Did you know... How to optimize Visual Studio for Multi-Monitor setups

re: Did you know... How to optimize Visual Studio for Multi-Monitor setups

Todd Spatafore — Thu, 21 Jul 2005 01:08:30 GMT

Do you mean that there aren't any new enhancements in VS 2005 for dual monitor support? Or are you only listing out the things that we can do today with VS 2003?

re: Did you know... How to optimize Visual Studio for Multi-Monitor setups

Chris Szurgot — Thu, 21 Jul 2005 01:48:32 GMT

I usually pull the properties tool window over to a secondary monitor, and have help open on a separate monitor as well.

My monitors are set up on different planes (the desk has a monitor stand, but the second monitor is on the desk a few inches below, and the tertiary one is a few inches higher on a shelf and of a different resolution) so I can't stretch VS across the monitors. It would be great if you could actually drag code windows to another monitor, or maybe a "tab group" if necessary.

re: Did you know... How to optimize Visual Studio for Multi-Monitor setups

Paul Holden — Thu, 21 Jul 2005 02:14:12 GMT

I was one of the people who left a comment on the original article. I thought it might be useful to comment on how my use of multiple monitors has changed over the last year (when I originally posted I'd just been using multiple monitors for a month or so). I'm probably going to ramble on a bit, because I've just got back from the free bar at the London Xfest event :)

I now have a 1280x1024 flatpanel showing the solution explorer (down the left edge) and a single code pane (to the right, filling the rest of the screen). I find the TFT much nicer for viewing code than the CRT (especially with replacement proportional fonts from proggyfonts.com). My secondary monitor is a 1600x1200 CRT which I now use for the Output/Find in Files/Pending Checkins windows etc (covering the bottom half of the screen). Incidentally, I've continued to find a really annoying bug which leaves a spurious non-interactive window plastered over my second monitor when I run devstudio Maximised. I've found it works fine if I leave it in the restored state and stretch it to fit the flatpanel. Hopefully this will be fixed in 2005 :)

For help and documentation I usually use IE (with a Google search) and display the results on the second monitor. Almost all the other apps I use are on the CRT, so the TFT is used exclusively for Dev Studio.

When I'm debugging I usually have all the debug windows docked in the main Dev Studio window on the flatpanel, with our game running on the CRT. It's really handy to be able to refer to the state of our game when I hit a breakpoint or whatever - this wasn't possible with a single monitor.

It would definitely be useful to be able to drag code windows outside of the dev studio MDI and onto the second monitor. I recently got a 24" 1920x1200 flatpanel at home and it's really useful to be able to show 2 code panes (I can't easily do that at work because my two monitors are at different resolutions). It would be nice to be able to specify for .h files to open in one pane, and .cpp files in another. Even nicer would be for the IDE to remember which pane a file was opened in previously, and to restore it there when reopened!

re: Did you know... How to optimize Visual Studio for Multi-Monitor setups

saraford — Thu, 21 Jul 2005 03:27:01 GMT

Todd: These tips are for both Visual Studio .NET 2003 and Visual Studio 2005.

-sara

re: Did you know... How to optimize Visual Studio for Multi-Monitor setups

Sushant Bhatia — Thu, 21 Jul 2005 03:46:06 GMT

I have a Vertical Tab Group that is split so that I see 1 tab group on 1 screen and the other one on the other screen. That way I can put the ASMX.CS files on the right hand monitor and the ASMX files on the left. Much easier to code side by side.
It would be helpful to be able to categorize the files so that I can say this category should open on the left monitor, and the other category should open on the right monitor and something else on the center monitor.

BTW! I'm running my dev machine at 1920 * 1440. Thats two 22 inch monitors each at 1920 * 1440. Believe me when I say the desktop is HUGE! I wanted to take a screen capture. Funny thing is that all I could get from the PrtScn capture is this black screen. There is some white text from my VS.NET IDE but on the whole, its black.

