[ssegaric]

Here's the kinda problem I bet more people would like to have :-)

I've got my Power Mac in one corner of the basement and a 20" Monitor next to it. I also have a digital projector connected to the same computer. The projector is not always on. I have the two configured to screen span. I have a couple of apps set to open on the projector screen - Safari (my secondary browser after Camino) and iPhoto for big beautiful slide shows with the projector. I'd like to know how I can move Safari and/or iPhoto to my main screen when I don't see them, i.e. the projector is off. Quitting and relaunching the apps doesn't work. I thought I could minimze the apps and then drag them from the dock up to my main display but that doesn't work either. Spaces in 10.5 might do the trick . Thanks for any help.

Steve

[P]

The position of the last window is held in the Preferences .plist file. If you feel adventerous, you can edit it with Property List Editor from the dev tools (it's the NSWindow stuff), but I'd suggest a different way. When the app is not running, move the relevant preferences file (com.apple.Safari.plist for Safari - it's in ~/Library/Preferences - out onto the desktop. Launch Safari. It will now create a new window on the first screen (the one with the menubar). Adjust that window as you like and close. Now you have two preferences files that place the window in different screens. You can switch back and forth between these to make the app open with windows one or the other screen.

[ssegaric]

Your solution is helpful, but awkward to implement. I thought I would be able to double click on the plist file on the desktop and have Safari launch and open where the plist files points to, but instead the plist file opens in Property List Editor.

[Uncle Skeleton]

You could turn on mirroring in the Displays system prefs.

I have a similar situation, and I wrote an applescript to change the various settings between projector time and computer time, to make such things easier:

Code:
tell application "System Preferences" to activate

tell application "System Events"
	get properties
	tell process "System Preferences"
		click menu item "Sound" of menu "View" of menu bar 1
		if my wait4window("System Preferences", "Sound") is false then return false
		tell radio button "Output" of tab group 1 of window "sound"
			click
		end tell
		set deviceTable to table 1 of scroll area 1 of tab group 1 of window "sound"
		set theRows to every row of deviceTable
		if (selected of the first item of theRows) then
			set selected of the third item of theRows to true
			--set the icon of myPath to icon2
		else
			set selected of the first item of theRows to true
			--set the icon of myPath to icon1
		end if
		click menu item "Displays" of menu "View" of menu bar 1
		if my wait4window("System Preferences", "SyncMaster") is false then return false
		tell radio button "Arrangement" of tab group 1 of window "SyncMaster"
			click
		end tell
		tell group 1 of tab group 1 of window "SyncMaster"
			tell checkbox "Mirror Displays"
				click
			end tell
		end tell
	end tell
end tell
do shell script ("pmset displaysleep 0") password "xxx" with administrator privileges
tell application "System Preferences" to quit


-- Wait for the preferences window
on wait4window(theApplication, theTitle)
	tell application "System Events"
		tell process theApplication
			repeat with i from 1 to 60
				if the name of window 1 is theTitle then return true
				delay 0.25
			end repeat
		end tell
	end tell
	return false
end wait4window

Of course, some of that stuff you don't need and will have to erase, depending...

I also put an icon of my projector on the script so it doesn't look so ghetto

[P]

I'm no Applescript guru, but that could probably work as well. No, my idea was to move the plist files in and out of the Preferences folder before launching the app. That could definately done using Applescript as well, if you want to.

[Uncle Skeleton]

In case it wasn't clear, you don't need any applescript to do this, I just made one since I do it all the time and I was tired of waiting for the system pref panes to load each time because they're slow. All my suggestion boils down to is to go into the Displays prefs and turn on mirroring, then you most definitely won't have any app windows stuck on dark monitors.