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<body class="ARTICLE" bgcolor="#FFFFFF" text="#000000" link=
"#0000FF" vlink="#840084" alink="#0000FF">
-<div class="ARTICLE">
-<div class="TITLEPAGE">
-<h1 class="TITLE"><a name="AEN2" id="AEN2">NCURSES Programming
-HOWTO</a></h1>
-<h3 class="AUTHOR"><a name="AEN4" id="AEN4">Pradeep Padala</a></h3>
-<div class="AFFILIATION">
-<div class="ADDRESS">
-<p class="ADDRESS"><code class="EMAIL"><<a href=
-"mailto:ppadala@gmail.com">ppadala@gmail.com</a>></code></p>
-</div>
-</div>
-<p class="PUBDATE">v1.9, 2005-06-20<br></p>
-<div class="REVHISTORY">
-<table width="100%" border="0">
-<tr>
-<th align="left" valign="top" colspan="3"><b>Revision
-History</b></th>
-</tr>
-<tr>
-<td align="left">Revision 1.9</td>
-<td align="left">2005-06-20</td>
-<td align="left">Revised by: ppadala</td>
-</tr>
-<tr>
-<td align="left" colspan="3">The license has been changed to the
-MIT-style license used by NCURSES. Note that the programs are also
-re-licensed under this.</td>
-</tr>
-<tr>
-<td align="left">Revision 1.8</td>
-<td align="left">2005-06-17</td>
-<td align="left">Revised by: ppadala</td>
-</tr>
-<tr>
-<td align="left" colspan="3">Lots of updates. Added references and
-perl examples. Changes to examples. Many grammatical and stylistic
-changes to the content. Changes to NCURSES history.</td>
-</tr>
-<tr>
-<td align="left">Revision 1.7.1</td>
-<td align="left">2002-06-25</td>
-<td align="left">Revised by: ppadala</td>
-</tr>
-<tr>
-<td align="left" colspan="3">Added a README file for building and
-instructions for building from source.</td>
-</tr>
-<tr>
-<td align="left">Revision 1.7</td>
-<td align="left">2002-06-25</td>
-<td align="left">Revised by: ppadala</td>
-</tr>
-<tr>
-<td align="left" colspan="3">Added "Other formats" section and made
-a lot of fancy changes to the programs. Inlining of programs is
-gone.</td>
-</tr>
-<tr>
-<td align="left">Revision 1.6.1</td>
-<td align="left">2002-02-24</td>
-<td align="left">Revised by: ppadala</td>
-</tr>
-<tr>
-<td align="left" colspan="3">Removed the old Changelog section,
-cleaned the makefiles</td>
-</tr>
-<tr>
-<td align="left">Revision 1.6</td>
-<td align="left">2002-02-16</td>
-<td align="left">Revised by: ppadala</td>
-</tr>
-<tr>
-<td align="left" colspan="3">Corrected a lot of spelling mistakes,
-added ACS variables section</td>
-</tr>
-<tr>
-<td align="left">Revision 1.5</td>
-<td align="left">2002-01-05</td>
-<td align="left">Revised by: ppadala</td>
-</tr>
-<tr>
-<td align="left" colspan="3">Changed structure to present proper
-TOC</td>
-</tr>
-<tr>
-<td align="left">Revision 1.3.1</td>
-<td align="left">2001-07-26</td>
-<td align="left">Revised by: ppadala</td>
-</tr>
-<tr>
-<td align="left" colspan="3">Corrected maintainers paragraph,
-Corrected stable release number</td>
-</tr>
-<tr>
-<td align="left">Revision 1.3</td>
-<td align="left">2001-07-24</td>
-<td align="left">Revised by: ppadala</td>
-</tr>
-<tr>
-<td align="left" colspan="3">Added copyright notices to main
-document (LDP license) and programs (GPL), Corrected
-printw_example.</td>
-</tr>
-<tr>
-<td align="left">Revision 1.2</td>
-<td align="left">2001-06-05</td>
-<td align="left">Revised by: ppadala</td>
-</tr>
-<tr>
-<td align="left" colspan="3">Incorporated ravi's changes. Mainly to
-introduction, menu, form, justforfun sections</td>
-</tr>
-<tr>
-<td align="left">Revision 1.1</td>
-<td align="left">2001-05-22</td>
-<td align="left">Revised by: ppadala</td>
-</tr>
-<tr>
-<td align="left" colspan="3">Added "a word about window" section,
-Added scanw_example.</td>
-</tr>
-</table>
-</div>
-<div>
-<div class="ABSTRACT"><a name="AEN67" id="AEN67"></a>
-<p><em>This document is intended to be an "All in One" guide for
-programming with ncurses and its sister libraries. We graduate from
-a simple "Hello World" program to more complex form manipulation.
-No prior experience in ncurses is assumed. Send comments to
-<a href="mailto:ppadala@gmail.com" target="_top">this
-address</a></em></p>
-</div>
-</div>
-<hr></div>
-<div class="TOC">
-<dl>
-<dt><b>Table of Contents</b></dt>
-<dt>1. <a href="#INTRO">Introduction</a></dt>
-<dd>
-<dl>
-<dt>1.1. <a href="#WHATIS">What is NCURSES?</a></dt>
-<dt>1.2. <a href="#WHATCANWEDO">What we can do with
-NCURSES</a></dt>
-<dt>1.3. <a href="#WHERETOGETIT">Where to get it</a></dt>
-<dt>1.4. <a href="#PURPOSE">Purpose/Scope of the document</a></dt>
-<dt>1.5. <a href="#ABOUTPROGRAMS">About the Programs</a></dt>
-<dt>1.6. <a href="#OTHERFORMATS">Other Formats of the
-document</a></dt>
-<dt>1.7. <a href="#CREDITS">Credits</a></dt>
-<dt>1.8. <a href="#WISHLIST">Wish List</a></dt>
-<dt>1.9. <a href="#COPYRIGHT">Copyright</a></dt>
-</dl>
-</dd>
-<dt>2. <a href="#HELLOWORLD">Hello World !!!</a></dt>
-<dd>
-<dl>
-<dt>2.1. <a href="#COMPILECURSES">Compiling With the NCURSES
-Library</a></dt>
-<dt>2.2. <a href="#DISSECTION">Dissection</a></dt>
-</dl>
-</dd>
-<dt>3. <a href="#GORY">The Gory Details</a></dt>
-<dt>4. <a href="#INIT">Initialization</a></dt>
-<dd>
-<dl>
-<dt>4.1. <a href="#ABOUTINIT">Initialization functions</a></dt>
-<dt>4.2. <a href="#RAWCBREAK">raw() and cbreak()</a></dt>
-<dt>4.3. <a href="#ECHONOECHO">echo() and noecho()</a></dt>
-<dt>4.4. <a href="#KEYPAD">keypad()</a></dt>
-<dt>4.5. <a href="#HALFDELAY">halfdelay()</a></dt>
-<dt>4.6. <a href="#MISCINIT">Miscellaneous Initialization
-functions</a></dt>
-<dt>4.7. <a href="#INITEX">An Example</a></dt>
-</dl>
-</dd>
-<dt>5. <a href="#AWORDWINDOWS">A Word about Windows</a></dt>
-<dt>6. <a href="#PRINTW">Output functions</a></dt>
-<dd>
-<dl>
-<dt>6.1. <a href="#ADDCHCLASS">addch() class of functions</a></dt>
-<dt>6.2. <a href="#AEN298">mvaddch(), waddch() and
-mvwaddch()</a></dt>
-<dt>6.3. <a href="#PRINTWCLASS">printw() class of
-functions</a></dt>
-<dt>6.4. <a href="#ADDSTRCLASS">addstr() class of
-functions</a></dt>
-<dt>6.5. <a href="#ACAUTION">A word of caution</a></dt>
-</dl>
-</dd>
-<dt>7. <a href="#SCANW">Input functions</a></dt>
-<dd>
-<dl>
-<dt>7.1. <a href="#GETCHCLASS">getch() class of functions</a></dt>
-<dt>7.2. <a href="#SCANWCLASS">scanw() class of functions</a></dt>
-<dt>7.3. <a href="#GETSTRCLASS">getstr() class of
-functions</a></dt>
-<dt>7.4. <a href="#GETSTREX">Some examples</a></dt>
-</dl>
-</dd>
-<dt>8. <a href="#ATTRIB">Attributes</a></dt>
-<dd>
-<dl>
-<dt>8.1. <a href="#ATTRIBDETAILS">The details</a></dt>
-<dt>8.2. <a href="#ATTRONVSATTRSET">attron() vs attrset()</a></dt>
-<dt>8.3. <a href="#ATTR_GET">attr_get()</a></dt>
-<dt>8.4. <a href="#ATTR_FUNCS">attr_ functions</a></dt>
-<dt>8.5. <a href="#WATTRFUNCS">wattr functions</a></dt>
-<dt>8.6. <a href="#CHGAT">chgat() functions</a></dt>
-</dl>
-</dd>
-<dt>9. <a href="#WINDOWS">Windows</a></dt>
-<dd>
-<dl>
-<dt>9.1. <a href="#WINDOWBASICS">The basics</a></dt>
-<dt>9.2. <a href="#LETBEWINDOW">Let there be a Window !!!</a></dt>
-<dt>9.3. <a href="#BORDEREXEXPL">Explanation</a></dt>
-<dt>9.4. <a href="#OTHERSTUFF">The other stuff in the
-example</a></dt>
-<dt>9.5. <a href="#OTHERBORDERFUNCS">Other Border
-functions</a></dt>
-</dl>
-</dd>
-<dt>10. <a href="#COLOR">Colors</a></dt>
-<dd>
-<dl>
-<dt>10.1. <a href="#COLORBASICS">The basics</a></dt>
-<dt>10.2. <a href="#CHANGECOLORDEFS">Changing Color
-Definitions</a></dt>
-<dt>10.3. <a href="#COLORCONTENT">Color Content</a></dt>
-</dl>
-</dd>
-<dt>11. <a href="#KEYS">Interfacing with the key board</a></dt>
-<dd>
-<dl>
-<dt>11.1. <a href="#KEYSBASICS">The Basics</a></dt>
-<dt>11.2. <a href="#SIMPLEKEYEX">A Simple Key Usage
-example</a></dt>
-</dl>
-</dd>
-<dt>12. <a href="#MOUSE">Interfacing with the mouse</a></dt>
-<dd>
-<dl>
-<dt>12.1. <a href="#MOUSEBASICS">The Basics</a></dt>
-<dt>12.2. <a href="#GETTINGEVENTS">Getting the events</a></dt>
-<dt>12.3. <a href="#MOUSETOGETHER">Putting it all Together</a></dt>
-<dt>12.4. <a href="#MISCMOUSEFUNCS">Miscellaneous
-Functions</a></dt>
-</dl>
-</dd>
-<dt>13. <a href="#SCREEN">Screen Manipulation</a></dt>
-<dd>
-<dl>
-<dt>13.1. <a href="#GETYX">getyx() functions</a></dt>
-<dt>13.2. <a href="#SCREENDUMP">Screen Dumping</a></dt>
-<dt>13.3. <a href="#WINDOWDUMP">Window Dumping</a></dt>
-</dl>
-</dd>
-<dt>14. <a href="#MISC">Miscellaneous features</a></dt>
-<dd>
-<dl>
-<dt>14.1. <a href="#CURSSET">curs_set()</a></dt>
-<dt>14.2. <a href="#TEMPLEAVE">Temporarily Leaving Curses
-mode</a></dt>
-<dt>14.3. <a href="#ACSVARS">ACS_ variables</a></dt>
-</dl>
-</dd>
-<dt>15. <a href="#OTHERLIB">Other libraries</a></dt>
-<dt>16. <a href="#PANELS">Panel Library</a></dt>
-<dd>
-<dl>
-<dt>16.1. <a href="#PANELBASICS">The Basics</a></dt>
-<dt>16.2. <a href="#COMPILEPANELS">Compiling With the Panels
-Library</a></dt>
-<dt>16.3. <a href="#PANELBROWSING">Panel Window Browsing</a></dt>
-<dt>16.4. <a href="#USERPTRUSING">Using User Pointers</a></dt>
-<dt>16.5. <a href="#PANELMOVERESIZE">Moving and Resizing
-Panels</a></dt>
-<dt>16.6. <a href="#PANELSHOWHIDE">Hiding and Showing
-Panels</a></dt>
-<dt>16.7. <a href="#PANELABOVE">panel_above() and panel_below()
-Functions</a></dt>
-</dl>
-</dd>
-<dt>17. <a href="#MENUS">Menus Library</a></dt>
-<dd>
-<dl>
-<dt>17.1. <a href="#MENUBASICS">The Basics</a></dt>
-<dt>17.2. <a href="#COMPILEMENUS">Compiling With the Menu
-Library</a></dt>
-<dt>17.3. <a href="#MENUDRIVER">Menu Driver: The work horse of the
-menu system</a></dt>
-<dt>17.4. <a href="#MENUWINDOWS">Menu Windows</a></dt>
-<dt>17.5. <a href="#SCROLLMENUS">Scrolling Menus</a></dt>
-<dt>17.6. <a href="#MULTICOLUMN">Multi Columnar Menus</a></dt>
-<dt>17.7. <a href="#MULTIVALUEMENUS">Multi Valued Menus</a></dt>
-<dt>17.8. <a href="#MENUOPT">Menu Options</a></dt>
-<dt>17.9. <a href="#MENUUSERPTR">The useful User Pointer</a></dt>
-</dl>
-</dd>
-<dt>18. <a href="#FORMS">Forms Library</a></dt>
-<dd>
-<dl>
-<dt>18.1. <a href="#FORMBASICS">The Basics</a></dt>
-<dt>18.2. <a href="#COMPILEFORMS">Compiling With the Forms
-Library</a></dt>
-<dt>18.3. <a href="#PLAYFIELDS">Playing with Fields</a></dt>
-<dt>18.4. <a href="#FORMWINDOWS">Form Windows</a></dt>
-<dt>18.5. <a href="#FILEDVALIDATE">Field Validation</a></dt>
-<dt>18.6. <a href="#FORMDRIVER">Form Driver: The work horse of the
-forms system</a></dt>
-</dl>
-</dd>
-<dt>19. <a href="#TOOLS">Tools and Widget Libraries</a></dt>
-<dd>
-<dl>
-<dt>19.1. <a href="#CDK">CDK (Curses Development Kit)</a></dt>
-<dt>19.2. <a href="#DIALOG">The dialog</a></dt>
-<dt>19.3. <a href="#PERLCURSES">Perl Curses Modules CURSES::FORM
-and CURSES::WIDGETS</a></dt>
-</dl>
-</dd>
-<dt>20. <a href="#JUSTFORFUN">Just For Fun !!!</a></dt>
-<dd>
-<dl>
-<dt>20.1. <a href="#GAMEOFLIFE">The Game of Life</a></dt>
-<dt>20.2. <a href="#MAGIC">Magic Square</a></dt>
-<dt>20.3. <a href="#HANOI">Towers of Hanoi</a></dt>
-<dt>20.4. <a href="#QUEENS">Queens Puzzle</a></dt>
-<dt>20.5. <a href="#SHUFFLE">Shuffle</a></dt>
-<dt>20.6. <a href="#TT">Typing Tutor</a></dt>
-</dl>
-</dd>
-<dt>21. <a href="#REF">References</a></dt>
-</dl>
-</div>
-<div class="SECT1">
-<h2 class="SECT1"><a name="INTRO" id="INTRO">1.
-Introduction</a></h2>
-<p>In the olden days of teletype terminals, terminals were away
-from computers and were connected to them through serial cables.
-The terminals could be configured by sending a series of bytes. All
-the capabilities (such as moving the cursor to a new location,
-erasing part of the screen, scrolling the screen, changing modes
-etc.) of terminals could be accessed through these series of bytes.
-These control seeuqnces are usually called escape sequences,
-because they start with an escape(0x1B) character. Even today, with
-proper emulation, we can send escape sequences to the emulator and
-achieve the same effect on a terminal window.</p>
-<p>Suppose you wanted to print a line in color. Try typing this on
-your console.</p>
-<table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="100%">
-<tr>
-<td>
-<pre class="PROGRAMLISTING">
-<font color="#000000">echo "^[[0;31;40mIn Color"</font>
-</pre></td>
-</tr>
-</table>
-<p>The first character is an escape character, which looks like two
-characters ^ and [. To be able to print it, you have to press
-CTRL+V and then the ESC key. All the others are normal printable
-characters. You should be able to see the string "In Color" in red.
-It stays that way and to revert back to the original mode type
-this.</p>
-<table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="100%">
-<tr>
-<td>
-<pre class="PROGRAMLISTING">
-<font color="#000000">echo "^[[0;37;40m"</font>
-</pre></td>
-</tr>
-</table>
-<p>Now, what do these magic characters mean? Difficult to
-comprehend? They might even be different for different terminals.
-So the designers of UNIX invented a mechanism named <var class=
-"LITERAL">termcap</var>. It is a file that lists all the
-capabilities of a particular terminal, along with the escape
-sequences needed to achieve a particular effect. In the later
-years, this was replaced by <var class="LITERAL">terminfo</var>.
-Without delving too much into details, this mechanism allows
-application programs to query the terminfo database and obtain the
-control characters to be sent to a terminal or terminal
-emulator.</p>
-<div class="SECT2">
-<hr>
-<h3 class="SECT2"><a name="WHATIS" id="WHATIS">1.1. What is
-NCURSES?</a></h3>
-<p>You might be wondering, what the import of all this technical
-gibberish is. In the above scenario, every application program is
-supposed to query the terminfo and perform the necessary stuff
-(sending control characters etc.). It soon became difficult to
-manage this complexity and this gave birth to 'CURSES'. Curses is a
-pun on the name "cursor optimization". The Curses library forms a
-wrapper over working with raw terminal codes, and provides highly
-flexible and efficient API (Application Programming Interface). It
-provides functions to move the cursor, create windows, produce
-colors, play with mouse etc. The application programs need not
-worry about the underlying terminal capabilities.</p>
-<p>So what is NCURSES? NCURSES is a clone of the original System V
-Release 4.0 (SVr4) curses. It is a freely distributable library,
-fully compatible with older version of curses. In short, it is a
-library of functions that manages an application's display on
-character-cell terminals. In the remainder of the document, the
-terms curses and ncurses are used interchangeably.</p>
-<p>A detailed history of NCURSES can be found in the NEWS file from
-the source distribution. The current package is maintained by
-<a href="mailto:dickey@his.com" target="_top">Thomas Dickey</a>.
