X-Git-Url: http://ncurses.scripts.mit.edu/?p=ncurses.git;a=blobdiff_plain;f=man%2Fcurs_attr.3x;h=c3113e151e9c72faf09b9775fe801a4736fa7e6c;hp=4d336083347498ebaa5b94a0a8b4d81ecc5c864f;hb=7fa7badf32c514211478cf9f79c70f20d435c2f2;hpb=cd142df6d9934f1bda19f5b968cc666291be5072 diff --git a/man/curs_attr.3x b/man/curs_attr.3x index 4d336083..c3113e15 100644 --- a/man/curs_attr.3x +++ b/man/curs_attr.3x @@ -27,13 +27,18 @@ .\" authorization. * .\"*************************************************************************** .\" -.\" $Id: curs_attr.3x,v 1.53 2017/03/28 23:31:39 tom Exp $ +.\" $Id: curs_attr.3x,v 1.60 2017/10/14 20:01:13 tom Exp $ .TH curs_attr 3X "" +.ie \n(.g .ds `` \(lq +.el .ds `` `` +.ie \n(.g .ds '' \(rq +.el .ds '' '' .de bP .IP \(bu 4 .. .na .hy 0 +.\" --------------------------------------------------------------------------- .SH NAME .\" attr_get \fBattr_get\fR, @@ -67,6 +72,7 @@ \fBwstandout\fR \- \fBcurses\fR character and window attribute control routines .ad .hy +.\" --------------------------------------------------------------------------- .SH SYNOPSIS \fB#include \fR .sp @@ -120,6 +126,7 @@ \fBint standout(void);\fR .br \fBint wstandout(WINDOW *\fP\fIwin\fP\fB);\fR +.\" --------------------------------------------------------------------------- .SH DESCRIPTION .PP These routines manipulate the current attributes of the named window, @@ -260,6 +267,7 @@ l l . The return values of many of these routines are not meaningful (they are implemented as macro-expanded assignments and simply return their argument). The SVr4 manual page claims (falsely) that these routines always return \fB1\fR. +.\" --------------------------------------------------------------------------- .SH NOTES These functions may be macros: .sp @@ -274,6 +282,137 @@ The alternate functions such as \fBcolor_set\fP can pass a color pair value directly. However, ncurses ABI 4 and 5 simply OR this value within the alternate functions. You must use ncurses ABI 6 to support more than 256 color pairs. +.\" --------------------------------------------------------------------------- +.SH HISTORY +X/Open Curses is largely based on SVr4 curses, +adding support for \*(``wide-characters\*('' (not specific to Unicode). +Some of the X/Open differences from SVr4 curses address the way +video attributes can be applied to wide-characters. +But aside from that, \fBattrset\fP and \fBattr_set\fP are similar. +SVr4 curses provided the basic features for manipulating video attributes. +However, earlier versions of curses provided a part of these features. +.PP +As seen in 2.8BSD, curses assumed 7-bit characters, +using the eighth bit of a byte to represent the \fIstandout\fP +feature (often implemented as bold and/or reverse video). +The BSD curses library provided functions \fBstandout\fP and \fBstandend\fP +which were carried along into X/Open Curses due to their pervasive use +in legacy applications. +.PP +Some terminals in the 1980s could support a variety of video attributes, +although the BSD curses library could do nothing with those. +System V (1983) provided an improved curses library. +It defined the \fBA_\fP symbols for use by applications to manipulate the +other attributes. +There are few useful references for the chronology. +.PP +Goodheart's book +\fIUNIX Curses Explained\fP (1991) describes SVr3 (1987), +commenting on several functions: +.bP +the \fBattron\fP, \fBattroff\fP, \fBattrset\fP functions +(and most of the functions found in SVr4 but not in BSD curses) were +introduced by System V, +.bP +the alternate character set feature with \fBA_ALTCHARSET\fP was +added in SVr2 and improved in SVr3 (by adding \fBacs_map[]\fP), +.bP +\fBstart_color\fP and related color-functions were introduced by System V.3.2, +.bP +pads, soft-keys were added in SVr3, and +.PP +Goodheart did not mention the background character or the \fBcchar_t\fP type. +Those are respectively SVr4 and X/Open features. +He did mention the \fBA_\fP constants, but did not indicate their values. +Those were not the same in different systems, +even for those marked as System V. +.PP +Different Unix systems used different sizes for the bit-fields in \fBchtype\fP +for \fIcharacters\fP and \fIcolors\fP, and took into account the different +integer sizes (32-bit versus 64-bit). +.PP +This table showing the number of bits for \fBA_COLOR\fP +and \fBA_CHARTEXT\fP +was gleaned from the curses header files for +various operating systems and architectures. +The inferred architecture and notes reflect +the format and size of the defined constants +as well as clues such as the alternate character set implementation. +A 32-bit library can be used on a 64-bit system, +but not necessarily the