Introduction: Adjusting Laptop Brightness Via Flowstone!

For an embedded automation system I'm creating, I need to adjust the screen brightness quickly via a touchscreen interface. The computer is actually a touchscreen netbook that can flip right around. I won't have access to the keyboard to press the hotkeys that alter brightness.

Read on for how I achieved this in a very diy fashion.

Step 1: Nircmd.exe

This neat program allows me to easily change screen brightness via the command prompt. To use it, just download from its homepage and run nircmd.exe.

It will ask you to copy to the Windows directory and you should allow it to.

Step 2: Implementing in Flowstone.

I used a Slider in Flowstone to give a float value from 0 to 1. Using some maths I made this into an integer from 0 to 100. In the screenshots you will see the command prompt to allow nircmd to change screen brightness.

At the top of the slider the netbook screen will go fully bright. At the bottom the back light will be off. Very cool and versatile!

Step 3: Auto Brightness.

Using a labjack u3 hv, I used a photocell to allow dynamic adjustment of the screen so I don't have to manually adjust the slider.

Very cool!