[Interest] Qt high-DPI configuration patches for testing

[Michael Tims]

- 1.5x (150% on Windows) is now rounded down to 1x: The visual effect of this 
  is that content appears visually small on such systems instead of visually 
  large. This arguably more acceptable. The rounding policy controls this as well:

This is still the number one reason why my apps cannot yet take advantage of all the hard work being put in to high-dpi support.  Our customers want to see UI rendered at the exact floating scale factor - not rounded.  It's a bummer that this is still the only thing holding us up.  Any idea on when this will be fixed to work with the non-rounded fractional scale factor?

Thanks.
-Michael Tims
Esri

-----Original Message-----
From: Interest [mailto:interest-bounces+mtims=esri.com at qt-project.org] On Behalf Of Morten Sorvig
Sent: Monday, October 3, 2016 5:18 AM
To: interest <interest at qt-project.org>
Subject: [Interest] Qt high-DPI configuration patches for testing

Hi all,



Lately I’ve spent some time on high-DPI configuration options for Qt. This is

a somewhat complex area, with many different setups in the field. I’d like to

expose the patches to a wider audience to make sure we implement something that 

works as well as possible. Please feel free to provide any feedback, either

privately or on this list.



The patches are based on Qt 5.6 and are available at: 



	https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__codereview.qt-2Dproject.org_157175&d=DQIGaQ&c=n6-cguzQvX_tUIrZOS_4Og&r=KhEhoiXTE1wTwtxCJdnUbw&m=_RzG4RlR0v41qHjgF78LoIb2tQbaod3EYFsAORKpreA&s=4yIAi0vOw5rrr89o3zGS8AJbPFjeTW932eCU6J2-1D8&e= 



(Use the “checkout” option to get the entire patch series)



Documentation patch is at:



	https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__codereview.qt-2Dproject.org_172125&d=DQIGaQ&c=n6-cguzQvX_tUIrZOS_4Og&r=KhEhoiXTE1wTwtxCJdnUbw&m=_RzG4RlR0v41qHjgF78LoIb2tQbaod3EYFsAORKpreA&s=TFX753YoGkRdp73kStaxha8gYX2a62Ih9OwrjkL4GLg&e= 



The scope of the changes is improving the Qt::HighDpiScaling mode, with a focus on

configuration. I’ve tested on Windows and X11, with macOS as a dev platform. The result

of the work is some behavior changes and several new config options.







Should I test/How to I use this?



1) Set QT_AUTO_SCREEN_SCALE_FACTOR=1 or Qt::HighDpiScaling.



2) If not happy then

   - Try setting QT_FONT_DPI and/or QT_SCALE_FACTOR to see how the application

     reacts. Is it an application or QtWidgets/QtQuick issue?  

   - Set QT_USE_PHYSICAL_DPI=1 (if you know the values are correct)

   - Set QT_SCREEN_SCALE_FACTORS=a;b;c to hardcode scale factors. (Known issue:

     QT_AUTO_SCREEN_SCALE_FACTOR needs to be set as well for this)



3) Report findings to patch author; include "tests/manual/highdpi --metrics” outpu

   and screenshots (if possible).



Some platform specific notes:



- X11: If you’ve had problems with mismatched text/ui sizes this should

  now be better (if not solved). Qt now uses the global logical DPI by

  default.



- Windows: Use fractional scale factors (like 150%) directly:



  QT_SCALE_FACTOR_ROUNDING_POLICY=PassThrough



  (See below for disclaimer and caveats)







Changes in detail:



- qtbase/tests/manual/highdpi --metrics prints the current configuration. Example:



    screen name: Virtual1



    widget devicePixelRatio: 1

    widget logicalDpi: 96



    platform screen logicalDpi: 96

    platform screen logicalBaseDpi: 96

    platform screen devicePixelRatio: 1

    platform screen physicalDpi: 96.1115



    QT_FONT_DPI:

    QT_SCALE_FACTOR: 

    QT_AUTO_SCREEN_SCALE_FACTOR:

    QT_SCREEN_SCALE_FACTORS: 

    QT_USE_PHYSICAL_DPI: 

    QT_SCALE_FACTOR_ROUNDING_POLICY: 

    QT_DPI_ADJUSTMENT_POLICY:

 

  Here, the “widget” section are the values the application sees, the “platform”

  section are the values returned by the OS/WS via the Qt platform plugin, and

  finally QT_ sections shows the currently set environment variables.



- The screen logical DPI is now used for configuring the devicePixelRatio value.

  This has been the case for Windows for some time; now all relevant platforms get

  the same behavior. Set QT_USE_PHYSICAL_DPI to use physical DPI.



- In relation ot the above Qt now uses _either_ the logical or physical DPI,

  which should reduce chance of getting inconsistent text and UI sizes.



- Qt may now optionally use non-integer factors (like 150% on windows):



	QT_SCALE_FACTOR_ROUNDING_POLICY=PassThrough



  We know that this may cause painting artifacts, in particularly with native

  styles. On the other hand there are rapports that custom-styled apps work

  fine.



- 1.5x (150% on Windows) is now rounded down to 1x: The visual effect of this

  is that content appears visually small on such systems instead of visually

  large. This arguably more acceptable. The rounding policy controls this as well:



         QT_SCALE_FACTOR_ROUNDING_POLICY=Round|Ceil|Floor|RoundPreferFloor (default)





- QT_FONT_DPI now works on all platforms (mostly for testing purposes)



- QT_SCREEN_SCALE_FACTORS now correctly overrides the screen factors.



- QScreen::physicalDotsPerInch() is now a more physical value, independent of

  Qt or OS scale factors, but not independent of scaling not detectable by Qt

  such as the macOS “More Space” setting.



Thanks for reading this far :)



- Morten



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