Multi-Monitor Clients
Multiple Desktops
In some situations, such as control rooms, or workstations with multiple monitors, it may be preferable to have clients open on several monitors so that different windows are simultaneously in view. Instead of opening several different clients, it is possible to open a single client, and spawn multiple Desktops. Desktops are additional workspaces where windows may be opened. They are similar in functionality to a standalone Client in that they may be positioned and resized independently of other Desktops and Clients, but share a session ID with the initial Client that spawned the Desktop.
Client Tags and Property Values
The value of Client Tags are shared between each Desktop. This provides an easy method to change values on one desktop from another without interacting with other Clients: simply write to a Client Tag.
Desktops act as separate clients in regard to property values. For example, if a Text Field is placed on a window, and multiple Desktops open that same window, values entered into one Desktop will not overwrite the other Text Fields. If synchronization on these components is preferred, then simply bind the property to a Tag.
Handles
When creating a new Desktop, an optional handle may be assigned to the Desktop. This acts as a name, or reference to the Desktop. If a handle is not provided, then the Desktop may be referenced by the screen index. Handles and indices are useful when trying to interact with specific Desktops from a Python script.
Spotting the Primary Desktop
When multiple Desktops are open, it is important to know that only the Primary Desktop will have a menu bar. Additionally, the title bar on the client will show the name of the project. Additional Desktops will instead show the handle or index of the Desktop by default. However, a custom title may be used when the Desktop is invoked.
Below we see two Desktops. The highlighted Desktop is displaying the title of the project (Documentation). Because this is the Primary Desktop, a menu bar is present. The other Desktop was given a title of "Secondary Desktop". A menu bar is not present because this Desktop is not the primary.
Project Updates
When a project update is pushed to a Client, the Update banner will only appear on the Primary Desktop (assuming the Update Mode of the project is set to Notify). Updating the Primary Desktop will also push the changes to all other local Desktops, so there is no need to update each Desktop individually.
Opening Another Desktop
Another Desktop may be opened by calling system.gui.openDesktop:
#This will open a new deskop without any windows, and a name of "0"system.gui.openDesktop()However, without specifying which windows to open, the Desktop will open without any opened windows. It is recommended to specify at least one window, a title, and a handle for the new desktop. Assuming a window exists at the path "Main Windows/Main Window", the following would open a new Desktop, open the specified window, and specify a title and handle for the window.
#Create a list of window paths to open in the new desktopwindowToOpen = ["Main Windows/Main Window"] #Defines a name for the Desktop, which will be used as both the the title and handle of the window. name = "2nd Desktop"#Creates a new desktop. The desktop will open the windows listed above. system.gui.openDesktop(windows = windowToOpen, title = name, handle = name)