-You can contact the maintainers at <a href=
-"mailto:bug-ncurses@gnu.org" target=
-"_top">bug-ncurses@gnu.org</a>.</p>
-</div>
-<div class="SECT2">
-<hr>
-<h3 class="SECT2"><a name="WHATCANWEDO" id="WHATCANWEDO">1.2. What
-we can do with NCURSES</a></h3>
-<p>NCURSES not only creates a wrapper over terminal capabilities,
-but also gives a robust framework to create nice looking UI (User
-Interface)s in text mode. It provides functions to create windows
-etc. Its sister libraries panel, menu and form provide an extension
-to the basic curses library. These libraries usually come along
-with curses. One can create applications that contain multiple
-windows, menus, panels and forms. Windows can be managed
-independently, can provide 'scrollability' and even can be
-hidden.</p>
-<p>Menus provide the user with an easy command selection option.
-Forms allow the creation of easy-to-use data entry and display
-windows. Panels extend the capabilities of ncurses to deal with
-overlapping and stacked windows.</p>
-<p>These are just some of the basic things we can do with ncurses.
-As we move along, We will see all the capabilities of these
-libraries.</p>
-</div>
-<div class="SECT2">
-<hr>
-<h3 class="SECT2"><a name="WHERETOGETIT" id="WHERETOGETIT">1.3.
-Where to get it</a></h3>
-<p>All right, now that you know what you can do with ncurses, you
-must be rearing to get started. NCURSES is usually shipped with
-your installation. In case you don't have the library or want to
-compile it on your own, read on.</p>
-<p><em>Compiling the package</em></p>
-<p>NCURSES can be obtained from <a href=
-"ftp://ftp.gnu.org/pub/gnu/ncurses/ncurses.tar.gz" target=
-"_top">ftp://ftp.gnu.org/pub/gnu/ncurses/ncurses.tar.gz</a> or any
-of the ftp sites mentioned in <a href=
-"http://www.gnu.org/order/ftp.html" target=
-"_top">http://www.gnu.org/order/ftp.html</a>.</p>
-<p>Read the README and INSTALL files for details on to how to
-install it. It usually involves the following operations.</p>
-<table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="100%">
-<tr>
-<td>
-<pre class="PROGRAMLISTING">
-<font color=
-"#000000"> tar zxvf ncurses<version>.tar.gz # unzip and untar the archive
+ <div class="ARTICLE">
+ <div class="TITLEPAGE">
+ <h1 class="TITLE"><a name="AEN2" id="AEN2">NCURSES
+ Programming HOWTO</a></h1>
+
+ <h3 class="AUTHOR"><a name="AEN4" id="AEN4">Pradeep
+ Padala</a></h3>
+
+ <div class="AFFILIATION">
+ <div class="ADDRESS">
+ <p class="ADDRESS"><code class="EMAIL"><<a href=
+ "mailto:ppadala@gmail.com">ppadala@gmail.com</a>></code></p>
+ </div>
+ </div>
+
+ <p class="PUBDATE">v1.9, 2005-06-20<br></p>
+
+ <div class="REVHISTORY">
+ <table width="100%" border="0" summary="revisions">
+ <tr>
+ <th align="left" valign="top" colspan="3"><b>Revision
+ History</b></th>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+ <td align="left">Revision 1.9</td>
+
+ <td align="left">2005-06-20</td>
+
+ <td align="left">Revised by: ppadala</td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+ <td align="left" colspan="3">The license has been
+ changed to the MIT-style license used by NCURSES. Note
+ that the programs are also re-licensed under this.</td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+ <td align="left">Revision 1.8</td>
+
+ <td align="left">2005-06-17</td>
+
+ <td align="left">Revised by: ppadala</td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+ <td align="left" colspan="3">Lots of updates. Added
+ references and perl examples. Changes to examples. Many
+ grammatical and stylistic changes to the content.
+ Changes to NCURSES history.</td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+ <td align="left">Revision 1.7.1</td>
+
+ <td align="left">2002-06-25</td>
+
+ <td align="left">Revised by: ppadala</td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+ <td align="left" colspan="3">Added a README file for
+ building and instructions for building from
+ source.</td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+ <td align="left">Revision 1.7</td>
+
+ <td align="left">2002-06-25</td>
+
+ <td align="left">Revised by: ppadala</td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+ <td align="left" colspan="3">Added "Other formats"
+ section and made a lot of fancy changes to the
+ programs. Inlining of programs is gone.</td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+ <td align="left">Revision 1.6.1</td>
+
+ <td align="left">2002-02-24</td>
+
+ <td align="left">Revised by: ppadala</td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+ <td align="left" colspan="3">Removed the old Changelog
+ section, cleaned the makefiles</td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+ <td align="left">Revision 1.6</td>
+
+ <td align="left">2002-02-16</td>
+
+ <td align="left">Revised by: ppadala</td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+ <td align="left" colspan="3">Corrected a lot of
+ spelling mistakes, added ACS variables section</td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+ <td align="left">Revision 1.5</td>
+
+ <td align="left">2002-01-05</td>
+
+ <td align="left">Revised by: ppadala</td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+ <td align="left" colspan="3">Changed structure to
+ present proper TOC</td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+ <td align="left">Revision 1.3.1</td>
+
+ <td align="left">2001-07-26</td>
+
+ <td align="left">Revised by: ppadala</td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+ <td align="left" colspan="3">Corrected maintainers
+ paragraph, Corrected stable release number</td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+ <td align="left">Revision 1.3</td>
+
+ <td align="left">2001-07-24</td>
+
+ <td align="left">Revised by: ppadala</td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+ <td align="left" colspan="3">Added copyright notices to
+ main document (LDP license) and programs (GPL),
+ Corrected printw_example.</td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+ <td align="left">Revision 1.2</td>
+
+ <td align="left">2001-06-05</td>
+
+ <td align="left">Revised by: ppadala</td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+ <td align="left" colspan="3">Incorporated ravi's
+ changes. Mainly to introduction, menu, form, justforfun
+ sections</td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+ <td align="left">Revision 1.1</td>
+
+ <td align="left">2001-05-22</td>
+
+ <td align="left">Revised by: ppadala</td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+ <td align="left" colspan="3">Added "a word about
+ window" section, Added scanw_example.</td>
+ </tr>
+ </table>
+ </div>
+
+ <div>
+ <div class="ABSTRACT">
+ <a name="AEN67" id="AEN67"></a>
+
+ <p><span class="emphasis"><i class="EMPHASIS">This
+ document is intended to be an "All in One" guide for
+ programming with ncurses and its sister libraries. We
+ graduate from a simple "Hello World" program to more
+ complex form manipulation. No prior experience in ncurses
+ is assumed. Send comments to <a href=
+ "mailto:ppadala@gmail.com" target="_top">this
+ address</a></i></span></p>
+ </div>
+ </div>
+ <hr>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="TOC">
+ <dl>
+ <dt><b>Table of Contents</b></dt>
+
+ <dt>1. <a href="#INTRO">Introduction</a></dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <dl>
+ <dt>1.1. <a href="#WHATIS">What is NCURSES?</a></dt>
+
+ <dt>1.2. <a href="#WHATCANWEDO">What we can do with
+ NCURSES</a></dt>
+
+ <dt>1.3. <a href="#WHERETOGETIT">Where to get
+ it</a></dt>
+
+ <dt>1.4. <a href="#PURPOSE">Purpose/Scope of the
+ document</a></dt>
+
+ <dt>1.5. <a href="#ABOUTPROGRAMS">About the
+ Programs</a></dt>
+
+ <dt>1.6. <a href="#OTHERFORMATS">Other Formats of the
+ document</a></dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <dl>
+ <dt>1.6.1. <a href="#LISTFORMATS">Readily available
+ formats from tldp.org</a></dt>
+
+ <dt>1.6.2. <a href="#BUILDSOURCE">Building from
+ source</a></dt>
+ </dl>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt>1.7. <a href="#CREDITS">Credits</a></dt>
+
+ <dt>1.8. <a href="#WISHLIST">Wish List</a></dt>
+
+ <dt>1.9. <a href="#COPYRIGHT">Copyright</a></dt>
+ </dl>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt>2. <a href="#HELLOWORLD">Hello World !!!</a></dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <dl>
+ <dt>2.1. <a href="#COMPILECURSES">Compiling With the
+ NCURSES Library</a></dt>
+
+ <dt>2.2. <a href="#DISSECTION">Dissection</a></dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <dl>
+ <dt>2.2.1. <a href="#ABOUT-INITSCR">About
+ initscr()</a></dt>
+
+ <dt>2.2.2. <a href="#MYST-REFRESH">The mysterious
+ refresh()</a></dt>
+
+ <dt>2.2.3. <a href="#ABOUT-ENDWIN">About
+ endwin()</a></dt>
+ </dl>
+ </dd>
+ </dl>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt>3. <a href="#GORY">The Gory Details</a></dt>
+
+ <dt>4. <a href="#INIT">Initialization</a></dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <dl>
+ <dt>4.1. <a href="#ABOUTINIT">Initialization
+ functions</a></dt>
+
+ <dt>4.2. <a href="#RAWCBREAK">raw() and
+ cbreak()</a></dt>
+
+ <dt>4.3. <a href="#ECHONOECHO">echo() and
+ noecho()</a></dt>
+
+ <dt>4.4. <a href="#KEYPAD">keypad()</a></dt>
+
+ <dt>4.5. <a href="#HALFDELAY">halfdelay()</a></dt>
+
+ <dt>4.6. <a href="#MISCINIT">Miscellaneous
+ Initialization functions</a></dt>
+
+ <dt>4.7. <a href="#INITEX">An Example</a></dt>
+ </dl>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt>5. <a href="#AWORDWINDOWS">A Word about
+ Windows</a></dt>
+
+ <dt>6. <a href="#PRINTW">Output functions</a></dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <dl>
+ <dt>6.1. <a href="#ADDCHCLASS">addch() class of
+ functions</a></dt>
+
+ <dt>6.2. <a href="#AEN298">mvaddch(), waddch() and
+ mvwaddch()</a></dt>
+
+ <dt>6.3. <a href="#PRINTWCLASS">printw() class of
+ functions</a></dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <dl>
+ <dt>6.3.1. <a href="#PRINTWMVPRINTW">printw() and
+ mvprintw</a></dt>
+
+ <dt>6.3.2. <a href="#WPRINTWMVWPRINTW">wprintw()
+ and mvwprintw</a></dt>
+
+ <dt>6.3.3. <a href="#VWPRINTW">vw_printw()</a></dt>
+
+ <dt>6.3.4. <a href="#SIMPLEPRINTWEX">A Simple
+ printw example</a></dt>
+ </dl>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt>6.4. <a href="#ADDSTRCLASS">addstr() class of
+ functions</a></dt>
+
+ <dt>6.5. <a href="#ACAUTION">A word of caution</a></dt>
+ </dl>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt>7. <a href="#SCANW">Input functions</a></dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <dl>
+ <dt>7.1. <a href="#GETCHCLASS">getch() class of
+ functions</a></dt>
+
+ <dt>7.2. <a href="#SCANWCLASS">scanw() class of
+ functions</a></dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <dl>
+ <dt>7.2.1. <a href="#SCANWMVSCANW">scanw() and
+ mvscanw</a></dt>
+
+ <dt>7.2.2. <a href="#WSCANWMVWSCANW">wscanw() and
+ mvwscanw()</a></dt>
+
+ <dt>7.2.3. <a href="#VWSCANW">vw_scanw()</a></dt>
+ </dl>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt>7.3. <a href="#GETSTRCLASS">getstr() class of
+ functions</a></dt>
+
+ <dt>7.4. <a href="#GETSTREX">Some examples</a></dt>
+ </dl>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt>8. <a href="#ATTRIB">Attributes</a></dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <dl>
+ <dt>8.1. <a href="#ATTRIBDETAILS">The details</a></dt>
+
+ <dt>8.2. <a href="#ATTRONVSATTRSET">attron() vs
+ attrset()</a></dt>
+
+ <dt>8.3. <a href="#ATTRGET">attr_get()</a></dt>
+
+ <dt>8.4. <a href="#ATTRFUNCS">attr_ functions</a></dt>
+
+ <dt>8.5. <a href="#WATTRFUNCS">wattr functions</a></dt>
+
+ <dt>8.6. <a href="#CHGAT">chgat() functions</a></dt>
+ </dl>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt>9. <a href="#WINDOWS">Windows</a></dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <dl>
+ <dt>9.1. <a href="#WINDOWBASICS">The basics</a></dt>
+
+ <dt>9.2. <a href="#LETBEWINDOW">Let there be a Window
+ !!!</a></dt>
+
+ <dt>9.3. <a href="#BORDEREXEXPL">Explanation</a></dt>
+
+ <dt>9.4. <a href="#OTHERSTUFF">The other stuff in the
+ example</a></dt>
+
+ <dt>9.5. <a href="#OTHERBORDERFUNCS">Other Border
+ functions</a></dt>
+ </dl>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt>10. <a href="#COLOR">Colors</a></dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <dl>
+ <dt>10.1. <a href="#COLORBASICS">The basics</a></dt>
+
+ <dt>10.2. <a href="#CHANGECOLORDEFS">Changing Color
+ Definitions</a></dt>
+
+ <dt>10.3. <a href="#COLORCONTENT">Color
+ Content</a></dt>
+ </dl>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt>11. <a href="#KEYS">Interfacing with the key
+ board</a></dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <dl>
+ <dt>11.1. <a href="#KEYSBASICS">The Basics</a></dt>
+
+ <dt>11.2. <a href="#SIMPLEKEYEX">A Simple Key Usage
+ example</a></dt>
+ </dl>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt>12. <a href="#MOUSE">Interfacing with the
+ mouse</a></dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <dl>
+ <dt>12.1. <a href="#MOUSEBASICS">The Basics</a></dt>
+
+ <dt>12.2. <a href="#GETTINGEVENTS">Getting the
+ events</a></dt>
+
+ <dt>12.3. <a href="#MOUSETOGETHER">Putting it all
+ Together</a></dt>
+
+ <dt>12.4. <a href="#MISCMOUSEFUNCS">Miscellaneous
+ Functions</a></dt>
+ </dl>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt>13. <a href="#SCREEN">Screen Manipulation</a></dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <dl>
+ <dt>13.1. <a href="#GETYX">getyx() functions</a></dt>
+
+ <dt>13.2. <a href="#SCREENDUMP">Screen Dumping</a></dt>
+
+ <dt>13.3. <a href="#WINDOWDUMP">Window Dumping</a></dt>
+ </dl>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt>14. <a href="#MISC">Miscellaneous features</a></dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <dl>
+ <dt>14.1. <a href="#CURSSET">curs_set()</a></dt>
+
+ <dt>14.2. <a href="#TEMPLEAVE">Temporarily Leaving
+ Curses mode</a></dt>
+
+ <dt>14.3. <a href="#ACSVARS">ACS_ variables</a></dt>
+ </dl>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt>15. <a href="#OTHERLIB">Other libraries</a></dt>
+
+ <dt>16. <a href="#PANELS">Panel Library</a></dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <dl>
+ <dt>16.1. <a href="#PANELBASICS">The Basics</a></dt>
+
+ <dt>16.2. <a href="#COMPILEPANELS">Compiling With the
+ Panels Library</a></dt>
+
+ <dt>16.3. <a href="#PANELBROWSING">Panel Window
+ Browsing</a></dt>
+
+ <dt>16.4. <a href="#USERPTRUSING">Using User
+ Pointers</a></dt>
+
+ <dt>16.5. <a href="#PANELMOVERESIZE">Moving and
+ Resizing Panels</a></dt>
+
+ <dt>16.6. <a href="#PANELSHOWHIDE">Hiding and Showing
+ Panels</a></dt>
+
+ <dt>16.7. <a href="#PANELABOVE">panel_above() and
+ panel_below() Functions</a></dt>
+ </dl>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt>17. <a href="#MENUS">Menus Library</a></dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <dl>
+ <dt>17.1. <a href="#MENUBASICS">The Basics</a></dt>
+
+ <dt>17.2. <a href="#COMPILEMENUS">Compiling With the
+ Menu Library</a></dt>
+
+ <dt>17.3. <a href="#MENUDRIVER">Menu Driver: The work
+ horse of the menu system</a></dt>
+
+ <dt>17.4. <a href="#MENUWINDOWS">Menu Windows</a></dt>
+
+ <dt>17.5. <a href="#SCROLLMENUS">Scrolling
+ Menus</a></dt>
+
+ <dt>17.6. <a href="#MULTICOLUMN">Multi Columnar
+ Menus</a></dt>
+
+ <dt>17.7. <a href="#MULTIVALUEMENUS">Multi Valued
+ Menus</a></dt>
+
+ <dt>17.8. <a href="#MENUOPT">Menu Options</a></dt>
+
+ <dt>17.9. <a href="#MENUUSERPTR">The useful User
+ Pointer</a></dt>
+ </dl>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt>18. <a href="#FORMS">Forms Library</a></dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <dl>
+ <dt>18.1. <a href="#FORMBASICS">The Basics</a></dt>
+
+ <dt>18.2. <a href="#COMPILEFORMS">Compiling With the
+ Forms Library</a></dt>
+
+ <dt>18.3. <a href="#PLAYFIELDS">Playing with
+ Fields</a></dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <dl>
+ <dt>18.3.1. <a href="#FETCHINFO">Fetching Size and
+ Location of Field</a></dt>
+
+ <dt>18.3.2. <a href="#MOVEFIELD">Moving the
+ field</a></dt>
+
+ <dt>18.3.3. <a href="#JUSTIFYFIELD">Field
+ Justification</a></dt>
+
+ <dt>18.3.4. <a href="#FIELDDISPATTRIB">Field
+ Display Attributes</a></dt>
+
+ <dt>18.3.5. <a href="#FIELDOPTIONBITS">Field Option
+ Bits</a></dt>
+
+ <dt>18.3.6. <a href="#FIELDSTATUS">Field
+ Status</a></dt>
+
+ <dt>18.3.7. <a href="#FIELDUSERPTR">Field User
+ Pointer</a></dt>
+
+ <dt>18.3.8. <a href=
+ "#VARIABLESIZEFIELDS">Variable-Sized
+ Fields</a></dt>
+ </dl>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt>18.4. <a href="#FORMWINDOWS">Form Windows</a></dt>
+
+ <dt>18.5. <a href="#FILEDVALIDATE">Field
+ Validation</a></dt>
+
+ <dt>18.6. <a href="#FORMDRIVER">Form Driver: The work
+ horse of the forms system</a></dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <dl>
+ <dt>18.6.1. <a href="#PAGENAVREQ">Page Navigation
+ Requests</a></dt>
+
+ <dt>18.6.2. <a href="#INTERFIELDNAVREQ">Inter-Field
+ Navigation Requests</a></dt>
+
+ <dt>18.6.3. <a href="#INTRAFIELDNAVREQ">Intra-Field
+ Navigation Requests</a></dt>
+
+ <dt>18.6.4. <a href="#SCROLLREQ">Scrolling
+ Requests</a></dt>
+
+ <dt>18.6.5. <a href="#EDITREQ">Editing
+ Requests</a></dt>
+
+ <dt>18.6.6. <a href="#ORDERREQ">Order
+ Requests</a></dt>
+
+ <dt>18.6.7. <a href="#APPLICCOMMANDS">Application
+ Commands</a></dt>
+ </dl>
+ </dd>
+ </dl>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt>19. <a href="#TOOLS">Tools and Widget
+ Libraries</a></dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <dl>
+ <dt>19.1. <a href="#CDK">CDK (Curses Development
+ Kit)</a></dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <dl>
+ <dt>19.1.1. <a href="#WIDGETLIST">Widget
+ List</a></dt>
+
+ <dt>19.1.2. <a href="#CDKATTRACT">Some Attractive
+ Features</a></dt>
+
+ <dt>19.1.3. <a href=
+ "#CDKCONCLUSION">Conclusion</a></dt>
+ </dl>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt>19.2. <a href="#DIALOG">The dialog</a></dt>
+
+ <dt>19.3. <a href="#PERLCURSES">Perl Curses Modules
+ CURSES::FORM and CURSES::WIDGETS</a></dt>
+ </dl>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt>20. <a href="#JUSTFORFUN">Just For Fun !!!</a></dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <dl>
+ <dt>20.1. <a href="#GAMEOFLIFE">The Game of
+ Life</a></dt>
+
+ <dt>20.2. <a href="#MAGIC">Magic Square</a></dt>
+
+ <dt>20.3. <a href="#HANOI">Towers of Hanoi</a></dt>
+
+ <dt>20.4. <a href="#QUEENS">Queens Puzzle</a></dt>
+
+ <dt>20.5. <a href="#SHUFFLE">Shuffle</a></dt>
+
+ <dt>20.6. <a href="#TT">Typing Tutor</a></dt>
+ </dl>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt>21. <a href="#REF">References</a></dt>
+ </dl>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="SECT1">
+ <h2 class="SECT1"><a name="INTRO" id="INTRO">1.
