How do I handle cases where my window exceeds the screen boundaries on a specific monitor?

Question

Ryan McCombe · Accepted Answer

If your window exceeds the boundaries of a specific monitor, SDL will still create the window, but you may experience undesirable effects such as the window being partially off-screen. To manage this situation, you can adjust your window's position and size dynamically using SDL functions.

Key Functions to Use

Use SDL_GetDisplayBounds() to retrieve the boundaries of a monitor.
Compare your window's position and dimensions against these boundaries.
If necessary, reposition or resize your window using SDL_SetWindowPosition() and SDL_SetWindowSize().

Here's an example:

1#include <SDL2/SDL.h>
2#include <iostream>
3
4int main() {
5  SDL_Init(SDL_INIT_VIDEO);
6
7  SDL_Rect displayBounds;
8  SDL_GetDisplayBounds(0, &displayBounds); 
9
10  SDL_Window* window = SDL_CreateWindow(
11    "Boundary Test",
12    SDL_WINDOWPOS_UNDEFINED,
13    SDL_WINDOWPOS_UNDEFINED,
14    1920, 1080, 
15    SDL_WINDOW_SHOWN);
16
17  // Get window size and position
18  int winX, winY, winW, winH;
19  SDL_GetWindowSize(window, &winW, &winH);
20  SDL_GetWindowPosition(window, &winX, &winY);
21
22  // Check boundaries
23  if (winX + winW >
24      displayBounds.x + displayBounds.w
25   || winY + winH >
26      displayBounds.y + displayBounds.h
27    ) {
28    std::cout << "Adjusting window size "
29      "and position\n";
30    SDL_SetWindowSize(
31      window, displayBounds.w, displayBounds.h);
32    SDL_SetWindowPosition(
33      window, displayBounds.x, displayBounds.y);
34  }
35
36  SDL_Delay(2000);
37  SDL_DestroyWindow(window);
38  SDL_Quit();
39  return 0;
40}

1Adjusting window size and position

Best Practices

Always check the display bounds before creating windows with hardcoded dimensions.
Avoid fixed-size windows unless you know they fit on the target screen.

Video Displays

Handling Windows Exceeding Screen Boundaries

Key Functions to Use

Best Practices

Video Displays

Game Development with SDL2

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