[feature request] Lock screen

[WilliamVenner]

And finally, it would be cool if we could lock the computer as well 🔒

macOS implementation

extern void SACLockScreenImmediate();

int main() {
    SACLockScreenImmediate();
    return 0;
}

clang -F /System/Library/PrivateFrameworks -framework login -o lockscreen lockscreen.c

[silvioprog]

The code above worked like a charm on macOS Monterey with Apple silicon. 🙂

[AdrianEddy]

Windows:

windows::Win32::System::Shutdown::LockWorkStation();

https://microsoft.github.io/windows-docs-rs/doc/windows/Win32/System/Shutdown/fn.LockWorkStation.html

[WilliamVenner]

I think it should be noted that this is a private API and I think it would cause your app to be rejected from the macOS app store -- this obviously doesn't matter for some use cases but definitely worth documenting.

I wonder if maybe a better alternative would be to run a script that locks the screen instead. A very silly and unfortunate workaround but hey-ho that's Apple for ya.

[AdrianEddy]

AppleScript

activate application "SystemUIServer"
tell application "System Events"
    tell process "SystemUIServer" to keystroke "q" using {command down, control down}
end tell

[AdrianEddy]

Linux implementation is a nightmare across desktop environments, so I won't go there, but just need to figure out function names on each of these DBUS endpoints that are already implemented

org.gnome.ScreenSaver.Lock is one
org.freedesktop.ConsoleKit.Session.Lock is another
org.xfce.ScreenSaver.Lock

[WilliamVenner]

AppleScript

activate application "SystemUIServer"
tell application "System Events"
    tell process "SystemUIServer" to keystroke "q" using {command down, control down}
end tell

Is it possible for the user to change this key combo somehow, thereby breaking our script?