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MacBook Pro Retina + Parallels + Windows 7 + HyperSnap - several issues

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peper
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2014/06/16 08:37:46 (permalink)
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MacBook Pro Retina + Parallels + Windows 7 + HyperSnap - several issues

Hi!
Recently switched from good-old (meaning: "good, but old") ThinkPad T60 to MacBook Pro Retina 15".
I have to use both MacOS and Windows for different work scenarios.
So my current setup is: Windows 7 under Parallels VM inside MacOS X. And under Windows I reinstalled "my precious" HyperSnap. :-)
 
It is working, but some of the functions are not working as I hope:
  1. For some applications when trying to make screenshot of the area with cursor pointing at specific field or button, after pressing Ctrl+Shift+R and just before screen is switching to the region selection mode, cursor jumps left and top away from the previous position (exactly half of it's previous H and V coordinates).
  2. For the same applications, trying to make screenshots of windows (Ctrl+Shift+W) or buttons (Ctrl+Shift+B) produce strange results - selection areas and pictures are also moved top-left and reduced 50% both vertically and horizontally. Nevertheless HyperSnap captures active window (Ctrl+Shift+A) from these apps correctly.
From my observation problematic are only applications, which are not "DPI aware". Parallels sets Windows 7 to run at 2880x1800 resolution and applies 200% scaling. And this breaks some applications and their integration with Windows.
For majority of apps HyperSnap capture works just fine (e.g. MS Office 2010, FineReader, IE, Firefox). But some - and among them those two I have to capture most often - don't (, , and even Skype). If I change Windows compatibility parameters for Skype (switching on "Disable display scaling on high DPI settings") than HyperSnap works fine with it, but Skype becomes so small I can't read anything. :-) The same is true for SAP and 1C.
I have seen the same issues with incorrect determination of windows coordinates when using Skype Screen-Sharing. So it seems, that all these apps including HyperSnap are relying on the same APIs when determining coordinates and sizes of the windows, and they are acting incorrectly when facing combination of high res screen + 200% Scaling + window of non DPI aware application.
 
Any chances of this to be sorted out?
 
Regards,
Petr
Quote  #1
Retina, Parallels, Windows 7, DPI

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    Re: MacBook Pro Retina + Parallels + Windows 7 + HyperSnap - several issues 2014/06/16 09:04:47 (permalink)
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    Hi Petr,
    I don't even have a Mac to test these things... I remember that in early versions of Windows 8 on high resolution settings, there were vaguely similar problems, but they want away after several patches by Microsoft. Maybe Parallels VM is reporting incorrect screen coordinates to me, when I call the Windows API to get a screen rectangle of any window that is scaled up...
     
    How does Parallels VM actually work - does it present you with one, separate window for the entire Windows desktop? Or can you run Windows programs in separate Mac OS windows, side by side with native Mac apps?
     
    Greg
     
     
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    peper
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    Re: MacBook Pro Retina + Parallels + Windows 7 + HyperSnap - several issues 2014/06/16 10:32:14 (permalink)
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    ...I remember that in early versions of Windows 8 on high resolution settings, there were vaguely similar problems, but they want away after several patches by Microsoft. Maybe Parallels VM is reporting incorrect screen coordinates to me, when I call the Windows API to get a screen rectangle of any window that is scaled up...
     
    How does Parallels VM actually work - does it present you with one, separate window for the entire Windows desktop? Or can you run Windows programs in separate Mac OS windows, side by side with native Mac apps?
     
    Greg

    Hi Greg,
     
    Parallels allows multiple variants of integration (full screen, window and even integration of Windows apps like Mac Apps - they call it Coherence).
    But it seems to be not Parallels, but Windows 7 + high res + scaling issue. I rebooted MacBook from Bootcamp partition (it boots directly into Windows just like usual PC), set the same 2880 x 1800 resolution and 150% scaling. And problems are all the same - HyperSnap determine incorrect window boundaries. So, if you have real Windows 7 PC (or VM under Windows 7) with high res screen you can try it yourself. The only "must" is you have to snap some program which is not dpi aware. Even in Skype I can see such artifacts (including jumping of the cursor). But for SAP GUI they are more obvious, cause it usually shows several windows.
     
    As for Windows 8, my experience with it on other PCs was not very good, so I'm not planning to switch soon. But it's also possible, that MS is not going to solve these issues under Windows 7.
     
    If any other input from my side can be helpful - I'm ready to help.
     
    Regards,
    Petr
     
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    Re: MacBook Pro Retina + Parallels + Windows 7 + HyperSnap - several issues 2014/06/16 11:18:24 (permalink)
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    I just set my Windows 7 computer to 150% magnification. Had to log off and log back on to have the setting activated. Now I have huge letters on my two monitors, test HyperSnap 7 with several programs, including Skype. All screen captures work normally - tried region capture, window capture, active window - no problems, also for all Skype windows...
     
    On Windows 8 there is a similar problem again: when I change the "magnification", it changes the screen look instantly, but tells me that for everything to work correctly, I need to reboot (or maybe only log off - on again, don't remember at the moment). If I don't do this, and try e.g. a window capture on the desktop version of Skype, indeed I have a problem similar to what you describe. But if I reboot with this higher magnification setting and then test again, on Skype and other windows, all works normally. Could you double check if rebooting the Windows system, after you set the 150% magnification, fixes the issue or not?
     
    Other than that, don't know what I could fix in my program. As I said before, I call a GetWindowRect() Windows system API call, giving it a window handle for e.g. Skype window, and what the system returns it me is what I highlight with the blinking rectangle, and later capture. Apparently they don't give me the correct coordinates after such scaling, on Mac systems... The only thing that comes to mind is, check if there is an updated Windows graphics card driver for this particular system, as the problem could be in the driver code. Also, if you by any chance use some older version of HyperSnap 7, see if the latest one works any better...
     
    Greg
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