[c#] How can I get the active screen dimensions?

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.

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Screen.FromControl(this).Bounds

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
                      );
    }

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();

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;
        }
    }
}

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Screen.FromControl(this).Bounds

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;
        }
    }
}

This is a "Center Screen DotNet 4.5 solution", using SystemParameters instead of System.Windows.Forms or My.Compuer.Screen: Since Windows 8 has changed the screen dimension calculation, the only way it works for me looks like that (Taskbar calculation included):

Private Sub Window_Loaded(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.Windows.RoutedEventArgs) Handles MyBase.Loaded
    Dim BarWidth As Double = SystemParameters.VirtualScreenWidth - SystemParameters.WorkArea.Width
    Dim BarHeight As Double = SystemParameters.VirtualScreenHeight - SystemParameters.WorkArea.Height
    Me.Left = (SystemParameters.VirtualScreenWidth - Me.ActualWidth - BarWidth) / 2
    Me.Top = (SystemParameters.VirtualScreenHeight - Me.ActualHeight - BarHeight) / 2         
End Sub

Also you may need:

• SystemParameters.VirtualScreenWidth
• SystemParameters.VirtualScreenHeight

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

This is a "Center Screen DotNet 4.5 solution", using SystemParameters instead of System.Windows.Forms or My.Compuer.Screen: Since Windows 8 has changed the screen dimension calculation, the only way it works for me looks like that (Taskbar calculation included):

Private Sub Window_Loaded(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.Windows.RoutedEventArgs) Handles MyBase.Loaded
    Dim BarWidth As Double = SystemParameters.VirtualScreenWidth - SystemParameters.WorkArea.Width
    Dim BarHeight As Double = SystemParameters.VirtualScreenHeight - SystemParameters.WorkArea.Height
    Me.Left = (SystemParameters.VirtualScreenWidth - Me.ActualWidth - BarWidth) / 2
    Me.Top = (SystemParameters.VirtualScreenHeight - Me.ActualHeight - BarHeight) / 2         
End Sub

Adding a solution that doesn't use WinForms but NativeMethods instead. First you need to define the native methods needed.

public static class NativeMethods
{
    public const Int32 MONITOR_DEFAULTTOPRIMERTY = 0x00000001;
    public const Int32 MONITOR_DEFAULTTONEAREST = 0x00000002;


    [DllImport( "user32.dll" )]
    public static extern IntPtr MonitorFromWindow( IntPtr handle, Int32 flags );


    [DllImport( "user32.dll" )]
    public static extern Boolean GetMonitorInfo( IntPtr hMonitor, NativeMonitorInfo lpmi );


    [Serializable, StructLayout( LayoutKind.Sequential )]
    public struct NativeRectangle
    {
        public Int32 Left;
        public Int32 Top;
        public Int32 Right;
        public Int32 Bottom;


        public NativeRectangle( Int32 left, Int32 top, Int32 right, Int32 bottom )
        {
            this.Left = left;
            this.Top = top;
            this.Right = right;
            this.Bottom = bottom;
        }
    }


    [StructLayout( LayoutKind.Sequential, CharSet = CharSet.Auto )]
    public sealed class NativeMonitorInfo
    {
        public Int32 Size = Marshal.SizeOf( typeof( NativeMonitorInfo ) );
        public NativeRectangle Monitor;
        public NativeRectangle Work;
        public Int32 Flags;
    }
}

And then get the monitor handle and the monitor info like this.

        var hwnd = new WindowInteropHelper( this ).EnsureHandle();
        var monitor = NativeMethods.MonitorFromWindow( hwnd, NativeMethods.MONITOR_DEFAULTTONEAREST );

        if ( monitor != IntPtr.Zero )
        {
            var monitorInfo = new NativeMonitorInfo();
            NativeMethods.GetMonitorInfo( monitor, monitorInfo );

            var left = monitorInfo.Monitor.Left;
            var top = monitorInfo.Monitor.Top;
            var width = ( monitorInfo.Monitor.Right - monitorInfo.Monitor.Left );
            var height = ( monitorInfo.Monitor.Bottom - monitorInfo.Monitor.Top );
        }

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

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
                      );
    }

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

WinForms

For multi-monitor setups you will also need account for the X and Y position:

Rectangle activeScreenDimensions = Screen.FromControl(this).Bounds;
this.Size = new Size(activeScreenDimensions.Width + activeScreenDimensions.X, activeScreenDimensions.Height + activeScreenDimensions.Y);

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

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();

This debugging code should do the trick well:

You can explore the properties of the Screen Class

Put all displays in an array or list using Screen.AllScreens then capture the index of the current display and its properties.

