Multi-Monitor Configuration Guide

Brobot supports multi-monitor environments, allowing you to specify which monitor to use for automation operations. This is particularly useful when you want to run your IDE on one monitor while performing GUI automation on another.

Overview

By default, Brobot uses the primary monitor for all operations. With multi-monitor support enabled, you can:

• Specify a default monitor for all operations
• Assign specific operations to specific monitors
• Enable logging to track which monitor is being used
• Search across all monitors or limit to specific ones

Configuration

Basic Configuration

Add the following to your application.yml or create a profile-specific configuration file:

brobot:
  monitor:
    # Enable multi-monitor support
    multi-monitor-enabled: true
    
    # Default monitor to use (0 = primary, 1 = secondary, etc.)
    default-screen-index: 1
    
    # Enable logging of monitor information
    log-monitor-info: true

Advanced Configuration

For more control, you can assign specific operations to specific monitors:

brobot:
  monitor:
    multi-monitor-enabled: true
    default-screen-index: 1
    log-monitor-info: true
    
    # Search across all monitors when finding elements
    search-all-monitors: false
    
    # Assign specific operations to specific monitors
    operation-monitor-map:
      find: 1
      find-multiple: 1
      click: 1
      type: 1
      drag: 1
      screenshot: 1

Using Configuration Profiles

Create a profile-specific configuration file application-multimonitor.yml:

brobot:
  monitor:
    multi-monitor-enabled: true
    default-screen-index: 1
    log-monitor-info: true

Then activate it using one of these methods:

1. Command line argument:

   java -jar your-app.jar --spring.profiles.active=multimonitor

2. Environment variable:

   export SPRING_PROFILES_ACTIVE=multimonitor

3. In application.yml:

   spring:
     profiles:
       active: multimonitor

Monitor Indexing

Monitors are indexed starting from 0:

• Monitor 0: Primary monitor
• Monitor 1: First secondary monitor
• Monitor 2: Second secondary monitor
• etc.

Example 3-Monitor Setup

[Monitor 0 - Left]   [Monitor 1 - Middle]   [Monitor 2 - Right]
   IDE/Development       GUI Automation          Other Apps

Logging

When log-monitor-info is enabled, you'll see detailed information about monitor detection and usage:

Startup Logs

INFO  MonitorManager - Detected 3 monitor(s)
INFO  MonitorManager - Monitor 0: :0.0 - Bounds: x=0, y=0, width=1920, height=1080
INFO  MonitorManager - Monitor 1: :0.1 - Bounds: x=1920, y=0, width=1920, height=1080
INFO  MonitorManager - Monitor 2: :0.2 - Bounds: x=3840, y=0, width=1920, height=1080

Operation Logs

INFO  BufferedImageUtilities - Using monitor 1 for find operation
INFO  MonitorManager - Operation 'click' assigned to monitor 1

Programmatic Access

You can also interact with monitors programmatically:

@Autowired
private MonitorManager monitorManager;

// Get information about all monitors
List<MonitorInfo> monitors = monitorManager.getAllMonitorInfo();

// Set a specific monitor for an operation
monitorManager.setOperationMonitor("custom-operation", 2);

// Get the monitor containing a specific point
int monitorIndex = monitorManager.getMonitorAtPoint(new Point(2000, 500));

Use Cases

Development Setup

Run your IDE on the left monitor while automation happens on the middle monitor:

brobot:
  monitor:
    default-screen-index: 1  # Middle monitor
    operation-monitor-map:
      find: 1
      click: 1

Testing Across Monitors

Search for elements across all monitors:

brobot:
  monitor:
    search-all-monitors: true
    log-monitor-info: true

Monitor-Specific Operations

Different operations on different monitors:

brobot:
  monitor:
    operation-monitor-map:
      find: 0        # Search on primary
      click: 1       # Click on secondary
      screenshot: 2  # Capture from third monitor

Troubleshooting

Common Issues

1. Monitor not detected:

   • Ensure the monitor is connected and recognized by the OS
   • Check startup logs for monitor detection information

2. Operations happening on wrong monitor:

   • Verify the monitor index in configuration
   • Enable log-monitor-info to see which monitor is being used

3. Configuration not taking effect:

   • Ensure the configuration profile is active
   • Check that multi-monitor-enabled is set to true

Debugging

Enable debug logging for more detailed information:

logging:
  level:
    io.github.jspinak.brobot.monitor: DEBUG

API Reference

Configuration Properties

Property	Type	Default	Description
multi-monitor-enabled	boolean	false	Enable multi-monitor support
default-screen-index	int	-1	Default monitor index (-1 uses primary)
search-all-monitors	boolean	false	Search across all monitors
log-monitor-info	boolean	true	Log monitor information
operation-monitor-map	Map<String, Integer>	empty	Map operations to specific monitors

MonitorManager Methods

• getScreen(int monitorIndex): Get Screen for specific monitor
• getScreen(String operationName): Get Screen based on operation mapping
• getAllScreens(): Get all available screens
• getMonitorInfo(int index): Get information about a specific monitor
• setOperationMonitor(String operation, int monitor): Assign operation to monitor