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31 * @Id: form.3x,v 1.21 2008/04/26 17:11:52 tom Exp @
35 <TITLE>form 3x</TITLE>
36 <link rev=made href="mailto:bug-ncurses@gnu.org">
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43 <!-- Manpage converted by man2html 3.0.1 -->
44 <STRONG><A HREF="form.3x.html">form(3x)</A></STRONG> <STRONG><A HREF="form.3x.html">form(3x)</A></STRONG>
51 <STRONG>form</STRONG> - curses extension for programming forms
55 <H2>SYNOPSIS</H2><PRE>
56 <STRONG>#include</STRONG> <STRONG><form.h></STRONG>
60 <H2>DESCRIPTION</H2><PRE>
61 The <STRONG>form</STRONG> library provides terminal-independent facilities
62 for composing form screens on character-cell terminals.
63 The library includes: field routines, which create and
64 modify form fields; and form routines, which group fields
65 into forms, display forms on the screen, and handle inter-
68 The <STRONG>form</STRONG> library uses the <STRONG>curses</STRONG> libraries, and a curses
69 initialization routine such as <STRONG>initscr</STRONG> must be called
70 before using any of these functions. To use the <STRONG>form</STRONG>
71 library, link with the options <STRONG>-lform</STRONG> <STRONG>-lcurses</STRONG>.
73 <STRONG>Current</STRONG> <STRONG>Default</STRONG> <STRONG>Values</STRONG> <STRONG>for</STRONG> <STRONG>Field</STRONG> <STRONG>Attributes</STRONG>
74 The <STRONG>form</STRONG> library maintains a default value for field
75 attributes. You can get or set this default by calling
76 the appropriate <STRONG>set_</STRONG> or retrieval routine with a <STRONG>NULL</STRONG>
77 field pointer. Changing this default with a <STRONG>set_</STRONG> function
78 affects future field creations, but does not change the
79 rendering of fields already created.
81 <STRONG>Routine</STRONG> <STRONG>Name</STRONG> <STRONG>Index</STRONG>
82 The following table lists each <STRONG>form</STRONG> routine and the name
83 of the manual page on which it is described.
85 <STRONG>curses</STRONG> Routine Name Manual Page Name
86 -------------------------------------------------
87 current_field <STRONG><A HREF="form_page.3x.html">form_page(3x)</A></STRONG>
88 data_ahead <STRONG><A HREF="form_data.3x.html">form_data(3x)</A></STRONG>
89 data_behind <STRONG><A HREF="form_data.3x.html">form_data(3x)</A></STRONG>
90 dup_field <STRONG><A HREF="form_field_new.3x.html">form_field_new(3x)</A></STRONG>
91 dynamic_field_info <STRONG><A HREF="form_field_info.3x.html">form_field_info(3x)</A></STRONG>
92 field_arg <STRONG><A HREF="form_field_validation.3x.html">form_field_validation(3x)</A></STRONG>
93 field_back <STRONG><A HREF="form_field_attributes.3x.html">form_field_attributes(3x)</A></STRONG>
94 field_buffer <STRONG><A HREF="form_field_buffer.3x.html">form_field_buffer(3x)</A></STRONG>
95 field_count <STRONG><A HREF="form_field.3x.html">form_field(3x)</A></STRONG>
96 field_fore <STRONG><A HREF="form_field_attributes.3x.html">form_field_attributes(3x)</A></STRONG>
97 field_index <STRONG><A HREF="form_page.3x.html">form_page(3x)</A></STRONG>
98 field_info <STRONG><A HREF="form_field_info.3x.html">form_field_info(3x)</A></STRONG>
99 field_init <STRONG><A HREF="form_hook.3x.html">form_hook(3x)</A></STRONG>
100 field_just <STRONG><A HREF="form_field_just.3x.html">form_field_just(3x)</A></STRONG>
101 field_opts <STRONG><A HREF="form_field_opts.3x.html">form_field_opts(3x)</A></STRONG>
102 field_opts_off <STRONG><A HREF="form_field_opts.3x.html">form_field_opts(3x)</A></STRONG>
103 field_opts_on <STRONG><A HREF="form_field_opts.3x.html">form_field_opts(3x)</A></STRONG>