IS THIS A WINDOWS ERROR? Can screen capture work at such high resolutions?

re: Did you know... How to optimize Visual Studio for Multi-Monitor setups

saraford — Thu, 21 Jul 2005 04:40:06 GMT

Todd and everyone else:
For those of you who have been wishing for Multi-Mon support in VS, could someone please report a bug via MSDN Product Feedback center and let me know what the bug number is, so i can get people to vote on it.

We had almost 100 people comment on my blog post last year that they wanted VS to support Multi-Mon. Now, using MSDN Product Feedback Center, we can track the frequently of the requests and make sure your comments are in our bug tracking database.

Please leave a comment with the bug ID on this entry. Thanks!

re: Did you know... How to optimize Visual Studio for Multi-Monitor setups

jledgard — Thu, 21 Jul 2005 07:31:56 GMT

You'll get my vote on the bug.

re: Did you know... How to optimize Visual Studio for Multi-Monitor setups

Matthew W. Jackson — Thu, 21 Jul 2005 07:38:58 GMT

I don't know about a suggestion requesting more features, but I do remember a bug/suggestion that was shot down COLD with some response that according to their studies "Multi Monitor usage was in decline" (paraphrased). That didn't help my perception of the product in regards to multi-monitor support, especially when I'm pretty sure quite a few Microsoft developers use multi-monitor setups.

I don't know what studies they were doing, because it seems contrary to the market demand. It wasn't until recently that you could easily find a good video card with two VGA/DVI ports (three on a few cards), and getting two different cards to work together was never easy until the major vendors unified their drivers. Also, with flat panels, it's easier to fit a lot of monitors on your desk.

Almost every serious developer I know uses multile monitors. During an internship I ran into an engineer with three PCs and ten monitors on his desk.

Feedback Center Request for Multi-Monitor VS Features

scooblog by josh ledgard — Thu, 21 Jul 2005 08:27:26 GMT

Sara, from the VSCore team, is looking for people to report and vote on feature suggestions via the product...

re: Did you know... How to optimize Visual Studio for Multi-Monitor setups

ShadowChaser — Thu, 21 Jul 2005 09:35:53 GMT

I've posted a multi-monitor suggestion at:
http://lab.msdn.microsoft.com/ProductFeedback/viewFeedback.aspx?FeedbackId=cf3597fc-2acf-43c7-b09f-a7e1dd7474f5

Nothing fancy, just a request for better floating /SDI window support and a "drag to float" ability.

Speaking of the document list/tab bar, does it infuriate anyone else how VS2005 automatically reorders the tabs?

Just when I think I remember where my open windows are they get reordered. Many of my code files look similar - I can't even *begin* to count the number of times started programming in the wrong document as a result when using C# Express. Has anyone else had this problem as well?

Personally I think the automatic window tab reordering is a usability nightmare. :-(

How to optimize Visual Studio for multi monitor setups

Tiernans Comms Closet — Thu, 21 Jul 2005 10:48:47 GMT

re: Did you know... How to optimize Visual Studio for Multi-Monitor setups

Sushant Bhatia — Thu, 21 Jul 2005 11:55:20 GMT

I tried to do a Suggestion on the Product Feedback site but it is the WORST design ever. It keeps sending me in circles. I click on Make A Suggestion and it tells me to "Step 1: Search for a duplicate suggestion" which I enter. Then it brings up a page with no search results and no way for me to enter a new suggestion.

What kind of useless system is that? So to any Product Feedback people reading this....your site is poorly designed! A good design means that even an idiot like myself should be able to use it properly. SO FIX IT!

I want to report the screen capture bug for Windows XP as well and I can't do that either.

Can someone let me know where I can suggest things and report bugs 'PROPERLY'. Thanks.

re: Did you know... How to optimize Visual Studio for Multi-Monitor setups

Jeff Parker — Thu, 21 Jul 2005 20:08:54 GMT

Whoops well looks like Shadowchaser and I had the same idea. But I also added another one.

