- The slk* functions manipulate the set of soft function-key
- labels that exist on many terminals. For those terminals
- that do not have soft labels, curses takes over the bottom
- line of stdscr, reducing the size of stdscr and the vari-
- able LINES. curses standardizes on eight labels of up to
- eight characters each. In addition to this, the ncurses
- implementation supports a mode where it simulates 12 la-
- bels of up to five characters each. This is most common
- for todays PC like enduser devices. Please note that
- ncurses simulates this mode by taking over up to two lines
- at the bottom of the screen, it doesn't try to use any
- hardware support for this mode.
-
- The slk_init routine must be called before initscr or
- newterm is called. If initscr eventually uses a line from
- stdscr to emulate the soft labels, then fmt determines how
- the labels are arranged on the screen. Setting fmt to 0
- indicates a 3-2-3 arrangement of the labels, 1 indicates a
- 4-4 arrangement and 2 indicates the PC like 4-4-4 mode. If
- fmt is set to 3, it is again the PC like 4-4-4 mode, but
- in addition an index line is generated, helping the user
- to identify the key numbers easily.
-
- The slk_set routine requires labnum to be a label number,
- from 1 to 8 (resp. 12); label must be the string to be put
- on the label, up to eight (resp. five) characters in
- length. A null string or a null pointer sets up a blank
- label. fmt is either 0, 1, or 2, indicating whether the
- label is to be left-justified, centered, or right-justi-
- fied, respectively, within the label.
-
- The slk_refresh and slk_noutrefresh routines correspond to
- the wrefresh and wnoutrefresh routines.
-
- The slk_label routine returns the current label for label
- number labnum, with leading and trailing blanks stripped.
-
- The slk_clear routine clears the soft labels from the
- screen.
-
- The slk_restore routine restores the soft labels to the
- screen after a slk_clear has been performed.
-
- The slk_touch routine forces all the soft labels to be
- output the next time a slk_noutrefresh is performed.
-
- The slk_attron, slk_attrset, slk_attroff and slk_attr rou-
- tines correspond to attron, attrset, attroff and attr_get.
- They have an effect only if soft labels are simulated on
- the bottom line of the screen. The default highlight for
- soft keys is A_STANDOUT (as in System V curses, which does
- not document this fact).
-
- The slk_color routine corresponds to color_set. It has an
- effect only if soft labels are simulated on the bottom
- line of the screen.
+
+ The slk* functions manipulate the set of soft function-key labels that
+ exist on many terminals. For those terminals that do not have soft la-
+ bels, curses takes over the bottom line of stdscr, reducing the size of
+ stdscr and the variable LINES. curses standardizes on eight labels of
+ up to eight characters each. In addition to this, the ncurses imple-
+ mentation supports a mode where it simulates 12 labels of up to five
+ characters each. This is useful for PC-like enduser devices. ncurses
+ simulates this mode by taking over up to two lines at the bottom of the
+ screen; it does not try to use any hardware support for this mode.
-
-
RETURN VALUE
- These routines return ERR upon failure and OK (SVr4 speci-
- fies only "an integer value other than ERR") upon success-
- ful completion.
- X/Open defines no error conditions. In this implementa-
- tion
+
+ The slk_init routine must be called before initscr or newterm is
+ called. If initscr eventually uses a line from stdscr to emulate the
+ soft labels, then fmt determines how the labels are arranged on the
+ screen:
- slk_attr
- returns the attribute used for the soft keys.
+ 0 indicates a 3-2-3 arrangement of the labels.
- slk_attroff, slk_attron, slk_clear,
- slk_noutrefresh, slk_refresh, slk_touch
- return an error if the terminal or the soft-
- keys were not initialized.
+ 1 indicates a 4-4 arrangement
- slk_attrset
- returns an error if the terminal or the soft-
- keys were not initialized.
+ 2 indicates the PC-like 4-4-4 mode.
- slk_attr_set
- returns an error if the terminal or the soft-
- keys were not initialized, or the color pair
- is outside the range 0..COLOR_PAIRS-1, or opts
- is not null.
+ 3 is again the PC-like 4-4-4 mode, but in addition an index line is
+ generated, helping the user to identify the key numbers easily.
- slk_color
- returns an error if the terminal or the soft-
- keys were not initialized, or the color pair
- is outside the range 0..COLOR_PAIRS-1.
- slk_init
- returns an error if the format parameter is
- outside the range 0..3.
+
+ The slk_set routine (and the slk_wset routine for the wide-character
+ library) has three parameters:
- slk_label
- returns NULL on error.
+ labnum
+ is the label number, from 1 to 8 (12 for fmt in slk_init is 2
+ or 3);
- slk_set
- returns an error if the terminal or the soft-
- keys were not initialized, or the labnum pa-
- rameter is outside the range of label counts,
- or if the format parameter is outside the
- range 0..2, or if memory for the labels cannot
- be allocated.