104 field_pad <STRONG><A HREF="form_field_attributes.3x.html">form_field_attributes(3x)</A></STRONG>
105 field_status <STRONG><A HREF="form_field_buffer.3x.html">form_field_buffer(3x)</A></STRONG>
106 field_term <STRONG><A HREF="form_hook.3x.html">form_hook(3x)</A></STRONG>
107 field_type <STRONG><A HREF="form_field_validation.3x.html">form_field_validation(3x)</A></STRONG>
108 field_userptr <STRONG><A HREF="form_field_userptr.3x.html">form_field_userptr(3x)</A></STRONG>
109 form_driver <STRONG><A HREF="form_driver.3x.html">form_driver(3x)</A></STRONG>
110 form_fields <STRONG><A HREF="form_field.3x.html">form_field(3x)</A></STRONG>
111 form_init <STRONG><A HREF="form_hook.3x.html">form_hook(3x)</A></STRONG>
112 form_opts <STRONG><A HREF="form_opts.3x.html">form_opts(3x)</A></STRONG>
113 form_opts_off <STRONG><A HREF="form_opts.3x.html">form_opts(3x)</A></STRONG>
114 form_opts_on <STRONG><A HREF="form_opts.3x.html">form_opts(3x)</A></STRONG>
116 form_page <STRONG><A HREF="form_page.3x.html">form_page(3x)</A></STRONG>
117 form_request_by_name <STRONG><A HREF="form_requestname.3x.html">form_requestname(3x)</A></STRONG>
118 form_request_name <STRONG><A HREF="form_requestname.3x.html">form_requestname(3x)</A></STRONG>
119 form_sub <STRONG><A HREF="form_win.3x.html">form_win(3x)</A></STRONG>
120 form_term <STRONG><A HREF="form_hook.3x.html">form_hook(3x)</A></STRONG>
121 form_userptr <STRONG><A HREF="form_userptr.3x.html">form_userptr(3x)</A></STRONG>
122 form_win <STRONG><A HREF="form_win.3x.html">form_win(3x)</A></STRONG>
123 free_field <STRONG><A HREF="form_field_new.3x.html">form_field_new(3x)</A></STRONG>
124 free_fieldtype <STRONG><A HREF="form_fieldtype.3x.html">form_fieldtype(3x)</A></STRONG>
125 free_form <STRONG><A HREF="form_new.3x.html">form_new(3x)</A></STRONG>
126 link_field <STRONG><A HREF="form_field_new.3x.html">form_field_new(3x)</A></STRONG>
127 link_fieldtype <STRONG><A HREF="form_fieldtype.3x.html">form_fieldtype(3x)</A></STRONG>
128 move_field <STRONG><A HREF="form_field.3x.html">form_field(3x)</A></STRONG>
129 new_field <STRONG><A HREF="form_field_new.3x.html">form_field_new(3x)</A></STRONG>
130 new_fieldtype <STRONG><A HREF="form_fieldtype.3x.html">form_fieldtype(3x)</A></STRONG>
131 new_form <STRONG><A HREF="form_new.3x.html">form_new(3x)</A></STRONG>
132 new_page <STRONG><A HREF="form_new_page.3x.html">form_new_page(3x)</A></STRONG>
133 pos_form_cursor <STRONG><A HREF="form_cursor.3x.html">form_cursor(3x)</A></STRONG>
134 post_form <STRONG><A HREF="form_post.3x.html">form_post(3x)</A></STRONG>
135 scale_form <STRONG><A HREF="form_win.3x.html">form_win(3x)</A></STRONG>
136 set_current_field <STRONG><A HREF="form_page.3x.html">form_page(3x)</A></STRONG>
137 set_field_back <STRONG><A HREF="form_field_attributes.3x.html">form_field_attributes(3x)</A></STRONG>
138 set_field_buffer <STRONG><A HREF="form_field_buffer.3x.html">form_field_buffer(3x)</A></STRONG>
139 set_field_fore <STRONG><A HREF="form_field_attributes.3x.html">form_field_attributes(3x)</A></STRONG>
140 set_field_init <STRONG><A HREF="form_hook.3x.html">form_hook(3x)</A></STRONG>
141 set_field_just <STRONG><A HREF="form_field_just.3x.html">form_field_just(3x)</A></STRONG>
142 set_field_opts <STRONG><A HREF="form_field_opts.3x.html">form_field_opts(3x)</A></STRONG>
143 set_field_pad <STRONG><A HREF="form_field_attributes.3x.html">form_field_attributes(3x)</A></STRONG>
144 set_field_status <STRONG><A HREF="form_field_buffer.3x.html">form_field_buffer(3x)</A></STRONG>
