.Net (C#) Detect if a television is connected

Anyone know how to detect if a television is currently connected to a PC in c#?

Cheers

From stackoverflow

• How is the device attached?

  Whenever a device arrival/removal happens, Windows sends a message called WM_DEVICECHANGE to all the applications running currently in the system. But to receive this message our application should handle the "Windows Process function". C# applications will not have default support for this function, but it's possible to add it. You could extend the form class.

  The code to do this for a usb mass storage device would be something like:

  
  using System;
  using System.Drawing;
  using System.Collections;
  using System.ComponentModel;
  using System.Windows.Forms;
  using System.Data;
  using System.Runtime.InteropServices;
  namespace WindowsApplication
  {
      /// 
      /// Summary description for Form1.
      /// 
      public class Form1 : System.Windows.Forms.Form
      {
       /// 
       /// Required designer variable.
       /// 
       private System.ComponentModel.Container components = null;
  
   public Form1()
   {
    //
    // Required for Windows Form Designer support
    //
    InitializeComponent();
  
    //
    // TODO: Add any constructor code after InitializeComponent call
    //
   }
  
   [StructLayout(LayoutKind.Sequential)] 
    public struct DEV_BROADCAST_VOLUME 
   { 
    public int dbcv_size; 
    public int dbcv_devicetype; 
    public int dbcv_reserved; 
    public int dbcv_unitmask; 
   } 
  
   protected override void WndProc(ref Message m) 
   { 
    //you may find these definitions in dbt.h and winuser.h 
    const int WM_DEVICECHANGE = 0x0219; 
    const int DBT_DEVICEARRIVAL = 0x8000;  // system detected a new device 
    const int DBT_DEVICEREMOVECOMPLETE = 0x8001;  // system detected a new device 
    const int DBT_DEVTYP_VOLUME = 0x00000002;  // logical volume 
    switch(m.Msg)
    {
     case WM_DEVICECHANGE:
     switch(m.WParam.ToInt32())
     {
      case DBT_DEVICEARRIVAL:
       { 
        int devType = Marshal.ReadInt32(m.LParam,4); 
        if(devType == DBT_DEVTYP_VOLUME) 
        { 
         DEV_BROADCAST_VOLUME vol; 
         vol = (DEV_BROADCAST_VOLUME) 
          Marshal.PtrToStructure(m.LParam,typeof(DEV_BROADCAST_VOLUME)); 
         MessageBox.Show(vol.dbcv_unitmask.ToString("x")); 
        } 
       } 
       break;
      case DBT_DEVICEREMOVECOMPLETE:
       MessageBox.Show("Removal");
       break;
     }
  
      break;
    }
    //we detect the media arrival event 
    base.WndProc (ref m); 
  
  
   } 
   /// <summary>
   /// Clean up any resources being used.
   /// </summary>
   protected override void Dispose( bool disposing )
   {
    if( disposing )
    {
     if (components != null) 
     {
      components.Dispose();
     }
    }
    base.Dispose( disposing );
   }
  
  
   #region Windows Form Designer generated code
   /// <summary>
   /// Required method for Designer support - do not modify
   /// the contents of this method with the code editor.
   /// </summary>
   private void InitializeComponent()
   {
    // 
    // Form1
    // 
    this.AutoScaleBaseSize = new System.Drawing.Size(5, 13);
    this.ClientSize = new System.Drawing.Size(292, 273);
    this.Name = "Form1";
    this.Text = "Form1";
    this.Load += new System.EventHandler(this.Form1_Load);
  
   }
   #endregion
  
   /// <summary>
   /// The main entry point for the application.
   /// </summary>
   [STAThread]
   static void Main() 
   {
    Application.Run(new Form1());
   }
  
   private void Form1_Load(object sender, System.EventArgs e)
   {
  
   }
  }
  
  
  }
  

  It might give you an idea how to implement it.

  Behrooz : how on earth could you format the code like that?it is horrible.

• I suppose you are talking about monitors/TV's ?

  You can make a winform application with a big button saying 'TV CONNECTED' when the user switches to the TV :-)

  If the only connection to the PC is just the VGA connector, you are out of luck. You could always implement an infrared sensor connected to a serial port to read infrared signals from the remote control (whenever the user clicks it).