+ label
+ is be the string to put on the label, up to eight (five for fmt
+ in slk_init is 2 or 3) characters in length. A null string or
+ a null pointer sets up a blank label.
+ fmt is either 0, 1, or 2, indicating whether the label is to be
+ left-justified, centered, or right-justified, respectively,
+ within the label.
-
-
NOTES
- Most applications would use slk_noutrefresh because a wre-
- fresh is likely to follow soon.
+ The slk_label routine returns the current label for label number lab-
+ num, with leading and trailing blanks stripped.
-
-
PORTABILITY
- The XSI Curses standard, Issue 4, describes these func-
- tions. It changes the argument type of the attribute-ma-
- nipulation functions slk_attron, slk_attroff, slk_attrset
- to be attr_t, and adds const qualifiers. The format codes
- 2 and 3 for slk_init() and the function slk_attr are spe-
- cific to ncurses.
+
+ The slk_refresh and slk_noutrefresh routines correspond to the wrefresh
+ and wnoutrefresh routines.
+ The slk_clear routine clears the soft labels from the screen.
-
-
SEE ALSO
- curses(3x), curs_attr(3x), curs_initscr(3x), curs_re-
- fresh(3x)
+ The slk_restore routine restores the soft labels to the screen after a
+ slk_clear has been performed.
+
+ The slk_touch routine forces all the soft labels to be output the next
+ time a slk_noutrefresh is performed.
+
+
+
+ The slk_attron, slk_attrset, slk_attroff and slk_attr routines corre-
+ spond to attron, attrset, attroff and attr_get, respectively. They
+ have an effect only if soft labels are simulated on the bottom line of
+ the screen. The default highlight for soft keys is A_STANDOUT (as in
+ System V curses, which does not document this fact).
+
+
+
+ The slk_color routine corresponds to color_set. It has an effect only
+ if soft labels are simulated on the bottom line of the screen.
+
+ Because slk_color accepts only short (signed 16-bit integer) values,
+ this implementation provides extended_slk_color which accepts an inte-
+ ger value, e.g., 32-bits.
+
+
+
+ These routines return ERR upon failure and OK (SVr4 specifies only "an
+ integer value other than ERR") upon successful completion.
+
+ X/Open defines no error conditions. In this implementation
+
+ slk_attr
+ returns the attribute used for the soft keys.
+
+ slk_attroff, slk_attron, slk_clear, slk_noutrefresh, slk_refresh,
+ slk_touch
+ return an error if the terminal or the softkeys were not ini-
+ tialized.
+
+ slk_attrset
+ returns an error if the terminal or the softkeys were not ini-
+ tialized.
+
+ slk_attr_set
+ returns an error if the terminal or the softkeys were not ini-
+ tialized, or the color pair is outside the range 0..COL-
+ OR_PAIRS-1.
+
+ slk_color
+ returns an error if the terminal or the softkeys were not ini-
+ tialized, or the color pair is outside the range 0..COL-
+ OR_PAIRS-1.
+
+ slk_init
+ returns an error if the format parameter is outside the range
+ 0..3.
+
+ slk_label
+ returns NULL on error.
+
+ slk_set
+ returns an error if the terminal or the softkeys were not ini-
+ tialized, or the labnum parameter is outside the range of label
+ counts, or if the format parameter is outside the range 0..2,
+ or if memory for the labels cannot be allocated.
+
+
+
+ X/Open Curses documents the opts argument as reserved for future use,
+ saying that it must be null. This implementation uses that parameter
+ in ABI 6 for the functions which have a color-pair parameter to support
+ extended color pairs.
+
+ For functions which modify the color, e.g., slk_attr_set, if opts is
+ set it is treated as a pointer to int, and used to set the color
+ pair instead of the short pair parameter.
+
+
+
+ The XSI Curses standard, Issue 4, described the soft-key functions,
+ with some differences from SVr4 curses:
+
+ o It added functions like the SVr4 attribute-manipulation functions
+ slk_attron, slk_attroff, slk_attrset, but which use attr_t parame-
+ ters (rather than chtype), along with a reserved opts parameter.
+
+ Two of these new functions (unlike the SVr4 functions) have no pro-
+ vision for color: slk_attr_on and slk_attr_off.
+
+ The third function (slk_attr_set) has a color-pair parameter.
+
+ o It added const qualifiers to parameters (unnecessarily), and
+
+ o It added slk_color.
+
+ The format codes 2 and 3 for slk_init and the function slk_attr are
+ specific to ncurses.
+
+ X/Open Curses does not specify a limit for the number of colors and
+ color pairs which a terminal can support. However, in its use of short
+ for the parameters, it carries over SVr4's implementation detail for
+ the compiled terminfo database, which uses signed 16-bit numbers. This
+ implementation provides extended versions of those functions which use
+ short parameters, allowing applications to use larger color- and pair-
+ numbers.
+
+
+