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Changing Screen Orientation Programmatically using Delphi

by 2 Comments

On this post I will show you, how you can change the screen orientation using Delphi. To do this task you must use 2 Winapi functions EnumDisplaySettings and ChangeDisplaySettings.

EnumDisplaySettings: this function retrieves information about the graphics modes supported by the display device.

for example to obtain the current display settings we must call this function in this way:

var
  dm      : TDeviceMode;

  ZeroMemory(@dm, sizeof(dm));
  dm.dmSize   := sizeof(dm);
  if EnumDisplaySettings(nil, DWORD(ENUM_CURRENT_SETTINGS), dm) then
  begin
   //some code
  end;

Now , to use the ChangeDisplaySettings function to change the Screen Orientation we need to pass a valid DEVMODE structure, setting the value of the dmDisplayOrientation field, unfortunately the declaration in the Windows.pas for this record does not include this field.

this is the declaration for the DEVMODE structure in the Windows unit.

  _devicemodeA = record
    dmDeviceName: array[0..CCHDEVICENAME - 1] of AnsiChar;
    dmSpecVersion: Word;
    dmDriverVersion: Word;
    dmSize: Word;
    dmDriverExtra: Word;
    dmFields: DWORD;
    dmOrientation: SHORT;
    dmPaperSize: SHORT;
    dmPaperLength: SHORT;
    dmPaperWidth: SHORT;
    dmScale: SHORT;
    dmCopies: SHORT;
    dmDefaultSource: SHORT;
    dmPrintQuality: SHORT;
    dmColor: SHORT;
    dmDuplex: SHORT;
    dmYResolution: SHORT;
    dmTTOption: SHORT;
    dmCollate: SHORT;
    dmFormName: array[0..CCHFORMNAME - 1] of AnsiChar;
    dmLogPixels: Word;
    dmBitsPerPel: DWORD;
    dmPelsWidth: DWORD;
    dmPelsHeight: DWORD;
    dmDisplayFlags: DWORD;
    dmDisplayFrequency: DWORD;
    dmICMMethod: DWORD;
    dmICMIntent: DWORD;
    dmMediaType: DWORD;
    dmDitherType: DWORD;
    dmICCManufacturer: DWORD;
    dmICCModel: DWORD;
    dmPanningWidth: DWORD;
    dmPanningHeight: DWORD;
  end;

and this is the full declaration including the dmDisplayOrientation field

typedef struct _devicemode {
  TCHAR dmDeviceName[CCHDEVICENAME];
  WORD  dmSpecVersion;
  WORD  dmDriverVersion;
  WORD  dmSize;
  WORD  dmDriverExtra;
  DWORD dmFields;
  union {
    struct {
      short dmOrientation;
      short dmPaperSize;
      short dmPaperLength;
      short dmPaperWidth;
      short dmScale;
      short dmCopies;
      short dmDefaultSource;
      short dmPrintQuality;
    };
    struct {
      POINTL dmPosition;
      DWORD  dmDisplayOrientation;
      DWORD  dmDisplayFixedOutput;
    };
  };
  short dmColor;
  short dmDuplex;
  short dmYResolution;
  short dmTTOption;
  short dmCollate;
  TCHAR dmFormName[CCHFORMNAME];
  WORD  dmLogPixels;
  DWORD dmBitsPerPel;
  DWORD dmPelsWidth;
  DWORD dmPelsHeight;
  union {
    DWORD dmDisplayFlags;
    DWORD dmNup;
  };
  DWORD dmDisplayFrequency;
#if (WINVER >= 0x0400)
  DWORD dmICMMethod;
  DWORD dmICMIntent;
  DWORD dmMediaType;
  DWORD dmDitherType;
  DWORD dmReserved1;
  DWORD dmReserved2;
#if (WINVER >= 0x0500) || (_WIN32_WINNT >= 0x0400)
  DWORD dmPanningWidth;
  DWORD dmPanningHeight;
#endif
#endif
} DEVMODE, *PDEVMODE, *LPDEVMODE;

As you can see the missing fields are dmPosition, dmDisplayOrientation and dmDisplayFixedOutput. to handle this situation we can declare a new devicemode record including these fields or another option is determine the offset of the missing fields in the _devicemode record an then use the Move procedure to Get a Set the desired value.