Similar to Shadow Chaser let get some dragable tab windows for all things in there. Let me drag out a form designer view to one monitor and work on the code on another monitor.
http://lab.msdn.microsoft.com/productfeedback/viewfeedback.aspx?feedbackid=5a92e910-328f-4065-b1dc-81a079a157b2

Also since I am working on that code on one monitor and have a deigner off in another monitor I want a quick way to loose all those tool bars and be like in full screen mode, however current full screen maximized the IDE across all monitors. Give me a full screen mode that doesn't maximize everywhere and everything.
http://lab.msdn.microsoft.com/productfeedback/viewfeedback.aspx?t=4Zxl8iJl2DcaPVVaDiVeItJgK8t4R*FfCNlftbocZbWeh2DDUuhdakrLbB9T3gnFi1qahjwhv2EtR44l58mKL5JQ$$&p=46BFDsl1hEqJHYshJTZYWIDtEt8ts3Q0Km*tZ6j5Ms0MR98PhWPkg05ZfgGLZgN1utB*fAP5T509XiAyDFbkWOdYgPqHex0c5xKEyWGXydd1o$&feedbackid=5f2b5398-1908-4ca3-abca-97ba1dc10d38

re: Did you know... How to optimize Visual Studio for Multi-Monitor setups

Mike Dunn — Thu, 21 Jul 2005 20:30:30 GMT

The "dead non-painting window" bug that Paul Holden mentioned really bugs me too. I haven't used VC7.1 in a while, but IIRC if you maximize VS then hit Logo+D then click the VS taskbar button, you'll see it. Or with the IDE maximized, do some slow operation with SourceSafe to made the OS think that VS is hung.

re: Did you know... How to optimize Visual Studio for Multi-Monitor setups

Daniel Moth — Fri, 22 Jul 2005 01:47:16 GMT

To be honest, I am not bothered about multi-monitor support.

On one monitor I have Visual Studio and nothing else.

On the other monitor I have e-mail client, IM client, browser, rss reader, newsgroup reader, explorer, word/excel/notepad, reflector, cmd, activesync etc.

In other words, a day at the office involves using a plethora of applications and a multi-monitor setup simply serves as a mechanism for having the most important one always visible on one screen and all the rest on the other.

My £0.02

More Interesting Finds

Jason Haley — Sun, 24 Jul 2005 15:42:47 GMT

VSTS Links - 07/28/2005

Team System News — Fri, 29 Jul 2005 17:52:05 GMT

Chris Menegay - Am I off my rocker?

Chris discusses his vision of VSTS, in response to Jeremy Miller's...

re: Did you know... How to optimize Visual Studio for Multi-Monitor setups

Mark Levison — Fri, 05 Aug 2005 00:21:36 GMT

I would love to leave a notes in ladybug - but it won't let me log in today - it keeps sending me back to the "MSDN Profile Center"

As for the question - Multi-monitor support would be very helpful. Sometimes I'm need to look at two files side by side. Today I have to open the second file in another editor.

Use Ctrl+Alt+DownArrow to quickly access all your open files

Sara Ford's WebLog — Fri, 26 Aug 2005 19:44:06 GMT

Today’s tip comes from “some cool dev” who wrote the new Window Management features for Visual Studio...

re: Did you know... How to optimize Visual Studio for Multi-Monitor setups

David Wurmfeld — Sun, 11 Dec 2005 18:25:02 GMT

I am new to VS (just got 2005) and am faced with either geting a huge monitor or linking two XGA flat panels (I have one now). Any recommendations for a dual head graphics card? Any preference between dual monitors vs a huge CRT (can't afford a mondo LCD)

Thanks

Visual Studio na wielu monitorach, VS Tips oraz dodatki od Sary

Co Kierepka czyta, wie lub myśli, że wie :) — Wed, 15 Feb 2006 19:00:08 GMT

Właśnie przeglądałem sieć w celu znalezienia sposobu na podział Visual Studio 2005 na wiele monitorów....

re: Did you know... How to optimize Visual Studio for Multi-Monitor setups

Mateusz Kierepka — Fri, 17 Feb 2006 16:47:05 GMT

Hi!

