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Dear all,
This morning I was looking for code that might already have been written - I wanted to see if anyone's ever programmatically re-implemented the Windows Display Settings dialog box - I need to render an Image that more or less corresponds to what that window looks like (showing all your monitors with their relative positions).
I knew I would deservedly get berated if I asked this in the lounge. So I asked this in Q&A (here). Well, my question's already gotten downvoted, and the answers I got so far (from long-time CP contributors I know and respect) are essentially accusing me of trying to get others to write code for me. Well, no, I'll be happy to write my own code if I have to (and then share it back), I was just asking whether anyone's already done this, just so I don't have to re-invent the wheel. As developers, we do this all the time. I'm not trying at all to hide the fact this is something I feel I shouldn't need to write from scratch; I'm sure this is a solved problem. This is specific enough however that I couldn't quite figure out the proper Google keywords to come up with relevant results. So I figured I'd ask live human beings from the friendly programming community I know rather than wrestle with Google (well, I have wrestled with Google, I just wasn't successful).
I hardly ever use Q&A and admit spending very little time in there. So please, someone enlighten me, I know the lounge isn't the place for asking for code, so what's the protocol for asking if someone's already solved a specific problem, when my Google-Fu fails me?
Not mad or anything. Just honestly dumbfounded. Perhaps I should've made it crystal clear that I know this must be a solved problem, and I'm not asking others to write new code for me.
[Edit]
I think my mistake was asking for something very specific--some nice to haves that might not necessarily exist in someone else's solution, so perhaps that made the whole thing come across as asking for it to be written. I'd honestly like to know. I'm calling it a learning experience regardless. I still love you all. 
modified 26-Jun-17 11:38am.
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My opinion is that your question is really more of a discussion starter, not a specific question. For me, one of the discussion forums would have been a better place to ask. I can't speak for others but that may be why QA did not work. After all, QA stands for quick answers and your question is only quick if someone has done that exact thing before. I think a discussion would have been better.
There are two kinds of people in the world: those who can extrapolate from incomplete data.
There are only 10 types of people in the world, those who understand binary and those who don't.
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I'm in agreement, but once bitten, twice shy. This is what I was trying to avoid by not posting to the lounge. On more than one occasion, I've asked if someone knew of some library (completely unrelated to this), and I must have a real talent for unknowing asking something that comes across as a programming question, as opposed, as you put it, to trying to get a discussion started. Although it is programming-related, and any discussion, I felt, would've quickly devolved into specific details as to what I was looking for.
It's a fine line that I'm still trying to figure out.
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dandy72 wrote: by not posting to the lounge.
Ya, the Lounge is definitely the wrong place. That was not what I was suggesting. On the left are categories of Discussion groups. I'd probably have done it in the Windows API discussion group, for example.
There are two kinds of people in the world: those who can extrapolate from incomplete data.
There are only 10 types of people in the world, those who understand binary and those who don't.
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Reading the question, I think you went wrong right here:
"All the data's there...I just don't have the patience to sit down with pen and paper and figure out exactly how to render all the elements using GDI, and then turn that into an Image (strictly speaking, I'm not even trying to render it to screen, I want to generate an Image so it can be saved to disk)."
It's not uncommon in Q&A (Questions & Answers) that there are solicitations for homework answers and what I'll call contract work that someone's being paid to do and they want us to do it for them. The latter probably by the people who had there homework done for them.
Neither are looked upon positively.
| Ravings en masse^ |
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| "The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." - Albert Einstein | | "If you are searching for perfection in others, then you seek disappointment. If you are seek perfection in yourself, then you will find failure." - Balboos HaGadol Mar 2010 |
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W∴ Balboos wrote: I think you went wrong right here:
"All the data's there...I just don't have the patience
You are probably right; however, when I read it I understood that he was just looking for some help. I think that one sentence of not having the patience was taken out of context of the rest of the question which showed that he wasn't just asking for someone to do it.
There are two kinds of people in the world: those who can extrapolate from incomplete data.
There are only 10 types of people in the world, those who understand binary and those who don't.
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No disagreement here - and certainly some homework seems to have been done.
Psychologically speaking, however, the greatest impression is made by the initial and final components of a statement. It's almost like it's prefaced with ". . and in conclusion . . . ", even if not, you can't help but get that feeling to some degree.
| Ravings en masse^ |
|---|
| "The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." - Albert Einstein | | "If you are searching for perfection in others, then you seek disappointment. If you are seek perfection in yourself, then you will find failure." - Balboos HaGadol Mar 2010 |
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I did a search at this site for "multiple monitors", not in quotes, and this resulted in a fair number of articles on the topic here in a few different languages. People have written code to deal with multiple monitors but I didn't see any reproductions of the app from the control panel or of Nvidia's configuration program.
My recommendation is too keep looking, starting with the articles here, and if you can't find what you want then check out the articles to see what might be a useful starting to place to implement this yourself.