+ Introduction</a></h2>
+
+ <p>In the olden days of teletype terminals, terminals were
+ away from computers and were connected to them through serial
+ cables. The terminals could be configured by sending a series
+ of bytes. All the capabilities (such as moving the cursor to
+ a new location, erasing part of the screen, scrolling the
+ screen, changing modes etc.) of terminals could be accessed
+ through these series of bytes. These control seeuqnces are
+ usually called escape sequences, because they start with an
+ escape(0x1B) character. Even today, with proper emulation, we
+ can send escape sequences to the emulator and achieve the
+ same effect on a terminal window.</p>
+
+ <p>Suppose you wanted to print a line in color. Try typing
+ this on your console.</p>
+ <pre class="PROGRAMLISTING">
+echo "^[[0;31;40mIn Color"
+</pre>
+
+ <p>The first character is an escape character, which looks
+ like two characters ^ and [. To be able to print it, you have
+ to press CTRL+V and then the ESC key. All the others are
+ normal printable characters. You should be able to see the
+ string "In Color" in red. It stays that way and to revert
+ back to the original mode type this.</p>
+ <pre class="PROGRAMLISTING">
+echo "^[[0;37;40m"
+</pre>
+
+ <p>Now, what do these magic characters mean? Difficult to
+ comprehend? They might even be different for different
+ terminals. So the designers of UNIX invented a mechanism
+ named <tt class="LITERAL">termcap</tt>. It is a file that
+ lists all the capabilities of a particular terminal, along
+ with the escape sequences needed to achieve a particular
+ effect. In the later years, this was replaced by <tt class=
+ "LITERAL">terminfo</tt>. Without delving too much into
+ details, this mechanism allows application programs to query
+ the terminfo database and obtain the control characters to be
+ sent to a terminal or terminal emulator.</p>
+
+ <div class="SECT2">
+ <hr>
+
+ <h3 class="SECT2"><a name="WHATIS" id="WHATIS">1.1. What is
+ NCURSES?</a></h3>
+
+ <p>You might be wondering, what the import of all this
+ technical gibberish is. In the above scenario, every
+ application program is supposed to query the terminfo and
+ perform the necessary stuff (sending control characters
+ etc.). It soon became difficult to manage this complexity
+ and this gave birth to 'CURSES'. Curses is a pun on the
+ name "cursor optimization". The Curses library forms a
+ wrapper over working with raw terminal codes, and provides
+ highly flexible and efficient API (Application Programming
+ Interface). It provides functions to move the cursor,
+ create windows, produce colors, play with mouse etc. The
+ application programs need not worry about the underlying
+ terminal capabilities.</p>
+
+ <p>So what is NCURSES? NCURSES is a clone of the original
+ System V Release 4.0 (SVr4) curses. It is a freely
+ distributable library, fully compatible with older version
+ of curses. In short, it is a library of functions that
+ manages an application's display on character-cell
+ terminals. In the remainder of the document, the terms
+ curses and ncurses are used interchangeably.</p>
+
+ <p>A detailed history of NCURSES can be found in the NEWS
+ file from the source distribution. The current package is
+ maintained by <a href="mailto:dickey@his.com" target=
+ "_top">Thomas Dickey</a>. You can contact the maintainers
+ at <a href="mailto:bug-ncurses@gnu.org" target=
+ "_top">bug-ncurses@gnu.org</a>.</p>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="SECT2">
+ <hr>
+
+ <h3 class="SECT2"><a name="WHATCANWEDO" id=
+ "WHATCANWEDO">1.2. What we can do with NCURSES</a></h3>
+
+ <p>NCURSES not only creates a wrapper over terminal
+ capabilities, but also gives a robust framework to create
+ nice looking UI (User Interface)s in text mode. It provides
+ functions to create windows etc. Its sister libraries
+ panel, menu and form provide an extension to the basic
+ curses library. These libraries usually come along with
+ curses. One can create applications that contain multiple
+ windows, menus, panels and forms. Windows can be managed
+ independently, can provide 'scrollability' and even can be
+ hidden.</p>
+
+ <p>Menus provide the user with an easy command selection
+ option. Forms allow the creation of easy-to-use data entry
+ and display windows. Panels extend the capabilities of
+ ncurses to deal with overlapping and stacked windows.</p>
+
+ <p>These are just some of the basic things we can do with
+ ncurses. As we move along, We will see all the capabilities
+ of these libraries.</p>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="SECT2">
+ <hr>
+
+ <h3 class="SECT2"><a name="WHERETOGETIT" id=
+ "WHERETOGETIT">1.3. Where to get it</a></h3>
+
+ <p>All right, now that you know what you can do with
+ ncurses, you must be rearing to get started. NCURSES is
+ usually shipped with your installation. In case you don't
+ have the library or want to compile it on your own, read
+ on.</p>
+
+ <p><span class="emphasis"><i class="EMPHASIS">Compiling the
+ package</i></span></p>
+
+ <p>NCURSES can be obtained from <a href=
+ "ftp://ftp.gnu.org/pub/gnu/ncurses/ncurses.tar.gz" target=
+ "_top">ftp://ftp.gnu.org/pub/gnu/ncurses/ncurses.tar.gz</a>
+ or any of the ftp sites mentioned in <a href=
+ "http://www.gnu.org/order/ftp.html" target=
+ "_top">http://www.gnu.org/order/ftp.html</a>.</p>
+
+ <p>Read the README and INSTALL files for details on to how
+ to install it. It usually involves the following
+ operations.</p>
+ <pre class="PROGRAMLISTING">
+ tar zxvf ncurses<version>.tar.gz # unzip and untar the archive
cd ncurses<version> # cd to the directory
./configure # configure the build according to your
# environment
make # make it
su root # become root
- make install # install it</font>
-</pre></td>
-</tr>
-</table>
-<p><em>Using the RPM</em></p>
-<p>NCURSES RPM can be found and downloaded from <a href=
-"http://rpmfind.net" target="_top">http://rpmfind.net</a> . The RPM
-can be installed with the following command after becoming
-root.</p>
-<table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="100%">
-<tr>
-<td>
-<pre class="PROGRAMLISTING">
-<font color="#000000"> rpm -i <downloaded rpm></font>
-</pre></td>
-</tr>
-</table>
-</div>
-<div class="SECT2">
-<hr>
-<h3 class="SECT2"><a name="PURPOSE" id="PURPOSE">1.4. Purpose/Scope
-of the document</a></h3>
-<p>This document is intended to be a "All in One" guide for
-programming with ncurses and its sister libraries. We graduate from
-a simple "Hello World" program to more complex form manipulation.
-No prior experience in ncurses is assumed. The writing is informal,
-but a lot of detail is provided for each of the examples.</p>
-</div>
-<div class="SECT2">
-<hr>
-<h3 class="SECT2"><a name="ABOUTPROGRAMS" id="ABOUTPROGRAMS">1.5.
-About the Programs</a></h3>
-<p>All the programs in the document are available in zipped form
-<a href=
-"http://www.tldp.org/HOWTO/NCURSES-Programming-HOWTO/ncurses_programs.tar.gz"
-target="_top">here</a>. Unzip and untar it. The directory structure
-looks like this.</p>
-<table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="100%">
-<tr>
-<td>
-<pre class="PROGRAMLISTING">
-<font color="#000000">ncurses
+ make install # install it
+</pre>
+
+ <p><span class="emphasis"><i class="EMPHASIS">Using the
+ RPM</i></span></p>
+
+ <p>NCURSES RPM can be found and downloaded from <a href=
+ "http://rpmfind.net" target="_top">http://rpmfind.net</a> .
+ The RPM can be installed with the following command after
+ becoming root.</p>
+ <pre class="PROGRAMLISTING">
+ rpm -i <downloaded rpm>
+</pre>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="SECT2">
+ <hr>
+
+ <h3 class="SECT2"><a name="PURPOSE" id="PURPOSE">1.4.
+ Purpose/Scope of the document</a></h3>
+
+ <p>This document is intended to be a "All in One" guide for
+ programming with ncurses and its sister libraries. We
+ graduate from a simple "Hello World" program to more
+ complex form manipulation. No prior experience in ncurses
+ is assumed. The writing is informal, but a lot of detail is
+ provided for each of the examples.</p>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="SECT2">
+ <hr>
+
+ <h3 class="SECT2"><a name="ABOUTPROGRAMS" id=
+ "ABOUTPROGRAMS">1.5. About the Programs</a></h3>
+
+ <p>All the programs in the document are available in zipped
+ form <a href=
+ "http://www.tldp.org/HOWTO/NCURSES-Programming-HOWTO/ncurses_programs.tar.gz"
+ target="_top">here</a>. Unzip and untar it. The directory
+ structure looks like this.</p>
+
<pre class="PROGRAMLISTING">
+ncurses
|
|----> JustForFun -- just for fun programs
|----> basics -- basic programs
| by Anuradha Ratnaweera)
|----> Makefile -- the top level Makefile
|----> README -- the top level README file. contains instructions
- |----> COPYING -- copyright notice</font>
-</pre></td>
-</tr>
-</table>
-<p>The individual directories contain the following files.</p>
-<table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="100%">
-<tr>
-<td>
-<pre class="PROGRAMLISTING">
-<font color="#000000">Description of files in each directory
+ |----> COPYING -- copyright notice
+</pre>
+
+ <p>The individual directories contain the following
+ files.</p>
+ <pre class="PROGRAMLISTING">
+Description of files in each directory
--------------------------------------
JustForFun
|
|----> panel_simple.c -- A simple panel example
perl
- |----> 01-10.pl -- Perl equivalents of first ten example programs</font>
-</pre></td>
-</tr>
-</table>
-<p>There is a top level Makefile included in the main directory. It
-builds all the files and puts the ready-to-use exes in demo/exe
-directory. You can also do selective make by going into the
-corresponding directory. Each directory contains a README file
-explaining the purpose of each c file in the directory.</p>
-<p>For every example, I have included path name for the file
-relative to the examples directory.</p>
-<p>If you prefer browsing individual programs, point your browser
-to <a href=
-"http://tldp.org/HOWTO/NCURSES-Programming-HOWTO/ncurses_programs/"
-target=
-"_top">http://tldp.org/HOWTO/NCURSES-Programming-HOWTO/ncurses_programs/</a></p>
-<p>All the programs are released under the same license that is
-used by ncurses (MIT-style). This gives you the ability to do
-pretty much anything other than claiming them as yours. Feel free
-to use them in your programs as appropriate.</p>
-</div>
-<div class="SECT2">
-<hr>
-<h3 class="SECT2"><a name="OTHERFORMATS" id="OTHERFORMATS">1.6.
-Other Formats of the document</a></h3>
-<p>This howto is also availabe in various other formats on the
-tldp.org site. Here are the links to other formats of this
-document.</p>
-<div class="SECT3">
-<hr>
-<h4 class="SECT3"><a name="LISTFORMATS" id="LISTFORMATS">1.6.1.
-Readily available formats from tldp.org</a></h4>
-<ul>
-<li>
-<p><a href=
-"http://www.ibiblio.org/pub/Linux/docs/HOWTO/other-formats/pdf/NCURSES-Programming-HOWTO.pdf"
-target="_top">Acrobat PDF Format</a></p>
-</li>
-<li>
-<p><a href=
-"http://www.ibiblio.org/pub/Linux/docs/HOWTO/other-formats/ps/NCURSES-Programming-HOWTO.ps.gz"
-target="_top">PostScript Format</a></p>
-</li>
-<li>
-<p><a href=
-"http://www.ibiblio.org/pub/Linux/docs/HOWTO/other-formats/html/NCURSES-Programming-HOWTO-html.tar.gz"
-target="_top">In Multiple HTML pages</a></p>
-</li>
-<li>
-<p><a href=
-"http://www.ibiblio.org/pub/Linux/docs/HOWTO/other-formats/html_single/NCURSES-Programming-HOWTO.html"
-target="_top">In One big HTML format</a></p>
-</li>
-</ul>
-</div>
-<div class="SECT3">
-<hr>
-<h4 class="SECT3"><a name="BUILDSOURCE" id="BUILDSOURCE">1.6.2.
-Building from source</a></h4>
-<p>If above links are broken or if you want to experiment with sgml
-read on.</p>
-<table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="100%">
-<tr>
-<td>
-<pre class="PROGRAMLISTING">
-<font color=
-"#000000"> Get both the source and the tar,gzipped programs, available at
+ |----> 01-10.pl -- Perl equivalents of first ten example programs
+</pre>
+
+ <p>There is a top level Makefile included in the main
+ directory. It builds all the files and puts the
+ ready-to-use exes in demo/exe directory. You can also do
+ selective make by going into the corresponding directory.
+ Each directory contains a README file explaining the
+ purpose of each c file in the directory.</p>
+
+ <p>For every example, I have included path name for the
+ file relative to the examples directory.</p>
+
+ <p>If you prefer browsing individual programs, point your
+ browser to <a href=
+ "http://tldp.org/HOWTO/NCURSES-Programming-HOWTO/ncurses_programs/"
+ target=
+ "_top">http://tldp.org/HOWTO/NCURSES-Programming-HOWTO/ncurses_programs/</a></p>
+
+ <p>All the programs are released under the same license
+ that is used by ncurses (MIT-style). This gives you the
+ ability to do pretty much anything other than claiming them
+ as yours. Feel free to use them in your programs as
+ appropriate.</p>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="SECT2">
+ <hr>
+
+ <h3 class="SECT2"><a name="OTHERFORMATS" id=
+ "OTHERFORMATS">1.6. Other Formats of the document</a></h3>
+
+ <p>This howto is also availabe in various other formats on
+ the tldp.org site. Here are the links to other formats of
+ this document.</p>
+
+ <div class="SECT3">
+ <hr>
+
+ <h4 class="SECT3"><a name="LISTFORMATS" id=
+ "LISTFORMATS">1.6.1. Readily available formats from
+ tldp.org</a></h4>
+
+ <ul>
+ <li>
+ <p><a href=
+ "http://www.ibiblio.org/pub/Linux/docs/HOWTO/other-formats/pdf/NCURSES-Programming-HOWTO.pdf"
+ target="_top">Acrobat PDF Format</a></p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p><a href=
+ "http://www.ibiblio.org/pub/Linux/docs/HOWTO/other-formats/ps/NCURSES-Programming-HOWTO.ps.gz"
+ target="_top">PostScript Format</a></p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p><a href=
+ "http://www.ibiblio.org/pub/Linux/docs/HOWTO/other-formats/html/NCURSES-Programming-HOWTO-html.tar.gz"
+ target="_top">In Multiple HTML pages</a></p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p><a href=
+ "http://www.ibiblio.org/pub/Linux/docs/HOWTO/other-formats/html_single/NCURSES-Programming-HOWTO.html"
+ target="_top">In One big HTML format</a></p>
+ </li>
+ </ul>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="SECT3">
+ <hr>
+
+ <h4 class="SECT3"><a name="BUILDSOURCE" id=
+ "BUILDSOURCE">1.6.2. Building from source</a></h4>
+
+ <p>If above links are broken or if you want to experiment
+ with sgml read on.</p>
+ <pre class="PROGRAMLISTING">
+ Get both the source and the tar,gzipped programs, available at
http://cvsview.tldp.org/index.cgi/LDP/howto/docbook/
NCURSES-HOWTO/NCURSES-Programming-HOWTO.sgml
http://cvsview.tldp.org/index.cgi/LDP/howto/docbook/
NCURSES-ONE-BIG-FILE.html
for ps, you would use
htmldoc --size universal -t ps --firstpage p1 -f <output file name.ps>
- NCURSES-ONE-BIG-FILE.html</font>
-</pre></td>
-</tr>
-</table>
-<p>See <a href="http://www.tldp.org/LDP/LDP-Author-Guide/" target=
-"_top">LDP Author guide</a> for more details. If all else failes,
-mail me at <a href="ppadala@gmail.com" target=
-"_top">ppadala@gmail.com</a></p>
-</div>
-</div>
-<div class="SECT2">
-<hr>
-<h3 class="SECT2"><a name="CREDITS" id="CREDITS">1.7.
-Credits</a></h3>
-<p>I thank <a href="mailto:sharath_1@usa.net" target=
-"_top">Sharath</a> and Emre Akbas for helping me with few sections.
