How can I get the active screen dimensions?

Question

What I am looking for is the equivalent of System.Windows.SystemParameters.WorkArea for the monitor that the window is currently on.

Clarification: The window in question is WPF, not WinForm.

Answer 1

I needed to set the maximum size of my window application. This one could changed accordingly the application is is been showed in the primary screen or in the secondary. To overcome this problem e created a simple method that i show you next:

/// <summary>
/// Set the max size of the application window taking into account the current monitor
/// </summary>
public static void SetMaxSizeWindow(ioConnect _receiver)
{
    Point absoluteScreenPos = _receiver.PointToScreen(Mouse.GetPosition(_receiver));

    if (System.Windows.SystemParameters.VirtualScreenLeft == System.Windows.SystemParameters.WorkArea.Left)
    {
        //Primary Monitor is on the Left
        if (absoluteScreenPos.X <= System.Windows.SystemParameters.PrimaryScreenWidth)
        {
            //Primary monitor
            _receiver.WindowApplication.MaxWidth = System.Windows.SystemParameters.WorkArea.Width;
            _receiver.WindowApplication.MaxHeight = System.Windows.SystemParameters.WorkArea.Height;
        }
        else
        {
            //Secondary monitor
            _receiver.WindowApplication.MaxWidth = System.Windows.SystemParameters.VirtualScreenWidth - System.Windows.SystemParameters.WorkArea.Width;
            _receiver.WindowApplication.MaxHeight = System.Windows.SystemParameters.VirtualScreenHeight;
        }
    }

    if (System.Windows.SystemParameters.VirtualScreenLeft < 0)
    {
        //Primary Monitor is on the Right
        if (absoluteScreenPos.X > 0)
        {
            //Primary monitor
            _receiver.WindowApplication.MaxWidth = System.Windows.SystemParameters.WorkArea.Width;
            _receiver.WindowApplication.MaxHeight = System.Windows.SystemParameters.WorkArea.Height;
        }
        else
        {
            //Secondary monitor
            _receiver.WindowApplication.MaxWidth = System.Windows.SystemParameters.VirtualScreenWidth - System.Windows.SystemParameters.WorkArea.Width;
            _receiver.WindowApplication.MaxHeight = System.Windows.SystemParameters.VirtualScreenHeight;
        }
    }
}

Answer 2

Beware of the scale factor of your windows (100% / 125% / 150% / 200%). You can get the real screen size by using the following code:

SystemParameters.FullPrimaryScreenHeight
SystemParameters.FullPrimaryScreenWidth

Answer 3

Also you may need:

• SystemParameters.VirtualScreenWidth
• SystemParameters.VirtualScreenHeight

to get the combined size of all monitors and not one in particular.

Answer 4

I wanted to have the screen resolution before opening the first of my windows, so here a quick solution to open an invisible window before actually measuring screen dimensions (you need to adapt the window parameters to your window in order to ensure that both are openend on the same screen - mainly the WindowStartupLocation is important)

Window w = new Window();
w.ResizeMode = ResizeMode.NoResize;
w.WindowState = WindowState.Normal;
w.WindowStyle = WindowStyle.None;
w.Background = Brushes.Transparent;
w.Width = 0;
w.Height = 0;
w.AllowsTransparency = true;
w.IsHitTestVisible = false;
w.WindowStartupLocation = WindowStartupLocation.Manual;
w.Show();
Screen scr = Screen.FromHandle(new WindowInteropHelper(w).Handle);
w.Close();

Answer 5

You can use this to get desktop workspace bounds of the primary screen:

System.Windows.SystemParameters.WorkArea

This is also useful for getting just the size of the primary screen:

System.Windows.SystemParameters.PrimaryScreenWidth System.Windows.SystemParameters.PrimaryScreenHeight

Answer 6

in C# winforms I have got start point (for case when we have several monitor/diplay and one form is calling another one) with help of the following method:

private Point get_start_point()
    {
        return
            new Point(Screen.GetBounds(parent_class_with_form.ActiveForm).X,
                      Screen.GetBounds(parent_class_with_form.ActiveForm).Y
                      );
    }