Add support for `send-input` subcommand

[ngmariusz]

you can execute when creating tab

exp:
wt.exe -w 2 sp -V wsl.exe zsh -ic "l\; /bin/zsh"

but there is not way to execute when it's already created or i do sth wrong?

Environment

21322.1000
Windows 10 Feature Experience Pack 321.2906.0.3
wsl2
Linux DESKTOP-RRHRJSC 4.19.128-microsoft-standard #1 .... x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux
Windows Terminal Preview 1.7.572.0

Steps to reproduce

wsl
wt.exe -w 2 focus-tab -t 3 /bin/bash -c 'ls'

Expected behavior

executes /bin/bash -c 'ls' in focused tab

or

introduce -exec flag that executes passed string

wt.exe -w 2 focus-tab -t 3 -exec "/bin/bash -c 'ls'"

Actual behavior

only focuses tab

[zadjii-msft]

So, if I'm reading this correctly, what you're really looking for is the sendInput action, but as a subcommand on the commandline? So that when you already have an existing terminal instance, you could do

wt -w send-input ls

to send "ls" to the active pane. That makes sense to me. It's something we've been back and forth on in the past - I've been a little hesitant to allow other processes to "inject" input into terminal instances like this. That being said, we're not really pursuing mixed elevation anymore, so now I'm less worried about this.

What I am worried about is how we encode special characters. Not all shells support multi-line input, so putting a raw \n into the input might be tricky. It's easier to encode in json where you can just literally say "ls\n". A flag to say "please follow this input string with a \n" isn't a terrible idea, but then what if you want multiple commands? What if you want an arrow key? So we'd need to have a good way of encoding escape character in the input (regardless of shell).

[ngmariusz]

Yes, thank you "send-input" is much better name;

As i understand encoding/escaping is well know problem

no long ago i was trying this ${selectedText} in vscode tasks ( https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/editor/variables-reference )
and it bited me couple of times but eventually i figured that out, we are developers after all ;)

...so perhaps accepting "multiline / etc input" in a smart way is yet another feature? and we could try how idea is working out in a wild.

to add more context of my use case

i'd like to have one monitor of multiple opened terminals only and pushing to chosen one with my ide shortcuts from another monitor

until remote control was released my scenario was

1. create command in editor (as i usually have there more context than terminal history) 
2. select 
3. copy 
4. change to desired terminal window (mostly with alt+tab 1-n times until got wanted one )
5. select desired tab
6. Paste
7. Go  back (mostly with alt+tab 1-n times until got wanted one)

with remote control currently i have

1. create command in editor (as i usually have there more context than terminal history) 
2. select 
3. copy 
4. with single shortcut -> select desired tab with know window id and tab index             
5. -
6. Paste
7. Go back (mostly with alt+tab 1-n times until got wanted one)

it's better but i need

1. create command in editor (as i usually have there more context than terminal history) 
2. select 
3. with single shortcut -> select desired tab with know window id and tab index and execute my selected string there        
4. -               
5. -
6. -
7. -  

there are also scenarios when command is derived entirely from context so if you'd create shortcut for this in your IDE you could

1. -
2. -
3. with single shortcut -> select desired tab with know window id and tab index and execute command is derived entirely from context there        
4. -               
5. -
6. -
7. -

i hope it's worth pursuing

also

it helps alot with work ergonomic ( and wrist pain ;) )