If we choose create a new record including the missing fields, the new devicemode record will look like this.

type
  _devicemode = record
    dmDeviceName: array [0..CCHDEVICENAME - 1] of {$IFDEF UNICODE} WideChar {$ELSE} AnsiChar {$ENDIF};
    dmSpecVersion: WORD;
    dmDriverVersion: WORD;
    dmSize: WORD;
    dmDriverExtra: WORD;
    dmFields: DWORD;
    union1: record
    case Integer of
      0: (
        dmOrientation: Smallint;
        dmPaperSize: Smallint;
        dmPaperLength: Smallint;
        dmPaperWidth: Smallint;
        dmScale: Smallint;
        dmCopies: Smallint;
        dmDefaultSource: Smallint;
        dmPrintQuality: Smallint);
      1: (
        dmPosition: TPointL;
        dmDisplayOrientation: DWORD;
        dmDisplayFixedOutput: DWORD);
    end;
    dmColor: Shortint;
    dmDuplex: Shortint;
    dmYResolution: Shortint;
    dmTTOption: Shortint;
    dmCollate: Shortint;
    dmFormName: array [0..CCHFORMNAME - 1] of {$IFDEF UNICODE} WideChar {$ELSE} AnsiChar {$ENDIF};
    dmLogPixels: WORD;
    dmBitsPerPel: DWORD;
    dmPelsWidth: DWORD;
    dmPelsHeight: DWORD;
    dmDiusplayFlags: DWORD;
    dmDisplayFrequency: DWORD;
    dmICMMethod: DWORD;
    dmICMIntent: DWORD;
    dmMediaType: DWORD;
    dmDitherType: DWORD;
    dmReserved1: DWORD;
    dmReserved2: DWORD;
    dmPanningWidth: DWORD;
    dmPanningHeight: DWORD;
  end;
  devicemode  = _devicemode;
  Pdevicemode = ^devicemode;

Now we can write our function to change the display orientation.

Option 1) using the the new version of the devicemode record.

procedure ChangeOrientation(NewOrientation:DWORD);
type
  _devicemode = record
    dmDeviceName: array [0..CCHDEVICENAME - 1] of {$IFDEF UNICODE} WideChar {$ELSE} AnsiChar {$ENDIF};
    dmSpecVersion: WORD;
    dmDriverVersion: WORD;
    dmSize: WORD;
    dmDriverExtra: WORD;
    dmFields: DWORD;
    union1: record
    case Integer of
      // printer only fields
      0: (
        dmOrientation: Smallint;
        dmPaperSize: Smallint;
        dmPaperLength: Smallint;
        dmPaperWidth: Smallint;
        dmScale: Smallint;
        dmCopies: Smallint;
        dmDefaultSource: Smallint;
        dmPrintQuality: Smallint);
      // display only fields
      1: (
        dmPosition: TPointL;
        dmDisplayOrientation: DWORD;
        dmDisplayFixedOutput: DWORD);
    end;
    dmColor: Shortint;
    dmDuplex: Shortint;
    dmYResolution: Shortint;
    dmTTOption: Shortint;
    dmCollate: Shortint;
    dmFormName: array [0..CCHFORMNAME - 1] of {$IFDEF UNICODE} WideChar {$ELSE} AnsiChar {$ENDIF};
    dmLogPixels: WORD;
    dmBitsPerPel: DWORD;
    dmPelsWidth: DWORD;
    dmPelsHeight: DWORD;
    dmDiusplayFlags: DWORD;
    dmDisplayFrequency: DWORD;
    dmICMMethod: DWORD;
    dmICMIntent: DWORD;
    dmMediaType: DWORD;
    dmDitherType: DWORD;
    dmReserved1: DWORD;
    dmReserved2: DWORD;
    dmPanningWidth: DWORD;
    dmPanningHeight: DWORD;
  end;
  devicemode  = _devicemode;
  Pdevicemode = ^devicemode;
var
  dm       : TDeviceMode;
  dwTemp  : DWORD;
begin
   ZeroMemory(@dm, sizeof(dm));
   dm.dmSize := sizeof(dm);
   //get the current settings
   if EnumDisplaySettings(nil, DWORD(ENUM_CURRENT_SETTINGS), dm) then
   begin
      //Now this part is very important :
      //when we change the orientation also we are changing resolution of the screen
      //example : if the current orientation is 1024x768x0 (0 is the default orientation) and we need set the orientation to 90 degrees we must swap the values of the width and height , so the new
      //resolution will be (768x1024x90)
      //the next lines makes this trick using the values of the current and new orientation
      if Odd(Pdevicemode(@dm)^.union1.dmDisplayOrientation)<>Odd(NewOrientation) then
      begin
       dwTemp := dm.dmPelsHeight;
       dm.dmPelsHeight:= dm.dmPelsWidth;
       dm.dmPelsWidth := dwTemp;
      end;

