Define and customize the external screen programmatically?
Is it possible in Java (or any other language) to detect if there is an available external screen (on VGA or DVI), launch the screen and send graphics (text, etc.) to it?
Example: In Powerpoint, if you have an external screen and you go live or start a presentation, it will be displayed on the external screen.
I am working on an application where different values and information (which change over time) should be displayed on an external screen. I'm sure there are other programs out there to do this, but I've done pretty much everything, all I need to do is add an external screen.
Is this something that is different from Windows, Linux and OSX?
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There may be some hardware-specific issues that you have no control over, so I guess it won't be possible to make this reliable for all types of machines, but it may be possible for some or even the most.
Some laptops that support an external vga screen will be disabled (or not enabled) at boot time if no monitor is connected (to conserve power, I assume). Therefore, if you later want to connect a monitor, there will be no signal and you have to reboot to use the additional monitor. Very annoying, but there is no other workaround. It could be a low end (?) Laptop problem.
So to check what you should
- Detecting the second display pin (shouldn't be a major issue).
- Make sure it's on (maybe not always possible?).
- Determine if the two displays support displaying different outputs (I think this should be possible, but I don't know how or how difficult). Many laptops won't.
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