-The introduction was initially written by sharath. I rewrote it
-with few excerpts taken from his initial work. Emre helped in
-writing printw and scanw sections.</p>
-<p>Perl equivalents of the example programs are contributed by
-<a href="mailto:Aratnaweera@virtusa.com" target="_top">Anuradha
-Ratnaweera</a>.</p>
-<p>Then comes <a href="mailto:parimi@ece.arizona.edu" target=
-"_top">Ravi Parimi</a>, my dearest friend, who has been on this
-project before even one line was written. He constantly bombarded
-me with suggestions and patiently reviewed the whole text. He also
-checked each program on Linux and Solaris.</p>
-</div>
-<div class="SECT2">
-<hr>
-<h3 class="SECT2"><a name="WISHLIST" id="WISHLIST">1.8. Wish
-List</a></h3>
-<p>This is the wish list, in the order of priority. If you have a
-wish or you want to work on completing the wish, mail <a href=
-"mailto:ppadala@gmail.com" target="_top">me</a>.</p>
-<ul>
-<li>
-<p>Add examples to last parts of forms section.</p>
-</li>
-<li>
-<p>Prepare a Demo showing all the programs and allow the user to
-browse through description of each program. Let the user compile
-and see the program in action. A dialog based interface is
-preferred.</p>
-</li>
-<li>
-<p>Add debug info. _tracef, _tracemouse stuff.</p>
-</li>
-<li>
-<p>Accessing termcap, terminfo using functions provided by ncurses
-package.</p>
-</li>
-<li>
-<p>Working on two terminals simultaneously.</p>
-</li>
-<li>
-<p>Add more stuff to miscellaneous section.</p>
-</li>
-</ul>
-</div>
-<div class="SECT2">
-<hr>
-<h3 class="SECT2"><a name="COPYRIGHT" id="COPYRIGHT">1.9.
-Copyright</a></h3>
-<p>Copyright © 2001 by Pradeep Padala.</p>
-<p>Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person
-obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation
-files (the "Software"), to deal in the Software without
-restriction, including without limitation the rights to use, copy,
-modify, merge, publish, distribute, distribute with modifications,
-sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit
-persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to the
-following conditions:</p>
-<p>The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be
-included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.</p>
-<p>THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND,
-EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF
-MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND
-NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE ABOVE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE
-LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN
-ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN
-CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE
-SOFTWARE.</p>
-<p>Except as contained in this notice, the name(s) of the above
-copyright holders shall not be used in advertising or otherwise to
-promote the sale, use or other dealings in this Software without
-prior written authorization.</p>
-</div>
-</div>
-<div class="SECT1">
-<hr>
-<h2 class="SECT1"><a name="HELLOWORLD" id="HELLOWORLD">2. Hello
-World !!!</a></h2>
-<p>Welcome to the world of curses. Before we plunge into the
-library and look into its various features, let's write a simple
-program and say hello to the world.</p>
-<div class="SECT2">
-<hr>
-<h3 class="SECT2"><a name="COMPILECURSES" id="COMPILECURSES">2.1.
-Compiling With the NCURSES Library</a></h3>
-<p>To use ncurses library functions, you have to include ncurses.h
-in your programs. To link the program with ncurses the flag
--lncurses should be added.</p>
-<table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="100%">
-<tr>
-<td>
-<pre class="PROGRAMLISTING">
-<font color="#000000"> #include <ncurses.h>
+ NCURSES-ONE-BIG-FILE.html
+</pre>
+
+ <p>See <a href=
+ "http://www.tldp.org/LDP/LDP-Author-Guide/" target=
+ "_top">LDP Author guide</a> for more details. If all else
+ failes, mail me at <a href="ppadala@gmail.com" target=
+ "_top">ppadala@gmail.com</a></p>
+ </div>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="SECT2">
+ <hr>
+
+ <h3 class="SECT2"><a name="CREDITS" id="CREDITS">1.7.
+ Credits</a></h3>
+
+ <p>I thank <a href="mailto:sharath_1@usa.net" target=
+ "_top">Sharath</a> and Emre Akbas for helping me with few
+ sections. The introduction was initially written by
+ sharath. I rewrote it with few excerpts taken from his
+ initial work. Emre helped in writing printw and scanw
+ sections.</p>
+
+ <p>Perl equivalents of the example programs are contributed
+ by <a href="mailto:Aratnaweera@virtusa.com" target=
+ "_top">Anuradha Ratnaweera</a>.</p>
+
+ <p>Then comes <a href="mailto:parimi@ece.arizona.edu"
+ target="_top">Ravi Parimi</a>, my dearest friend, who has
+ been on this project before even one line was written. He
+ constantly bombarded me with suggestions and patiently
+ reviewed the whole text. He also checked each program on
+ Linux and Solaris.</p>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="SECT2">
+ <hr>
+
+ <h3 class="SECT2"><a name="WISHLIST" id="WISHLIST">1.8.
+ Wish List</a></h3>
+
+ <p>This is the wish list, in the order of priority. If you
+ have a wish or you want to work on completing the wish,
+ mail <a href="mailto:ppadala@gmail.com" target=
+ "_top">me</a>.</p>
+
+ <ul>
+ <li>
+ <p>Add examples to last parts of forms section.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>Prepare a Demo showing all the programs and allow
+ the user to browse through description of each program.
+ Let the user compile and see the program in action. A
+ dialog based interface is preferred.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>Add debug info. _tracef, _tracemouse stuff.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>Accessing termcap, terminfo using functions provided
+ by ncurses package.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>Working on two terminals simultaneously.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>Add more stuff to miscellaneous section.</p>
+ </li>
+ </ul>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="SECT2">
+ <hr>
+
+ <h3 class="SECT2"><a name="COPYRIGHT" id="COPYRIGHT">1.9.
+ Copyright</a></h3>
+
+ <p>Copyright © 2001 by Pradeep Padala.</p>
+
+ <p>Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any
+ person obtaining a copy of this software and associated
+ documentation files (the "Software"), to deal in the
+ Software without restriction, including without limitation
+ the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish,
+ distribute, distribute with modifications, sublicense,
+ and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons
+ to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to the
+ following conditions:</p>
+
+ <p>The above copyright notice and this permission notice
+ shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of
+ the Software.</p>
+
+ <p>THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF
+ ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO
+ THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR
+ PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE ABOVE
+ COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER
+ LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR
+ OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE
+ SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.</p>
+
+ <p>Except as contained in this notice, the name(s) of the
+ above copyright holders shall not be used in advertising or
+ otherwise to promote the sale, use or other dealings in
+ this Software without prior written authorization.</p>
+ </div>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="SECT1">
+ <hr>
+
+ <h2 class="SECT1"><a name="HELLOWORLD" id="HELLOWORLD">2.
+ Hello World !!!</a></h2>
+
+ <p>Welcome to the world of curses. Before we plunge into the
+ library and look into its various features, let's write a
+ simple program and say hello to the world.</p>
+
+ <div class="SECT2">
+ <hr>
+
+ <h3 class="SECT2"><a name="COMPILECURSES" id=
+ "COMPILECURSES">2.1. Compiling With the NCURSES
+ Library</a></h3>
+
+ <p>To use ncurses library functions, you have to include
+ ncurses.h in your programs. To link the program with
+ ncurses the flag -lncurses should be added.</p>
+ <pre class="PROGRAMLISTING">
+ #include <ncurses.h>
.
.
.
- compile and link: gcc <program file> -lncurses</font>
-</pre></td>
-</tr>
-</table>
-<div class="EXAMPLE"><a name="BHW" id="BHW"></a>
-<p><b>Example 1. The Hello World !!! Program</b></p>
-<table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="100%">
-<tr>
-<td>
-<pre class="PROGRAMLISTING">
-<font color="#000000"><span class=
-"INLINEMEDIAOBJECT">#include <ncurses.h>
+ compile and link: gcc <program file> -lncurses
+</pre>
+
+ <div class="EXAMPLE">
+ <a name="BHW" id="BHW"></a>
+
+ <p><b>Example 1. The Hello World !!! Program</b></p>
+ <pre class="PROGRAMLISTING">
+<span class="INLINEMEDIAOBJECT">#include <ncurses.h>
int main()
{
endwin(); /* End curses mode */
return 0;
-}</span></font>
-</pre></td>
-</tr>
-</table>
-</div>
-</div>
-<div class="SECT2">
-<hr>
-<h3 class="SECT2"><a name="DISSECTION" id="DISSECTION">2.2.
-Dissection</a></h3>
-<p>The above program prints "Hello World !!!" to the screen and
-exits. This program shows how to initialize curses and do screen
-manipulation and end curses mode. Let's dissect it line by
-line.</p>
-<div class="SECT3">
-<hr>
-<h4 class="SECT3"><a name="ABOUT-INITSCR" id="ABOUT-INITSCR">2.2.1.
-About initscr()</a></h4>
-<p>The function initscr() initializes the terminal in curses mode.
-In some implementations, it clears the screen and presents a blank
-screen. To do any screen manipulation using curses package this has
-to be called first. This function initializes the curses system and
-allocates memory for our present window (called <var class=
-"LITERAL">stdscr</var>) and some other data-structures. Under
-extreme cases this function might fail due to insufficient memory
-to allocate memory for curses library's data structures.</p>
-<p>After this is done, we can do a variety of initializations to
-customize our curses settings. These details will be explained
-<a href="#INIT">later</a> .</p>
-</div>
-<div class="SECT3">
-<hr>
-<h4 class="SECT3"><a name="MYST-REFRESH" id="MYST-REFRESH">2.2.2.
-The mysterious refresh()</a></h4>
-<p>The next line printw prints the string "Hello World !!!" on to
-the screen. This function is analogous to normal printf in all
-respects except that it prints the data on a window called stdscr
-at the current (y,x) co-ordinates. Since our present co-ordinates
-are at 0,0 the string is printed at the left hand corner of the
-window.</p>
-<p>This brings us to that mysterious refresh(). Well, when we
-called printw the data is actually written to an imaginary window,
-which is not updated on the screen yet. The job of printw is to
-update a few flags and data structures and write the data to a
-buffer corresponding to stdscr. In order to show it on the screen,
-we need to call refresh() and tell the curses system to dump the
-contents on the screen.</p>
-<p>The philosophy behind all this is to allow the programmer to do
-multiple updates on the imaginary screen or windows and do a
-refresh once all his screen update is done. refresh() checks the
-window and updates only the portion which has been changed. This
-improves performance and offers greater flexibility too. But, it is
-sometimes frustrating to beginners. A common mistake committed by
-beginners is to forget to call refresh() after they did some update
-through printw() class of functions. I still forget to add it
-sometimes :-)</p>
-</div>
-<div class="SECT3">
-<hr>
-<h4 class="SECT3"><a name="ABOUT-ENDWIN" id="ABOUT-ENDWIN">2.2.3.
-About endwin()</a></h4>
-<p>And finally don't forget to end the curses mode. Otherwise your
-terminal might behave strangely after the program quits. endwin()
-frees the memory taken by curses sub-system and its data structures
-and puts the terminal in normal mode. This function must be called
-after you are done with the curses mode.</p>
-</div>
-</div>
-</div>
-<div class="SECT1">
-<hr>
-<h2 class="SECT1"><a name="GORY" id="GORY">3. The Gory
-Details</a></h2>
-<p>Now that we have seen how to write a simple curses program let's
-get into the details. There are many functions that help customize
-what you see on screen and many features which can be put to full
-use.</p>
-<p>Here we go...</p>
-</div>
-<div class="SECT1">
-<hr>
-<h2 class="SECT1"><a name="INIT" id="INIT">4.
-Initialization</a></h2>
-<p>We now know that to initialize curses system the function
-initscr() has to be called. There are functions which can be called
-after this initialization to customize our curses session. We may
-ask the curses system to set the terminal in raw mode or initialize
-color or initialize the mouse etc.. Let's discuss some of the
-functions that are normally called immediately after initscr();</p>
-<div class="SECT2">
-<hr>
-<h3 class="SECT2"><a name="ABOUTINIT" id="ABOUTINIT">4.1.
-Initialization functions</a></h3>
-</div>
-<div class="SECT2">
-<hr>
-<h3 class="SECT2"><a name="RAWCBREAK" id="RAWCBREAK">4.2. raw() and
-cbreak()</a></h3>
-<p>Normally the terminal driver buffers the characters a user types
-until a new line or carriage return is encountered. But most
-programs require that the characters be available as soon as the
-user types them. The above two functions are used to disable line
-buffering. The difference between these two functions is in the way
-control characters like suspend (CTRL-Z), interrupt and quit
-(CTRL-C) are passed to the program. In the raw() mode these
-characters are directly passed to the program without generating a
-signal. In the <var class="LITERAL">cbreak()</var> mode these
-control characters are interpreted as any other character by the
-terminal driver. I personally prefer to use raw() as I can exercise
-greater control over what the user does.</p>
-</div>
-<div class="SECT2">
-<hr>
-<h3 class="SECT2"><a name="ECHONOECHO" id="ECHONOECHO">4.3. echo()
-and noecho()</a></h3>
-<p>These functions control the echoing of characters typed by the
-user to the terminal. <var class="LITERAL">noecho()</var> switches
-off echoing. The reason you might want to do this is to gain more
-control over echoing or to suppress unnecessary echoing while
-taking input from the user through the getch() etc. functions. Most
-of the interactive programs call <var class=
-"LITERAL">noecho()</var> at initialization and do the echoing of
-characters in a controlled manner. It gives the programmer the
-flexibility of echoing characters at any place in the window
-without updating current (y,x) co-ordinates.</p>
-</div>
-<div class="SECT2">
-<hr>
-<h3 class="SECT2"><a name="KEYPAD" id="KEYPAD">4.4.
-keypad()</a></h3>
-<p>This is my favorite initialization function. It enables the
-reading of function keys like F1, F2, arrow keys etc. Almost every
-interactive program enables this, as arrow keys are a major part of
-any User Interface. Do <var class="LITERAL">keypad(stdscr,
-TRUE)</var> to enable this feature for the regular screen (stdscr).
-You will learn more about key management in later sections of this
-document.</p>
-</div>
-<div class="SECT2">
-<hr>
-<h3 class="SECT2"><a name="HALFDELAY" id="HALFDELAY">4.5.
-halfdelay()</a></h3>
-<p>This function, though not used very often, is a useful one at
-times. halfdelay()is called to enable the half-delay mode, which is
-similar to the cbreak() mode in that characters typed are
-immediately available to program. However, it waits for 'X' tenths
-of a second for input and then returns ERR, if no input is
-available. 'X' is the timeout value passed to the function
-halfdelay(). This function is useful when you want to ask the user
-for input, and if he doesn't respond with in certain time, we can
-do some thing else. One possible example is a timeout at the
-password prompt.</p>
-</div>
-<div class="SECT2">
-<hr>
-<h3 class="SECT2"><a name="MISCINIT" id="MISCINIT">4.6.
-Miscellaneous Initialization functions</a></h3>
-<p>There are few more functions which are called at initialization
-to customize curses behavior. They are not used as extensively as
-those mentioned above. Some of them are explained where
-appropriate.</p>
-</div>
-<div class="SECT2">
-<hr>
-<h3 class="SECT2"><a name="INITEX" id="INITEX">4.7. An
-Example</a></h3>
-<p>Let's write a program which will clarify the usage of these
-functions.</p>
-<div class="EXAMPLE"><a name="BINFU" id="BINFU"></a>
-<p><b>Example 2. Initialization Function Usage example</b></p>
-<table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="100%">
-<tr>
-<td>
-<pre class="PROGRAMLISTING">
-<font color="#000000"><span class=
-"INLINEMEDIAOBJECT">#include <ncurses.h>
+}</span>
+</pre>
+ </div>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="SECT2">
+ <hr>
+
+ <h3 class="SECT2"><a name="DISSECTION" id="DISSECTION">2.2.
+ Dissection</a></h3>
+
+ <p>The above program prints "Hello World !!!" to the screen
+ and exits. This program shows how to initialize curses and
+ do screen manipulation and end curses mode. Let's dissect
+ it line by line.</p>
+
+ <div class="SECT3">
+ <hr>
+
+ <h4 class="SECT3"><a name="ABOUT-INITSCR" id=
+ "ABOUT-INITSCR">2.2.1. About initscr()</a></h4>
+
+ <p>The function initscr() initializes the terminal in
+ curses mode. In some implementations, it clears the
+ screen and presents a blank screen. To do any screen
+ manipulation using curses package this has to be called
+ first. This function initializes the curses system and
+ allocates memory for our present window (called
+ <tt class="LITERAL">stdscr</tt>) and some other
+ data-structures. Under extreme cases this function might
+ fail due to insufficient memory to allocate memory for
+ curses library's data structures.</p>
+
+ <p>After this is done, we can do a variety of
+ initializations to customize our curses settings. These
+ details will be explained <a href="#INIT">later</a> .</p>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="SECT3">
+ <hr>
+
+ <h4 class="SECT3"><a name="MYST-REFRESH" id=
+ "MYST-REFRESH">2.2.2. The mysterious refresh()</a></h4>
+
+ <p>The next line printw prints the string "Hello World
+ !!!" on to the screen. This function is analogous to
+ normal printf in all respects except that it prints the
+ data on a window called stdscr at the current (y,x)
+ co-ordinates. Since our present co-ordinates are at 0,0
+ the string is printed at the left hand corner of the
+ window.</p>
+
+ <p>This brings us to that mysterious refresh(). Well,
+ when we called printw the data is actually written to an
+ imaginary window, which is not updated on the screen yet.
+ The job of printw is to update a few flags and data
+ structures and write the data to a buffer corresponding
+ to stdscr. In order to show it on the screen, we need to
+ call refresh() and tell the curses system to dump the
+ contents on the screen.</p>
+
+ <p>The philosophy behind all this is to allow the
+ programmer to do multiple updates on the imaginary screen
+ or windows and do a refresh once all his screen update is
+ done. refresh() checks the window and updates only the
+ portion which has been changed. This improves performance
+ and offers greater flexibility too. But, it is sometimes
+ frustrating to beginners. A common mistake committed by
+ beginners is to forget to call refresh() after they did
+ some update through printw() class of functions. I still
+ forget to add it sometimes :-)</p>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="SECT3">
+ <hr>
+
+ <h4 class="SECT3"><a name="ABOUT-ENDWIN" id=
+ "ABOUT-ENDWIN">2.2.3. About endwin()</a></h4>
+
+ <p>And finally don't forget to end the curses mode.
+ Otherwise your terminal might behave strangely after the
+ program quits. endwin() frees the memory taken by curses
+ sub-system and its data structures and puts the terminal
+ in normal mode. This function must be called after you
+ are done with the curses mode.</p>
+ </div>
+ </div>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="SECT1">
+ <hr>
+
+ <h2 class="SECT1"><a name="GORY" id="GORY">3. The Gory
+ Details</a></h2>
+
+ <p>Now that we have seen how to write a simple curses program
+ let's get into the details. There are many functions that
+ help customize what you see on screen and many features which
+ can be put to full use.</p>
+
+ <p>Here we go...</p>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="SECT1">
+ <hr>
+
+ <h2 class="SECT1"><a name="INIT" id="INIT">4.
+ Initialization</a></h2>
+
+ <p>We now know that to initialize curses system the function
+ initscr() has to be called. There are functions which can be
+ called after this initialization to customize our curses
+ session. We may ask the curses system to set the terminal in
+ raw mode or initialize color or initialize the mouse etc..
+ Let's discuss some of the functions that are normally called
+ immediately after initscr();</p>
+
+ <div class="SECT2">
+ <hr>
+
+ <h3 class="SECT2"><a name="ABOUTINIT" id="ABOUTINIT">4.1.
