Display Mode

How to Set the Display Mode

To get the current display mode, simply call the getDisplayMode method on your graphics device. To obtain a list of all possible display modes, call the getDisplayModes method. Both getDisplayMode and getDisplayModes can be called at any time, regardless of whether or not you are in full-screen exclusive mode.

Before attempting to change the display mode, you should first call the isDisplayChangeSupported method. If this method returns false, the operating system does not support changing the display mode.

Changing the display mode can only be done when in full-screen exclusive mode. To change the display mode, call the setDisplayMode method with the desired display mode. A runtime exception will be thrown if the display mode is not available, if display mode changes are not supported, or if you are not running in full-screen exclusive mode.

Reasons for Changing the Display Mode

Programming Tips

Here are some tips for choosing and setting the display mode:

• Check the value returned by the isDisplayChangeSupported method before attempting to change the display mode on a graphics device.
• Make sure you are in full-screen exclusive mode before attempting to change the display mode.
• As with using full-screen mode, setting the display mode is more robust when in a try...finally clause:

GraphicsDevice myDevice;
Window myWindow;
DisplayMode newDisplayMode;

DisplayMode oldDisplayMode = myDevice.getDisplayMode();
try {
    myDevice.setFullScreenWindow(myWindow);
    myDevice.setDisplayMode(newDisplayMode);
    ...
} finally {
    myDevice.setDisplayMode(oldDisplayMode);
    myDevice.setFullScreenWindow(null);
}

• When choosing a display mode for your application, you may want to keep a list of preferred display modes, then choose the best one from the list of available display modes.
• As a fallback, if the display mode you desire is not available, you may want to simply run in windowed mode at a fixed size.