reverse. +.RS +.TS +l l l l l l +_ _ _ _ _ _ +l l l l l l . +\fIYear\fR \fISystem\fR \fIArch\fP \fIColor\fR \fIChar\fR \fINotes\fR +1992 Solaris 5.2 32 6 17 SVr4 curses +1992 HPUX 9 32 no 8 SVr2 curses +1992 AIX 3.2 32 no 23 SVr2 curses +1994 OSF/1 r3 32 no 23 SVr2 curses +1995 HP-UX 10.00 32 6 16 SVr3 \*(``curses_colr\*('' +1995 HP-UX 10.00 32 6 8 SVr4, X/Open curses +1995 Solaris 5.4 32/64 7 16 X/Open curses +1996 AIX 4.2 32 7 16 X/Open curses +1996 OSF/1 r4 32 6 16 X/Open curses +1997 HP-UX 11.00 32 6 8 X/Open curses +2000 U/Win 32/64 7/31 16 uses \fBchtype\fP +.TE +.RE +.PP +Notes: +.RS 3 +.PP +Regarding HP-UX, +.bP +HP-UX 10.20 (1996) added support for 64-bit PA-RISC processors in 1996. +.bP +HP-UX 10.30 (1997) marked \*(``curses_colr\*('' obsolete. +That version of curses was dropped with HP-UX 11.30 in 2006. +.PP +Regarding OSF/1 (and Tru64), +.bP +These used 64-bit hardware. +Like ncurses, the OSF/1 curses interface is not customized for 32-bit +and 64-bit versions. +.bP +Unlike other systems which evolved from AT&T code, +OSF/1 provided a new implementation for X/Open curses. +.PP +Regarding Solaris, +.bP +The initial release of Solaris was in 1992. +.bP +The \fIxpg4\fP (X/Open) curses was developed by MKS from 1990 to 1995. +Sun's copyright began in 1996. +.bP +Sun updated the X/Open curses interface after 64-bit support was introduced in 1997, +but did not modify the SVr4 curses interface. +.PP +Regarding U/Win, +.bP +Development of the curses library began in 1991, stopped in 2000. +.bP +Color support was added in 1998. +.bP +The library uses only \fBchtype\fP (no \fBcchar_t\fP). +.RE +.PP +Once X/Open curses was adopted in the mid-1990s, the constraint of +a 32-bit interface with many colors and wide-characters for \fBchtype\fP +became a moot point. The \fBcchar_t\fP structure (whose size and +members are not specified in X/Open Curses) could be extended as needed. +.PP +Other interfaces are rarely used now: +.bP +BSD curses was improved slightly in 1993/1994 using Keith Bostic's +modification to make the library 8-bit clean for \fBnvi\fP. +He moved \fIstandout\fP attribute to a structure member. +.IP +The resulting 4.4BSD curses was replaced by ncurses over the next ten years. +.bP +U/Win is rarely used now. +.\" --------------------------------------------------------------------------- .SH EXTENSIONS .PP This implementation provides the \fBA_ITALIC\fP attribute for terminals @@ -307,6 +446,7 @@ The remaining functions which have \fIopts\fP, but do not manipulate color, e.g., \fBwattr_on\fP and \fBwattr_off\fP are not used by this implementation except to check that they are \fBNULL\fP. +.\" --------------------------------------------------------------------------- .SH PORTABILITY These functions are supported in the XSI Curses standard, Issue 4. The standard defined the dedicated type for highlights, @@ -355,9 +495,26 @@ l l . .TE .RE .PP +XSI curses does not assign values to these symbols, +nor does it state whether or not they are related to the +similarly-named A_NORMAL, etc.: +.bP The XSI curses standard specifies that each pair of corresponding \fBA_\fR and \fBWA_\fR-using functions operates on the same current-highlight information. +.bP +However, in some implementations, those symbols have unrelated values. +.IP +For example, the Solaris \fIxpg4\fP (X/Open) curses declares +\fBattr_t\fP to be an unsigned short integer (16-bits), +while \fBchtype\fP is a unsigned integer (32-bits). +The \fBWA_\fP symbols in this case are different from the \fBA_\fP symbols +because they are used for a smaller datatype which does not +represent \fBA_CHARTEXT\fP or \fBA_COLOR\fP. +.IP +In this implementation (as in many others), the values happen to be +the same because it simplifies copying information between +\fBchtype\fP and \fBcchar_t\fP variables. .PP The XSI standard extended conformance level adds new highlights \fBA_HORIZONTAL\fR, \fBA_LEFT\fR, \fBA_LOW\fR, \fBA_RIGHT\fR, \fBA_TOP\fR, @@ -365,6 +522,7 @@ The XSI standard extended conformance level adds new highlights As of August 2013, no known terminal provides these highlights (i.e., via the \fBsgr1\fP capability). +.\" --------------------------------------------------------------------------- .SH RETURN VALUE All routines return the integer \fBOK\fR on success, or \fBERR\fP on failure. .PP @@ -383,6 +541,7 @@ used for retrieving attribute or color-pair values is \fBNULL\fP. Functions with a "mv" prefix first perform a cursor movement using \fBwmove\fP, and return an error if the position is outside the window, or if the window pointer is null. +.\" --------------------------------------------------------------------------- .SH SEE ALSO .na \fBcurses\fR(3X),