Skip to main content
Home Forums General Silverlight Hosting and Streaming Silverlight exit's fullscreen upon mouse or keyboard activity within other screen
12 replies. Latest Post by sinni800 on October 13, 2009.
(0)
hellride
Member
0 points
3 Posts
06-01-2009 7:26 AM |
I am having the issue that I like to stream media such as Netflix movies, Fox News ect while I work on servers on my multi screen setup. However as soon as I perform a mouse click or keyboard activity Silverlight will jump out of full screen. I also contacted Microsoft support which refered me to the Silverlight forum instead of asking one of the guys who actually wrote this thing in order to find a registry setting or other option I am missing in order to avoid this issue as I find it to be the only anoyance of Silverlight so far.
ccoombs
Contributor
5018 points
743 Posts
06-01-2009 9:06 AM |
i'm sure the person working support sits right next to the guys that wrote it and can approach with every customer inquiry he gets.
the behavior you're experiencing is intentional:http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc189023(VS.95).aspx
"In addition, if a Silverlight plug-in that is in full-screen mode loses focus, it returns to embedded mode. A Silverlight plug-in in full-screen mode can lose focus in a multi-monitor configuration when another window gains focus through a user action. For example, switching between tasks in Windows by using the ALT+TAB key combination causes the current application to lose focus and the next application to gain focus."
06-01-2009 2:57 PM |
Hey, if he told me it may take a year to get that request handled and had to ask the guy drinking with next christmas party to tell me it will be available at Silverlight 4 or 5, I am very patient. However I think this automatic loss of full screen should be able to be avoided since it is started to get used in a lot of web media and most people want to watch movies in full screen. You don't buy a 65" TV either to watch your movies in the picture in picture every time you change volume.
Your answer is great if I'd asked why is it doing it since I am intentionly trying to turn it off, but thanks for the article, it at least tells me that this options appears to be programming dependend by the web app and would be hard to bypass with a registry change if it was possible to turn off.
06-01-2009 3:49 PM |
i thought i was pretty explicit with my response. its intentional and it will not be changed. there's no request to be made or workaround to be had.
flash and wmp do the same thing.
06-01-2009 4:16 PM |
Yes you were explicit with your response. Even if it's unintentional for "security reason" such as all implementations that annoy users Microsoft makes and is not intending on changing. Don't get me wrong here, I run everything Microsoft even if there is a better solution out there (Hyper-V/VM f.e.) because I know with future releases it will be better. Such as with my example I am just trying to make my point that the user should have the option to turn that off. On a high end PC with multiple screens it's like turning 4 cylinders off on a V8 when you hit the gas and a workaround should be made. If it is due to security reason, hide it somewhere where the average user can't turn it off to save help desk the hassle. Flash and WMP may do the same thing, sure, but I'd like Silverlight to be a better app than those and here is one thing that could make it better.
Geo1
4 points
2 Posts
06-07-2009 12:32 AM |
ccoombs:i thought i was pretty explicit with my response. its intentional and it will not be changed. there's no request to be made or workaround to be had.flash and wmp do the same thing.
:) Whoa.... I presumed this forum was set up not only to help users of Silverlight, but also to gain "valuable" feedback about how to "improve" Silverlight and it's applications?
Be very careful when you make pronouncements like that.
I think in this case, it should be obvious that many users will not like this "feature". Sure, it sounds like a good idea for a single display, but anyone who wants to watch movies on their big *secondary* 52" LCD display, and then simply moves the mouse back to their main desktop to send an instant message, doesn't want lost focus to mean "no full screen". Try it yourself. Besides, just hitting the "Windows" key (or Alt-Tab) allows easy escape from fullscreen, why is this feature even here in the first place?
BTW, hiding behind the mistakes of others rarely helps anyone. Show them the path to greatness!!
Geoff
SCarpenter
10 points
5 Posts
08-23-2009 3:16 PM |
OK so it's by design; however, the design should offer content developers a choice to exit full screen on focus change or not. Netflix is a perfect (and popular) case in point. Their old Watch Instantly site was Windows Media Player-based and it kept full screen on a secondary monitor with ease. Now that they've forced subscribers to install Silverlight to keep using W.I. many have discovered this Silverlight "feature". Most annoying.
I would bring this complaint to Netflix, but they didn't create Silverlight. They just used it to deliver content and, to Silverlight's credit, except for the full screen issue, it is a very nice delivery method.
To further my point that WMP gives content developers a choice, some news stations I visit using embedded WMP video will lose full screen on click and some will not. Silverlight should learn from it's older sibling.
08-23-2009 4:37 PM |
wmp is an executable that could technically do anything it wants your system. as a user, you assume the risk of running any such exe.
silverlight is not an executable, and as a user when you visit a silverlight enabled site, you assume no risk. you cannot give the developer the choice, because developers can be malicious.
the compromise must be that fullscreen can continue to run without focus only when the silverlight app is in out-of-browser mode. the user assumes the elevated risk because they opted to install the app instead of just merely visiting a site.
08-24-2009 10:19 AM |
OK, if I grant that a typical user will feel that browser embedded WMP playback is somehow "more risky" than browser embedded Silverlight playback, and so he (somehow?) won't allow malicious sites to use WMP to do their dirty deeds, I would still like the *capability* to "opt-out" of this "protection".
I.E. I, as the *user*, would like to be able tell Silverlight: "I'll take the risk!! Do not exit full-screen when losing focus". Is there a registry entry I can set?
Besides, fullscreen on the *non-primary* display is NOT risky. Doesn't Silverlight know on which display it is full-screen?
niloff
2 points
1 Posts
08-24-2009 12:09 PM |
Yes I agree. My kids hate it when they watch netfix and I click on the other screen and the video size is reduced. As an old programmer I know this could easily be fixed or set as a right click option instead. So for now I use firefox, leave the video screen normal and under firefox view set it to full screen. This helps some and the kids seem satisfied though I am not.
08-28-2009 11:55 PM |
I second that the user should be allowed to opt-out of this protection. If I did change some default in WMP to allow this behavior (I can't remember if I did or not, of if it has anything to do with ffdshow) at least it works the way I want it to - option, security flaw or whatever. Silverlight gives no option - that is where it fails to meet the needs of the user. On a related note there are some interesting full screen and keyboard input security concerns raised at: http://silverlight.net/forums/p/4135/18406.aspx.
@ ccoombs - I retract my statement about developer's choice (versus user's choice). You have a valid point that not all developers are trustworthy. It's safe to assume the guy who wanted to disable F11 was up to something bad - http://silverlight.net/forums/p/120970/272852.aspx It's obvious from reading your other posts you know a lot about SL, although you don't need to bite somebody's head off for asking a question. He did repost with more technical detail, which has some merit, even if the question was dangerous.
10-10-2009 2:42 PM |
All - I requested the feature about a month ago and it's still on page 1. Speak up - devs and users are listening!http://silverlight.uservoice.com/pages/4325-feature-suggestions/suggestions/311279-maintain-full-screen-on-secondary-display-
sinni800
10-13-2009 9:44 AM |
By the way, there's still a workaround if it won't come.
Try using Opera. Opera has a zoom function which is triggered by the + and - buttons and it zooms embedded content too! I used this to zoom up video sites when I didn't want them to kill my fullscreen action when I went to the other screen.
Also I'd rather have things like FULL keyboard support (especially fullscreen) and - if the games come - better 3D and maybe even gamepad support. Silverlight would kick Flash AND Shockwave out of their socks instantly.
Silverlight exit's fullscreen upon mouse or keyboard activity within other screen