Dual Display Control, A variation of Monitor_Off, and more Options

[onelouder]

Many people have dual displays on their computers. To have the ability to disable one while doing something on the other, without shutting it off, would be something I would love.
Many times I find myself watching a movie or tvshow on one of the displays, but the other is very distracting and bright. To get around this at the moment, I have to full screen another movie and pause it in the first few seconds of black at the beginning. I would love to just be able to shut it off without turning the power off on it, and be able to turn it back on with a hotkey. Currently, there is a Monitor_Off widget, but that turns both off, and as soon as a mouse moves, it turns back on. I would also love it if the monitor_off widget had a hotkey to resume as well.

I am also sure that other controls for dual displays would be useful as well, such as display resolutions or user defined presets for brightness, contrast, etc.

Tell me what you think
Thanks!

[CSM]

He uses an EXE (C++) to do the action. So I have no idea how he did it (it's compiled). However, just about anyone on this forum could write you a quick widget that would just put up a black screen on top of everything.

It won't turn your monitor off, but it'll reduce the distraction.


You know what? I didn't even finish writing this post before I decided to tackle this.

Download: BlankScreen
-This widget takes its height/width cues from the monitor on which it occupies the most space. (In theory. You'll have to test it to make sure it stays confined to it's window.)
-If this isn't quite what you need, you can hack it. I don't care.

Here are the features:

• Double click the button to activate.
• Use selectable hotkey to activate/deactivate
• Select mouse sensitivity (in pixels) to deactivate cover. (Can be disabled)
• Set delay (in seconds) before activation (deactivation is instant)
• Colorize screen cover.
• Colorize button.
• Resize button.
• Button can be moved anywhere (separate from cover window, which is fixed)
  .
• Automatically resizes to screen resolution changes.
• Automatically checks to see if widget is set to a level "Normal" or above.
  [During testing, anything less allowed windows to still be visible (even if the cover was set to "topMost")]

Note: I tend to just grab code from my other widgets to do quick things like this, so my hotkey stuff is borrowed (and thus is set up exactly as in the other widget, meaning only one modifier at a time is available.) Also, this means that there might be a few quirks/misspellings here and there, but I made sure that there was no major issues.

Also Note: This doesn't deactivate your monitor like the other Widget did. This Widget just puts a colored 1px image (stretched to fit), over every window.

This post has been edited by CSM: Feb 13 2007, 01:45 PM

[CSM]

I just thought of a possible snag. (This is only an issue if called by hotkey, as using the button to activate would work as expected)

It can't be helped (or fixed)*, but can be made aware. To use the mouse sensitivity, you'll have to call it using the hotkey, then let the mouse sit still. So to watch movies, you'll have to press play (or other button of choice) and then activate the cover by hotkey. Otherwise, you'll just disable, the cover.

*I have no clue how multiple monitors with h/vOffsets work. Plus, my mouse checking command is relative to the screen it is in. You'll have to try it and see.


-Also, to have multiple covers for multiple monitors, just copy and rename the widget and run another instance. Beware though, only the last widget to register a duplicate hotkey gets notified that it was used.

[onelouder]

This is really cool. Here's a screenshot of how I have it set so far.

Is there any way I can get it darker, like to the point of complete darkness?
I am using the blackest color for screen color.
Thanks for this tho, it's amazing to see someone actually jump on a request on a forum. I have never had that happen anywhere before.
Cheers
-One

[CSM]

What's your opacity setting?
The widget should be set to an opacity of 255 (100%).
Check the Window preferences and slide the bar all the way to 100%. It looks about 176 (out of 255).

I'll also check to make sure that I didn't set any code that would cause opacity changes. I'll post much later.

Nice desktop.


Edit: The Widget should warn you if it is set less than "normal" in level. Maybe you should try actively setting it to "topMost". (I wouldn't try "floating" as that may void clicking the cover to disable it, even though in tests it didn't seem to.) However, if the widget is set to "floating", try "topMost" instead. GL

[CSM]

I am such an idiot.

Okay, now that I have said that, I updated the widget. Delete the old copy. Using the above download link, re-download the widget. Run it again.

I only made one change. I set the internal opacity of the cover to 100% (255). It was 176 (out of 255). How did I miss that?
This copy should work fine.

[onelouder]

simply amazing
it works perfectly.
thank-you so much.
This is as close as I can get to disabling the single monitor, and I'm perfectly satisfied with this.
here's another screenshot showing it in action





Thanks again!
-one