menus - curses extension for programming menus


SYNOPSIS

       #include <menu.h>


DESCRIPTION

       The menus library provides terminal-independent facilities
       for composing menu systems  on  character-cell  terminals.
       The library includes: item routines, which create and mod-
       ify menu items; and menu routines, which group items  into
       menus, display menus on the screen, and handle interaction
       with the user.

       The menus library uses the curses libraries, and a  curses
       initialization  routine  such  as  initscr  must be called
       before using any of these functions.   To  use  the  menus
       library, link with the options -lmenu -lcurses.


   Current Default Values for Item Attributes
       The  menus  library  maintains  a  default  value for item
       attributes.  You can get or set this  default  by  calling
       the  appropriate  get_  or  set_  routine with a NULL item
       pointer.  Changing  this  default  with  a  set_  function
       affects  future  item  creations,  but does not change the
       rendering of items already created.


   Routine Name Index
       The following table lists each menu routine and  the  name
       of the manual page on which it is described.

       l   l   .    curses   Routine   Name Manual  Page  Name  =
       current_item   mitem_current(3X)                 free_item
            mitem_new(3X)       free_menu            menu_new(3X)
       item_count     menu_items(3X)
       item_description    mitem_name(3X)
       item_index     mitem_current(3X)                 item_init
            menu_hook(3X) item_name      mitem_name(3X) item_opts
            mitem_opts(3X)          item_opts_off  mitem_opts(3X)
       item_opts_on   mitem_opts(3X) item_term      menu_hook(3X)
       item_userptr   mitem_userptr(3X)
       item_value     mitem_value(3X)  item_visible   mitem_visi-
       ble(3X)          menu_back                menu_attribs(3X)
       menu_driver    menu_driver(3X)                   menu_fore
            menu_attribs(3X)       menu_format    menu_format(3X)
       menu_grey               menu_attribs(3X)         menu_init
            menu_hook(3X) menu_items     menu_items(3X) menu_mark
            menu_mark(3X)       menu_opts           menu_opts(3X)
       menu_opts_off  menu_opts(3X)  menu_opts_on   menu_opts(3X)
       menu_pad        menu_attribs(3X)  menu_pattern   menu_pat-
       tern(3X)     menu_request_by_name     menu_requestname(3X)
            menu_win(3X)       menu_term            menu_hook(3X)
       menu_userptr   menu_userptr(3X)                   menu_win
            menu_win(3X)  new_item        mitem_new(3X)  new_menu
            menu_new(3X)      pos_menu_cursor     menu_cursor(3X)
       post_menu     menu_post(3X)    scale_menu     menu_win(3X)
       set_current_item    menu_current_item(3X)
       set_item_init  menu_hook(3X) set_item_opts  mitem_opts(3X)
       set_item_term  menu_hook(3X)
       set_item_userptr    mitem_userptr(3X)
       set_item_value mitem_value(3X)
       set_menu_back  menu_attribs(3X)
       set_menu_fore  menu_attribs(3X)
       set_menu_format     menu_format(3X)
       set_menu_grey  menu_attribs(3X)
       set_menu_init  menu_hook(3X) set_menu_items menu_items(3X)
       set_menu_mark  menu_mark(3X) set_menu_opts  mitem_opts(3X)
       set_menu_pad   menu_attribs(3X)
       set_menu_pattern    menu_pattern(3X)
       set_menu_spacing    menu_spacing(3X)
       set_menu_sub   menu_win(3X)   set_menu_term  menu_hook(3X)
       set_menu_userptr    menu_userptr(3X)
       set_menu_win   menu_win(3X)      set_top_row    mitem_cur-
       rent(3X)          top_row                mitem_current(3X)
       unpost_menu    menu_post(3X)


RETURN VALUE

       Routines that return pointers return NULL on error.   Rou-
       tines  that  return an integer return one of the following
       error codes:

       E_OK The routine succeeded.

       E_SYSTEM_ERROR
            System error occurred (see errno).

       E_BAD_ARGUMENT
            Routine detected an incorrect or  out-of-range  argu-
            ment.

       E_POSTED
            The menu is already posted.

       E_BAD_STATE
            Routine was called from an initialization or termina-
            tion function.

       E_NO_ROOM
            Menu is too large for its window.

       E_NOT_POSTED
            The menu has not been posted.

            The menu driver code saw an unknown request code.

       E_NO_MATCH
            Character failed to match.

       E_NOT_SELECTABLE
            The designated item cannot be selected.

       E_NOT_CONNECTED
            No items are connected to the menu.

       E_REQUEST_DENIED
            The menu driver could not process the request.


SEE ALSO

       curses(3X) and 3X pages  whose  names  begin  "menu_"  for
       detailed descriptions of the entry points.


NOTES

       The header file <menu.h> automatically includes the header
       files <curses.h> and <eti.h>.

       In your library list, libmenu.a  should  be  before  libn-
       curses.a; that is, you want to say `-lmenu -lncurses', not
       the other way around (which would give you  a  link  error
       using GNU ld(1) and many other linkers).


PORTABILITY

       These  routines  emulate  the System V menu library.  They
       were not supported on Version 7 or BSD versions.


AUTHORS

       Juergen Pfeifer.  Manual pages and adaptation for  ncurses
       by Eric S. Raymond.