Query status of monitor fading (or disable automatically for a certain app)

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Hi,

Is there a way to query the status of Display Fusions' Monitor fading through the CLI? i.e. to determine if fading is enabled (regardless of the % fading applied).

Even a belt & braces approach where a DF function writes a value to a file (or registry) when Fading is enabled would do the trick; as I could query that from a batch file.

Alternatively - is there a way to disable monitor fading for particular applications? In a nut shell: I use Snip & Sketch a lot but the fading interferes with the screen-grabs.

Any thoughts or advice appreciated.
Al

Feb 3, 2019 • #1

There is actually a registry key for it, here:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Binary Fortress Software\DisplayFusion\MonitorFadingEnabled

0 = Disabled
1 = Enabled

Hope that helps!

Feb 6, 2019 • #2

Many thanks Keith.

You mentioned in previous topics that the Monitor Fading functionality might be expanded in the GUI at a later date (such as scheduling etc). Is development of things like that still on the cards?

Many thanks
Al

Feb 11, 2019 • #3

We do have a bunch of open feature requests for it, but no ETA on any of them at the moment.

Thanks!

Feb 11, 2019 • #4

Thanks Keith, I patiently look forward to them

PS: I noticed Linus Tech Tips is a big fan of Display Fusion.. and rightly so, keep up the great work guys 👍

Feb 12, 2019 • #5

Hi,

In case it helps anybody else; this is the command I used to set a variable of "0" or "1" depending on the status of the Monitor Fading:

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FOR /F "usebackq tokens=3*" %%A IN (`REG QUERY "HKCU\Software\Binary Fortress Software\DisplayFusion" /v MonitorFadingEnabled`) DO (set mfstatus=%%A)
ECHO %mfstatus%

(This worked on Windows 10 x64)

Below is the full code which turns monitor fading off (if it's enabled) when I start the Snip & Sketch application. A command then loops until Snip & Sketch is closed; then it re-enables monitor fading.

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:snip
C:
REM The below calls Snip & SKetch in Windows 10 (its a universal app)
explorer.exe shell:appsFolder\Microsoft.ScreenSketch_8wekyb3d8bbwe!App
FOR /F "usebackq tokens=3*" %%A IN (`REG QUERY "HKCU\Software\Binary Fortress Software\DisplayFusion" /v MonitorFadingEnabled`) DO (set mfstatus=%%A)
if %mfstatus% EQU 0 goto :eof
if %mfstatus% NEQ 0 goto :fadetoggle
goto :eof

:sniploop
tasklist /fi "imagename eq ApplicationFrameHost.exe" /v | find /i "Snip & Sketch" 2>NUL
if %errorlevel% EQU 0 goto :sniploop 
if %errorlevel% NEQ 0 goto :fadexit
goto :eof

:fadetoggle
C:
Cd C:\PROGRA~2\DisplayFusion\
displayfusioncommand.exe -functionrun "Toggle Monitor Fading"
goto :sniploop
goto :eof

:fadexit
C:
Cd C:\PROGRA~2\DisplayFusion\
displayfusioncommand.exe -functionrun "Toggle Monitor Fading"
goto :eof

:eof
exit

I know it's quite sloppy coding which can be cleaned up & consolidated considerably.. but I'm not very proficient - its the best I can do! (plus, it works!)

Regards
Al

Feb 12, 2019 (modified Feb 13, 2019) • #6

I've been playing around with changing the opacity value stores in the registry*

Once Display Fusion has loaded; I've noticed any changes to this opacity registry value (made manually or by means of a .reg file merge) are ignored when Monitor Fading is enabled / disabled.

The new opacity value in the registry is only referenced when DisplayFusion is quit & re-launched. Is there any way around this please?

Thanks in advance
Al

* This could potentially allow me to dynamically change the fading on a schedule (or input from a Z-Wave multi-sensor with a lux meter etc).

Feb 13, 2019 • #7

DisplayFusion caches the settings, so it would only use the new value on restart. When we add the fading functions to the BFS scripting then you'll be able to adjust the opacity on the fly

Feb 13, 2019 • #8

Thanks for the info Keith 👍

Feb 17, 2019 • #9

Just wanted to follow-up and let you know that we've implemented monitor fading functions in the latest beta version of DisplayFusion. You can download the latest beta version from the link below:

http://www.displayfusion.com/Download/Beta/

Thanks!

Jan 13, 2023 • #10