Monitors Control Panel

About the Monitors Control Panel

The Monitors control panel that is provided with System 7.0+ is extensible.

If you are the developer of a video card, you can add items to the Monitors

control panel that allow users to control features of the video device.

The Monitors control panel allows a user to

• select which one of the monitors connected to the computer system

should display the menu bar

• select which monitor to use as a startup screen

• inform the Operating System about the relative locations of the

monitors

• control some features of the monitors, such as whether a color

monitor displays in color or in black and white, or the number of colors

or gray-scale values to display

The Figure below shows an example of the Monitors control panel.

The Monitors control panel

As The Figure above illustrates, the Monitors control panel now includes a

button labeled Options; when the user clicks this button, another dialog box

appears with additional controls. When you add an extension to the Monitors

control panel, the controls you add appear in this dialog box. The dialog box

that appears when the user clicks the Options button in the Monitors control

panel is referred to as the Options dialog box. The Figure below shows an

example of an Options dialog box. The OK and Cancel buttons are standard for all

Options dialog boxes. The screen-saver control (“Minutes before sleep”) is

added by the Monitors extension. If there is more than one video card installed

in the computer, the Monitors control panel shows all of the connected

monitors. In this case, the user selects one monitor and the Monitors control

panel displays the Options dialog box for that monitor (monitor 1 in the Figure

above).

An Options dialog box for a Monitors control panel

You should provide an extension to the Monitors control panel whenever you

want to provide users with a simple way to control your video device. However,

if you require a more complex interface-such as your own menu items or

several levels of nested dialog boxes-you should provide a small application

rather than an extension to the Monitors control panel. If you do provide a

small application, you might want to instruct the user to place it in the

Control Panels folder within the System Folder.

information.

Referenced by (8):