panel 3x

panel(3x)                                                            panel(3x)




NAME

       panel - panel stack extension for curses


SYNOPSIS

       #include <panel.h>

       cc [flags] sourcefiles -lpanel -lncurses

       PANEL *new_panel(WINDOW *win);

       int bottom_panel(PANEL *pan);
       int top_panel(PANEL *pan);
       int show_panel(PANEL *pan);
       void update_panels(void);
       int hide_panel(PANEL *pan);

       WINDOW *panel_window(const PANEL *pan);
       int replace_panel(PANEL *pan, WINDOW *window);
       int move_panel(PANEL *pan, int starty, int startx);
       int panel_hidden(const PANEL *pan);

       PANEL *panel_above(const PANEL *pan);
       PANEL *panel_below(const PANEL *pan);

       int set_panel_userptr(PANEL *pan, const void *ptr);
       const void *panel_userptr(const PANEL *pan);

       int del_panel(PANEL *pan);

       /* ncurses-extensions */
       PANEL *ground_panel(SCREEN *sp);
       PANEL *ceiling_panel(SCREEN *sp);


DESCRIPTION

       Panels  are  curses(3x) windows with the added feature of depth.  Panel
       functions allow the use  of  stacked  windows  and  ensure  the  proper
       portions  of  each  window  and  the curses stdscr window are hidden or
       displayed when panels are added, moved, modified or removed.   The  set
       of  currently visible panels is the stack of panels.  The stdscr window
       is beneath all panels, and is not considered part of the stack.

       A window is associated with every panel.  The panel routines enable you
       to  create, move, hide, and show panels, as well as position a panel at
       any desired location in the stack.

       Panel routines are a functional layer added to  curses(3x),  make  only
       high-level curses calls, and work anywhere terminfo curses does.


FUNCTIONS


bottom_panel

       bottom_panel(pan) puts panel pan at the bottom of all panels.


ceiling_panel

       ceiling_panel(sp) acts like panel_below(NULL), for the given SCREEN sp.


del_panel

       del_panel(pan)  removes  the  given  panel  pan  from  the   stack  and
       deallocates the PANEL structure (but not its associated window).


ground_panel

       ground_panel(sp) acts like panel_above(NULL), for the given SCREEN sp.


hide_panel

       hide_panel(pan) removes the given panel pan from the  panel  stack  and
       thus  hides  it  from  view.   The  PANEL structure is not lost, merely
       removed from the stack.


move_panel

       move_panel(pan,starty,startx) moves the given  panel  pan's  window  so
       that  its  upper-left  corner is at starty, startx.  It does not change
       the position of the panel in the stack.  Be sure to use this  function,
       not mvwin(3x), to move a panel window.


new_panel

       new_panel(win)  allocates  a  PANEL  structure, associates it with win,
       places the panel on the top of the stack (causes  it to  be   displayed
       above any other panel) and returns a pointer to the new panel.


panel_above

       panel_above(pan)  returns  a  pointer  to  the panel above pan.  If the
       panel argument is (PANEL *)0, it returns a pointer to the bottom  panel
       in the stack.


panel_below

       panel_below(pan) returns a pointer to the panel just below pan.  If the
       panel argument is (PANEL *)0, it returns a pointer to the top panel  in
       the stack.


panel_hidden

       panel_hidden(pan)  returns TRUE if the panel pan is in the panel stack,
       FALSE if it is not.  If the panel is a null pointer, return ERR.


panel_userptr

       panel_userptr(pan) returns the user pointer for a given panel pan.


panel_window

       panel_window(pan) returns a pointer to the window of  the  given  panel
       pan.


replace_panel

       replace_panel(pan,window) replaces the current window of panel pan with
       window This is useful, for example if you want to resize a  panel.   In
       ncurses,  you  can  call replace_panel to resize a panel using a window
       resized with wresize(3x).  It does not change the position of the panel
       in the stack.


set_panel_userptr

       set_panel_userptr(pan,ptr) sets the panel's user pointer.


show_panel

       show_panel(pan)  makes  a  hidden panel visible by placing it on top of
       the panels in the panel stack.  See COMPATIBILITY below.


top_panel

       top_panel(pan) puts the given visible panel pan on top of all panels in
       the stack.  See COMPATIBILITY below.


update_panels

       update_panels()  refreshes  the virtual screen to reflect the relations
       between the panels in the stack, but  does  not  call  doupdate(3x)  to
       refresh the physical screen.  Use this function and not wrefresh(3x) or
       wnoutrefresh(3x).

       update_panels may be called more than once before a call  to  doupdate,
       but  doupdate  is  the  function  responsible for updating the physical
       screen.


DIAGNOSTICS

       Each routine that returns a pointer returns NULL if  an  error  occurs.
       Each  routine  that  returns  an  int  value  returns OK if it executes
       successfully and ERR if not.

       Except as noted, the pan and window parameters must  be  non-null.   If
       those are null, an error is returned.

       The  move_panel  function  uses  mvwin(3x), and will return an error if
       mvwin returns an error.


COMPATIBILITY

       Reasonable care has been taken  to   ensure   compatibility  with   the
       native   panel  facility introduced in System V (inspection of the SVr4
       manual pages suggests the programming  interface  is  unchanged).   The
       PANEL   data  structures  are  merely   similar.   The   programmer  is
       cautioned not to directly use PANEL fields.

       The  functions  show_panel  and  top_panel  are   identical   in   this
       implementation,  and work equally well with displayed or hidden panels.
       In the native System  V  implementation,  show_panel  is  intended  for
       making  a  hidden panel visible (at the top of the stack) and top_panel
       is intended for making an already-visible panel move to the top of  the
       stack.   You  are  cautioned  to  use  the  correct  function to ensure
       compatibility with native panel libraries.


NOTE

       In your library list, libpanel.a should be  before  libncurses.a;  that
       is, you should say "-lpanel -lncurses", not the other way around (which
       would give a link-error with static libraries).


PORTABILITY

       The panel facility was documented in SVr4.2 in Character User Interface
       Programming (UNIX SVR4.2).

       It is not part of X/Open Curses.

       A few implementations exist:

       o   Systems  based  on  SVr4  source  code, e.g., Solaris, provide this
           library.

       o   ncurses (since version 0.6 in 1993) and PDCurses (since version 2.2
           in 1995) provide a panel library whose common ancestor was a public
           domain implementation by Warren Tucker published  in  u386mon  2.20
           (1990).

           According  to  Tucker, the SystemV panel library was first released
           in SVr3.2 (1988), and his implementation  helped  with  a  port  to
           SVr3.1 (1987).

           Several  developers have improved each of these; they are no longer
           the same as Tucker's implementation.

       o   NetBSD 8 (2018) has a panel library  begun  by  Valery  Ushakov  in
           2015.  This is based on the AT&T documentation.


FILES

       panel.h interface for the panels library

       libpanel.a the panels library itself


SEE ALSO

       curses(3x), curs_variables(3x),

       This describes ncurses version 6.4 (patch 20221231).


AUTHOR

       Originally   written   by   Warren   Tucker  <wht@n4hgf.mt-park.ga.us>,
       primarily to assist in porting u386mon  to  systems  without  a  native
       panels library.

       Repackaged for ncurses by Zeyd ben-Halim.

       Juergen Pfeifer and Thomas E. Dickey revised/improved the library.



                                                                     panel(3x)