Desktop Displays

Question

Hi,

I have two displays connected to my computer. Can I have Desktop1 on one display and Desktop2 on another? I want to be able to have the video player on full screen in Desktop2 while still been able to have Desktop1 on the other screen.

JustinRatliff · Answer

No. The "desktops" in ARC are clean workspace areas within the application of ARC so you can lay out controls. If you looks at some of Example projects for the Revolution robots many of the have controls one desktop and "Mobile Controls" laid out on another desktop. This is for organization sake because you could lay all of the controls on one desktop - but that would look like a giant mess. You can send the entire application of ARC to another screen or spread it over multiple screens but you can't send the "desktop" workspace inside of the ARC application to another screen. You can only pick which screen has ARC.

kazpet · Answer

What I am trying to do is be able to have the control desktop on laptop screen and have display attached to my laptop showing the video player plugin and robot text messages. Is that possible?

DJ Sures · Answer

It sure is. Manually resize the desktop and place your controls. It’ll save with the project

JustinRatliff · Answer

@kazpet - what video player plugin are you referring to you? If you are working with one screen, what DJ said is right on. If you are trying to do something with two physically different screens, please give us some more info on what you doing and what plugin you are trying to use?

kazpet · Answer

I have a laptop and a external monitor. I am doing a interactive show with the robot. I want to be able to control the robot with the main ez-robot desktop on the laptop screen. I want the external monitor to be able to display the video player plugin under the control of the robot. The external monitor will be facing the audience while the laptop screen is only for me to see.

JustinRatliff · Answer

@kazpet can you provide the link to the "video player plugin" you are mentioning? I'm not finding it and I want make sure I know what you are referring to.

kazpet · Answer

https://synthiam.com/Support?id=193

JustinRatliff · Answer

@kazpet that control is still only going to be active with inside of the ARC application. And again it is important to understand that the "desktops" in ARC provide clean work spaces for controls. Like DJ said, you can arrange your controls how ever you like and resize and it'll save with your project but this will still be for a single screen with in the ARC application. The Video Player control is like the other controls and only works inside ARC and can not be taken outside of the application to another screen unless you move the ARC application. What you want to do is have your ARC application on your laptop and laptop screen and have a external monitor where you can command videos to play from ARC. You do that with some scripting I think. Here is how I would do. I would manually open Windows Media Player on your external monitor (otherwise it would default open to your laptop screen). Then as you want videos to plays, you can queue them up with scripts using this example:
 Exec("C:\Users\YourPath\Videos\YourVideoFile.mp4")

Does that help you with your project needs?

DJ Sures · Answer

It’s quite easy. You don’t have to run an exec or any scripting like that.

Simply set your secondary display to be "extended desktop" in windows display settings

Then set ARC to "not maximized". So the program looks like a window that you can move around. Then drag and position the ARC window so it spans both monitors across the extended desktop

Now place your controls anywhere you need. This means placing your video player on one desktop and drag it to fill the screen. You’ll have to unselect "auto arrange controls" in the add control menu.

That’s all it takes. Everything saves with your project.

kazpet · Answer

Thanks. The extended display will do what I want

kazpet

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