Multiple Device Screen Sizes & Resolutions

When creating a Digitise app in App Studio, you specify one or more Target Platforms you want to develop the app for. A Target Platform specifies a device type, Android, iOS etc., and a screen size or resolution, e.g. 320x480. When you run your finished app on a device, the Digitise Apps Client looks for forms with a Target screen size smaller than or equal to the actual screen size of the device.

If it finds a matching screen size it will use the forms for that size. Otherwise it will use the forms designed for the nearest smaller screen size it can find, or, if there is no smaller size, it will use the smallest screen size available.

If the form's size is smaller than the actual screen size of the device, you can choose how the Digitise Apps Client should deal with the form, e.g. whether you want the Digitise Apps Client to enlarge, or 'upscale', the form to fit the actual screen or not. You can also choose how individual controls on the form should be treated if the form is upscaled. If the smallest form size found is larger than the device's screen, the form will be displayed at its actual size and the user can scroll around the form.

On the Windows Platform you can specify up to eight Target sizes for your forms, meaning that each form will be available in up to eight different sizes. If a user resizes the window at runtime, the Client will check dynamically as the window size changes for a match with another Target form size and if found change to display the form layout for the matching size. The Client matches basically on the form width and will use the form height, if necessary, to distinguish between forms of the same width. If the form size ends up smaller than the window size, the Client will check whether you have specified that you want the form to be enlarged, or 'upscaled', in this situation.

 

If you want forms to be upscaled when displayed on a larger screen, you will need to enable Auto Scaling and configure the Auto Scaling options to specify how you want upscaling to work.

 

If you are designing an app to run on Android devices and you want to allow for different screen resolutions, you can supply a number of differently sized versions of each image used in the app and allow Digitise Apps to automatically select the most appropriate size at runtime. For more information see Multi-Resolution Image Sets on Android Platforms.

 

Generally, it is easier to manage a Project if you are able to specify which types of device and screen resolutions you are going to support at the start of your Project. However, should you need to change these later you can do so at any time by choosing the Target Platforms button in the Projects group on the Ribbon's Home tab.