Having an issue creating a custom waybar vpn module. Haven't scripted in 30 years.

[mikedebian]

So, waybar made me curious again.

Thing is, I have a custom VPN module that when left clicked, it runs a vpn command as a user (no sudo), and when right clicked it runs a sigterm command to a few different services to make sure that it has actually gone down and resets the connection. Now, I have a format icon set as one character, and a format-alt set as another. I really wish that when I click on it, it doesn't change the format character until it has connected succesfully, and if it disconnects, it should change to the disconnect character
Does that make any sense to you?...

custom/vpn": {
    "format": "🔓",
    "format-alt": "🔒",
    "on-click": "command-example",
    "on-click-right": "killall -15 {command-example, "lets throw in this command too}",
 },

What I'd like is

custom/vpn": {
    "format-when-status-shows-disconnected-from-vpn": "🔓",
    "format-alt-when-status-shows-connected-to-vpn": "🔒",
    "on-click-left": "command-example", # if succesful, sends signal to the module to change the unlocked char  from 0 to 1
    "on-click-right": "killall -15 {command-example, "lets throw in this command too}", # if succesful, sends the opposite signal.
 },

If I left click it, the format will change from unlocked to locked and vice versa. However, it does not remain in the locked state if I click on it, so I figured maybe if I grep|sed|awk ( something something /dev/tun0 instead of a dynamic ip ) the status of the command, it would return to the state that it's actually in (for example not running= unlocked character). Running = locked character
(In case the VPN goes down).

Many thanks!

[mikedebian]

So I've at least gotten the connection status to echo it's output using

ip add show | grep -q tun0 && echo Connected || echo Disconnected

Now for the hard part for me, maybe a format character isn't the best option (even though it's what I want.) Perhaps a toggle switch.. Any ideas?

[mikedebian]

So, I sort of get it working

"custom/vpn": {
"interval": 3,
    "format": "{}{icon}",
"format-icons": {
      "Default": "🔓",
      "Disconnected": "🔓",
      "Connected": "🔒",
    },
"exec": "ip add show | grep -qF tun0 && echo Connected || echo Disconnected",
"max-length": "100",
"on-click": "nmcli connection up VPN",
    "on-click-right": "nmcli connection down VPN"
    },

Format icon is always in the unlocked state though. I will try to see where I go wrong.

[mikedebian]

Solved!

"custom/vpn": {
"interval": 3,
"format": "{}",
"exec": "ip add show | grep -qF tun0 && echo 🔒 Connected || echo 🔓 Disconnected",
"max-length": "100",
"on-click": "nmcli connection up VPNOVPNNAMENOEXTENSION",
"on-click-right": "nmcli connection down VPNOVPNNAMENOEXTENSION"
},

Style accordingly.