How do I get monitor resolution in Python?

Question

What is the simplest way to get monitor resolution (preferably in a tuple)?

Answer 1

I am using a get_screen_resolution method in one of my projects like the one below, which is basically an import chain. You can modify this according to Your needs by removing those parts that are not needed and move more likely ports upwards in the chain.

PYTHON_V3 = sys.version_info >= (3,0,0) and sys.version_info < (4,0,0):
#[...]
    def get_screen_resolution(self, measurement="px"):
        """
        Tries to detect the screen resolution from the system.
        @param measurement: The measurement to describe the screen resolution in. Can be either 'px', 'inch' or 'mm'. 
        @return: (screen_width,screen_height) where screen_width and screen_height are int types according to measurement.
        """
        mm_per_inch = 25.4
        px_per_inch =  72.0 #most common
        try: # Platforms supported by GTK3, Fx Linux/BSD
            from gi.repository import Gdk 
            screen = Gdk.Screen.get_default()
            if measurement=="px":
                width = screen.get_width()
                height = screen.get_height()
            elif measurement=="inch":
                width = screen.get_width_mm()/mm_per_inch
                height = screen.get_height_mm()/mm_per_inch
            elif measurement=="mm":
                width = screen.get_width_mm()
                height = screen.get_height_mm()
            else:
                raise NotImplementedError("Handling %s is not implemented." % measurement)
            return (width,height)
        except:
            try: #Probably the most OS independent way
                if PYTHON_V3: 
                    import tkinter 
                else:
                    import Tkinter as tkinter
                root = tkinter.Tk()
                if measurement=="px":
                    width = root.winfo_screenwidth()
                    height = root.winfo_screenheight()
                elif measurement=="inch":
                    width = root.winfo_screenmmwidth()/mm_per_inch
                    height = root.winfo_screenmmheight()/mm_per_inch
                elif measurement=="mm":
                    width = root.winfo_screenmmwidth()
                    height = root.winfo_screenmmheight()
                else:
                    raise NotImplementedError("Handling %s is not implemented." % measurement)
                return (width,height)
            except:
                try: #Windows only
                    from win32api import GetSystemMetrics 
                    width_px = GetSystemMetrics (0)
                    height_px = GetSystemMetrics (1)
                    if measurement=="px":
                        return (width_px,height_px)
                    elif measurement=="inch":
                        return (width_px/px_per_inch,height_px/px_per_inch)
                    elif measurement=="mm":
                        return (width_px/mm_per_inch,height_px/mm_per_inch)
                    else:
                        raise NotImplementedError("Handling %s is not implemented." % measurement)
                except:
                    try: # Windows only
                        import ctypes
                        user32 = ctypes.windll.user32
                        width_px = user32.GetSystemMetrics(0)
                        height_px = user32.GetSystemMetrics(1)
                        if measurement=="px":
                            return (width_px,height_px)
                        elif measurement=="inch":
                            return (width_px/px_per_inch,height_px/px_per_inch)
                        elif measurement=="mm":
                            return (width_px/mm_per_inch,height_px/mm_per_inch)
                        else:
                            raise NotImplementedError("Handling %s is not implemented." % measurement)
                    except:
                        try: # Mac OS X only
                            import AppKit 
                            for screen in AppKit.NSScreen.screens():
                                width_px = screen.frame().size.width
                                height_px = screen.frame().size.height
                                if measurement=="px":
                                    return (width_px,height_px)
                                elif measurement=="inch":
                                    return (width_px/px_per_inch,height_px/px_per_inch)
                                elif measurement=="mm":
                                    return (width_px/mm_per_inch,height_px/mm_per_inch)
                                else:
                                    raise NotImplementedError("Handling %s is not implemented." % measurement)
                        except: 
                            try: # Linux/Unix
                                import Xlib.display
                                resolution = Xlib.display.Display().screen().root.get_geometry()
                                width_px = resolution.width
                                height_px = resolution.height
                                if measurement=="px":
                                    return (width_px,height_px)
                                elif measurement=="inch":
                                    return (width_px/px_per_inch,height_px/px_per_inch)
                                elif measurement=="mm":
                                    return (width_px/mm_per_inch,height_px/mm_per_inch)
                                else:
                                    raise NotImplementedError("Handling %s is not implemented." % measurement)
                            except:
                                try: # Linux/Unix
                                    if not self.is_in_path("xrandr"):
                                        raise ImportError("Cannot read the output of xrandr, if any.")
                                    else:
                                        args = ["xrandr", "-q", "-d", ":0"]
                                        proc = subprocess.Popen(args,stdout=subprocess.PIPE)
                                        for line in iter(proc.stdout.readline,''):
                                            if isinstance(line, bytes):
                                                line = line.decode("utf-8")
                                            if "Screen" in line:
                                                width_px = int(line.split()[7])
                                                height_px = int(line.split()[9][:-1])
                                                if measurement=="px":
                                                    return (width_px,height_px)
                                                elif measurement=="inch":
                                                    return (width_px/px_per_inch,height_px/px_per_inch)
                                                elif measurement=="mm":
                                                    return (width_px/mm_per_inch,height_px/mm_per_inch)
                                                else:
                                                    raise NotImplementedError("Handling %s is not implemented." % measurement)
                                except:
                                    # Failover
                                    screensize = 1366, 768
                                    sys.stderr.write("WARNING: Failed to detect screen size. Falling back to %sx%s" % screensize)
                                    if measurement=="px":
                                        return screensize
                                    elif measurement=="inch":
                                        return (screensize[0]/px_per_inch,screensize[1]/px_per_inch)
                                    elif measurement=="mm":
                                        return (screensize[0]/mm_per_inch,screensize[1]/mm_per_inch)
                                    else:
                                        raise NotImplementedError("Handling %s is not implemented." % measurement)