C# Advanced GUI Ideas?

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Dears,

I am working on a project where I need to display only a certain area from my GUI on a datashow (another screen). I want to have some sort of background control room that is not visiable to the spectators, and I want to do it by just showing certain portion from the GUI and keeping the rest just to me. I have no idea about how to start thinking. Is there a way to create video driver that would send the needed portion to the other display?

Posted 19-Nov-11 23:25pm

zakariawaheeb

Updated 20-Nov-11 20:48pm

v3

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BillWoodruff 20-Nov-11 11:15am

1. are you describing a scenario in which one graphics card one one computer is driving both displays ?

2. please tag as WinForms, or WPF, or whatever

3. does the "certain portion" of the GUI you want viewed "solo" on the other display vary at times, or is it always the exact same area of the total GUI ?

zakariawaheeb 21-Nov-11 2:35am

1. Yes, I am having one graphic card on my Laptop that derives the laptop screen and also a datashow (a projector) that is connected through an RGB cable to my laptop.
2.it is a WinForm
3. The "Certain Portion" of the GUI is the display I want the spectators to see, it would have a fixed size, but its content is variable.
I think the Second solution provided by
valery possoz is a good one, thanks for your help and I really appretiate it if you have any more ideas.

Sergey Alexandrovich Kryukov 20-Nov-11 18:32pm

Do you mean "another screen" another display or something else?
Do you know what is the "video driver"? This is not part of UI and not anything which can run on .NET, not for existing systems. What is "keeping the rest just for me"? A part of UI is either displayed or not.
--SA

zakariawaheeb 21-Nov-11 2:36am

I am having one graphic card on my Laptop that derives the laptop screen and also a datashow (a projector) that is connected through an RGB cable to my laptop, the "Another Screen" is the Datashow.

BillWoodruff 21-Nov-11 5:27am

Glad you found the solution from Valery useful !

But, allow me to ask you one further question ... which I should have asked you in my first comment: is the content you want only the "audience" to see, content that can be put in one Form and displayed separately on the other monitor ?

The impression I have from your question is that you want that same content displayed on the "operator's" screen.

So is this the case where you need simultaneous presentation of identical looking Forms on both operator and audience screens ? Will Valery's solution enable that ?

If not, let us know here: I have some ideas about how you could go about this by synchronizing the controls across the operator screen with identical type controls on the content to be displayed to the audience (yes, I'm talking about duplication of controls).

good luck, Bill

zakariawaheeb 21-Nov-11 7:05am

The display I am talking about here will be further edited in a video hardware MUX to add video to it, then the output is displayed infront of me on a TV. So, it doesn't matter to have the same view on my laptop. It is fine to have spectators view on my form but in case it doesn't add any complexity to the app.

BillWoodruff 22-Nov-11 16:34pm

I am prototyping a tip/trick or small article for CP based on some experiments I've done that allow certain sections of a WinForm to be replicated in another WinForm (while other controls/panels,etc. are hidden), and synchronized, so thanks for the inspiration :)

But, one other question I am curious to ask you: in your scenario: what is displayed on the DataShow is only the results of the changes the operator makes on the "operator form" ... right ? After all, display mirroring can be set up Vista and 7 at the OS level (and perhaps certain video cards support this as a 'native' feature' also ?), but I just wanted to know for sure that on your DataShow display: you do not expect the audience to see, for example, a DateTimePicker "dropping down," and the cursor moving to select a new date: they'd only see the change in the apparent value of the DateTimePicker based on your changes in the main UI ... right ?

thanks, Bill

zakariawaheeb 23-Nov-11 4:52am

The DataShow form will contain two main components, first blue background that will be removed my a hardware video mixer and replaced by a video from cams. The other component is a Text that should be displayed over the blue screen, the text is a subtitle to the spectator.
The Spectators should see nothing but the text and blue background (Replaced by the video).

2 solutions

Solution 1

Why going into such tricky game with two monitors? (Please see my question and tell us if I understood you correctly; is it about two different monitors.) You would be limited by the length of a cable, also, the risk of exposing a "secret" part of UI to the used of another monitor is too high, as in principle it always possible to show it using keyboard.

Why not coming to an obvious alternative? Have two different computers connected by a network. Run two different processes on two separate computers, one in a background control room, one in a second room. Choose from using socket programming (better using System.Net.Sockets.TcpListener/System.Net.Sockets.TcpClient), classical remoting or WCF (I would suggest self-hosting WCF by some process running in the background control room host, maybe the same process as the background control room part). Alternatively, you can have one server application (develop Windows Service) and two different processes running client part, one for the outside user, one for background control room. The Service itself can run on any of these two computers or on third one; this is not really important but might depend on required functionality.

And don't think that using an extra computer is too expensive. With network approach, you can save a lot of time and investment on just the development, so it can justify the use of a one more computer.

—SA

Posted 20-Nov-11 12:43pm

Sergey Alexandrovich Kryukov

Updated 20-Nov-11 12:44pm

v2

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zakariawaheeb 21-Nov-11 2:40am

Thanks SAKryukov for your reply, but I think you didn't get me correctly. I meant by "Control Room" a GUI that controls what will appear on a desired portion of the GUI. I am trying to show certain portion of the GUI to the spectators and control what appear on it using controllers that are not visible to the spectators, I think "Solution 2" by valery possoz is a good approach to what I have in mind.

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Valery Possoz · Accepted Answer · 2011-11-20T13:12:00

Hello,

Assuming you use only one computer that has several screens and you want to show your form on the second screen.

For WPF applications:

int screnToUse = 1;
Screen[] screens = Screen.AllScreens;
var formToShowToSpectators = new FormToShowToSpectators();
formToShowToSpectators.BorderThickness = new Thickness(0);
formToShowToSpectators.WindowStyle = WindowStyle.None;
formToShowToSpectators.Left = screens[screnToUse].Bounds.Left;
formToShowToSpectators.Top = screens[screnToUse].Bounds.Top;
formToShowToSpectators.Show();

For a winform Application:

C#

int screnToUse = 1;
Screen[] screens = Screen.AllScreens;
var formToShowToSpectators = new FormToShowToSpectators();
formToShowToSpectators.FormBorderStyle = FormBorderStyle.None;
formToShowToSpectators.Left = screens[screnToUse].Bounds.Left;
formToShowToSpectators.Top = screens[screnToUse].Bounds.Top;
formToShowToSpectators.StartPosition = FormStartPosition.Manual;
formToShowToSpectators.Show();

Then because you can't maximise a window before it is loaded change it's state in the Loaded Event of your form for WPF:

C#

private void Window_Loaded(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
{
    WindowState = System.Windows.WindowState.Maximized;
}

Or in the Load Event handler for WinForm:

C#

private void FormToShowToSpectators_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
    WindowState = FormWindowState.Maximized;
}

You will need to add references to System.Windows.Form and System.Drawing to a WPF application

Valery

C# Advanced GUI Ideas?

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Solution 2

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C# Advanced GUI Ideas?

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Solution 2

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