Audio output device names truncated to 32 characters

[nvaccessAuto]

Reported by HKatic on 2012-01-29 13:10 In NVDA's synthesizer preferences dialog, the Output Device Combo Box displays incomplete device names. For example, I have 2 sound cards, the one which is Realteck High Definition Audio, and another which is SoundBlaster X-Fi Surround 5.1 Pro. However, they are displayed as follows: Output device: Speakers (Realtek High Definiti Output device: Speaker (Sound Blaster X-Fi Sur This simply means that the entire device name doesn't fit into the Combo Box control, and that the control or dialog itself needs to be resized.

[nvaccessAuto]

Comment 1 by jteh on 2012-01-29 21:54 It has nothing to do with the size of the combo box control. The issue is that the Windows API function we use to retrieve the device names only returns a maximum of 32 (or maybe 31) characters. Changes: Changed title from "The Output Device Combo Box in Synthesizer preferences needs resizing" to "Audio output device names truncated to 32 characters"

[bhavyashah]

@jcsteh As you indicated in https://github.com/nvaccess/nvda/issues/2067#issuecomment-155295439, the reported issue is a limitation of the Windows API function we use. Do we have alternatives to use with a more relaxed character limit? CC @feerrenrut for GUI expertise

[jcsteh]

I don't know. There are newer APIs, but the question is whether we can map these back to WinMM device identifiers. Further research is required.

[Adriani90]

@HKatic is this also in Windows 10 the case?

[Adriani90]

I can reproduce this in NVDA alpha-20097,6a573cd9. cc: @JulienCochuyt

[JulienCochuyt]

Found a few hints here: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/1449162/get-the-full-name-of-a-wavein-device/43396412

Long story short:

• First pass a WAVEOUTCAPS2 structure to gain the device GUID then lookup in registry
• If this fails (no info in registry), use DirectSound to fetch device info

It's doable, but a bit complicated for what it attempts to solve...