+ Initialization functions</a></h3>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="SECT2">
+ <hr>
+
+ <h3 class="SECT2"><a name="RAWCBREAK" id="RAWCBREAK">4.2.
+ raw() and cbreak()</a></h3>
+
+ <p>Normally the terminal driver buffers the characters a
+ user types until a new line or carriage return is
+ encountered. But most programs require that the characters
+ be available as soon as the user types them. The above two
+ functions are used to disable line buffering. The
+ difference between these two functions is in the way
+ control characters like suspend (CTRL-Z), interrupt and
+ quit (CTRL-C) are passed to the program. In the raw() mode
+ these characters are directly passed to the program without
+ generating a signal. In the <tt class=
+ "LITERAL">cbreak()</tt> mode these control characters are
+ interpreted as any other character by the terminal driver.
+ I personally prefer to use raw() as I can exercise greater
+ control over what the user does.</p>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="SECT2">
+ <hr>
+
+ <h3 class="SECT2"><a name="ECHONOECHO" id="ECHONOECHO">4.3.
+ echo() and noecho()</a></h3>
+
+ <p>These functions control the echoing of characters typed
+ by the user to the terminal. <tt class=
+ "LITERAL">noecho()</tt> switches off echoing. The reason
+ you might want to do this is to gain more control over
+ echoing or to suppress unnecessary echoing while taking
+ input from the user through the getch() etc. functions.
+ Most of the interactive programs call <tt class=
+ "LITERAL">noecho()</tt> at initialization and do the
+ echoing of characters in a controlled manner. It gives the
+ programmer the flexibility of echoing characters at any
+ place in the window without updating current (y,x)
+ co-ordinates.</p>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="SECT2">
+ <hr>
+
+ <h3 class="SECT2"><a name="KEYPAD" id="KEYPAD">4.4.
+ keypad()</a></h3>
+
+ <p>This is my favorite initialization function. It enables
+ the reading of function keys like F1, F2, arrow keys etc.
+ Almost every interactive program enables this, as arrow
+ keys are a major part of any User Interface. Do <tt class=
+ "LITERAL">keypad(stdscr, TRUE)</tt> to enable this feature
+ for the regular screen (stdscr). You will learn more about
+ key management in later sections of this document.</p>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="SECT2">
+ <hr>
+
+ <h3 class="SECT2"><a name="HALFDELAY" id="HALFDELAY">4.5.
+ halfdelay()</a></h3>
+
+ <p>This function, though not used very often, is a useful
+ one at times. halfdelay()is called to enable the half-delay
+ mode, which is similar to the cbreak() mode in that
+ characters typed are immediately available to program.
+ However, it waits for 'X' tenths of a second for input and
+ then returns ERR, if no input is available. 'X' is the
+ timeout value passed to the function halfdelay(). This
+ function is useful when you want to ask the user for input,
+ and if he doesn't respond with in certain time, we can do
+ some thing else. One possible example is a timeout at the
+ password prompt.</p>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="SECT2">
+ <hr>
+
+ <h3 class="SECT2"><a name="MISCINIT" id="MISCINIT">4.6.
+ Miscellaneous Initialization functions</a></h3>
+
+ <p>There are few more functions which are called at
+ initialization to customize curses behavior. They are not
+ used as extensively as those mentioned above. Some of them
+ are explained where appropriate.</p>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="SECT2">
+ <hr>
+
+ <h3 class="SECT2"><a name="INITEX" id="INITEX">4.7. An
+ Example</a></h3>
+
+ <p>Let's write a program which will clarify the usage of
+ these functions.</p>
+
+ <div class="EXAMPLE">
+ <a name="BINFU" id="BINFU"></a>
+
+ <p><b>Example 2. Initialization Function Usage
+ example</b></p>
+ <pre class="PROGRAMLISTING">
+<span class="INLINEMEDIAOBJECT">#include <ncurses.h>
int main()
{ int ch;
endwin(); /* End curses mode */
return 0;
-}</span></font>
-</pre></td>
-</tr>
-</table>
-</div>
-<p>This program is self-explanatory. But I used functions which
-aren't explained yet. The function <var class=
-"LITERAL">getch()</var> is used to get a character from user. It is
-equivalent to normal <var class="LITERAL">getchar()</var> except
-that we can disable the line buffering to avoid <enter> after
-input. Look for more about <var class="LITERAL">getch()</var>and
-reading keys in the <a href="#KEYS">key management section</a> .
-The functions attron and attroff are used to switch some attributes
-on and off respectively. In the example I used them to print the
-character in bold. These functions are explained in detail
-later.</p>
-</div>
-</div>
-<div class="SECT1">
-<hr>
-<h2 class="SECT1"><a name="AWORDWINDOWS" id="AWORDWINDOWS">5. A
-Word about Windows</a></h2>
-<p>Before we plunge into the myriad ncurses functions, let me clear
-few things about windows. Windows are explained in detail in
-following <a href="#WINDOWS">sections</a></p>
-<p>A Window is an imaginary screen defined by curses system. A
-window does not mean a bordered window which you usually see on
-Win9X platforms. When curses is initialized, it creates a default
-window named <var class="LITERAL">stdscr</var> which represents
-your 80x25 (or the size of window in which you are running) screen.
-If you are doing simple tasks like printing few strings, reading
-input etc., you can safely use this single window for all of your
-purposes. You can also create windows and call functions which
-explicitly work on the specified window.</p>
-<p>For example, if you call</p>
-<table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="100%">
-<tr>
-<td>
-<pre class="PROGRAMLISTING">
-<font color="#000000"> printw("Hi There !!!");
- refresh();</font>
-</pre></td>
-</tr>
-</table>
-<p>It prints the string on stdscr at the present cursor position.
-Similarly the call to refresh(), works on stdscr only.</p>
-<p>Say you have created <a href="#WINDOWS">windows</a> then you
-have to call a function with a 'w' added to the usual function.</p>
-<table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="100%">
-<tr>
-<td>
-<pre class="PROGRAMLISTING">
-<font color="#000000"> wprintw(win, "Hi There !!!");
- wrefresh(win);</font>
-</pre></td>
-</tr>
-</table>
-<p>As you will see in the rest of the document, naming of functions
-follow the same convention. For each function there usually are
-three more functions.</p>
-<table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="100%">
-<tr>
-<td>
-<pre class="PROGRAMLISTING">
-<font color=
-"#000000"> printw(string); /* Print on stdscr at present cursor position */
+}</span>
+</pre>
+ </div>
+
+ <p>This program is self-explanatory. But I used functions
+ which aren't explained yet. The function <tt class=
+ "LITERAL">getch()</tt> is used to get a character from
+ user. It is equivalent to normal <tt class=
+ "LITERAL">getchar()</tt> except that we can disable the
+ line buffering to avoid <enter> after input. Look for
+ more about <tt class="LITERAL">getch()</tt>and reading keys
+ in the <a href="#KEYS">key management section</a> . The
+ functions attron and attroff are used to switch some
+ attributes on and off respectively. In the example I used
+ them to print the character in bold. These functions are
+ explained in detail later.</p>
+ </div>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="SECT1">
+ <hr>
+
+ <h2 class="SECT1"><a name="AWORDWINDOWS" id="AWORDWINDOWS">5.
+ A Word about Windows</a></h2>
+
+ <p>Before we plunge into the myriad ncurses functions, let me
+ clear few things about windows. Windows are explained in
+ detail in following <a href="#WINDOWS">sections</a></p>
+
+ <p>A Window is an imaginary screen defined by curses system.
+ A window does not mean a bordered window which you usually
+ see on Win9X platforms. When curses is initialized, it
+ creates a default window named <tt class=
+ "LITERAL">stdscr</tt> which represents your 80x25 (or the
+ size of window in which you are running) screen. If you are
+ doing simple tasks like printing few strings, reading input
+ etc., you can safely use this single window for all of your
+ purposes. You can also create windows and call functions
+ which explicitly work on the specified window.</p>
+
+ <p>For example, if you call</p>
+ <pre class="PROGRAMLISTING">
+ printw("Hi There !!!");
+ refresh();
+</pre>
+
+ <p>It prints the string on stdscr at the present cursor
+ position. Similarly the call to refresh(), works on stdscr
+ only.</p>
+
+ <p>Say you have created <a href="#WINDOWS">windows</a> then
+ you have to call a function with a 'w' added to the usual
+ function.</p>
+ <pre class="PROGRAMLISTING">
+ wprintw(win, "Hi There !!!");
+ wrefresh(win);
+</pre>
+
+ <p>As you will see in the rest of the document, naming of
+ functions follow the same convention. For each function there
+ usually are three more functions.</p>
+ <pre class="PROGRAMLISTING">
+ printw(string); /* Print on stdscr at present cursor position */
mvprintw(y, x, string);/* Move to (y, x) then print string */
wprintw(win, string); /* Print on window win at present cursor position */
/* in the window */
mvwprintw(win, y, x, string); /* Move to (y, x) relative to window */
- /* co-ordinates and then print */</font>
-</pre></td>
-</tr>
-</table>
-<p>Usually the w-less functions are macros which expand to
-corresponding w-function with stdscr as the window parameter.</p>
-</div>
-<div class="SECT1">
-<hr>
-<h2 class="SECT1"><a name="PRINTW" id="PRINTW">6. Output
-functions</a></h2>
-<p>I guess you can't wait any more to see some action. Back to our
-odyssey of curses functions. Now that curses is initialized, let's
-interact with world.</p>
-<p>There are three classes of functions which you can use to do
-output on screen.</p>
-<ol type="1">
-<li>
-<p>addch() class: Print single character with attributes</p>
-</li>
-<li>
-<p>printw() class: Print formatted output similar to printf()</p>
-</li>
-<li>
-<p>addstr() class: Print strings</p>
-</li>
-</ol>
-<p>These functions can be used interchangeably and it's a matter of
-style as to which class is used. Let's see each one in detail.</p>
-<div class="SECT2">
-<hr>
-<h3 class="SECT2"><a name="ADDCHCLASS" id="ADDCHCLASS">6.1. addch()
-class of functions</a></h3>
-<p>These functions put a single character into the current cursor
-location and advance the position of the cursor. You can give the
-character to be printed but they usually are used to print a
-character with some attributes. Attributes are explained in detail
-in later <a href="#ATTRIB">sections</a> of the document. If a
-character is associated with an attribute(bold, reverse video
-etc.), when curses prints the character, it is printed in that
-attribute.</p>
-<p>In order to combine a character with some attributes, you have
-two options:</p>
-<ul>
-<li>
-<p>By OR'ing a single character with the desired attribute macros.
-These attribute macros could be found in the header file
-<var class="LITERAL">ncurses.h</var>. For example, you want to
-print a character ch(of type char) bold and underlined, you would
-call addch() as below.</p>
-<table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="90%">
-<tr>
-<td>
-<pre class="PROGRAMLISTING">
-<font color="#000000"> addch(ch | A_BOLD | A_UNDERLINE);</font>
-</pre></td>
-</tr>
-</table>
-</li>
-<li>
-<p>By using functions like <var class=
-"LITERAL">attrset(),attron(),attroff()</var>. These functions are
-explained in the <a href="#ATTRIB">Attributes</a> section. Briefly,
-they manipulate the current attributes of the given window. Once
-set, the character printed in the window are associated with the
-attributes until it is turned off.</p>
-</li>
-</ul>
-<p>Additionally, <var class="LITERAL">curses</var> provides some
-special characters for character-based graphics. You can draw
-tables, horizontal or vertical lines, etc. You can find all
-avaliable characters in the header file <var class=
-"LITERAL">ncurses.h</var>. Try looking for macros beginning with
-<var class="LITERAL">ACS_</var> in this file.</p>
-</div>
-<div class="SECT2">
-<hr>
-<h3 class="SECT2"><a name="AEN298" id="AEN298">6.2. mvaddch(),
-waddch() and mvwaddch()</a></h3>
-<p><var class="LITERAL">mvaddch()</var> is used to move the cursor
-to a given point, and then print. Thus, the calls:</p>
-<table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="100%">
-<tr>
-<td>
-<pre class="PROGRAMLISTING">
-<font color=
-"#000000"> move(row,col); /* moves the cursor to row<em>th</em> row and col<em>th</em> column */
- addch(ch);</font>
-</pre></td>
-</tr>
-</table>
-can be replaced by
-<table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="100%">
-<tr>
-<td>
-<pre class="PROGRAMLISTING">
-<font color="#000000"> mvaddch(row,col,ch);</font>
-</pre></td>
-</tr>
-</table>
-<p><var class="LITERAL">waddch()</var> is similar to <var class=
-"LITERAL">addch()</var>, except that it adds a character into the
-given window. (Note that <var class="LITERAL">addch()</var> adds a
-character into the window <var class="LITERAL">stdscr</var>.)</p>
-<p>In a similar fashion <var class="LITERAL">mvwaddch()</var>
-function is used to add a character into the given window at the
-given coordinates.</p>
-<p>Now, we are familiar with the basic output function <var class=
-"LITERAL">addch()</var>. But, if we want to print a string, it
-would be very annoying to print it character by character.
-Fortunately, <var class="LITERAL">ncurses</var> provides
-<var class="LITERAL">printf</var><em>-like</em> or <var class=
-"LITERAL">puts</var><em>-like</em> functions.</p>
-</div>
-<div class="SECT2">
-<hr>
-<h3 class="SECT2"><a name="PRINTWCLASS" id="PRINTWCLASS">6.3.
-printw() class of functions</a></h3>
-<p>These functions are similar to <var class=
-"LITERAL">printf()</var> with the added capability of printing at
-any position on the screen.</p>
-<div class="SECT3">
-<hr>
-<h4 class="SECT3"><a name="PRINTWMVPRINTW" id=
-"PRINTWMVPRINTW">6.3.1. printw() and mvprintw</a></h4>
-<p>These two functions work much like <var class=
-"LITERAL">printf()</var>. <var class="LITERAL">mvprintw()</var> can
-be used to move the cursor to a position and then print. If you
-want to move the cursor first and then print using <var class=
-"LITERAL">printw()</var> function, use <var class=
-"LITERAL">move()</var> first and then use <var class=
-"LITERAL">printw()</var> though I see no point why one should avoid
-using <var class="LITERAL">mvprintw()</var>, you have the
-flexibility to manipulate.</p>
-</div>
-<div class="SECT3">
-<hr>
-<h4 class="SECT3"><a name="WPRINTWMVWPRINTW" id=
-"WPRINTWMVWPRINTW">6.3.2. wprintw() and mvwprintw</a></h4>
-<p>These two functions are similar to above two except that they
-print in the corresponding window given as argument.</p>
-</div>
-<div class="SECT3">
-<hr>
-<h4 class="SECT3"><a name="VWPRINTW" id="VWPRINTW">6.3.3.
-vwprintw()</a></h4>
-<p>This function is similar to <var class=
-"LITERAL">vprintf()</var>. This can be used when variable number of
-arguments are to be printed.</p>
-</div>
-<div class="SECT3">
-<hr>
-<h4 class="SECT3"><a name="SIMPLEPRINTWEX" id=
-"SIMPLEPRINTWEX">6.3.4. A Simple printw example</a></h4>
-<div class="EXAMPLE"><a name="BPREX" id="BPREX"></a>
-<p><b>Example 3. A Simple printw example</b></p>
-<table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="100%">
-<tr>
-<td>
-<pre class="PROGRAMLISTING">
-<font color="#000000"><span class=
+ /* co-ordinates and then print */
+</pre>
+
+ <p>Usually the w-less functions are macros which expand to
+ corresponding w-function with stdscr as the window
+ parameter.</p>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="SECT1">
+ <hr>
+
+ <h2 class="SECT1"><a name="PRINTW" id="PRINTW">6. Output
+ functions</a></h2>
+
+ <p>I guess you can't wait any more to see some action. Back
+ to our odyssey of curses functions. Now that curses is
+ initialized, let's interact with world.</p>
+
+ <p>There are three classes of functions which you can use to
+ do output on screen.</p>
+
+ <ol type="1">
+ <li>
+ <p>addch() class: Print single character with
+ attributes</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>printw() class: Print formatted output similar to
+ printf()</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>addstr() class: Print strings</p>
+ </li>
+ </ol>
+
+ <p>These functions can be used interchangeably and it's a
+ matter of style as to which class is used. Let's see each one
+ in detail.</p>
+
+ <div class="SECT2">
+ <hr>
+
+ <h3 class="SECT2"><a name="ADDCHCLASS" id="ADDCHCLASS">6.1.
+ addch() class of functions</a></h3>
+
+ <p>These functions put a single character into the current
+ cursor location and advance the position of the cursor. You
+ can give the character to be printed but they usually are
+ used to print a character with some attributes. Attributes
+ are explained in detail in later <a href=
+ "#ATTRIB">sections</a> of the document. If a character is
+ associated with an attribute(bold, reverse video etc.),
+ when curses prints the character, it is printed in that
+ attribute.</p>
+
+ <p>In order to combine a character with some attributes,
+ you have two options:</p>
+
+ <ul>
+ <li>
+ <p>By OR'ing a single character with the desired
+ attribute macros. These attribute macros could be found
+ in the header file <tt class="LITERAL">ncurses.h</tt>.
+ For example, you want to print a character ch(of type
+ char) bold and underlined, you would call addch() as
+ below.</p>
+ <pre class="PROGRAMLISTING">
+ addch(ch | A_BOLD | A_UNDERLINE);
+</pre>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>By using functions like <tt class=
+ "LITERAL">attrset(),attron(),attroff()</tt>. These
+ functions are explained in the <a href=
+ "#ATTRIB">Attributes</a> section. Briefly, they
+ manipulate the current attributes of the given window.
+ Once set, the character printed in the window are
+ associated with the attributes until it is turned
+ off.</p>
+ </li>
+ </ul>
+
+ <p>Additionally, <tt class="LITERAL">curses</tt> provides
+ some special characters for character-based graphics. You
+ can draw tables, horizontal or vertical lines, etc. You can
+ find all avaliable characters in the header file <tt class=
+ "LITERAL">ncurses.h</tt>. Try looking for macros beginning
+ with <tt class="LITERAL">ACS_</tt> in this file.</p>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="SECT2">
+ <hr>
+
+ <h3 class="SECT2"><a name="AEN298" id="AEN298">6.2.
