Running Design Studio on a High DPI/Retina Display (Windows 8.x/10)

[mike_howles4]

Have a 4K monitor?  Running on a Macbook Retina Display in a Windows VM?  Are your toolbars microscopic, or fonts ridiculously large in attempts to compensate?  Read on!

Problem in a screenshot:

Retina Display sized screen.  Canvas and APS are very small at Design Time.  Also, toolbar is very small.

In VMWare, one thing I tried was to turn off Retina Display but that ended up making everything too big.  (900px horizontal if I recall)

This same problem is also present in Eclipse, so I did some research, I get these results.  (Steps follow)

Same resolution, after tweaking some settings:

How I did it:

I found this post related to NetBeans Eclipse explaining the same problem: HiDPI with Eclipse and NetBeans - JAXenter

How to make it work for Design Studio:

1. 1) Open Regedit, and create a Registry Key (DWORD type) for
   
   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\SideBySide\PreferExternalManifest
   
   and set the value to 1
   
   
2. Create the following 2 files in C:\Program Files\SAP BusinessObjects\Design Studio\jre\bin:
   
   • javaw.exe.manifest
   • SAPDesignStudioVM.exe.manifest
     
     
3. Make the file contents of both of these files as follows:
   
   

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?>

<assembly xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:asm.v1" manifestVersion="1.0" xmlns:asmv3="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:asm.v3">

    <description>eclipse</description>

    <trustInfo xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:asm.v2">

        <security>

            <requestedPrivileges>

                <requestedExecutionLevel xmlns:ms_asmv3="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:asm.v3"

                               level="asInvoker"

                               ms_asmv3:uiAccess="false">

                </requestedExecutionLevel>

            </requestedPrivileges>

        </security>

    </trustInfo>

    <asmv3:application>

        <asmv3:windowsSettings xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/SMI/2005/WindowsSettings">

            <ms_windowsSettings:dpiAware xmlns:ms_windowsSettings="http://schemas.microsoft.com/SMI/2005/WindowsSettings">false</ms_windowsSettings:dpiAware>

        </asmv3:windowsSettings>

    </asmv3:application>

</assembly>

That's it!

PS. You can use the same trick for your Eclipse SDK setup by placing same file contents in your eclipse directory with filename exclipse.exe.manifest

PPS. If you are an SDKer and want Design Studio to have these benefits from launching Eclipse, this is how I set up a JRE config in Eclipse:

(This is the reason for the javaw.exe.manifest file mentioned in step 2)

[vitran23]

Just what the doctor ordered.  Thanks for the instructions.

Do you know if there is a similar solution for the SAP 7.4 GUI?  I noticed it looks ok 90% but some of the text and buttons don't seem to scale properly.

[vitran23]

Mike do you know if there is a similar solution for the 7.4 GUI?

[mike_howles4]

People still use the GUI?  

Same technique probably could apply there - I'll have to check next time I am near a Retina Display.

[Former Member]

Hi Mike,

pretty cool approach. Unfortnately, if I follow your instructions, Design Studio does not start anymore :sad:

Any suggestions? Does the description "eclipse" in your coding have an effect on the solution?

[mike_howles4]

I'd suggest going back and trying again.  This definitely works.

[Former Member]

Hi Mike,

did it three times - no change :sad:

I can't start DS as long as I don't remove the manifest files from the directory mentioned.

Best regards,

Karsten

[Former Member]

Hi again,

found the problem. The reason why DS did not start anymore was in the manifest files. I found in the original posting, mentioned by Mike, a link to download them. Using these files will make DS run.

Just a question for my understanding: How do you create the manifest files? Is there any how to paper about it? Sorry for the question, but I am not a programming professional.

Thank you again,

Karsten

[former_member404448]

Hi

in my point of view is the way to scale >
Open Explorer > find "C:\Program Files\SAP BusinessObjects\Design Studio" > SapDesignStudio.exe > rigth click > Properties > Tab "Compatibility" > choose
"Change High DPI scaling ehavour" > select "Override High DPI scaling ehavour"
> set scaling controlled by 'System' > OK

BR Sven