Turning of the monitors

PrebKlok

Well... I have my reasons, so is there a way or not?

Daniel Turini

Use WMI to call the SetPowerState function on an instance of the CIM_DesktopMonitor class and pass 6 as the new power state. Yes, even I am blogging now!

PrebKlok

Hmm.. sounds quite easy, but sorry, I'm a newbee at C# so how do I do that?

Heath Stewart

By reading about the System.Management[^] classes and their examples in the .NET Framework SDK. It's the only way to learn. You can also download the Management Extensions for Visual Studio .NET from the links below, which installs extensions into VS.NET's Server Explorer. You can find the class you want and drag and drop it to your project ot create a typed ManagementObject (supported properties and methods are reflected on the created type), but all this does is provide a wrapper for calling ManagementObject.InvokeMethod, ManagementObject.Get, and ManagementObject.Put.

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PrebKlok

Wow, I thought there would be something easy as just function.TurnOffMonitor(x) ... :sigh:

Tom Larsen

Its funny how some think someone else should write their code. Is the monitor power button looking like a more feasible implementation for you? :-) This is easily a case where one can overuse technology. By the time it takes you to figure out how to use the objects in Management you could have just shut off your monitor.

Heath Stewart

Yeah, right next to DoesEverything.MakeMeCoffee(). :rolleyes: If there was a method or something for every possible feature (which is impossible), what would be the point of having programmers?

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PrebKlok

Ahrghhh.... I just wanted a little help for a something that mattered to me, but I guess I'll have to stick to what what my newbe skills could to come up with: private void Form1_Load(object sender, System.EventArgs e) { this.Location = new Point(0,0); this.BackColor = Color.Black; this.Size = new Size(1280*2, 1024); } all through it doesn't turn off the monitors (since my monitors are backlighted), but at least it dims the light. Thank you guys X|

Nick Parker

Heath Stewart wrote: what would be the point of having programmers? Programmers are no longer needed in this world, at least not with the newly released API's containing things like this:

IDevelop id = DeveloperFactory.CreateDeveloper();
id.WriteCompleteApplicationWithNoErrors();

- Nick Parker
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Nick Parker

PrebKlok wrote: Thank you guys X| What's the bad mood for? Do you not want to learn anything at all? Do you want to be a newbie forever? I suppose, if that's the manner in which you want things handled you should be upset. - Nick Parker
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Heath Stewart

But the factory pattern used in the "new APIs" is from .NET 2.0 Beta. You don't want beta developers, do you? :-D I guess maybe I should just be a park ranger out in Washington now that Redmond has decided us programmers are absolete. :(( :-D

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Nick Parker

Heath Stewart wrote: I guess maybe I should just be a park ranger out in Washington now that Redmond has decided us programmers are absolete. Hey, if you did, who could blame you - this[^] view looks awesome. :) - Nick Parker
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Heath Stewart

Well, when you an Megan come up to visit (BTW - have a thread about my new job in my blog) we can take you there! And since I'm absolete now with that pesky DoesEverything class, we'll probably just have a cabin (so it's close to work) there! :-D

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PrebKlok

Ok, would this be the way to go? object [] arg = {6}; ManagementClass mc = new ManagementClass("Win32_DesktopMonitor"); mc.InvokeMethod("SetPowerState", arg); problem is that I get the an exception: An unhandled exception of type 'System.Management.ManagementException' occurred in system.management.dll Additional information: This method is not implemented in any class

Heath Stewart

If you followed my directions (downloaded the WMI extensions for VS.NET) and generated a typed class for the Win32_DesktopMonitor CIMv2 class, you might see immediately what was wrong: SetPowerState takes two parameters: a UInt16 and a DateTime. Change the first line to object[] arg = {6, DateTime.Now}; and it should work.

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PrebKlok

Hmm... changing the line now gives this execption: An unhandled exception of type 'System.Management.ManagementException' occurred in system.management.dll Additional information: Type mismatch I'm not sure if I understood your direction 100%. After having installed the WMI extensions, I opened the Server Explore and browsed to Servers|MyComputerName|Management Clas|Desktop Settings and then I right clicked and chose "Generate Managed Class"

Heath Stewart

That's not the right class. You have to right-click on "Management Classes" and add a new class: root\CIMv2\Win32_DesktopMonitor. Generate a new class from that. Try object[] arg = new object[] {(ushort)6, DateTime.Now};. It really shouldn't matter since non-decimal numeric types are implicitly convertible, but it's worth a try. This could present a problem since the method is discovered by the types of parameters, and since just 6 would actually be an int (System.Int32), that could be the source of the problem.

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PrebKlok

I can't find any Win32_xxxxx in root\CIMv2\ Here is a screenshot of what is see: www.klokmose.dk/images/screen1.jpg[^] Anyway the (ushort)6 didn't help anything

Heath Stewart

Since the dialog is showing the friendly names, the logical conclusion would be to find something that resembles "Win32_DesktopMonitor", like "Monitors". Add that and generate a class for your project.

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