How To Determine the Size of the Desktop Area

MORE INFORMATION

Method 1

NOTE: In Microsoft Visual Basic 4.0, the SYSINFO.OCX control is in the \VB4\TOOLS\SYSINFO folder of the Visual Basic CD-ROM. It does not ship with the diskette version, and it is not automatically installed by Visual Basic Setup. Copy SYSINFO.OCX to the \WINDOWS\SYSTEM folder, and register it with REGOCX32.EXE. In Microsoft Visual Basic 5.0 and later, SYSINFO.OCX is installed by default.

Use the SYSINFO.OCX control in your project. It has a number of useful properties, four of which disclose the size and position of the desktop area in twips. Follow the steps below:

1. Start Visual Basic. Form1 is created by default.
2. Add a Command button to Form1.
3. From the Tools menu, choose Custom Controls and check the "Microsoft System Info" component. If the component is not listed, click the browse button and locate SYSINFO.OCX.
4. Add a SysInfo control to Form1.
5. Add the following code to the Command1_Click event:

       Private Sub Command1_Click()
   
         With SysInfo1
           Print "WorkAreaLeft: " & .WorkAreaLeft / Screen.TwipsPerPixelX
           Print "WorkAreaTop: " & .WorkAreaTop / Screen.TwipsPerPixelY
           Print "WorkAreaWidth: " & .WorkAreaWidth / Screen.TwipsPerPixelX
           Print "WorkAreaHeight: " & .WorkAreaHeight / Screen.TwipsPerPixelY
         End With
   
       End Sub
   
   						

6. Choose Start from the Run menu, or press the F5 key to run the project.
7. Click the Command button to observe the size of the work area.

Method 2

The SystemParametersInfo function has many uses, including the ability to determine the size and position of the desktop. Follow the steps below:

1. Start Visual Basic. Form1 is created by default.
2. From the Insert menu, choose Module to add a single code module to the project. Module1 is created by default.
3. Add the following code to Module1:

         Type RECT
           Left As Long
           Top As Long
           Right As Long
           Bottom As Long
         End Type
   
         Public Const SPI_GETWORKAREA = 48
   
         Declare Function SystemParametersInfo Lib "user32" _
           Alias "SystemParametersInfoA" (ByVal uAction As Long, _
           ByVal uParam As Long, lpvParam As Any, ByVal fuWinIni As Long) _
           As Long
   
   						

4. Add a Command button to Form1.
5. Add the following code to the Command1_Click event:

         Private Sub Command1_Click()
   
           Dim lRet As Long
           Dim apiRECT As RECT
   
           lRet = SystemParametersInfo(SPI_GETWORKAREA, vbNull, apiRECT, 0)
   
           If lRet Then
             Print "WorkAreaLeft: " & apiRECT.Left
             Print "WorkAreaTop: " & apiRECT.Top
             Print "WorkAreaWidth: " & apiRECT.Right - apiRECT.Left
             Print "WorkAreaHeight: " & apiRECT.Bottom - apiRECT.Top
           Else
             Print "Call to SystemParametersInfo failed."
           End If
   
         End Sub
   
   						

6. Choose Start from the Run menu, or press the F5 key to run the project.
7. Click the Command button to observe the size of the work area.