I'm using tips which you described here, but I have one question:
- is it possible to save different VS 2005 settings?
WHY?: I need this because I'm using external LCD only in work, at home I'm using just laptop, so I must every time change VS Settings

I'm also using this cool programm: http://www.mediachance.com/free/multimon.htm - multimonitor task bar.

Kind regards from Poland

re: Did you know... How to optimize Visual Studio for Multi-Monitor setups

saraford — Mon, 20 Feb 2006 08:50:53 GMT

Go to Tools - Import / Export Settings. Select to export your settings and check the "General Settings - Window Layouts" category.

Let me know how this goes.

thanks,
-sara

re: Did you know... How to optimize Visual Studio for Multi-Monitor setups

kierepka — Mon, 20 Feb 2006 12:15:12 GMT

Yes - this is what I needed. Thx!

Sara Ford's Top 10 Visual Studio Tips

Dev Emporium — Mon, 20 Feb 2006 21:55:01 GMT

Microsoft's Sara Ford celebrated her 100th "Tip of the Week" a couple of weeks ago by publishing a list...

re: Did you know... How to optimize Visual Studio for Multi-Monitor setups

Giles — Tue, 11 Apr 2006 11:30:46 GMT

Its a pretty lame work around. Would be good to see this done properly as a multi-MDI windows, a bit like the way Firefox or IE7 works.

I've done the same thing with my apps and it works great, can't see why MS can't do it for VS.

The users for my app typically have about 6 screens. Would be sad to tell them to use the above fudge.

re: Did you know... How to optimize Visual Studio for Multi-Monitor setups

cj — Fri, 11 Aug 2006 19:48:49 GMT

i have an annoying bug with vs2003 in xp.
i have 2 lcd monitors setup, 1280 each, streched, using matrox dual head card.

this is the only app that doesnt open/resize properly!

a small toolbar appears on the top, thats !

any advice?

bigluzer @ [[[[[gmail]]]]

re: Did you know... How to optimize Visual Studio for Multi-Monitor setups

Guido — Tue, 15 Aug 2006 15:18:25 GMT

Just a quick bug check, when I use VS.Net 2003 on a multi monitor setup, sometimes a second VS window appears partially on the 2nd monitor. This window behaves the same wrt focus but does not draw its contents. trying to drag that window drags the VS main window; its a bit of a nuisance. Do you know of any fixes for that?

Visual Studio Dual Monitor Support

Vault of Thoughts - .NET Blog — Fri, 11 May 2007 16:10:57 GMT

Vault of Thoughts - .NET Blog - Visual Studio Dual Monitor Support

Vault of Thoughts - .NET Blog - Visual Studio Dual Monitor Support — Fri, 11 May 2007 16:10:59 GMT

PingBack from http://VaultOfThoughts.net/VisualStudioDualMonitorSupport.aspx

Visual Studio productivity tips

.NET Geek — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 12:55:23 GMT

For some time I have been subscribing to Sara Ford's blog where she shares useful tips for Visual

VS 2008 (or VS in general) and multi-monitor support

Granville Barnett — Fri, 02 May 2008 01:31:32 GMT

I seem to remember this particular issue making some ground in terms of verbal noise a year or so ago

Dual Screen Setup for Visual Studio 2008 « Zaki Mirza’s Blog

Dual Screen Setup for Visual Studio 2008 « Zaki Mirza’s Blog — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 17:45:06 GMT

PingBack from http://zakimirza.wordpress.com/2008/07/18/dual-screen-setup-for-visual-studio-2008/

Sara Ford s Weblog Did you know How to optimize Visual Studio for | Wood TV Stand

Mon, 01 Jun 2009 20:55:09 GMT

PingBack from http://woodtvstand.info/story.php?id=4813