Menu Bar Icons and Configuration

[Heavy_D]

Hello JAMF Nation,

I am currently trying to configure Volume, VPN, & Battery to not only open but have certain defaults checked off as well.

For VPN wanted to have:
- Show Time Connected
- Show Status While Connected

For Battery:
- Show Percentage

What I have done in the past that used to work:
Have a custom settings payload with a plist that was converted to a mobile.config and then uploaded to JAMF reaching out to com.apple.systemuiserver that plist is the following:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">

<plist version="1.0">
    <dict>
        <key>PayloadContent</key>
        <array>
            <dict>
                <key>PayloadContent</key>
                <dict>
                    <key>com.apple.systemuiserver</key>
                    <dict>
                        <key>Set-Once</key>
                        <array>
                            <dict>
                                <key>mcx_preference_settings</key>
                                <dict>
                                    <key>NSStatusItem Visible Siri</key>
                                    <false/>
                                    <key>NSStatusItem Visible com.apple.menuextra.airplay</key>
                                    <true/>
                                    <key>NSStatusItem Visible com.apple.menuextra.volume</key>
                                    <true/>
                                    <key>NSStatusItem Visible com.apple.menuextra.vpn</key>
                                    <true/>
                                    <key>__NSEnableTSMDocumentWindowLevel</key>
                                    <true/>
                                    <key>menuExtras</key>
                                    <array>
                                        <string>/System/Library/CoreServices/Menu Extras/Battery.menu</string>
                                        <string>/System/Library/CoreServices/Menu Extras/AirPort.menu</string>
                                        <string>/System/Library/CoreServices/Menu Extras/Volume.menu</string>
                                        <string>/System/Library/CoreServices/Menu Extras/Displays.menu</string>
                                        <string>/System/Library/CoreServices/Menu Extras/VPN.menu</string>
                                    </array>
                                </dict>
                            </dict>
                        </array>
                    </dict>
                </dict>
                <key>PayloadDisplayName</key>
                <string>Custom: (com.apple.systemuiserver)</string>
                <key>PayloadEnabled</key>
                <true/>
                <key>PayloadIdentifier</key>
                <string>com.apple.mdm.macserver-imac.local.e619bbc0-3444-0136-d464-2c87a33a6849.alacarte.customsettings.04410560-3445-0136-d466-2c87a33a6849</string>
                <key>PayloadType</key>
                <string>com.apple.ManagedClient.preferences</string>
                <key>PayloadUUID</key>
                <string>04410560-3445-0136-d466-2c87a33a6849</string>
                <key>PayloadVersion</key>
                <integer>1</integer>
            </dict>
        </array>
        <key>PayloadDescription</key>
        <string>Add shortcuts to the menu bar</string>
        <key>PayloadDisplayName</key>
        <string>Settings for menubar_icons</string>
        <key>PayloadEnabled</key>
        <true/>
        <key>PayloadIdentifier</key>
        <string>com.apple.mdm.macserver-imac.local.e619bbc0-3444-0136-d464-2c87a33a6849.alacarte</string>
        <key>PayloadOrganization</key>
        <string>CompanyName</string>
        <key>PayloadRemovalDisallowed</key>
        <false/>
        <key>PayloadScope</key>
        <string>System</string>
        <key>PayloadType</key>
        <string>Configuration</string>
        <key>PayloadUUID</key>
        <string>e619bbc0-3444-0136-d464-2c87a33a6849</string>
        <key>PayloadVersion</key>
        <integer>1</integer>
    </dict>
</plist>

This now is no longer working for my Enrollments on Mojave 10.14.6

What I am currently trying to do is create a profile solely dedicated to Menu Bar Items and through a one line command under Files & Processes Execute Command:

user=$(stat -f %Su /dev/console); sudo -u $user open "/System/Library/CoreServices/Menu Extras/vpn.menu" ; sudo -u $user open "/System/Library/CoreServices/Menu Extras/Volume.menu" ; sudo -u $user open "/System/Library/CoreServices/Menu Extras/Battery.menu"

Which opens the services just fine but writing to them possibly via a script has been quite challenging as nothing I have tried does the trick. I tried -booling it prior to opening the services but this did not work at all.

user=$(stat -f %Su /dev/console);  sudo -u $user /usr/bin/defaults write com.apple.menuextra.vpn ShowTimeConnected -bool YES;  sudo -u $user /usr/bin/defaults write com.apple.menuextra.vpn ShowStatusWhileConnecting -bool YES; sudo -u $user open "/System/Library/CoreServices/Menu Extras/vpn.menu" ; sudo -u $user open "/System/Library/CoreServices/Menu Extras/Volume.menu" ; sudo -u $user open "/System/Library/CoreServices/Menu Extras/Battery.menu"

Would anyone have any possible Ideas on how I can achieve this or a much cleaner way of getting it accomplished I would be grateful.

Thanks in Advance.

[mallej]

maybe helpful

#!/bin/sh

# This script sets VPN settings for the currentuser.
# The presumption is that this script will be executed as root from a launch daemon
# or from some management agent. To execute a single command as the current user
# you can use the `runAsUser` function below.

# original by Armin Briegel - Scripting OS X
# https://scriptingosx.com/2020/08/running-a-command-as-another-user/

# modified by Jens Malessa
# last 14.04.2022



# variable and function declarations

export PATH=/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin

# get the currently logged in user
currentUser=$( echo "show State:/Users/ConsoleUser" | scutil | awk '/Name :/ { print $3 }' )

# global check if there is a user logged in
if [ -z "$currentUser" -o "$currentUser" = "loginwindow" ]; then
  echo "no user logged in, cannot proceed"
  exit 1
fi
# now we know a user is logged in

# get the current user's UID
uid=$(id -u "$currentUser")

# convenience function to run a command as the current user
# usage:
#   runAsUser command arguments...
runAsUser() {  
  if [ "$currentUser" != "loginwindow" ]; then
    launchctl asuser "$uid" sudo -u "$currentUser" "$@"
  else
    echo "no user logged in"
    # uncomment the exit command
    # to make the function exit with an error when no user is logged in
    # exit 1
  fi
}


# main code starts here

# Enable "Show Time Connected" and "Show Status While Connecting" in VPN status bar for currentuser
runAsUser defaults write com.apple.networkConnect VPNShowTime -bool TRUE
runAsUser defaults write com.apple.networkConnect VPNShowStatus -bool TRUE