+ mvaddch(), waddch() and mvwaddch()</a></h3>
+
+ <p><tt class="LITERAL">mvaddch()</tt> is used to move the
+ cursor to a given point, and then print. Thus, the
+ calls:</p>
+ <pre class="PROGRAMLISTING">
+ move(row,col); /* moves the cursor to row<span class=
+"emphasis"><i class=
+"EMPHASIS">th</i></span> row and col<span class="emphasis"><i class="EMPHASIS">th</i></span> column */
+ addch(ch);
+</pre>can be replaced by
+ <pre class="PROGRAMLISTING">
+ mvaddch(row,col,ch);
+</pre>
+
+ <p><tt class="LITERAL">waddch()</tt> is similar to
+ <tt class="LITERAL">addch()</tt>, except that it adds a
+ character into the given window. (Note that <tt class=
+ "LITERAL">addch()</tt> adds a character into the window
+ <tt class="LITERAL">stdscr</tt>.)</p>
+
+ <p>In a similar fashion <tt class="LITERAL">mvwaddch()</tt>
+ function is used to add a character into the given window
+ at the given coordinates.</p>
+
+ <p>Now, we are familiar with the basic output function
+ <tt class="LITERAL">addch()</tt>. But, if we want to print
+ a string, it would be very annoying to print it character
+ by character. Fortunately, <tt class="LITERAL">ncurses</tt>
+ provides <tt class="LITERAL">printf</tt><span class=
+ "emphasis"><i class="EMPHASIS">-like</i></span> or
+ <tt class="LITERAL">puts</tt><span class=
+ "emphasis"><i class="EMPHASIS">-like</i></span>
+ functions.</p>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="SECT2">
+ <hr>
+
+ <h3 class="SECT2"><a name="PRINTWCLASS" id=
+ "PRINTWCLASS">6.3. printw() class of functions</a></h3>
+
+ <p>These functions are similar to <tt class=
+ "LITERAL">printf()</tt> with the added capability of
+ printing at any position on the screen.</p>
+
+ <div class="SECT3">
+ <hr>
+
+ <h4 class="SECT3"><a name="PRINTWMVPRINTW" id=
+ "PRINTWMVPRINTW">6.3.1. printw() and mvprintw</a></h4>
+
+ <p>These two functions work much like <tt class=
+ "LITERAL">printf()</tt>. <tt class=
+ "LITERAL">mvprintw()</tt> can be used to move the cursor
+ to a position and then print. If you want to move the
+ cursor first and then print using <tt class=
+ "LITERAL">printw()</tt> function, use <tt class=
+ "LITERAL">move()</tt> first and then use <tt class=
+ "LITERAL">printw()</tt> though I see no point why one
+ should avoid using <tt class="LITERAL">mvprintw()</tt>,
+ you have the flexibility to manipulate.</p>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="SECT3">
+ <hr>
+
+ <h4 class="SECT3"><a name="WPRINTWMVWPRINTW" id=
+ "WPRINTWMVWPRINTW">6.3.2. wprintw() and
+ mvwprintw</a></h4>
+
+ <p>These two functions are similar to above two except
+ that they print in the corresponding window given as
+ argument.</p>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="SECT3">
+ <hr>
+
+ <h4 class="SECT3"><a name="VWPRINTW" id="VWPRINTW">6.3.3.
+ vw_printw()</a></h4>
+
+ <p>This function is similar to <tt class=
+ "LITERAL">vprintf()</tt>. This can be used when variable
+ number of arguments are to be printed.</p>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="SECT3">
+ <hr>
+
+ <h4 class="SECT3"><a name="SIMPLEPRINTWEX" id=
+ "SIMPLEPRINTWEX">6.3.4. A Simple printw example</a></h4>
+
+ <div class="EXAMPLE">
+ <a name="BPREX" id="BPREX"></a>
+
+ <p><b>Example 3. A Simple printw example</b></p>
+ <pre class="PROGRAMLISTING">
+<span class=
"INLINEMEDIAOBJECT">#include <ncurses.h> /* ncurses.h includes stdio.h */
#include <string.h>
endwin();
return 0;
-}</span></font>
-</pre></td>
-</tr>
-</table>
-</div>
-<p>Above program demonstrates how easy it is to use <var class=
-"LITERAL">printw</var>. You just feed the coordinates and the
-message to be appeared on the screen, then it does what you
-want.</p>
-<p>The above program introduces us to a new function <var class=
-"LITERAL">getmaxyx()</var>, a macro defined in <var class=
-"LITERAL">ncurses.h</var>. It gives the number of columns and the
-number of rows in a given window. <var class=
-"LITERAL">getmaxyx()</var> does this by updating the variables
-given to it. Since <var class="LITERAL">getmaxyx()</var> is not a
-function we don't pass pointers to it, we just give two integer
-variables.</p>
-</div>
-</div>
-<div class="SECT2">
-<hr>
-<h3 class="SECT2"><a name="ADDSTRCLASS" id="ADDSTRCLASS">6.4.
-addstr() class of functions</a></h3>
-<p><var class="LITERAL">addstr()</var> is used to put a character
-string into a given window. This function is similar to calling
-<var class="LITERAL">addch()</var> once for each character in a
-given string. This is true for all output functions. There are
-other functions from this family such as <var class=
-"LITERAL">mvaddstr(),mvwaddstr()</var> and <var class=
-"LITERAL">waddstr()</var>, which obey the naming convention of
-curses.(e.g. mvaddstr() is similar to the respective calls move()
-and then addstr().) Another function of this family is addnstr(),
-which takes an integer parameter(say n) additionally. This function
-puts at most n characters into the screen. If n is negative, then
-the entire string will be added.</p>
-</div>
-<div class="SECT2">
-<hr>
-<h3 class="SECT2"><a name="ACAUTION" id="ACAUTION">6.5. A word of
-caution</a></h3>
-<p>All these functions take y co-ordinate first and then x in their
-arguments. A common mistake by beginners is to pass x,y in that
-order. If you are doing too many manipulations of (y,x)
-co-ordinates, think of dividing the screen into windows and
-manipulate each one separately. Windows are explained in the
-<a href="#WINDOWS">windows</a> section.</p>
-</div>
-</div>
-<div class="SECT1">
-<hr>
-<h2 class="SECT1"><a name="SCANW" id="SCANW">7. Input
-functions</a></h2>
-<p>Well, printing without taking input, is boring. Let's see
-functions which allow us to get input from user. These functions
-also can be divided into three categories.</p>
-<ol type="1">
-<li>
-<p>getch() class: Get a character</p>
-</li>
-<li>
-<p>scanw() class: Get formatted input</p>
-</li>
-<li>
-<p>getstr() class: Get strings</p>
-</li>
-</ol>
-<div class="SECT2">
-<hr>
-<h3 class="SECT2"><a name="GETCHCLASS" id="GETCHCLASS">7.1. getch()
-class of functions</a></h3>
-<p>These functions read a single character from the terminal. But
-there are several subtle facts to consider. For example if you
-don't use the function cbreak(), curses will not read your input
-characters contiguously but will begin read them only after a new
-line or an EOF is encountered. In order to avoid this, the cbreak()
-function must used so that characters are immediately available to
-your program. Another widely used function is noecho(). As the name
-suggests, when this function is set (used), the characters that are
-keyed in by the user will not show up on the screen. The two
-functions cbreak() and noecho() are typical examples of key
-management. Functions of this genre are explained in the <a href=
-"#KEYS">key management section</a> .</p>
-</div>
-<div class="SECT2">
-<hr>
-<h3 class="SECT2"><a name="SCANWCLASS" id="SCANWCLASS">7.2. scanw()
-class of functions</a></h3>
-<p>These functions are similar to <var class=
-"LITERAL">scanf()</var> with the added capability of getting the
-input from any location on the screen.</p>
-<div class="SECT3">
-<hr>
-<h4 class="SECT3"><a name="SCANWMVSCANW" id="SCANWMVSCANW">7.2.1.
-scanw() and mvscanw</a></h4>
-<p>The usage of these functions is similar to that of <var class=
-"LITERAL">sscanf()</var>, where the line to be scanned is provided
-by <var class="LITERAL">wgetstr()</var> function. That is, these
-functions call to <var class="LITERAL">wgetstr()</var>
-function(explained below) and uses the resulting line for a
-scan.</p>
-</div>
-<div class="SECT3">
-<hr>
-<h4 class="SECT3"><a name="WSCANWMVWSCANW" id=
-"WSCANWMVWSCANW">7.2.2. wscanw() and mvwscanw()</a></h4>
-<p>These are similar to above two functions except that they read
-from a window, which is supplied as one of the arguments to these
-functions.</p>
-</div>
-<div class="SECT3">
-<hr>
-<h4 class="SECT3"><a name="VWSCANW" id="VWSCANW">7.2.3.
-vwscanw()</a></h4>
-<p>This function is similar to <var class="LITERAL">vscanf()</var>.
-This can be used when a variable number of arguments are to be
-scanned.</p>
-</div>
-</div>
-<div class="SECT2">
-<hr>
-<h3 class="SECT2"><a name="GETSTRCLASS" id="GETSTRCLASS">7.3.
-getstr() class of functions</a></h3>
-<p>These functions are used to get strings from the terminal. In
-essence, this function performs the same task as would be achieved
-by a series of calls to <var class="LITERAL">getch()</var> until a
-newline, carriage return, or end-of-file is received. The resulting
-string of characters are pointed to by <var class=
-"LITERAL">str</var>, which is a character pointer provided by the
-user.</p>
-</div>
-<div class="SECT2">
-<hr>
-<h3 class="SECT2"><a name="GETSTREX" id="GETSTREX">7.4. Some
-examples</a></h3>
-<div class="EXAMPLE"><a name="BSCEX" id="BSCEX"></a>
-<p><b>Example 4. A Simple scanw example</b></p>
-<table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="100%">
-<tr>
-<td>
-<pre class="PROGRAMLISTING">
-<font color="#000000"><span class=
+}</span>
+</pre>
+ </div>
+
+ <p>Above program demonstrates how easy it is to use
+ <tt class="LITERAL">printw</tt>. You just feed the
+ coordinates and the message to be appeared on the screen,
+ then it does what you want.</p>
+
+ <p>The above program introduces us to a new function
+ <tt class="LITERAL">getmaxyx()</tt>, a macro defined in
+ <tt class="LITERAL">ncurses.h</tt>. It gives the number
+ of columns and the number of rows in a given window.
+ <tt class="LITERAL">getmaxyx()</tt> does this by updating
+ the variables given to it. Since <tt class=
+ "LITERAL">getmaxyx()</tt> is not a function we don't pass
+ pointers to it, we just give two integer variables.</p>
+ </div>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="SECT2">
+ <hr>
+
+ <h3 class="SECT2"><a name="ADDSTRCLASS" id=
+ "ADDSTRCLASS">6.4. addstr() class of functions</a></h3>
+
+ <p><tt class="LITERAL">addstr()</tt> is used to put a
+ character string into a given window. This function is
+ similar to calling <tt class="LITERAL">addch()</tt> once
+ for each character in a given string. This is true for all
+ output functions. There are other functions from this
+ family such as <tt class=
+ "LITERAL">mvaddstr(),mvwaddstr()</tt> and <tt class=
+ "LITERAL">waddstr()</tt>, which obey the naming convention
+ of curses.(e.g. mvaddstr() is similar to the respective
+ calls move() and then addstr().) Another function of this
+ family is addnstr(), which takes an integer parameter(say
+ n) additionally. This function puts at most n characters
+ into the screen. If n is negative, then the entire string
+ will be added.</p>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="SECT2">
+ <hr>
+
+ <h3 class="SECT2"><a name="ACAUTION" id="ACAUTION">6.5. A
+ word of caution</a></h3>
+
+ <p>All these functions take y co-ordinate first and then x
+ in their arguments. A common mistake by beginners is to
+ pass x,y in that order. If you are doing too many
+ manipulations of (y,x) co-ordinates, think of dividing the
+ screen into windows and manipulate each one separately.
+ Windows are explained in the <a href="#WINDOWS">windows</a>
+ section.</p>
+ </div>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="SECT1">
+ <hr>
+
+ <h2 class="SECT1"><a name="SCANW" id="SCANW">7. Input
+ functions</a></h2>
+
+ <p>Well, printing without taking input, is boring. Let's see
+ functions which allow us to get input from user. These
+ functions also can be divided into three categories.</p>
+
+ <ol type="1">
+ <li>
+ <p>getch() class: Get a character</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>scanw() class: Get formatted input</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>getstr() class: Get strings</p>
+ </li>
+ </ol>
+
+ <div class="SECT2">
+ <hr>
+
+ <h3 class="SECT2"><a name="GETCHCLASS" id="GETCHCLASS">7.1.
+ getch() class of functions</a></h3>
+
+ <p>These functions read a single character from the
+ terminal. But there are several subtle facts to consider.
+ For example if you don't use the function cbreak(), curses
+ will not read your input characters contiguously but will
+ begin read them only after a new line or an EOF is
+ encountered. In order to avoid this, the cbreak() function
+ must used so that characters are immediately available to
+ your program. Another widely used function is noecho(). As
+ the name suggests, when this function is set (used), the
+ characters that are keyed in by the user will not show up
+ on the screen. The two functions cbreak() and noecho() are
+ typical examples of key management. Functions of this genre
+ are explained in the <a href="#KEYS">key management
+ section</a> .</p>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="SECT2">
+ <hr>
+
+ <h3 class="SECT2"><a name="SCANWCLASS" id="SCANWCLASS">7.2.
+ scanw() class of functions</a></h3>
+
+ <p>These functions are similar to <tt class=
+ "LITERAL">scanf()</tt> with the added capability of getting
+ the input from any location on the screen.</p>
+
+ <div class="SECT3">
+ <hr>
+
+ <h4 class="SECT3"><a name="SCANWMVSCANW" id=
+ "SCANWMVSCANW">7.2.1. scanw() and mvscanw</a></h4>
+
+ <p>The usage of these functions is similar to that of
+ <tt class="LITERAL">sscanf()</tt>, where the line to be
+ scanned is provided by <tt class="LITERAL">wgetstr()</tt>
+ function. That is, these functions call to <tt class=
+ "LITERAL">wgetstr()</tt> function(explained below) and
+ uses the resulting line for a scan.</p>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="SECT3">
+ <hr>
+
+ <h4 class="SECT3"><a name="WSCANWMVWSCANW" id=
+ "WSCANWMVWSCANW">7.2.2. wscanw() and mvwscanw()</a></h4>
+
+ <p>These are similar to above two functions except that
+ they read from a window, which is supplied as one of the
+ arguments to these functions.</p>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="SECT3">
+ <hr>
+
+ <h4 class="SECT3"><a name="VWSCANW" id="VWSCANW">7.2.3.
+ vw_scanw()</a></h4>
+
+ <p>This function is similar to <tt class=
+ "LITERAL">vscanf()</tt>. This can be used when a variable
+ number of arguments are to be scanned.</p>
+ </div>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="SECT2">
+ <hr>
+
+ <h3 class="SECT2"><a name="GETSTRCLASS" id=
+ "GETSTRCLASS">7.3. getstr() class of functions</a></h3>
+
+ <p>These functions are used to get strings from the
+ terminal. In essence, this function performs the same task
+ as would be achieved by a series of calls to <tt class=
+ "LITERAL">getch()</tt> until a newline, carriage return, or
+ end-of-file is received. The resulting string of characters
+ are pointed to by <tt class="LITERAL">str</tt>, which is a
+ character pointer provided by the user.</p>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="SECT2">
+ <hr>
+
+ <h3 class="SECT2"><a name="GETSTREX" id="GETSTREX">7.4.
+ Some examples</a></h3>
+
+ <div class="EXAMPLE">
+ <a name="BSCEX" id="BSCEX"></a>
+
+ <p><b>Example 4. A Simple scanw example</b></p>
+ <pre class="PROGRAMLISTING">
+<span class=
"INLINEMEDIAOBJECT">#include <ncurses.h> /* ncurses.h includes stdio.h */
#include <string.h>
endwin();
return 0;
-}</span></font>
-</pre></td>
-</tr>
-</table>
-</div>
-</div>
-</div>
-<div class="SECT1">
-<hr>
-<h2 class="SECT1"><a name="ATTRIB" id="ATTRIB">8.
-Attributes</a></h2>
-<p>We have seen an example of how attributes can be used to print
-characters with some special effects. Attributes, when set
-prudently, can present information in an easy, understandable
-manner. The following program takes a C file as input and prints
-the file with comments in bold. Scan through the code.</p>
-<div class="EXAMPLE"><a name="BSIAT" id="BSIAT"></a>
-<p><b>Example 5. A Simple Attributes example</b></p>
-<table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="100%">
-<tr>
-<td>
-<pre class="PROGRAMLISTING">
-<font color="#000000"><span class=
+}</span>
+</pre>
+ </div>
+ </div>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="SECT1">
+ <hr>
+
+ <h2 class="SECT1"><a name="ATTRIB" id="ATTRIB">8.
+ Attributes</a></h2>
+
+ <p>We have seen an example of how attributes can be used to
+ print characters with some special effects. Attributes, when
+ set prudently, can present information in an easy,
+ understandable manner. The following program takes a C file
+ as input and prints the file with comments in bold. Scan
+ through the code.</p>
+
+ <div class="EXAMPLE">
+ <a name="BSIAT" id="BSIAT"></a>
+
+ <p><b>Example 5. A Simple Attributes example</b></p>
+ <pre class="PROGRAMLISTING">
+<span class=
"INLINEMEDIAOBJECT">/* pager functionality by Joseph Spainhour" <spainhou@bellsouth.net> */
#include <ncurses.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
endwin(); /* End curses mode */
fclose(fp);
return 0;
-}</span></font>
-</pre></td>
-</tr>
-</table>
-</div>
-<p>Don't worry about all those initialization and other crap.
-Concentrate on the while loop. It reads each character in the file
-and searches for the pattern /*. Once it spots the pattern, it
-switches the BOLD attribute on with <var class=
-"LITERAL">attron()</var> . When we get the pattern */ it is
-switched off by <var class="LITERAL">attroff()</var> .</p>
-<p>The above program also introduces us to two useful functions
-<var class="LITERAL">getyx()</var> and <var class=
-"LITERAL">move()</var>. The first function gets the co-ordinates of
-the present cursor into the variables y, x. Since getyx() is a
-macro we don't have to pass pointers to variables. The function
-<var class="LITERAL">move()</var> moves the cursor to the
-co-ordinates given to it.</p>
-<p>The above program is really a simple one which doesn't do much.
-On these lines one could write a more useful program which reads a
-C file, parses it and prints it in different colors. One could even
-extend it to other languages as well.</p>
-<div class="SECT2">
-<hr>
-<h3 class="SECT2"><a name="ATTRIBDETAILS" id="ATTRIBDETAILS">8.1.
-The details</a></h3>
-<p>Let's get into more details of attributes. The functions
-<var class="LITERAL">attron(), attroff(), attrset()</var> , and
-their sister functions <var class="LITERAL">attr_get()</var> etc..
-can be used to switch attributes on/off , get attributes and
-produce a colorful display.</p>
-<p>The functions attron and attroff take a bit-mask of attributes
-and switch them on or off, respectively. The following video
-attributes, which are defined in <curses.h> can be passed to
-these functions.</p>
-<table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="100%">
-<tr>
-<td>
-<pre class="PROGRAMLISTING">
-<font color="#000000">
+}</span>
+</pre>
+ </div>
+
+ <p>Don't worry about all those initialization and other crap.
