ODK Briefcase CLI for multiple forms

What is the problem? Please be detailed.
I currently have 20+ form to pull from an ODK aggregate server and I've been using the CLI with a loop in a command terminal to pull the instances and export CSv data. However whilst this works, it is much slower compared the GUI using the pull point and click style of briefcase.

Is there a way to use the CLI to pull multiple form IDs in one line?

What ODK tool and version are you using? And on what device and operating system version?
ODK Briefcase v1.11.2

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Hi, @CharlieKeyes!

There is no way to pull multiple files on one CLI execution of Briefcase yet, but we are planning to change the current —formId param to accept a list of form IDs separated by commas, which would let you do in the CLI what you’ve described. Stay tuned! :wink:

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That sounds great.

The other thing that would be really nice would be to get Briefcase to remove the data from Aggregate once a successful pull has completed.

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@CharlieKeyes Welcome to the ODK forum and thanks for confirming that we've successfully read your mind about features you'd like :smile:. Will you be willing to help beta test this feature when it's ready?

Also, when you get a chance, please introduce yourself here.

@yanokwa we could totally test this feature at LSHTM.
We have many multi-form studies and use R to activate Briefcase via CLI. Anything that sped that up would be very useful

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Thanks for your feedback, @Mark_Schormann1! I don't know if destructive actions will be ever included in Briefcase, but that's a very valuable input :slight_smile:

HI Guillermo - @ggalmazor - I think the ideal way to implement it would be as an additional switch on Briefcase thereby making it an explicit instruction to delete. The alternative idea was to be able to specify a UUID to be deleted. Both mechanisms would be useful for maintenance of an Aggregate server that sees high volumes IMHO.

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