How to turn off particular monitor with .NET?

Question

OK, I know there are quite a few posts on this topic. However, none of them provide the solution to my issue: I don't want just to turn off my monitor(s), I wish my code to turn off a specific monitor. The URL the most people refer to, http://fci-h.blogspot.com/2007/03/turn-off-your-monitor-via-code-c.html, doesn't help here, as it turns off all the displays.

So, I have my laptop screen and an additional external monitor. While I'm watching movies, I switch the display to the external monitor and my laptop screen goes black, however, it's still on and glowing in the dark. I wish to turn it off. Could anyone help please?

EDIT: Is there any way to acomplish this, meaning it needn't have to be written in .Net. Basically, I just need an .exe file that's able to turn the particular monitor off and on alternately.

@omfgroflmao - I don't know about yours, but my laptop's on/off button turns off the CPU when it turns off the screen, so it's not too useful. — Gabe, Apr 05 '10 at 01:05
not c#, but maybe this can help you if you're willing to search for more material in c++: http://www.codeproject.com/kb/system/display_states.aspx — zxcvbnm, Apr 05 '10 at 06:24
Not *quite* a dupe, but cross-reference: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/713498/turn-on-off-monitor — Marc Gravell, Apr 05 '10 at 08:07
@omfgroflmao: Hahahahaha, nice one. However, my laptop lacks that functionality. — Boris, Apr 05 '10 at 15:39
@zxcvbnm and @Marc Gravell: Thanks for the links, however, they don't really solve the main issue - turning off *particular* monitor. — Boris, Apr 05 '10 at 15:39

score 5 · Answer 1 · edited May 23 '17 at 12:25

5

It looks like there's no good way of turning off a specific monitor, but it is possible to set your laptop's backlight to minimum brightness. Depending on which version of Windows you have, there are different ways to do it:

send IOCTL_VIDEO_SET_DISPLAY_BRIGHTNESS I/O control as described here: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/magazine/dvdarchive/cc163415.aspx
use WMI method WmiSetBrightness as described here: What API call would I use to change brightness of laptop (.NET)?
use Win API SetMonitorBrightness, but I don't know of anybody who has done it in C#.

edited May 23 '17 at 12:25

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answered Apr 05 '10 at 06:02

Gabe

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Thank you for your answer. If no solution turns up, it appears that I'd have to satisfy myself with lowering the brightness. – Boris Apr 05 '10 at 15:43

How to turn off particular monitor with .NET?

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