Vista - Laptop's physical screen size

I want to write a script that I can put on a thumb drive and run on various
laptop computers to collect information on their readability in terms of how
big characters will be on the screen at native resolution. My current
laptop's native screen size is 1024 by 768, and the physical height of the
screen is 9.0 inches, which calculates to be about 85 pixels per inch.

If I use ScriptomaticV2 to display the Win32_DisplayConfiguration class, it
shows me:

Computer: M2305NR
==========================================
BitsPerPel: 32
Caption: ATI RADEON XPRESS 200M
Description: ATI RADEON XPRESS 200M
DeviceName: ATI RADEON XPRESS 200M
DisplayFlags: 0
DisplayFrequency: 60
DitherType:
DriverVersion: 6.14.10.6539
ICMIntent:
ICMMethod:
LogPixels: 96
PelsHeight: 768
PelsWidth: 1024
SettingID: ATI RADEON XPRESS 200M
SpecificationVersion: 1025

If I display WMI Class Win32_DesktopMonitor, I get the following:

MonitorType: Generic Television
Name: Generic Television
PixelsPerXLogicalInch: 96
PixelsPerYLogicalInch: 96
PNPDeviceID: DISPLAY\PNP09FE\5&388208C7&0&00000200&01&05
PowerManagementCapabilities:
PowerManagementSupported:
ScreenHeight: 768
ScreenWidth: 1024
Status: OK
StatusInfo:
SystemCreationClassName: Win32_ComputerSystem
SystemName: M2305NR

Obviously the LogPixels and PixelsPerYLogicalInch values of 96 are not
truely pixels per REAL inch, which I have calculated to be about 85.

Does anyone have script to share that can get the actual physical size of a
laptop's screen?

-Paul Randall

They're from the font setting (96 PPI for
normal fonts and 120 PPI for large fonts).

I don't think there's any reliable way to know
an actual inch. It doesn't seem to be availble
in WMI, as you've found out. It's allegedly available
with the API GetDeviceCaps but I don't think that works.
(According to the author of Win32 API Programming
with Visual Basic, on NT systems he always gets
320 and 240 on a 21 inch monitor for the HORSIZE /
VERTSIZE data from GetDeviceCaps. It's supposed
to return actual screen size in MM!)

Unless there's a monitor INF file that gives the info.
then I don't think it's possible. And when you think
about it, that makes sense. How could Windows
measure the screen, after all? And even if it could,
monitor controls generally allow some leeway in the
actual size of display on the screen, so even the actual
physical screen size would not be an absolute value.
a

"mayayana" <mayaXXyana@xxxxxx> wrote in message
news:%23pMPVaBHJHA.1156@xxxxxxThanks. I agree that it would probably require a entry in the INF file, or
maybe in
the BIOS for a laptop, since the screen is tightly tied to the laptop.

I checked the manufacturer's spec sheet for this laptop. It says 15.0
inches.
With a few geometry calculations, I get the same 85 pixels per inch. Maybe
I can have the script ask for screen physical size.

-Paul Randall

"Paul Randall" <paulr90@xxxxxx> wrote in message
news:ero6obMHJHA.1160@xxxxxxIf this will run on a series of units owned by your organization, you might
be able to create a lookup based on the model of laptop.

/Al

On Sep 23, 3:21*am, "Al Dunbar" <AlanD...@xxxxxx> wrote:
If the machines are under the control of an organisation, then they
can be given an organisational directory set up with appropriate
organisational files, which can include such data. Similarly if the
users are not organised, but are intelligent and can co-operate.

The programmer can read from organisational data, and if the desired
datum is absent, can ask for it and maybe insert it.

--
(c) John Stockton, near London, UK. Posting with Google.
Mail: J.R.""""""""@physics.org or (better) via Home Page at
Web: <URL:http://www.merlyn.demon.co.uk/>
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