How do I trigger a script when a second monitor is attached
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22-04-2021 - |
Pregunta
I am on macOS El Captain (upgrading to High Sierra soon) and I'm looking for a tool which can trigger an AppleScript or shell script every time when the number of monitors/displays attached to the system changes.
I have tried ControlPlane, but could not get the trigger on attached-display-change to work. Two questions:
1) Does anybody know that display triggering in ControlPlane definitely works on macOS El Captain and higher? (Indicating that I am doing something wrong.)
Or:
2) Is there another tool which can act on a change of numbers of displays every time a monitor/display is (dis-)connected?
PS: I am aware there are other questions in the StackExchange network relating to this topic (like How can I run a script whenever I plug in an external monitor? or Reset Mac OS X Windows Position after de-attaching external monitor), but the answers do not seem to apply to El Captain/High Sierra .
Solución
There may be a more efficient way but if you save this following AppleScript code in Script Editor, as an application, after customizing it to your needs… running this application, as currently configured, will continue to run and check every five seconds, until an additional monitor is detected.
property displayCount : 1
repeat until displayCount is greater than 1
tell application "Image Events"
set theDisplays to count of displays
end tell
set displayCount to theDisplays
delay 5 -- How Often To Check How Many Connected Monitors.. In Seconds
end repeat
-- The Following Line Will Execute When An Additional Display Is Connected
-- Replace The Following Code With Whatever Actions You Choose
activate
display dialog "New Display Connected" buttons {"Cancel", "OK"} default button "OK"
-- OR use the "run script" command as in the sample below
--set theScript to (path to desktop as text) & "whatever.scpt"
--set runScript to run script alias theScript
return
This next option will detect whether a monitor is connected or disconnected and will continue running
property displayCount : missing value
property tempDisplayCount : missing value
countDisplays()
repeat
repeat until displayCount is greater than 1
countDisplays()
end repeat
displayConnected()
countDisplays()
copy displayCount to tempDisplayCount
repeat until tempDisplayCount is not equal to displayCount
countDisplays()
end repeat
copy displayCount to tempDisplayCount
if tempDisplayCount is greater than displayCount then
displayConnected()
else if tempDisplayCount is equal to displayCount then
displayDisconnected()
end if
end repeat
on displayConnected()
-- The Following Lines Will Execute When An Additional Display Is Connected
-- Replace The Following Code With Whatever Actions You Choose
-- OR use the "run script" command as in the sample below
-- set theScript to (path to desktop as text) & "whatever.scpt"
-- set runScript to run script alias theScript
activate
set newDisplayConnected to button returned of (display dialog "New Display Connected" buttons {"Stop Monitoring", "Continue Monitoring"} default button "Continue Monitoring")
if newDisplayConnected is "Stop Monitoring" then
quit me
end if
end displayConnected
on displayDisconnected()
-- The Following Lines Will Execute When A Display Is Disconnected
-- Replace The Following Code With Whatever Actions You Choose
-- OR use the "run script" command as in the sample below
-- set theScript to (path to desktop as text) & "whatever.scpt"
-- set runScript to run script alias theScript
activate
set newDisplayDisconnected to button returned of (display dialog "A Display Was Disconnected" buttons {"Stop Monitoring", "Continue Monitoring"} default button "Continue Monitoring")
if newDisplayDisconnected is "Stop Monitoring" then
quit me
end if
end displayDisconnected
on countDisplays()
tell application "Image Events"
set theDisplays to count of displays
end tell
set displayCount to theDisplays
delay 5 -- How Often To Check How Many Connected Monitors.. In Seconds
end countDisplays