CLI commands and space

[proactivematter]

Hey,

Just bought a pro license and writting a few scripts. I'm unable to identify my displays by name because (I am assuming) they have spaces - i.e. "iPad Pro 2021".

Both of these fail:

betterdisplaycli toggle -nameLike="iPad Pro" -connected
betterdisplaycli toggle -nameLike=iPad\ Pro -connected

But when I used -UUID=, then it works.

On another note, it would be nice to have an easy way to list some basic information for all phisically connected displays (including display that are connected but not turned "on"). The CLI guide has a section named "Device identification and device listing", but all commands in that section are just serve "identify" and not list (with the exception of displayWithFocus and displayWithMouse I guesss?).

Just want to take the opportunity to mention that I really love this app. Incredibly powerful and such high quality execution throughout everything - features, UI and, of course, the documentation which is very well put together even if it could benefit from a few additional improvements.

Thank you.

[proactivematter]

I also can't get the equivalent http request working, even with the aforementioned (working) UUID method. I've tried all of the below:

http://localhost:55777/toggle?UUID=REDACTED&connected
curl http://localhost:55777/toggle\?UUID=REDACTED\&connected
curl "http://localhost:55777/toggle?UUID=REDACTED&connected"

[waydabber]

Hi there,

hmm. I'll check it. Escaping space (\ ) should work.

betterdisplaycli set -namelike=built-in\ display -brightness=50%

But with namelike you can use only a part of the name, like ipad in your case so space is not needed.

With curl, you also need to escape ?:

curl http://localhost:55777/get\?namelike=ipad\&identifiers

The following command should I think list everything:

betterdisplaycli get -identifiers

[proactivematter]

OK, so I managed to fix the curl command, but @waydabber you're going to want to look into this one. As I had mentioned, I had gotten the iPad UUID using -sidecarList. That UUID was working perfectly when using it directly in the terminal, but not with curl. Now, when I used get -identifiers, I noticed that the UUID outputed for the iPad is different from the one I get with -sidecarList. When using the UUID from -identifiers, then the curl command works. Curious as to what is going on, I would be interested if you can share the cause.

But with namelike you can use only a part of the name, like ipad in your case so space is not needed.

But I sometimes may have another iPad model plugged in, or one that belongs to someone else (e.g. Mary's iPad) and would like to include my own name as part of nameLike. So I do personally find the inability to specify a string with spaces really hindering to this otherwise powerful CLI. I don't want to just keep using UUID because when I upgrade my iPad I don't want to have to update my scripts.

Finally, thanks for the -identifiers command, which turned out to be the key to getting this working. I suggest it be moved to the aforementioned "List" section, and in fact should be the first command in that section.

[waydabber]

Yes, -identifiers lists the sidecar display's UUID (when connected as a system managed virtual screen), while -sidecarList uses the UUID of the iPad itself that can be used to connect/disconnect Sidecar for the device.

You can specify a string with spaces - normal escaping (\ ) should work, I just tested it + included an example above. I am not sure why it does not work for you. If you want to use curl or an URL, you need to use %20 as space in the URL.

[waydabber]

Let me know if this does not work or does not make sense! :)