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Fiangling a way to make a post on the Lounge that won't get flamed has always worked for me.  
Did you ever see history portrayed as an old man with a wise brow and pulseless heart, waging all things in the balance of reason?
Is not rather the genius of history like an eternal, imploring maiden, full of fire, with a burning heart and flaming soul, humanly warm and humanly beautiful?
--Zachris Topelius
Training a telescope on one’s own belly button will only reveal lint. You like that? You go right on staring at it. I prefer looking at galaxies.
-- Sarah Hoyt
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I'm nowhere near the master that you are. 
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You seem to've managed well enough in the end, but the flamed question here first could do with some improvement.
If you want to play off the innate prejudice of most of the louder parts of the local peanut gallery, you could claim to've posted to stack overflow and been deleted for not fitting into their definition of a good question, and an "Is there a library to do this" type question would be at risk there for the same reasons you got flamed here. I doubt any of the resident master debaters here have enough rep to see deleted questions and catch your lie. (Well unless it somehow catches Shog9's attention and triggers a delurk anyway, since he works for them directly now.  )
Did you ever see history portrayed as an old man with a wise brow and pulseless heart, waging all things in the balance of reason?
Is not rather the genius of history like an eternal, imploring maiden, full of fire, with a burning heart and flaming soul, humanly warm and humanly beautiful?
--Zachris Topelius
Training a telescope on one’s own belly button will only reveal lint. You like that? You go right on staring at it. I prefer looking at galaxies.
-- Sarah Hoyt
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Should I feel dirty for having read this?  I'm really not trying to trick others into providing answers...
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Only if you thought it was a good idea at least briefly.
I'd never recommend doing so seriously, have never done it myself, and if looked up over there[^] have enough of their flavor of internet points to make the claim non-credible.
Did you ever see history portrayed as an old man with a wise brow and pulseless heart, waging all things in the balance of reason?
Is not rather the genius of history like an eternal, imploring maiden, full of fire, with a burning heart and flaming soul, humanly warm and humanly beautiful?
--Zachris Topelius
Training a telescope on one’s own belly button will only reveal lint. You like that? You go right on staring at it. I prefer looking at galaxies.
-- Sarah Hoyt
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I hardly ever use Q&A, and admit spending very little time in there. Perhaps if you do spend more time in the forums, you will get a sense of how to constructively ask a question that will get thoughtful responses.
But, yes, the customs of the QA tribes are ... strange. Certain phrases, like: "I need;" "I want;" "hurry," "deadline," etc., can trigger ritual violence.
cheers, Bill
«Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and it may be necessary from time to time to give a stupid or misinformed beholder a black eye.» Miss Piggy
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Ain't that the truth.
Of course I'm not familiar with all the nooks an crannies that exist on CP...I'm a creature of habits and, despite having this account since the late 90s, I mostly stick with articles and the lounge. But you can bet the next time I have coding-related question, I'll try to familiarize myself more with the QA area to get a sense of what typically gets posted...and how.
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Are pigs oinking in unison a penchant?
Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...
AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!
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Ode my! How can you sty with this slop?
Sonatas bad as it could be, but you can swill sharpen it up.
| Ravings en masse^ |
|---|
| "The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." - Albert Einstein | | "If you are searching for perfection in others, then you seek disappointment. If you are seek perfection in yourself, then you will find failure." - Balboos HaGadol Mar 2010 |
modified 26-Jun-17 11:33am.
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If one tries to escape over the sea, is he a bay con?
... such stuff as dreams are made on
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That's an ad hock committee whose only purpose is to ham it up.
"the debugger doesn't tell me anything because this code compiles just fine" - random QA comment
"Facebook is where you tell lies to your friends. Twitter is where you tell the truth to strangers." - chriselst
"I don't drink any more... then again, I don't drink any less." - Mike Mullikins uncle
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That's OK, as long as they bring home the bacon.
/ravi
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They do, but they tend to hog it all once they get it home.
"the debugger doesn't tell me anything because this code compiles just fine" - random QA comment
"Facebook is where you tell lies to your friends. Twitter is where you tell the truth to strangers." - chriselst
"I don't drink any more... then again, I don't drink any less." - Mike Mullikins uncle
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Indeed! But as they say 'you reap what you sow '.
"the debugger doesn't tell me anything because this code compiles just fine" - random QA comment
"Facebook is where you tell lies to your friends. Twitter is where you tell the truth to strangers." - chriselst
"I don't drink any more... then again, I don't drink any less." - Mike Mullikins uncle
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Depends on the sty-le
Sin tack
the any key okay
modified 26-Jun-17 11:59am.
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And if they dance, are they swine-ing?
If you have an important point to make, don't try to be subtle or clever. Use a pile driver. Hit the point once. Then come back and hit it again. Then hit it a third time - a tremendous whack.
--Winston Churchill
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