C# (Converted from VB by Telerik - Please double check)

        {
    List<Screen> arrAvailableDisplays = new List<Screen>();
    List<string> arrDisplayNames = new List<string>();

    foreach (Screen Display in Screen.AllScreens)
    {
        arrAvailableDisplays.Add(Display);
        arrDisplayNames.Add(Display.DeviceName);
    }

    Screen scrCurrentDisplayInfo = Screen.FromControl(this);
    string strDeviceName = Screen.FromControl(this).DeviceName;
    int idxDevice = arrDisplayNames.IndexOf(strDeviceName);

    MessageBox.Show(this, "Number of Displays Found: " + arrAvailableDisplays.Count.ToString() + Constants.vbCrLf + "ID: " + idxDevice.ToString() + Constants.vbCrLf + "Device Name: " + scrCurrentDisplayInfo.DeviceName.ToString + Constants.vbCrLf + "Primary: " + scrCurrentDisplayInfo.Primary.ToString + Constants.vbCrLf + "Bounds: " + scrCurrentDisplayInfo.Bounds.ToString + Constants.vbCrLf + "Working Area: " + scrCurrentDisplayInfo.WorkingArea.ToString + Constants.vbCrLf + "Bits per Pixel: " + scrCurrentDisplayInfo.BitsPerPixel.ToString + Constants.vbCrLf + "Width: " + scrCurrentDisplayInfo.Bounds.Width.ToString + Constants.vbCrLf + "Height: " + scrCurrentDisplayInfo.Bounds.Height.ToString + Constants.vbCrLf + "Work Area Width: " + scrCurrentDisplayInfo.WorkingArea.Width.ToString + Constants.vbCrLf + "Work Area Height: " + scrCurrentDisplayInfo.WorkingArea.Height.ToString, "Current Info for Display '" + scrCurrentDisplayInfo.DeviceName.ToString + "' - ID: " + idxDevice.ToString(), MessageBoxButtons.OK, MessageBoxIcon.Information);
}

VB (Original code)

 Dim arrAvailableDisplays As New List(Of Screen)()
    Dim arrDisplayNames As New List(Of String)()

    For Each Display As Screen In Screen.AllScreens
        arrAvailableDisplays.Add(Display)
        arrDisplayNames.Add(Display.DeviceName)
    Next

    Dim scrCurrentDisplayInfo As Screen = Screen.FromControl(Me)
    Dim strDeviceName As String = Screen.FromControl(Me).DeviceName
    Dim idxDevice As Integer = arrDisplayNames.IndexOf(strDeviceName)

    MessageBox.Show(Me,
                    "Number of Displays Found: " + arrAvailableDisplays.Count.ToString & vbCrLf &
                    "ID: " & idxDevice.ToString + vbCrLf &
                    "Device Name: " & scrCurrentDisplayInfo.DeviceName.ToString + vbCrLf &
                    "Primary: " & scrCurrentDisplayInfo.Primary.ToString + vbCrLf &
                    "Bounds: " & scrCurrentDisplayInfo.Bounds.ToString + vbCrLf &
                    "Working Area: " & scrCurrentDisplayInfo.WorkingArea.ToString + vbCrLf &
                    "Bits per Pixel: " & scrCurrentDisplayInfo.BitsPerPixel.ToString + vbCrLf &
                    "Width: " & scrCurrentDisplayInfo.Bounds.Width.ToString + vbCrLf &
                    "Height: " & scrCurrentDisplayInfo.Bounds.Height.ToString + vbCrLf &
                    "Work Area Width: " & scrCurrentDisplayInfo.WorkingArea.Width.ToString + vbCrLf &
                    "Work Area Height: " & scrCurrentDisplayInfo.WorkingArea.Height.ToString,
                    "Current Info for Display '" & scrCurrentDisplayInfo.DeviceName.ToString & "' - ID: " & idxDevice.ToString, MessageBoxButtons.OK, MessageBoxIcon.Information)

Also you may need:

• SystemParameters.VirtualScreenWidth
• SystemParameters.VirtualScreenHeight

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

This debugging code should do the trick well:

You can explore the properties of the Screen Class

Put all displays in an array or list using Screen.AllScreens then capture the index of the current display and its properties.

