visual studio designer dpi setting

2
votes

I've learn how to manage different DPI settings the hard way, so that at runtime my applications are properly displayed.

But there is still a big issue with Design time Visual Studio. Say I build an application at 96 dpi and I switch my display to 120 dpi for testing purposes.

Now IF I open a form designer at 120 dpi, the form is resized according to 125%, the controls moved aso! :-(((

So I try to avoid reopening forms, but that's NOT a nice solution, isn't it?

Is there by any chance a design time setting to prevent form to resize?

2
visual-studioformsresizedpi
This is a duplicate of my question, also sadly unanswered. stackoverflow.com/questions/4074106/… – Kevin Stricker

2 Answers

2
votes

Not a solution but possibly a workaround: do not test on your computer but on a VM or other computer and do not open the solution on a computer with big fonts.

And we found that we cannot use the AutoScaleMode = Dpi.Font setting. That will randomly resize forms when we open them in the designer. Dpi or None seem to work.

0
votes

Although this question is already old, I want to share my workaround.

  • Keep the Form’s AutoScaleMode = Font. This works fine, if you control the rest correctly.
  • Set in your Forms Designer: Font = MS Sans; 11px. Basically, specify your Fonts in Pixel, instead of Points. So Visual Studio won't re-scale anything if the system's DPI change.
  • In the Forms Ctor, after InitializeComponent, re-set: Font = SystemFonts.DefaultFont. Now, at run time, Fonts will use Point-based sizes again, and you get nice high-DPI GUI.
  • Enable DPI-Awareness, either through a manifest or by API function SetProcessDPIAwareness

You can find the details of my (hard) learning trail on my Blog: http://www.sgrottel.de/?p=1581&lang=en