+ Concentrate on the while loop. It reads each character in the
+ file and searches for the pattern /*. Once it spots the
+ pattern, it switches the BOLD attribute on with <tt class=
+ "LITERAL">attron()</tt> . When we get the pattern */ it is
+ switched off by <tt class="LITERAL">attroff()</tt> .</p>
+
+ <p>The above program also introduces us to two useful
+ functions <tt class="LITERAL">getyx()</tt> and <tt class=
+ "LITERAL">move()</tt>. The first function gets the
+ co-ordinates of the present cursor into the variables y, x.
+ Since getyx() is a macro we don't have to pass pointers to
+ variables. The function <tt class="LITERAL">move()</tt> moves
+ the cursor to the co-ordinates given to it.</p>
+
+ <p>The above program is really a simple one which doesn't do
+ much. On these lines one could write a more useful program
+ which reads a C file, parses it and prints it in different
+ colors. One could even extend it to other languages as
+ well.</p>
+
+ <div class="SECT2">
+ <hr>
+
+ <h3 class="SECT2"><a name="ATTRIBDETAILS" id=
+ "ATTRIBDETAILS">8.1. The details</a></h3>
+
+ <p>Let's get into more details of attributes. The functions
+ <tt class="LITERAL">attron(), attroff(), attrset()</tt> ,
+ and their sister functions <tt class=
+ "LITERAL">attr_get()</tt> etc.. can be used to switch
+ attributes on/off , get attributes and produce a colorful
+ display.</p>
+
+ <p>The functions attron and attroff take a bit-mask of
+ attributes and switch them on or off, respectively. The
+ following video attributes, which are defined in
+ <curses.h> can be passed to these functions.</p>
+ <pre class="PROGRAMLISTING">
+
A_NORMAL Normal display (no highlight)
A_STANDOUT Best highlighting mode of the terminal.
A_UNDERLINE Underlining
A_ALTCHARSET Alternate character set
A_CHARTEXT Bit-mask to extract a character
COLOR_PAIR(n) Color-pair number n
- </font>
-</pre></td>
-</tr>
-</table>
-<p>The last one is the most colorful one :-) Colors are explained
-in the <a href="#color" target="_top">next sections</a>.</p>
-<p>We can OR(|) any number of above attributes to get a combined
-effect. If you wanted reverse video with blinking characters you
-can use</p>
-<table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="100%">
-<tr>
-<td>
-<pre class="PROGRAMLISTING">
-<font color="#000000"> attron(A_REVERSE | A_BLINK);</font>
-</pre></td>
-</tr>
-</table>
-</div>
-<div class="SECT2">
-<hr>
-<h3 class="SECT2"><a name="ATTRONVSATTRSET" id=
-"ATTRONVSATTRSET">8.2. attron() vs attrset()</a></h3>
-<p>Then what is the difference between attron() and attrset()?
-attrset sets the attributes of window whereas attron just switches
-on the attribute given to it. So attrset() fully overrides whatever
-attributes the window previously had and sets it to the new
-attribute(s). Similarly attroff() just switches off the
-attribute(s) given to it as an argument. This gives us the
-flexibility of managing attributes easily.But if you use them
-carelessly you may loose track of what attributes the window has
-and garble the display. This is especially true while managing
-menus with colors and highlighting. So decide on a consistent
-policy and stick to it. You can always use <var class=
-"LITERAL">standend()</var> which is equivalent to <var class=
-"LITERAL">attrset(A_NORMAL)</var> which turns off all attributes
-and brings you to normal mode.</p>
-</div>
-<div class="SECT2">
-<hr>
-<h3 class="SECT2"><a name="ATTR_GET" id="ATTR_GET">8.3.
-attr_get()</a></h3>
-<p>The function attr_get() gets the current attributes and color
-pair of the window. Though we might not use this as often as the
-above functions, this is useful in scanning areas of screen. Say we
-wanted to do some complex update on screen and we are not sure what
-attribute each character is associated with. Then this function can
-be used with either attrset or attron to produce the desired
-effect.</p>
-</div>
-<div class="SECT2">
-<hr>
-<h3 class="SECT2"><a name="ATTR_FUNCS" id="ATTR_FUNCS">8.4. attr_
-functions</a></h3>
-<p>There are series of functions like attr_set(), attr_on etc..
-These are similar to above functions except that they take
-parameters of type <var class="LITERAL">attr_t</var>.</p>
-</div>
-<div class="SECT2">
-<hr>
-<h3 class="SECT2"><a name="WATTRFUNCS" id="WATTRFUNCS">8.5. wattr
-functions</a></h3>
-<p>For each of the above functions we have a corresponding function
-with 'w' which operates on a particular window. The above functions
-operate on stdscr.</p>
-</div>
-<div class="SECT2">
-<hr>
-<h3 class="SECT2"><a name="CHGAT" id="CHGAT">8.6. chgat()
-functions</a></h3>
-<p>The function chgat() is listed in the end of the man page
-curs_attr. It actually is a useful one. This function can be used
-to set attributes for a group of characters without moving. I mean
-it !!! without moving the cursor :-) It changes the attributes of a
-given number of characters starting at the current cursor
-location.</p>
-<p>We can give -1 as the character count to update till end of
-line. If you want to change attributes of characters from current
-position to end of line, just use this.</p>
-<table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="100%">
-<tr>
-<td>
-<pre class="PROGRAMLISTING">
-<font color="#000000"> chgat(-1, A_REVERSE, 0, NULL);</font>
-</pre></td>
-</tr>
-</table>
-<p>This function is useful when changing attributes for characters
-that are already on the screen. Move to the character from which
-you want to change and change the attribute.</p>
-<p>Other functions wchgat(), mvchgat(), wchgat() behave similarly
-except that the w functions operate on the particular window. The
-mv functions first move the cursor then perform the work given to
-them. Actually chgat is a macro which is replaced by a wchgat()
-with stdscr as the window. Most of the "w-less" functions are
-macros.</p>
-<div class="EXAMPLE"><a name="BWICH" id="BWICH"></a>
-<p><b>Example 6. Chgat() Usage example</b></p>
-<table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="100%">
-<tr>
-<td>
-<pre class="PROGRAMLISTING">
-<font color="#000000"><span class=
-"INLINEMEDIAOBJECT">#include <ncurses.h>
+
+</pre>
+
+ <p>The last one is the most colorful one :-) Colors are
+ explained in the <a href="#color" target="_top">next
+ sections</a>.</p>
+
+ <p>We can OR(|) any number of above attributes to get a
+ combined effect. If you wanted reverse video with blinking
+ characters you can use</p>
+ <pre class="PROGRAMLISTING">
+ attron(A_REVERSE | A_BLINK);
+</pre>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="SECT2">
+ <hr>
+
+ <h3 class="SECT2"><a name="ATTRONVSATTRSET" id=
+ "ATTRONVSATTRSET">8.2. attron() vs attrset()</a></h3>
+
+ <p>Then what is the difference between attron() and
+ attrset()? attrset sets the attributes of window whereas
+ attron just switches on the attribute given to it. So
+ attrset() fully overrides whatever attributes the window
+ previously had and sets it to the new attribute(s).
+ Similarly attroff() just switches off the attribute(s)
+ given to it as an argument. This gives us the flexibility
+ of managing attributes easily.But if you use them
+ carelessly you may loose track of what attributes the
+ window has and garble the display. This is especially true
+ while managing menus with colors and highlighting. So
+ decide on a consistent policy and stick to it. You can
+ always use <tt class="LITERAL">standend()</tt> which is
+ equivalent to <tt class="LITERAL">attrset(A_NORMAL)</tt>
+ which turns off all attributes and brings you to normal
+ mode.</p>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="SECT2">
+ <hr>
+
+ <h3 class="SECT2"><a name="ATTRGET" id="ATTRGET">8.3.
+ attr_get()</a></h3>
+
+ <p>The function attr_get() gets the current attributes and
+ color pair of the window. Though we might not use this as
+ often as the above functions, this is useful in scanning
+ areas of screen. Say we wanted to do some complex update on
+ screen and we are not sure what attribute each character is
+ associated with. Then this function can be used with either
+ attrset or attron to produce the desired effect.</p>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="SECT2">
+ <hr>
+
+ <h3 class="SECT2"><a name="ATTRFUNCS" id="ATTRFUNCS">8.4.
+ attr_ functions</a></h3>
+
+ <p>There are series of functions like attr_set(), attr_on
+ etc.. These are similar to above functions except that they
+ take parameters of type <tt class=
+ "LITERAL">attr_t</tt>.</p>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="SECT2">
+ <hr>
+
+ <h3 class="SECT2"><a name="WATTRFUNCS" id="WATTRFUNCS">8.5.
+ wattr functions</a></h3>
+
+ <p>For each of the above functions we have a corresponding
+ function with 'w' which operates on a particular window.
+ The above functions operate on stdscr.</p>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="SECT2">
+ <hr>
+
+ <h3 class="SECT2"><a name="CHGAT" id="CHGAT">8.6. chgat()
+ functions</a></h3>
+
+ <p>The function chgat() is listed in the end of the man
+ page curs_attr. It actually is a useful one. This function
+ can be used to set attributes for a group of characters
+ without moving. I mean it !!! without moving the cursor :-)
+ It changes the attributes of a given number of characters
+ starting at the current cursor location.</p>
+
+ <p>We can give -1 as the character count to update till end
+ of line. If you want to change attributes of characters
+ from current position to end of line, just use this.</p>
+ <pre class="PROGRAMLISTING">
+ chgat(-1, A_REVERSE, 0, NULL);
+</pre>
+
+ <p>This function is useful when changing attributes for
+ characters that are already on the screen. Move to the
+ character from which you want to change and change the
+ attribute.</p>
+
+ <p>Other functions wchgat(), mvchgat(), wchgat() behave
+ similarly except that the w functions operate on the
+ particular window. The mv functions first move the cursor
+ then perform the work given to them. Actually chgat is a
+ macro which is replaced by a wchgat() with stdscr as the
+ window. Most of the "w-less" functions are macros.</p>
+
+ <div class="EXAMPLE">
+ <a name="BWICH" id="BWICH"></a>
+
+ <p><b>Example 6. Chgat() Usage example</b></p>
+ <pre class="PROGRAMLISTING">
+<span class="INLINEMEDIAOBJECT">#include <ncurses.h>
int main(int argc, char *argv[])
{ initscr(); /* Start curses mode */
getch();
endwin(); /* End curses mode */
return 0;
-}</span></font>
-</pre></td>
-</tr>
-</table>
-</div>
-<p>This example also introduces us to the color world of curses.
-Colors will be explained in detail later. Use 0 for no color.</p>
-</div>
-</div>
-<div class="SECT1">
-<hr>
-<h2 class="SECT1"><a name="WINDOWS" id="WINDOWS">9.
-Windows</a></h2>
-<p>Windows form the most important concept in curses. You have seen
-the standard window stdscr above where all the functions implicitly
-operated on this window. Now to make design even a simplest GUI,
-you need to resort to windows. The main reason you may want to use
-windows is to manipulate parts of the screen separately, for better
-efficiency, by updating only the windows that need to be changed
-and for a better design. I would say the last reason is the most
-important in going for windows. You should always strive for a
-better and easy-to-manage design in your programs. If you are
-writing big, complex GUIs this is of pivotal importance before you
-start doing anything.</p>
-<div class="SECT2">
-<hr>
-<h3 class="SECT2"><a name="WINDOWBASICS" id="WINDOWBASICS">9.1. The
-basics</a></h3>
-<p>A Window can be created by calling the function <var class=
-"LITERAL">newwin()</var>. It doesn't create any thing on the screen
-actually. It allocates memory for a structure to manipulate the
-window and updates the structure with data regarding the window
-like it's size, beginy, beginx etc.. Hence in curses, a window is
-just an abstraction of an imaginary window, which can be
-manipulated independent of other parts of screen. The function
-newwin() returns a pointer to structure WINDOW, which can be passed
-to window related functions like wprintw() etc.. Finally the window
-can be destroyed with delwin(). It will deallocate the memory
-associated with the window structure.</p>
-</div>
-<div class="SECT2">
-<hr>
-<h3 class="SECT2"><a name="LETBEWINDOW" id="LETBEWINDOW">9.2. Let
-there be a Window !!!</a></h3>
-<p>What fun is it, if a window is created and we can't see it. So
-the fun part begins by displaying the window. The function
-<var class="LITERAL">box()</var> can be used to draw a border
-around the window. Let's explore these functions in more detail in
-this example.</p>
-<div class="EXAMPLE"><a name="BWIBO" id="BWIBO"></a>
-<p><b>Example 7. Window Border example</b></p>
-<table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="100%">
-<tr>
-<td>
-<pre class="PROGRAMLISTING">
-<font color="#000000"><span class=
-"INLINEMEDIAOBJECT">#include <ncurses.h>
+}</span>
+</pre>
+ </div>
+
+ <p>This example also introduces us to the color world of
+ curses. Colors will be explained in detail later. Use 0 for
+ no color.</p>
+ </div>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="SECT1">
+ <hr>
+
+ <h2 class="SECT1"><a name="WINDOWS" id="WINDOWS">9.
+ Windows</a></h2>
+
+ <p>Windows form the most important concept in curses. You
+ have seen the standard window stdscr above where all the
+ functions implicitly operated on this window. Now to make
+ design even a simplest GUI, you need to resort to windows.
+ The main reason you may want to use windows is to manipulate
+ parts of the screen separately, for better efficiency, by
+ updating only the windows that need to be changed and for a
+ better design. I would say the last reason is the most
+ important in going for windows. You should always strive for
+ a better and easy-to-manage design in your programs. If you
+ are writing big, complex GUIs this is of pivotal importance
+ before you start doing anything.</p>
+
+ <div class="SECT2">
+ <hr>
+
+ <h3 class="SECT2"><a name="WINDOWBASICS" id=
+ "WINDOWBASICS">9.1. The basics</a></h3>
+
+ <p>A Window can be created by calling the function
+ <tt class="LITERAL">newwin()</tt>. It doesn't create any
+ thing on the screen actually. It allocates memory for a
+ structure to manipulate the window and updates the
+ structure with data regarding the window like it's size,
+ beginy, beginx etc.. Hence in curses, a window is just an
+ abstraction of an imaginary window, which can be
+ manipulated independent of other parts of screen. The
+ function newwin() returns a pointer to structure WINDOW,
+ which can be passed to window related functions like
+ wprintw() etc.. Finally the window can be destroyed with
+ delwin(). It will deallocate the memory associated with the
+ window structure.</p>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="SECT2">
+ <hr>
+
+ <h3 class="SECT2"><a name="LETBEWINDOW" id=
+ "LETBEWINDOW">9.2. Let there be a Window !!!</a></h3>
+
+ <p>What fun is it, if a window is created and we can't see
+ it. So the fun part begins by displaying the window. The
+ function <tt class="LITERAL">box()</tt> can be used to draw
+ a border around the window. Let's explore these functions
+ in more detail in this example.</p>
+
+ <div class="EXAMPLE">
+ <a name="BWIBO" id="BWIBO"></a>
+
+ <p><b>Example 7. Window Border example</b></p>
+ <pre class="PROGRAMLISTING">
+<span class="INLINEMEDIAOBJECT">#include <ncurses.h>
WINDOW *create_newwin(int height, int width, int starty, int startx);
*/
wrefresh(local_win);
delwin(local_win);
-}</span></font>
-</pre></td>
-</tr>
-</table>
-</div>
-</div>
-<div class="SECT2">
-<hr>
-<h3 class="SECT2"><a name="BORDEREXEXPL" id="BORDEREXEXPL">9.3.
-Explanation</a></h3>
-<p>Don't scream. I know it's a big example. But I have to explain
-some important things here :-). This program creates a rectangular
-window that can be moved with left, right, up, down arrow keys. It
-repeatedly creates and destroys windows as user press a key. Don't
-go beyond the screen limits. Checking for those limits is left as
-an exercise for the reader. Let's dissect it by line by line.</p>
-<p>The <var class="LITERAL">create_newwin()</var> function creates
-a window with <var class="LITERAL">newwin()</var> and displays a
-border around it with box. The function <var class=
-"LITERAL">destroy_win()</var> first erases the window from screen
-by painting a border with ' ' character and then calling
-<var class="LITERAL">delwin()</var> to deallocate memory related to
-it. Depending on the key the user presses, starty or startx is
-changed and a new window is created.</p>
-<p>In the destroy_win, as you can see, I used wborder instead of
-box. The reason is written in the comments (You missed it. I know.
-Read the code :-)). wborder draws a border around the window with
-the characters given to it as the 4 corner points and the 4 lines.
-To put it clearly, if you have called wborder as below:</p>
-<table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="100%">
-<tr>
-<td>
-<pre class="PROGRAMLISTING">
-<font color=
-"#000000"> wborder(win, '|', '|', '-', '-', '+', '+', '+', '+');</font>
-</pre></td>
-</tr>
-</table>
-<p>it produces some thing like</p>
-<table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="100%">
-<tr>
-<td>
-<pre class="PROGRAMLISTING">
-<font color="#000000"> +------------+
+}</span>
+</pre>
+ </div>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="SECT2">
+ <hr>
+
+ <h3 class="SECT2"><a name="BORDEREXEXPL" id=
+ "BORDEREXEXPL">9.3. Explanation</a></h3>
+
+ <p>Don't scream. I know it's a big example. But I have to
+ explain some important things here :-). This program
+ creates a rectangular window that can be moved with left,
+ right, up, down arrow keys. It repeatedly creates and
+ destroys windows as user press a key. Don't go beyond the
+ screen limits. Checking for those limits is left as an
+ exercise for the reader. Let's dissect it by line by
+ line.</p>
+
+ <p>The <tt class="LITERAL">create_newwin()</tt> function
+ creates a window with <tt class="LITERAL">newwin()</tt> and
+ displays a border around it with box. The function
+ <tt class="LITERAL">destroy_win()</tt> first erases the
+ window from screen by painting a border with ' ' character
+ and then calling <tt class="LITERAL">delwin()</tt> to
+ deallocate memory related to it. Depending on the key the
+ user presses, starty or startx is changed and a new window
+ is created.</p>
+
+ <p>In the destroy_win, as you can see, I used wborder
+ instead of box. The reason is written in the comments (You
+ missed it. I know. Read the code :-)). wborder draws a
+ border around the window with the characters given to it as
+ the 4 corner points and the 4 lines. To put it clearly, if
+ you have called wborder as below:</p>
+ <pre class="PROGRAMLISTING">
+ wborder(win, '|', '|', '-', '-', '+', '+', '+', '+');
+</pre>
+
+ <p>it produces some thing like</p>
+ <pre class="PROGRAMLISTING">
+ +------------+
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
- +------------+</font>
-</pre></td>
-</tr>
-</table>
-</div>
-<div class="SECT2">
-<hr>
-<h3 class="SECT2"><a name="OTHERSTUFF" id="OTHERSTUFF">9.4. The
-other stuff in the example</a></h3>
-<p>You can also see in the above examples, that I have used the
-variables COLS, LINES which are initialized to the screen sizes
-after initscr(). They can be useful in finding screen dimensions
-and finding the center co-ordinate of the screen as above. The
-function <var class="LITERAL">getch()</var> as usual gets the key
-from keyboard and according to the key it does the corresponding
-work. This type of switch- case is very common in any GUI based
-programs.</p>
-</div>
-<div class="SECT2">
-<hr>
-<h3 class="SECT2"><a name="OTHERBORDERFUNCS" id=
-"OTHERBORDERFUNCS">9.5. Other Border functions</a></h3>
-<p>Above program is grossly inefficient in that with each press of
-a key, a window is destroyed and another is created. So let's write
-a more efficient program which uses other border related
-functions.</p>
-<p>The following program uses <var class="LITERAL">mvhline()</var>
-and <var class="LITERAL">mvvline()</var> to achieve similar effect.
