Programically Changing the Color Depth of the monitor

[Darshon]

Hi, I'm trying to change the color depth of the user's monitor upon my app starting. I can't seem to find anything on the subject. I'm coding in 1.1 VB.Net framework. Any help would be great. Thanks

[Dave Kreskowiak]

First, your app, since it's running on a shared system with other applications, should NEVER change system-wide settings like this. Second, why do you want to do this?

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Dave Kreskowiak Microsoft MVP Visual Developer - Visual Basic
     2006, 2007

[Luc Pattyn]

If you want to persist anyway, get prepared for some P/Invoking. There isnt a function SetDisplayColorDepth() or so; instead you need access to the following Win32 functions (below is C# syntax):

[DllImport("user32.dll")]
public static extern int EnumDisplaySettings (string deviceName,
int modeNum, ref DEVMODE1 devMode );

[DllImport("user32.dll")]
public static extern int ChangeDisplaySettings(ref DEVMODE1 devMode, int flags);

for which you also would need a number of constants and the DEVMODE1 struct; then add some C# or VB code to obtain the supported settings, find the one you want, and set it. If you havent done P/Invoke before, dont bother. Try something simpler first. :)

Luc Pattyn

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