145 set_field_term <STRONG><A HREF="form_hook.3x.html">form_hook(3x)</A></STRONG>
146 set_field_type <STRONG><A HREF="form_field_validation.3x.html">form_field_validation(3x)</A></STRONG>
147 set_field_userptr <STRONG><A HREF="form_field_userptr.3x.html">form_field_userptr(3x)</A></STRONG>
148 set_fieldtype_arg <STRONG><A HREF="form_fieldtype.3x.html">form_fieldtype(3x)</A></STRONG>
149 set_fieldtype_choice <STRONG><A HREF="form_fieldtype.3x.html">form_fieldtype(3x)</A></STRONG>
150 set_form_fields <STRONG><A HREF="form_field.3x.html">form_field(3x)</A></STRONG>
151 set_form_init <STRONG><A HREF="form_hook.3x.html">form_hook(3x)</A></STRONG>
152 set_form_opts <STRONG><A HREF="form_field_opts.3x.html">form_field_opts(3x)</A></STRONG>
153 set_form_page <STRONG><A HREF="form_page.3x.html">form_page(3x)</A></STRONG>
154 set_form_sub <STRONG><A HREF="form_win.3x.html">form_win(3x)</A></STRONG>
155 set_form_term <STRONG><A HREF="form_hook.3x.html">form_hook(3x)</A></STRONG>
156 set_form_userptr <STRONG><A HREF="form_userptr.3x.html">form_userptr(3x)</A></STRONG>
157 set_form_win <STRONG><A HREF="form_win.3x.html">form_win(3x)</A></STRONG>
158 set_max_field <STRONG><A HREF="form_field_buffer.3x.html">form_field_buffer(3x)</A></STRONG>
159 set_new_page <STRONG><A HREF="form_new_page.3x.html">form_new_page(3x)</A></STRONG>
160 unpost_form <STRONG><A HREF="form_post.3x.html">form_post(3x)</A></STRONG>
164 <H2>RETURN VALUE</H2><PRE>
165 Routines that return pointers return <STRONG>NULL</STRONG> on error, and
166 set errno to the corresponding error-code returned by
167 functions returning an integer. Routines that return an
168 integer return one of the following error codes:
170 <STRONG>E_OK</STRONG> The routine succeeded.
172 <STRONG>E_BAD_ARGUMENT</STRONG>
173 Routine detected an incorrect or out-of-range argu-
176 <STRONG>E_BAD_STATE</STRONG>
177 Routine was called from an initialization or termina-
180 <STRONG>E_CONNECTED</STRONG>
181 The field is already connected to a form.
183 <STRONG>E_INVALID_FIELD</STRONG>
184 Contents of a field are not valid.
186 <STRONG>E_NOT_CONNECTED</STRONG>
187 No fields are connected to the form.
189 <STRONG>E_NOT_POSTED</STRONG>
190 The form has not been posted.
192 <STRONG>E_NO_ROOM</STRONG>
193 Form is too large for its window.
195 <STRONG>E_POSTED</STRONG>
196 The form is already posted.
198 <STRONG>E_REQUEST_DENIED</STRONG>
199 The form driver could not process the request.
201 <STRONG>E_SYSTEM_ERROR</STRONG>
202 System error occurred (see <STRONG>errno</STRONG>).
204 <STRONG>E_UNKNOWN_COMMAND</STRONG>
205 The form driver code saw an unknown request code.
209 <H2>SEE ALSO</H2><PRE>
210 <STRONG><A HREF="ncurses.3x.html">curses(3x)</A></STRONG> and related pages whose names begin "form_" for
211 detailed descriptions of the entry points.
216 The header file <STRONG><form.h></STRONG> automatically includes the header
217 files <STRONG><curses.h></STRONG> and <STRONG><eti.h></STRONG>.
219 In your library list, libform.a should be before libn-
220 curses.a; that is, you want to say `-lform -lncurses', not
221 the other way around (which would give you a link error
226 <H2>PORTABILITY</H2><PRE>
227 These routines emulate the System V forms library. They
228 were not supported on Version 7 or BSD versions.
232 <H2>AUTHORS</H2><PRE>
233 Juergen Pfeifer. Manual pages and adaptation for ncurses
238 <H2>SEE ALSO</H2><PRE>
239 This describes <STRONG>ncurses</STRONG> version 5.6 (patch 20080621).
243 <STRONG><A HREF="form.3x.html">form(3x)</A></STRONG>
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