# Find a fixture's desk mode

- **MCP resource:** rdmbench://help/desk-mode
- **Version:** 0.2.0
- **Runs on:** macOS 15 Sequoia or later, Apple silicon or Intel
- **Needs:** An Enttec DMX USB Pro with its DMX/RDM firmware (major version 2)
- **Price:** Free

A fixture's name for its mode and a desk's name for the same mode are
often different: the fixture says *Standard (16-bit)*, the desk's patch
says *Standard*. When the desk is patched in another mode from the one
the fixture is in, colors and movement come out wrong and nothing
reports an error. The bench reads the desk's own fixture files, GDTF
files, to say which mode name to look for in the patch (see
[GDTF files and the PID library](/help/fixture-files/)).

## The desk's name for the mode

Where the bench has a GDTF file for the fixture, the report's DMX
configuration says **On a desk this is** and the mode name. Choose
**Desk Modes…** beside it, or **Fixture → Desk
Modes…** (⇧⌘G) *(macOS)*, for the whole table:
every personality of this firmware, the desk's name for each, its
channel count, and what the fixture calls it. An arrow marks the
personality the fixture is in. The sheet sends nothing to the fixture.

## Reading the match

Not every file can say it the same way, and the sentence under the
name says which case you have:

- **A mode name**: the file maps personalities to modes for this
  fixture's firmware. This is the strongest answer.
- **Probably**: the file has no mapping, so the bench picked the one
  mode as wide as the fixture's footprint. A good guess, said as one.
- **One of** several: more than one mode has that width, and the file
  does not say which. The bench lists them and does not guess.
- **A firmware warning**: the file lists firmware, but not the version
  this fixture runs, so the nearest earlier version was used. The name
  is usually still right. Updating the fixture or fetching a newer
  revision of the file settles it.
- **A width warning**: the file's mode is a different width from what
  the fixture reports. The file is more likely to be out of date than
  the fixture, so the name is still shown, with the warning.
- **No file for this model**: rated OK. Most fixtures on most benches
  have none. Add one to get the desk's names.

## The GDTF folder

Choose **Fixture → GDTF Library…** (⌥⌘G) *(macOS)*
to see what is in the folder, as the bench reads it: each file, the
fixture it describes, its RDM IDs, the firmware it lists, and how many
modes it has. Add files with **Add Files…** or by dropping them on the
sheet; they are copied into the folder and the originals are left
where they are. Or point the bench at a folder that already holds them
with **Choose Folder…**. The bench reads the files and never changes or
deletes them; **Reveal in Finder** is how to remove one.

A file that says **no RDM block** does not say which RDM fixture it
describes, so it is never matched to one. Under the table the sheet
lists the files the bench does not use, so you need not go looking:

- **Could not be read**, with the reason.
- **Not named .gdtf**: often a browser that saved a download as
  `.gdtf.zip`. Rename it.
- **The simulator's own sample files**, left out on a real line because
  they describe invented fixtures.

## Fetching from the GDTF Share

The GDTF Share is the public library of GDTF files. Choose **Fixture →
GDTF Share…** (⌃⌘G) *(macOS)* and sign in with the
shop's own Share account; a free one is made at gdtf-share.com. The
bench has no account of its own.

With a fixture selected, the Share's catalog is ranked against it by
brand, name and channel count. The catalog has no RDM IDs, so the list
is a best guess until a file is downloaded. **Fetch** downloads one and
reads the file's own RDM block: if it names this fixture, the file is
kept in the GDTF folder; if not, it is discarded and the row says so.
**Keep a file the check does not confirm** keeps it anyway, for a file
you know is right.

## From the command line

`rdmbench-cli gdtf` matches a fixture against the GDTF folder and
prints the desk's mode name and the table. `--list` shows the folder,
`--from` matches a saved report instead of a fixture, and `--dir` reads
another folder. `--sign-in` signs in to the Share, and `--shortlist`,
`--fetch` and `--search` use it.