I have a situation where I have a MicronPC desktop with a video card
(with two outputs) and two monitors. I want to force the screen output
for an executable to be displayed on the second monitor every time,
without someone having to manually do anything (like drag the window
to the second monitor the first time it's run on the system). These
executables are standalone programs that are basically videos (for
example an AVI created with Camtasia). How can I do this?

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Request for Question Clarification by izzard-ga on 17 Oct 2002 03:10 PDT

Please tell us the make and model of your video card.
If you're unsure, find the "Display" appley in Control Panel and look
under then "Settings" tab (assuming you're using MS Windows).

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Request for Question Clarification by pwizard-ga on 17 Oct 2002 06:17 PDT

Yes, are you using an NVidia based card, and if so, which detonator
driver revision are you using? This will make it easier as different
revisions of the nView utility do different functions. If you're using
an ATI card, that's a little different.

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Request for Question Clarification by davidmaymudes-ga on 17 Oct 2002 11:17 PDT

do you have control over the source code of the executable in
question, or are you using a media player program to play the videos? 
it's not hard to have an application find where the second monitor is
and move its own window there.

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Clarification of Question by al_crystonixsw-ga on 19 Oct 2002 12:59 PDT

The system is a MicronPC ClientPro 325 E with a 64MB DDR nVidia
Geforce4 MX460 AGP Card with Dual Monitor Support (VGA, DVI).
     The situation is that we'll be running these videos on a remote
site that has this computer with 2 monitors. A variety of folks will
be creating the videos. I will be probably be selecting the product
that plays them (it's one of the tasks I need to do once I understand
what's involved with directing the output to the second monitor). It
may be possible to request the video producers to set it up so that
the appication takes care of this directly, but I'm not thrilled with
that. I have specific limitations to enforce such as screen coverage,
resolution, and the most important one: no input controls on the
player (video is initiated by the primary application that's using the
main monitor and it runs until it completes).
     And for what it's worth, since I posted this I've been told that
some video cards have special drivers that can give you options of
what desktop to open a specific program in.

Greetings al_crystonixsw,

Thanks for the clarification. Luckily you have the perfect video card
for doing what you're wanting to do. the nVidia detonator series
drivers have a feature called "nView" that is basically their
multi-monitor management software. It allows you to determine how each
of your desktops behave and how applications behave in a dual-monitor
environment (and much more). For all the details on features of the
nView technology, I invite you to read nVidia's website here:
http://www.nvidia.com/view.asp?IO=feature_nview

Now, to answer your question. nVidia just recently released the
Detonator series 4 drivers for their entire line of video cards
(including Geforce 4). This includes a new version of the nView
software (v2.0) that has several enhanced features. I'm going to
recommend downloading and upgrading to this driver revision so that
you can have the most control over the nView software. The newest
version of the driver is available for download here:

Windows 2000/XP
http://www.nvidia.com/view.asp?IO=winxp-2k_40.72

Windows 95/98/Me
http://www.nvidia.com/view.asp?IO=win9x_40.72

Once you have the new driver installed, go to your display properties,
then Settings --> Advanced --> GeForce 4 MX. You'll get a popup menu
on the left. Select Desktop Utilities and click to enable the Desktop
Manager. Then click on Desktop Manager Configuration and select
"Enable nView Desktop Manager" and "Show Advanced nView Controls".
Notice you now have several other tabs available to configure nView.
You'll want to click on the User-Interface tab and check the options
"Add nView options to system menus" and "Enable nView menu options
title bar button". This will add options to each application so that
you can right-click on the titlebar and control how it acts when
opened (or manipulate it while it's running). Notice there is also an
"Applications" tab where you can add individual .exe's or applications
and then setup individual settings for each (such as which monitor to
start in, transparency, spanning, etc). You can store the settings
here (in answer to your question) or you can actually launch the
application and then click on the new nvidia logo button on the
application's toolbar to get to the same menu. The option you want is
the last on the list entitled "Launch Application on Desktop: ".

Look around at the other settings as you might find some other things
you want to use such as custom wallapers, resolutions, etc for each
monitor and/or user that's logged in.

I hope that helps to answer your question. Please don't hesitate to
ask for clarification if you need further assistance with this
question -- I'll be happy to conduct further research if necessary.
Thanks!

Sincerely,
PWizard

It was the combination of an answer exactly to the point (and their
request for clarification was right on the mark as well) and the quick
response that led me to give it 5 stars. Great job. I'll be back with
other questions...