screen), so my testing has been limited to trying the code out on various resolutions, screen scales and text scales and this code copes well with all of those changes. I had to fins a way to be able to compare from one setting so another, so I incorporated the ideas into an 'On Screen Ruler' application - it does provide the necessary means of comparison.

For anyone that want to try it out, the entire project is Zipped as a Public OneDrive Share at

https://1drv.ms/f/s!AgEpHyV3DNo7gphOEZyxIvRHz4E2Gg