      //Now casting the Windows.TDeviceMode record with our devicemode record
      if Pdevicemode(@dm)^.union1.dmDisplayOrientation<>NewOrientation then
      begin
        //casting again to set the new orientation
        Pdevicemode(@dm)^.union1.dmDisplayOrientation := NewOrientation;
        //setting the new orientation
        if (ChangeDisplaySettings(dm, 0)<>DISP_CHANGE_SUCCESSFUL) then
         RaiseLastOSError;
      end;
   end;
end;

Option 2) using the offset of the fields of the TDeviceMode record

procedure ChangeOrientation(NewOrientation:DWORD);
var
 dm      : TDeviceMode;
 dwTemp  : DWORD;
 dmDisplayOrientation : DWORD;
begin
 ZeroMemory(@dm, sizeof(dm));
 dm.dmSize   := sizeof(dm);
 if EnumDisplaySettings(nil, DWORD(ENUM_CURRENT_SETTINGS), dm) then
 begin
 //In the TDevMode record the offset of the dmScale field is equal to the position of the dmDisplayOrientation field
 //so using the move procedure we can get the value of the dmDisplayOrientation field
 Move(dm.dmScale,dmDisplayOrientation,SizeOf(dmDisplayOrientation));
 //See the coments in the pprevious method
 // swap width and height
 if Odd(dmDisplayOrientation)<>Odd(NewOrientation) then
 begin
 dwTemp := dm.dmPelsHeight;
 dm.dmPelsHeight:= dm.dmPelsWidth;
 dm.dmPelsWidth := dwTemp;
 end;

 if dmDisplayOrientation<>NewOrientation then
 begin
 //set the value of the   dmDisplayOrientation
 Move(NewOrientation,dm.dmScale,SizeOf(NewOrientation));
 if (ChangeDisplaySettings(dm, 0)<>DISP_CHANGE_SUCCESSFUL) then
 RaiseLastOSError;
 end;
 end;
end;

finally this is a sample console application to test the previous method

this code will only work if your device supports the respective display settings.

program AppChangeOrientation;

{$APPTYPE CONSOLE}

uses
  Windows,
  SysUtils;

const
  DM_DISPLAYORIENTATION = $00800000;
  ENUM_CURRENT_SETTINGS =-1;
  DMDO_DEFAULT : DWORD  = 0;
  DMDO_90      : DWORD  = 1;
  DMDO_180     : DWORD  = 2;
  DMDO_270     : DWORD  = 3;

procedure ChangeOrientation(NewOrientation:DWORD);
var
  dm      : TDeviceMode;
  dwTemp  : DWORD;
  dmDisplayOrientation : DWORD;
begin
   ZeroMemory(@dm, sizeof(dm));
   dm.dmSize   := sizeof(dm);
   if EnumDisplaySettings(nil, DWORD(ENUM_CURRENT_SETTINGS), dm) then
   begin
      Move(dm.dmScale,dmDisplayOrientation,SizeOf(dmDisplayOrientation));
      // swap width and height
      if Odd(dmDisplayOrientation)<>Odd(NewOrientation) then
      begin
       dwTemp := dm.dmPelsHeight;
       dm.dmPelsHeight:= dm.dmPelsWidth;
       dm.dmPelsWidth := dwTemp;
      end;

      if dmDisplayOrientation<>NewOrientation then
      begin
        Move(NewOrientation,dm.dmScale,SizeOf(NewOrientation));
        if (ChangeDisplaySettings(dm, 0)<>DISP_CHANGE_SUCCESSFUL) then
         RaiseLastOSError;
      end;
   end;
end;

begin
  try
    ChangeOrientation(DMDO_180);
    Writeln('Changed to 180');
    Readln;

    ChangeOrientation(DMDO_270);
    Writeln('Changed to 270');
    Readln;

    ChangeOrientation(DMDO_90);
    Writeln('Changed to 90');
    Readln;

    ChangeOrientation(DMDO_DEFAULT);
    Writeln('Default Orientation restored');
    Readln;
  except
    on E: Exception do
      Writeln(E.ClassName, ': ', E.Message);
  end;
     readln;
end.

Author: Rodrigo

Just another Delphi guy.

2 thoughts on “Changing Screen Orientation Programmatically using Delphi”

Leave a comment

  1. Pingback: Changing Screen Orientation Programmatically using Delphi

  2. neugls
    February 11, 2011 at 9:53 pm

    Nice work!
    You make me know how to declare record according to the struct from c or c++ with union!

    Reply

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