Display preferences...can it be automated?

[thePUNCH]

Hey guys/gals,

Got a question for ya’. I am a designer in a corporate environment. I have a 15" powerbook at work that they gave me. I have an extra 21" CRT monitor that is positioned to the right of the 'book screen at work. But when I come home, I have a 17" CRT that is positioned directly above the 'book screen. Is there a way to use Apple Script to automatically switch to the “home” setup with just a click of a button?

Thanks all,

Jesse

[Adam_Bell]

Use “do shell script scselect <location_name>” in an AppleScript application.

[thePUNCH]

Okay, sorry. I meant to tell you that I have NO knowledge of Applescript. Is there a preformed script out there?

[thePUNCH]

Can anyone point me in the right direction? I really need some help w/ this one. I would greatly appreciate any help.

[jonn8]

I believe the CL tool scselect is used for switching Network locations, not for switching display preferences. There is a freeware CL tool for switching screen resolutions and displays (cscreen) but it doesn’t allow you to re-adjust the relative position between multiple displays. There’s probably a way to do this with GUI scripting but it would take some trial and error and would be difficult to debug remotely.

Jon

[jonn8]

Incidentally, here’s a script for using scselect to switch network locations from a choice of all locations:

–Open this script in a new Script Editor window.

property last_location : missing value
property ASCII_10 : ASCII character 10

try
set network_locations to (do shell script “scselect”)'s paragraphs 2 thru -1
on error e
set network_locations to e’s paragraphs 2 thru -1
end try

repeat with i from 1 to (count network_locations)
set this_location to network_locations’s item i
set this_location_name to this_location’s text ((offset of “(” in this_location) + 1) thru -2
set item i of network_locations to this_location_name
if this_location starts with " *" then set current_location to this_location_name
end repeat

tell (a reference to my text item delimiters)
set {o, contents} to {contents, ASCII_10}
set {network_locations, contents} to {“” & network_locations, o}
end tell
set network_locations to (do shell script “echo " & (quoted form of network_locations) & " | sort”)'s paragraphs

if last_location = missing value then set last_location to current_location
set new_location to (choose from list network_locations with prompt “Which Network Location do you want to activate?” default items {last_location} OK button name “Activate”) as Unicode text

if new_location = “false” then
return
else
set last_location to new_location
try
do shell script "scselect " & quoted form of new_location
end try
end if

Jon

---

[This script was automatically tagged for color coded syntax by Convert Script to Markup Code]

[thePUNCH]

So, you think I’ll actually have to use a program? Cuz I am unable to install anything really, cuz they (my company) has put a lockdown on the computer, basically.

[Adam_Bell]

Yes, you’ll have to use a program, and if your computer is “locked down”, you won’t be able to.

Question for Jonn8: I was assuming that locations included screen information. Not so?

[jonn8]

Question for Jonn8: I was assuming that locations included screen information. Not so?

Nope. Locations in Mac OS X are just network settings (ports, IP addresses, DHCP, etc.), not other system-related settings such as displays, energy settings, or even time & date prefs. There are some third-party applications that bring this type of true location manager functionality back to Mac OS (it was part of Mac OS 9). See Location X, for instance.

Jon