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Exclusion based on connected projector/external display?

Tue, 2016-11-01 16:37 — askvictor

It would be really ace to be able to inhibit breaks when certain external displays (or types of external displays) are connected. The use case is when I'm teaching a class; I'll connect my macbook to a projector, and don't want the break to appear. Having said that, I use an external monitor for normal work, so I still want breaks to appear when connected to that one. It should be possible to query the ID of the connected display to work this out.

For bonus points: prevent the computer from going to sleep when certain types of displays are connected. I'd pay money for an app that does just this.

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Tue, 2016-11-01 16:39 — askvictor

Re: Exclusion based on connected projector/external display?

I guess this might be possible using ControlPlane to start/quit a dummy app when a particular monitor is detected, and TimeOut has that app in exclusions. A bit of a hack, but if it works...

Tue, 2016-11-01 17:12 — David Sinclair
David Sinclair's picture

Re: Exclusion based on connected projector/external display?

I have had a few requests for an exclusion based on external displays (thinking of projectors in particular), so this is definitely on my list of things to consider for future versions. I have some notes on how I could do it.

Your possible workaround could be feasible in the meantime, if it works.

You could probably even do something via a script executed by Time Out before a break is due. For example, the Terminal command system_profiler SPDisplaysDataType will output information about the attached screens; if you're handy with AppleScript or shell scripting, you could write a script to look for your projector in that output, and launch a dummy app if found, or quit the dummy app if not.