C# (Converted from VB by Telerik - Please double check)

        {
    List<Screen> arrAvailableDisplays = new List<Screen>();
    List<string> arrDisplayNames = new List<string>();

    foreach (Screen Display in Screen.AllScreens)
    {
        arrAvailableDisplays.Add(Display);
        arrDisplayNames.Add(Display.DeviceName);
    }

    Screen scrCurrentDisplayInfo = Screen.FromControl(this);
    string strDeviceName = Screen.FromControl(this).DeviceName;
    int idxDevice = arrDisplayNames.IndexOf(strDeviceName);

    MessageBox.Show(this, "Number of Displays Found: " + arrAvailableDisplays.Count.ToString() + Constants.vbCrLf + "ID: " + idxDevice.ToString() + Constants.vbCrLf + "Device Name: " + scrCurrentDisplayInfo.DeviceName.ToString + Constants.vbCrLf + "Primary: " + scrCurrentDisplayInfo.Primary.ToString + Constants.vbCrLf + "Bounds: " + scrCurrentDisplayInfo.Bounds.ToString + Constants.vbCrLf + "Working Area: " + scrCurrentDisplayInfo.WorkingArea.ToString + Constants.vbCrLf + "Bits per Pixel: " + scrCurrentDisplayInfo.BitsPerPixel.ToString + Constants.vbCrLf + "Width: " + scrCurrentDisplayInfo.Bounds.Width.ToString + Constants.vbCrLf + "Height: " + scrCurrentDisplayInfo.Bounds.Height.ToString + Constants.vbCrLf + "Work Area Width: " + scrCurrentDisplayInfo.WorkingArea.Width.ToString + Constants.vbCrLf + "Work Area Height: " + scrCurrentDisplayInfo.WorkingArea.Height.ToString, "Current Info for Display '" + scrCurrentDisplayInfo.DeviceName.ToString + "' - ID: " + idxDevice.ToString(), MessageBoxButtons.OK, MessageBoxIcon.Information);
}

VB (Original code)

 Dim arrAvailableDisplays As New List(Of Screen)()
    Dim arrDisplayNames As New List(Of String)()

    For Each Display As Screen In Screen.AllScreens
        arrAvailableDisplays.Add(Display)
        arrDisplayNames.Add(Display.DeviceName)
    Next

    Dim scrCurrentDisplayInfo As Screen = Screen.FromControl(Me)
    Dim strDeviceName As String = Screen.FromControl(Me).DeviceName
    Dim idxDevice As Integer = arrDisplayNames.IndexOf(strDeviceName)

    MessageBox.Show(Me,
                    "Number of Displays Found: " + arrAvailableDisplays.Count.ToString & vbCrLf &
                    "ID: " & idxDevice.ToString + vbCrLf &
                    "Device Name: " & scrCurrentDisplayInfo.DeviceName.ToString + vbCrLf &
                    "Primary: " & scrCurrentDisplayInfo.Primary.ToString + vbCrLf &
                    "Bounds: " & scrCurrentDisplayInfo.Bounds.ToString + vbCrLf &
                    "Working Area: " & scrCurrentDisplayInfo.WorkingArea.ToString + vbCrLf &
                    "Bits per Pixel: " & scrCurrentDisplayInfo.BitsPerPixel.ToString + vbCrLf &
                    "Width: " & scrCurrentDisplayInfo.Bounds.Width.ToString + vbCrLf &
                    "Height: " & scrCurrentDisplayInfo.Bounds.Height.ToString + vbCrLf &
                    "Work Area Width: " & scrCurrentDisplayInfo.WorkingArea.Width.ToString + vbCrLf &
                    "Work Area Height: " & scrCurrentDisplayInfo.WorkingArea.Height.ToString,
                    "Current Info for Display '" & scrCurrentDisplayInfo.DeviceName.ToString & "' - ID: " & idxDevice.ToString, MessageBoxButtons.OK, MessageBoxIcon.Information)

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Screen.FromControl(this).Bounds