2 .\"***************************************************************************
3 .\" Copyright 2018-2019,2020 Thomas E. Dickey *
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29 .\"***************************************************************************
31 .\" $Id: form.3x,v 1.35 2020/03/28 19:06:28 tom Exp $
42 \fBform\fR \- curses extension for programming forms
44 \fB#include <form.h>\fR
47 The \fBform\fR library provides terminal-independent facilities for composing
48 form screens on character-cell terminals.
49 The library includes: field
50 routines, which create and modify form fields; and form routines, which group
51 fields into forms, display forms on the screen, and handle interaction with the
54 The \fBform\fR library uses the \fBcurses\fR libraries.
55 To use the \fBform\fR library, link with the options
56 \fB\-lform \-lcurses\fR.
58 Your program should set up the locale, e.g.,
60 \fBsetlocale(LC_ALL, "");\fP
62 so that input/output processing will work.
64 A curses initialization routine such as \fBinitscr\fR must be called
65 before using any of these functions.
67 .SS Current Default Values for Field Attributes
69 The \fBform\fR library maintains a default value for field attributes.
71 can get or set this default by calling the appropriate \fBset_\fR
73 routine with a \fBNULL\fR field pointer.
74 Changing this default with a
75 \fBset_\fR function affects future field creations, but does not change the
76 rendering of fields already created.
78 .SS Routine Name Index
80 The following table lists each \fBform\fR routine and the name of
81 the manual page on which it is described.
86 \fBcurses\fR Routine Name Manual Page Name
88 current_field \fBform_page\fR(3X)
89 data_ahead \fBform_data\fR(3X)
90 data_behind \fBform_data\fR(3X)
91 dup_field \fBform_field_new\fR(3X)
92 dynamic_field_info \fBform_field_info\fR(3X)
93 field_arg \fBform_field_validation\fR(3X)
94 field_back \fBform_field_attributes\fR(3X)
95 field_buffer \fBform_field_buffer\fR(3X)
96 field_count \fBform_field\fR(3X)
97 field_fore \fBform_field_attributes\fR(3X)
98 field_index \fBform_page\fR(3X)
99 field_info \fBform_field_info\fR(3X)
100 field_init \fBform_hook\fR(3X)
101 field_just \fBform_field_just\fR(3X)
102 field_opts \fBform_field_opts\fR(3X)
103 field_opts_off \fBform_field_opts\fR(3X)
104 field_opts_on \fBform_field_opts\fR(3X)
105 field_pad \fBform_field_attributes\fR(3X)
106 field_status \fBform_field_buffer\fR(3X)
107 field_term \fBform_hook\fR(3X)
108 field_type \fBform_field_validation\fR(3X)
109 field_userptr \fBform_field_userptr\fR(3X)
110 form_driver \fBform_driver\fR(3X)
111 form_driver_w \fBform_driver\fR(3X)*
112 form_fields \fBform_field\fR(3X)
113 form_init \fBform_hook\fR(3X)
114 form_opts \fBform_opts\fR(3X)
115 form_opts_off \fBform_opts\fR(3X)
116 form_opts_on \fBform_opts\fR(3X)
117 form_page \fBform_page\fR(3X)
118 form_request_by_name \fBform_requestname\fR(3X)
119 form_request_name \fBform_requestname\fR(3X)
120 form_sub \fBform_win\fR(3X)
121 form_term \fBform_hook\fR(3X)
122 form_userptr \fBform_userptr\fR(3X)
123 form_win \fBform_win\fR(3X)
124 free_field \fBform_field_new\fR(3X)
125 free_fieldtype \fBform_fieldtype\fR(3X)
126 free_form \fBform_new\fR(3X)
127 link_field \fBform_field_new\fR(3X)
128 link_fieldtype \fBform_fieldtype\fR(3X)
129 move_field \fBform_field\fR(3X)
130 new_field \fBform_field_new\fR(3X)
131 new_fieldtype \fBform_fieldtype\fR(3X)
132 new_form \fBform_new\fR(3X)
133 new_page \fBform_new_page\fR(3X)
134 pos_form_cursor \fBform_cursor\fR(3X)
135 post_form \fBform_post\fR(3X)
136 scale_form \fBform_win\fR(3X)
137 set_current_field \fBform_page\fR(3X)
138 set_field_back \fBform_field_attributes\fR(3X)
139 set_field_buffer \fBform_field_buffer\fR(3X)
140 set_field_fore \fBform_field_attributes\fR(3X)
141 set_field_init \fBform_hook\fR(3X)
142 set_field_just \fBform_field_just\fR(3X)
143 set_field_opts \fBform_field_opts\fR(3X)
144 set_field_pad \fBform_field_attributes\fR(3X)
145 set_field_status \fBform_field_buffer\fR(3X)
146 set_field_term \fBform_hook\fR(3X)
147 set_field_type \fBform_field_validation\fR(3X)
148 set_field_userptr \fBform_field_userptr\fR(3X)
149 set_fieldtype_arg \fBform_fieldtype\fR(3X)
150 set_fieldtype_choice \fBform_fieldtype\fR(3X)
151 set_form_fields \fBform_field\fR(3X)
152 set_form_init \fBform_hook\fR(3X)
153 set_form_opts \fBform_field_opts\fR(3X)
154 set_form_page \fBform_page\fR(3X)
155 set_form_sub \fBform_win\fR(3X)
156 set_form_term \fBform_hook\fR(3X)
157 set_form_userptr \fBform_userptr\fR(3X)
158 set_form_win \fBform_win\fR(3X)
159 set_max_field \fBform_field_buffer\fR(3X)
160 set_new_page \fBform_new_page\fR(3X)
161 unfocus_current_field \fBform_page\fR(3X)
162 unpost_form \fBform_post\fR(3X)
165 Routines that return pointers return \fBNULL\fR on error,
166 and set \fBerrno\fP to the corresponding error-code returned by functions
167 returning an integer.
169 an integer return one of the following error codes:
172 The routine succeeded.
175 Routine detected an incorrect or out-of-range argument.
178 Routine was called from an initialization or termination function.
181 The field is already connected to a form.
184 Contents of a field are not valid.
187 No fields are connected to the form.
190 The form has not been posted.
193 Form is too large for its window.
196 The form is already posted.
199 The form driver could not process the request.
202 System error occurred (see \fBerrno\fR(3)).
205 The form driver code saw an unknown request code.
207 The header file \fB<form.h>\fR automatically includes the header files
208 \fB<curses.h>\fR and \fB<eti.h>\fR.
210 In your library list, libform.a should be before libncurses.a; that is,
211 you want to say \*(``\-lform \-lncurses\*('', not the other way around
212 (which would give you a link error when using static libraries).
214 These routines emulate the System V forms library.
215 They were not supported on
216 Version 7 or BSD versions.
218 The menu facility was documented in SVr4.2 in
219 \fICharacter User Interface Programming (UNIX SVR4.2)\fP.
221 It is not part of X/Open Curses.
223 Aside from ncurses, there are few implementations:
225 systems based on SVr4 source code, e.g., Solaris.
229 A few functions in this implementation are extensions added for ncurses,
230 but not provided by other implementations, e.g.,
232 \fBunfocus_current_field\fP.
235 Manual pages and adaptation for ncurses by Eric
238 \fBcurses\fR(3X) and related pages whose names begin \*(``form_\*('' for detailed
239 descriptions of the entry points.
241 This describes \fBncurses\fR
242 version @NCURSES_MAJOR@.@NCURSES_MINOR@ (patch @NCURSES_PATCH@).