Change default resolution list in Visual Studio Simulator for Windows 8 Apps

Question

Is it possible to change the default screen resolution list in the Visual Studio Simulator for Windows 8 apps?

Commence

Answer 1

The simulator looks for additional resolution configurations using the following pattern

C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Windows Simulator\12.0\HardwareConfigurations\HardwareConfigurations*.xml

So if you copy the following XML into a file called HardwareConfigurations-SurfacePro3.xml in that folder (you need administrator rights) you get an extra entry in the list allowing you to simulate running on a Surface Pro 3.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<ArrayOfHardwareConfiguration xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema"
                              xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
    <HardwareConfiguration>
        <Name>12-2160x1440</Name>
        <DisplayName>12" 2160 x 1440 (3:2, 140%)</DisplayName>
        <Resolution>
            <Height>1440</Height>
            <Width>2160</Width>
        </Resolution>
        <DeviceSize>12</DeviceSize>
        <DeviceScaleFactor>140</DeviceScaleFactor>
    </HardwareConfiguration>
</ArrayOfHardwareConfiguration>

Becki

this works for me, strange thing is that even MS employees claims that this can be done - https://mcmap.net/q/1922868/-custom-size-in-windows-8-1-simulator – Satrap

The simulator is a WPF app so I used Snoop to find the DataContext for the dropdown. Then I used JustDecompile to look around the code to find out where the contents came from. You can also add them to a config section in Microsoft.Windows.Simulator.exe.config if you like. FWIW you cannot extend the list in the device pane in Visual Studio 2013 as that list is hard-coded. – Becki

Answer 2

According to what I found, it is not possible for now.

From this post, it says "The availability of resolutions in the Palette depends upon the supported resolutions of your video card."

Acriflavine