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30 .\" $Id: form.3x,v 1.30 2017/11/25 20:28:02 tom Exp $
41 \fBform\fR \- curses extension for programming forms
43 \fB#include <form.h>\fR
46 The \fBform\fR library provides terminal-independent facilities for composing
47 form screens on character-cell terminals. The library includes: field
48 routines, which create and modify form fields; and form routines, which group
49 fields into forms, display forms on the screen, and handle interaction with the
52 The \fBform\fR library uses the \fBcurses\fR libraries.
53 To use the \fBform\fR library, link with the options
54 \fB\-lform \-lcurses\fR.
56 Your program should set up the locale, e.g.,
58 \fBsetlocale(LC_ALL, "");\fP
60 so that input/output processing will work.
62 A curses initialization routine such as \fBinitscr\fR must be called
63 before using any of these functions.
65 .SS Current Default Values for Field Attributes
67 The \fBform\fR library maintains a default value for field attributes. You
68 can get or set this default by calling the appropriate \fBset_\fR
70 routine with a \fBNULL\fR field pointer. Changing this default with a
71 \fBset_\fR function affects future field creations, but does not change the
72 rendering of fields already created.
74 .SS Routine Name Index
76 The following table lists each \fBform\fR routine and the name of
77 the manual page on which it is described.
82 \fBcurses\fR Routine Name Manual Page Name
84 current_field \fBform_page\fR(3X)
85 data_ahead \fBform_data\fR(3X)
86 data_behind \fBform_data\fR(3X)
87 dup_field \fBform_field_new\fR(3X)
88 dynamic_field_info \fBform_field_info\fR(3X)
89 field_arg \fBform_field_validation\fR(3X)
90 field_back \fBform_field_attributes\fR(3X)
91 field_buffer \fBform_field_buffer\fR(3X)
92 field_count \fBform_field\fR(3X)
93 field_fore \fBform_field_attributes\fR(3X)
94 field_index \fBform_page\fR(3X)
95 field_info \fBform_field_info\fR(3X)
96 field_init \fBform_hook\fR(3X)
97 field_just \fBform_field_just\fR(3X)
98 field_opts \fBform_field_opts\fR(3X)
99 field_opts_off \fBform_field_opts\fR(3X)
100 field_opts_on \fBform_field_opts\fR(3X)
101 field_pad \fBform_field_attributes\fR(3X)
102 field_status \fBform_field_buffer\fR(3X)
103 field_term \fBform_hook\fR(3X)
104 field_type \fBform_field_validation\fR(3X)
105 field_userptr \fBform_field_userptr\fR(3X)
106 form_driver \fBform_driver\fR(3X)
107 form_driver_w \fBform_driver\fR(3X)*
108 form_fields \fBform_field\fR(3X)
109 form_init \fBform_hook\fR(3X)
110 form_opts \fBform_opts\fR(3X)
111 form_opts_off \fBform_opts\fR(3X)
112 form_opts_on \fBform_opts\fR(3X)
113 form_page \fBform_page\fR(3X)
114 form_request_by_name \fBform_requestname\fR(3X)
115 form_request_name \fBform_requestname\fR(3X)
116 form_sub \fBform_win\fR(3X)
117 form_term \fBform_hook\fR(3X)
118 form_userptr \fBform_userptr\fR(3X)
119 form_win \fBform_win\fR(3X)
120 free_field \fBform_field_new\fR(3X)
121 free_fieldtype \fBform_fieldtype\fR(3X)
122 free_form \fBform_new\fR(3X)
123 link_field \fBform_field_new\fR(3X)
124 link_fieldtype \fBform_fieldtype\fR(3X)
125 move_field \fBform_field\fR(3X)
126 new_field \fBform_field_new\fR(3X)
127 new_fieldtype \fBform_fieldtype\fR(3X)
128 new_form \fBform_new\fR(3X)
129 new_page \fBform_new_page\fR(3X)
130 pos_form_cursor \fBform_cursor\fR(3X)
131 post_form \fBform_post\fR(3X)
132 scale_form \fBform_win\fR(3X)
133 set_current_field \fBform_page\fR(3X)
134 set_field_back \fBform_field_attributes\fR(3X)
135 set_field_buffer \fBform_field_buffer\fR(3X)
136 set_field_fore \fBform_field_attributes\fR(3X)
137 set_field_init \fBform_hook\fR(3X)
138 set_field_just \fBform_field_just\fR(3X)
139 set_field_opts \fBform_field_opts\fR(3X)
140 set_field_pad \fBform_field_attributes\fR(3X)
141 set_field_status \fBform_field_buffer\fR(3X)
142 set_field_term \fBform_hook\fR(3X)
143 set_field_type \fBform_field_validation\fR(3X)
144 set_field_userptr \fBform_field_userptr\fR(3X)
145 set_fieldtype_arg \fBform_fieldtype\fR(3X)
146 set_fieldtype_choice \fBform_fieldtype\fR(3X)
147 set_form_fields \fBform_field\fR(3X)
148 set_form_init \fBform_hook\fR(3X)
149 set_form_opts \fBform_field_opts\fR(3X)
150 set_form_page \fBform_page\fR(3X)
151 set_form_sub \fBform_win\fR(3X)
152 set_form_term \fBform_hook\fR(3X)
153 set_form_userptr \fBform_userptr\fR(3X)
154 set_form_win \fBform_win\fR(3X)
155 set_max_field \fBform_field_buffer\fR(3X)
156 set_new_page \fBform_new_page\fR(3X)
157 unfocus_current_field \fBform_page\fR(3X)
158 unpost_form \fBform_post\fR(3X)
161 Routines that return pointers return \fBNULL\fR on error,
162 and set errno to the corresponding error-code returned by functions
163 returning an integer.
165 an integer return one of the following error codes:
168 The routine succeeded.
171 Routine detected an incorrect or out-of-range argument.
174 Routine was called from an initialization or termination function.
177 The field is already connected to a form.
180 Contents of a field are not valid.
183 No fields are connected to the form.
186 The form has not been posted.
189 Form is too large for its window.
192 The form is already posted.
195 The form driver could not process the request.
198 System error occurred (see \fBerrno\fR).
201 The form driver code saw an unknown request code.
203 The header file \fB<form.h>\fR automatically includes the header files
204 \fB<curses.h>\fR and \fB<eti.h>\fR.
206 In your library list, libform.a should be before libncurses.a; that is,
207 you want to say \*(``\-lform \-lncurses\*('', not the other way around
208 (which would give you a link error when using static libraries).
210 These routines emulate the System V forms library. They were not supported on
211 Version 7 or BSD versions.
213 The menu facility was documented in SVr4.2 in
214 \fICharacter User Interface Programming (UNIX SVR4.2)\fP.
216 It is not part of X/Open Curses.
218 Aside from ncurses, there are few implementations:
220 systems based on SVr4 source code, e.g., Solaris.
224 A few functions in this implementation are extensions added for ncurses,
225 but not provided by other implementations, e.g.,
227 \fBunfocus_current_field\fP.
229 Juergen Pfeifer. Manual pages and adaptation for ncurses by Eric
232 \fBcurses\fR(3X) and related pages whose names begin "form_" for detailed
233 descriptions of the entry points.
235 This describes \fBncurses\fR
236 version @NCURSES_MAJOR@.@NCURSES_MINOR@ (patch @NCURSES_PATCH@).