My Windows Form keeps on shrinking/resizing on build

Question

I am working on a Windows Forms project. It contains a tab controller with multiple pages and multiple controls on each.

It appears that relatively recently, after some form changes, that each time I build and run the solution the form resizes/shrinks.

So if I set the size of the form height to 768, once I click 'Start' to build and run it, I can actually catch a glimpse of it resizing itself during the process and then the form loads 21 pixels shorter than the height value it was at build for.

If I then keep building and running my project, the form will decrease by 21 pixels each time, making it smaller and smaller with every build.

We think it might have been introduced when we added the 'DataGridView' controller to one of the tabs, but we have yet to prove if that's the case.

Is there a reason why this would be happening, and what could be doing this? Why would it resize itself during build run time?

Solution 1

This is an annoying bug, and I have suffered similar behavior myself. However, there maybe a couple of workarounds, however be warned though, these may or may not help and sound a little hacky.

Solution 1

If your control isn't docked, docking may help.

Solution 2

You might be able to change your DPI settings to eliminate the problem, i.e.:

Display Properties → Settings tab → Advanced. In the the Advanced dialog I changed the "DPI Settings" from Large (120 dpi) to Normal (96 dpi).

Solution 3

This is maybe due to AutoScaleMode-property. Your forms may have been designed with a different DPI or font settings than you have now in Windows display settings. Try setting the AutoScaleMode-property to None in your form and offending controls, and they won't be automatically re-sized anymore.

Solution 2

The Problem

Apparently there is a bug in Visual Studio 2015. It is not calculating the Size properly when certain circumstances are met. In my case I was using the following...

(Name):           Form1
AutoScaleMode:    Font
AutoSizeMode:     GrowOnly
DoubleBuffered:   True
Font:             Verdana, 8.25pt
FormBorderStyle:  FixedDialog
Icon:             (Icon)
MaximizeBox:      False
MinimizeBox:      False
MinimumSize:      600, 170
Size:             600, 170
StartPosition:    CenterParent
Text:             MyTitle

Now... If you close this form and open it back up the Size is still exactly the same (600, 170). If you change the following property...

ControlBox:       False

Then you closes the form and open it back up you will notice the Size has now been changed to (610, 203).

My guess is that the bug is not accounting for two things. One would be the form title bar HEIGHT. The other would be the title bar icon WIDTH. This would be the offset of a WIDTH of 10 pixels and a HEIGHT of 33 pixels.

The Solution

Well you actually have three workarounds. One would be to offset the MinimumSize. Another would be to actually show the ControlBox. The last one would be to fix the issue in code by setting the ControlBox property after the form is initialized.

Offsetting The MinimumSize:

So the first option would be to offset what you want the MinimumSize to be by (w:10, h:33). So for example, If you want the MinimumSize to be (600, 170) then you need to set it to (590, 137). That would actually produce the size you expect to see.

Showing the ControlBox:

Simply change the following property...

ControlBox:       True

Correcting the issue with code:

You will need to change the following property at design-time...

ControlBox:       True

Then you will need to set the ControlBox property to False after the form is initialized.

public Form1()
{
    InitializeComponent();
    this.ControlBox = false;
}

Solution 3

This Works for me, on form designer.

Solution 4

1. Copy the values of your form size.
2. Past it in both Minimum and Maximum Size property.
3. Enjoy

Solution 5

I had the same problem. My solution:

My PC's system is Windows 10. The resolution of the monitor was 125%, and I set it to 100%. Then I set the size of the form, not changed.

You can see the resolution settings in this picture:

In Turkish "Scale" is "Ölçekle". There are resolution options on the bottom ("ölçekle ve düzenle").

View more solutions

Comments

[Simon]

thank you! Glad to hear it's been experienced before. Will try investigate a couple of your solutions and see if any of them help. Thanks!

[stackuser83]

This seemed to fix my VS2012 occurrence of the original poster described problem, but only because I didn't try anything else. Toggling the Minimize back to true did not cause the form to resize again.

[Arvo Bowen]

None of these Solutions worked at all and had any effect on my issue (that is like the question asked). This is related to a bug in VS2015 as described in my answer stackoverflow.com/a/42421969/1039753.

[Arvo Bowen]

You're getting warmer... My answer stackoverflow.com/a/42421969/1039753 might shed some light on the actual issue. Thanks for the question! ;)

[TheGeneral]

This was asked in 2014, however it probably is still a bug

[Rody Davis]

I also stopped having this issue in VS 2017

[Admin]

Thumbs Up! Can't believe I simply had to enter the Form Size at "Minimum Size" Property. Been remaking code hundreds of ways for months... Thanks Arvo Bowen

[rdadkins]

I had this same issue when using VMWare Fusion with a Windows 10 guest. Problem lied with using full retina resolution and having a scaled layout.

[Stafford Williams]

thank-you, I enjoyed this when it stopped my buttons from resizing at runtime.

[SamWhan]

I see now that this basically was what Abdulkadir Avcı suggested, but i didn't grasp that when I read it. :P And none of the other suggestions helped me.

[ryatkins]

This worked for me.