-These two functions are simple. They create a horizontal or
-vertical line of the specified length at the specified
-position.</p>
-<div class="EXAMPLE"><a name="BOTBO" id="BOTBO"></a>
-<p><b>Example 8. More border functions</b></p>
-<table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="100%">
-<tr>
-<td>
-<pre class="PROGRAMLISTING">
-<font color="#000000"><span class=
-"INLINEMEDIAOBJECT">#include <ncurses.h>
+ +------------+
+</pre>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="SECT2">
+ <hr>
+
+ <h3 class="SECT2"><a name="OTHERSTUFF" id="OTHERSTUFF">9.4.
+ The other stuff in the example</a></h3>
+
+ <p>You can also see in the above examples, that I have used
+ the variables COLS, LINES which are initialized to the
+ screen sizes after initscr(). They can be useful in finding
+ screen dimensions and finding the center co-ordinate of the
+ screen as above. The function <tt class=
+ "LITERAL">getch()</tt> as usual gets the key from keyboard
+ and according to the key it does the corresponding work.
+ This type of switch- case is very common in any GUI based
+ programs.</p>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="SECT2">
+ <hr>
+
+ <h3 class="SECT2"><a name="OTHERBORDERFUNCS" id=
+ "OTHERBORDERFUNCS">9.5. Other Border functions</a></h3>
+
+ <p>Above program is grossly inefficient in that with each
+ press of a key, a window is destroyed and another is
+ created. So let's write a more efficient program which uses
+ other border related functions.</p>
+
+ <p>The following program uses <tt class=
+ "LITERAL">mvhline()</tt> and <tt class=
+ "LITERAL">mvvline()</tt> to achieve similar effect. These
+ two functions are simple. They create a horizontal or
+ vertical line of the specified length at the specified
+ position.</p>
+
+ <div class="EXAMPLE">
+ <a name="BOTBO" id="BOTBO"></a>
+
+ <p><b>Example 8. More border functions</b></p>
+ <pre class="PROGRAMLISTING">
+<span class="INLINEMEDIAOBJECT">#include <ncurses.h>
typedef struct _win_border_struct {
chtype ls, rs, ts, bs,
refresh();
-}</span></font>
-</pre></td>
-</tr>
-</table>
-</div>
-</div>
-</div>
-<div class="SECT1">
-<hr>
-<h2 class="SECT1"><a name="COLOR" id="COLOR">10. Colors</a></h2>
-<div class="SECT2">
-<h3 class="SECT2"><a name="COLORBASICS" id="COLORBASICS">10.1. The
-basics</a></h3>
-<p>Life seems dull with no colors. Curses has a nice mechanism to
-handle colors. Let's get into the thick of the things with a small
-program.</p>
-<div class="EXAMPLE"><a name="BSICO" id="BSICO"></a>
-<p><b>Example 9. A Simple Color example</b></p>
-<table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="100%">
-<tr>
-<td>
-<pre class="PROGRAMLISTING">
-<font color="#000000"><span class=
-"INLINEMEDIAOBJECT">#include <ncurses.h>
+}</span>
+</pre>
+ </div>
+ </div>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="SECT1">
+ <hr>
+
+ <h2 class="SECT1"><a name="COLOR" id="COLOR">10.
+ Colors</a></h2>
+
+ <div class="SECT2">
+ <h3 class="SECT2"><a name="COLORBASICS" id=
+ "COLORBASICS">10.1. The basics</a></h3>
+
+ <p>Life seems dull with no colors. Curses has a nice
+ mechanism to handle colors. Let's get into the thick of the
+ things with a small program.</p>
+
+ <div class="EXAMPLE">
+ <a name="BSICO" id="BSICO"></a>
+
+ <p><b>Example 9. A Simple Color example</b></p>
+ <pre class="PROGRAMLISTING">
+<span class="INLINEMEDIAOBJECT">#include <ncurses.h>
void print_in_middle(WINDOW *win, int starty, int startx, int width, char *string);
int main(int argc, char *argv[])
mvwprintw(win, y, x, "%s", string);
refresh();
}
-</span></font>
-</pre></td>
-</tr>
-</table>
-</div>
-<p>As you can see, to start using color, you should first call the
-function <var class="LITERAL">start_color()</var>. After that, you
-can use color capabilities of your terminals using various
-functions. To find out whether a terminal has color capabilities or
-not, you can use <var class="LITERAL">has_colors()</var> function,
-which returns FALSE if the terminal does not support color.</p>
-<p>Curses initializes all the colors supported by terminal when
-start_color() is called. These can be accessed by the define
-constants like <var class="LITERAL">COLOR_BLACK</var> etc. Now to
-actually start using colors, you have to define pairs. Colors are
-always used in pairs. That means you have to use the function
-<var class="LITERAL">init_pair()</var> to define the foreground and
-background for the pair number you give. After that that pair
-number can be used as a normal attribute with <var class=
-"LITERAL">COLOR_PAIR()</var>function. This may seem to be
-cumbersome at first. But this elegant solution allows us to manage
-color pairs very easily. To appreciate it, you have to look into
-the the source code of "dialog", a utility for displaying dialog
-boxes from shell scripts. The developers have defined foreground
-and background combinations for all the colors they might need and
-initialized at the beginning. This makes it very easy to set
-attributes just by accessing a pair which we already have defined
-as a constant.</p>
-<p>The following colors are defined in <var class=
-"LITERAL">curses.h</var>. You can use these as parameters for
-various color functions.</p>
-<table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="100%">
-<tr>
-<td>
-<pre class="PROGRAMLISTING">
-<font color="#000000"> COLOR_BLACK 0
+</span>
+</pre>
+ </div>
+
+ <p>As you can see, to start using color, you should first
+ call the function <tt class="LITERAL">start_color()</tt>.
+ After that, you can use color capabilities of your
+ terminals using various functions. To find out whether a
+ terminal has color capabilities or not, you can use
+ <tt class="LITERAL">has_colors()</tt> function, which
+ returns FALSE if the terminal does not support color.</p>
+
+ <p>Curses initializes all the colors supported by terminal
+ when start_color() is called. These can be accessed by the
+ define constants like <tt class="LITERAL">COLOR_BLACK</tt>
+ etc. Now to actually start using colors, you have to define
+ pairs. Colors are always used in pairs. That means you have
+ to use the function <tt class="LITERAL">init_pair()</tt> to
+ define the foreground and background for the pair number
+ you give. After that that pair number can be used as a
+ normal attribute with <tt class=
+ "LITERAL">COLOR_PAIR()</tt>function. This may seem to be
+ cumbersome at first. But this elegant solution allows us to
+ manage color pairs very easily. To appreciate it, you have
+ to look into the the source code of "dialog", a utility for
+ displaying dialog boxes from shell scripts. The developers
+ have defined foreground and background combinations for all
+ the colors they might need and initialized at the
+ beginning. This makes it very easy to set attributes just
+ by accessing a pair which we already have defined as a
+ constant.</p>
+
+ <p>The following colors are defined in <tt class=
+ "LITERAL">curses.h</tt>. You can use these as parameters
+ for various color functions.</p>
+ <pre class="PROGRAMLISTING">
+ COLOR_BLACK 0
COLOR_RED 1
COLOR_GREEN 2
COLOR_YELLOW 3
COLOR_BLUE 4
COLOR_MAGENTA 5
COLOR_CYAN 6
- COLOR_WHITE 7</font>
-</pre></td>
-</tr>
-</table>
-</div>
-<div class="SECT2">
-<hr>
-<h3 class="SECT2"><a name="CHANGECOLORDEFS" id=
-"CHANGECOLORDEFS">10.2. Changing Color Definitions</a></h3>
-<p>The function <var class="LITERAL">init_color()</var>can be used
-to change the rgb values for the colors defined by curses
-initially. Say you wanted to lighten the intensity of red color by
-a minuscule. Then you can use this function as</p>
-<table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="100%">
-<tr>
-<td>
-<pre class="PROGRAMLISTING">
-<font color="#000000"> init_color(COLOR_RED, 700, 0, 0);
+ COLOR_WHITE 7
+</pre>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="SECT2">
+ <hr>
+
+ <h3 class="SECT2"><a name="CHANGECOLORDEFS" id=
+ "CHANGECOLORDEFS">10.2. Changing Color Definitions</a></h3>
+
+ <p>The function <tt class="LITERAL">init_color()</tt>can be
+ used to change the rgb values for the colors defined by
+ curses initially. Say you wanted to lighten the intensity
+ of red color by a minuscule. Then you can use this function
+ as</p>
+ <pre class="PROGRAMLISTING">
+ init_color(COLOR_RED, 700, 0, 0);
/* param 1 : color name
- * param 2, 3, 4 : rgb content min = 0, max = 1000 */</font>
-</pre></td>
-</tr>
-</table>
-<p>If your terminal cannot change the color definitions, the
-function returns ERR. The function <var class=
-"LITERAL">can_change_color()</var> can be used to find out whether
-the terminal has the capability of changing color content or not.
-The rgb content is scaled from 0 to 1000. Initially RED color is
-defined with content 1000(r), 0(g), 0(b).</p>
-</div>
-<div class="SECT2">
-<hr>
-<h3 class="SECT2"><a name="COLORCONTENT" id="COLORCONTENT">10.3.
-Color Content</a></h3>
-<p>The functions <var class="LITERAL">color_content()</var> and
-<var class="LITERAL">pair_content()</var> can be used to find the
-color content and foreground, background combination for the
-pair.</p>
-</div>
-</div>
-<div class="SECT1">
-<hr>
-<h2 class="SECT1"><a name="KEYS" id="KEYS">11. Interfacing with the
-key board</a></h2>
-<div class="SECT2">
-<h3 class="SECT2"><a name="KEYSBASICS" id="KEYSBASICS">11.1. The
-Basics</a></h3>
-<p>No GUI is complete without a strong user interface and to
-interact with the user, a curses program should be sensitive to key
-presses or the mouse actions done by the user. Let's deal with the
-keys first.</p>
-<p>As you have seen in almost all of the above examples, it's very
-easy to get key input from the user. A simple way of getting key
-presses is to use <var class="LITERAL">getch()</var> function. The
-cbreak mode should be enabled to read keys when you are interested
-in reading individual key hits rather than complete lines of text
-(which usually end with a carriage return). keypad should be
-enabled to get the Functions keys, arrow keys etc. See the
-initialization section for details.</p>
-<p><var class="LITERAL">getch()</var> returns an integer
-corresponding to the key pressed. If it is a normal character, the
-integer value will be equivalent to the character. Otherwise it
-returns a number which can be matched with the constants defined in
-<var class="LITERAL">curses.h</var>. For example if the user
-presses F1, the integer returned is 265. This can be checked using
-the macro KEY_F() defined in curses.h. This makes reading keys
-portable and easy to manage.</p>
-<p>For example, if you call getch() like this</p>
-<table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="100%">
-<tr>
-<td>
-<pre class="PROGRAMLISTING">
-<font color="#000000"> int ch;
-
- ch = getch();</font>
-</pre></td>
-</tr>
-</table>
-<p>getch() will wait for the user to press a key, (unless you
-specified a timeout) and when user presses a key, the corresponding
-integer is returned. Then you can check the value returned with the
-constants defined in curses.h to match against the keys you
-want.</p>
-<p>The following code piece will do that job.</p>
-<table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="100%">
-<tr>
-<td>
-<pre class="PROGRAMLISTING">
-<font color="#000000"> if(ch == KEY_LEFT)
- printw("Left arrow is pressed\n");</font>
-</pre></td>
-</tr>
-</table>
-<p>Let's write a small program which creates a menu which can be
-navigated by up and down arrows.</p>
-</div>
-<div class="SECT2">
-<hr>
-<h3 class="SECT2"><a name="SIMPLEKEYEX" id="SIMPLEKEYEX">11.2. A
-Simple Key Usage example</a></h3>
-<div class="EXAMPLE"><a name="BSIKE" id="BSIKE"></a>
-<p><b>Example 10. A Simple Key Usage example</b></p>
-<table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="100%">
-<tr>
-<td>
-<pre class="PROGRAMLISTING">
-<font color="#000000"><span class=
-"INLINEMEDIAOBJECT">#include <stdio.h>
+ * param 2, 3, 4 : rgb content min = 0, max = 1000 */
+</pre>
+
+ <p>If your terminal cannot change the color definitions,
+ the function returns ERR. The function <tt class=
+ "LITERAL">can_change_color()</tt> can be used to find out
+ whether the terminal has the capability of changing color
+ content or not. The rgb content is scaled from 0 to 1000.
+ Initially RED color is defined with content 1000(r), 0(g),
+ 0(b).</p>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="SECT2">
+ <hr>
+
+ <h3 class="SECT2"><a name="COLORCONTENT" id=
+ "COLORCONTENT">10.3. Color Content</a></h3>
+
+ <p>The functions <tt class="LITERAL">color_content()</tt>
+ and <tt class="LITERAL">pair_content()</tt> can be used to
+ find the color content and foreground, background
+ combination for the pair.</p>
+ </div>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="SECT1">
+ <hr>
+
+ <h2 class="SECT1"><a name="KEYS" id="KEYS">11. Interfacing
+ with the key board</a></h2>
+
+ <div class="SECT2">
+ <h3 class="SECT2"><a name="KEYSBASICS" id=
+ "KEYSBASICS">11.1. The Basics</a></h3>
+
+ <p>No GUI is complete without a strong user interface and
+ to interact with the user, a curses program should be
+ sensitive to key presses or the mouse actions done by the
+ user. Let's deal with the keys first.</p>
+
+ <p>As you have seen in almost all of the above examples,
+ it's very easy to get key input from the user. A simple way
+ of getting key presses is to use <tt class=
+ "LITERAL">getch()</tt> function. The cbreak mode should be
+ enabled to read keys when you are interested in reading
+ individual key hits rather than complete lines of text
+ (which usually end with a carriage return). keypad should
+ be enabled to get the Functions keys, arrow keys etc. See
+ the initialization section for details.</p>
+
+ <p><tt class="LITERAL">getch()</tt> returns an integer
+ corresponding to the key pressed. If it is a normal
+ character, the integer value will be equivalent to the
+ character. Otherwise it returns a number which can be
+ matched with the constants defined in <tt class=
+ "LITERAL">curses.h</tt>. For example if the user presses
+ F1, the integer returned is 265. This can be checked using
+ the macro KEY_F() defined in curses.h. This makes reading
+ keys portable and easy to manage.</p>
+
+ <p>For example, if you call getch() like this</p>
+ <pre class="PROGRAMLISTING">
+ int ch;
+
+ ch = getch();
+</pre>
+
+ <p>getch() will wait for the user to press a key, (unless
+ you specified a timeout) and when user presses a key, the
+ corresponding integer is returned. Then you can check the
+ value returned with the constants defined in curses.h to
+ match against the keys you want.</p>
+
+ <p>The following code piece will do that job.</p>
+ <pre class="PROGRAMLISTING">
+ if(ch == KEY_LEFT)
+ printw("Left arrow is pressed\n");
+</pre>
+
+ <p>Let's write a small program which creates a menu which
+ can be navigated by up and down arrows.</p>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="SECT2">
+ <hr>
+
+ <h3 class="SECT2"><a name="SIMPLEKEYEX" id=
+ "SIMPLEKEYEX">11.2. A Simple Key Usage example</a></h3>
+
+ <div class="EXAMPLE">
+ <a name="BSIKE" id="BSIKE"></a>
+
+ <p><b>Example 10. A Simple Key Usage example</b></p>
+ <pre class="PROGRAMLISTING">
+<span class="INLINEMEDIAOBJECT">#include <stdio.h>
#include <ncurses.h>
#define WIDTH 30
}
wrefresh(menu_win);
}
-</span></font>
-</pre></td>
-</tr>
-</table>
-</div>
-</div>
-</div>
-<div class="SECT1">
-<hr>
-<h2 class="SECT1"><a name="MOUSE" id="MOUSE">12. Interfacing with
-the mouse</a></h2>
-<p>Now that you have seen how to get keys, lets do the same thing
-from mouse. Usually each UI allows the user to interact with both
-keyboard and mouse.</p>
-<div class="SECT2">
-<hr>
-<h3 class="SECT2"><a name="MOUSEBASICS" id="MOUSEBASICS">12.1. The
-Basics</a></h3>
-<p>Before you do any thing else, the events you want to receive
-have to be enabled with <var class="LITERAL">mousemask()</var>.</p>
-<table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="100%">
-<tr>
-<td>
-<pre class="PROGRAMLISTING">
-<font color=
-"#000000"> mousemask( mmask_t newmask, /* The events you want to listen to */
- mmask_t *oldmask) /* The old events mask */</font>
-</pre></td>
-</tr>
-</table>
-<p>The first parameter to above function is a bit mask of events
-you would like to listen. By default, all the events are turned
-off. The bit mask <var class="LITERAL">ALL_MOUSE_EVENTS</var> can
-be used to get all the events.</p>
-<p>The following are all the event masks:</p>
-<table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="100%">
-<tr>
-<td>
-<pre class="PROGRAMLISTING">
-<font color="#000000"> Name Description
+</span>
+</pre>
+ </div>
+ </div>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="SECT1">
+ <hr>
+
+ <h2 class="SECT1"><a name="MOUSE" id="MOUSE">12. Interfacing
+ with the mouse</a></h2>
+
+ <p>Now that you have seen how to get keys, lets do the same
+ thing from mouse. Usually each UI allows the user to interact
+ with both keyboard and mouse.</p>
+
+ <div class="SECT2">
+ <hr>
+
+ <h3 class="SECT2"><a name="MOUSEBASICS" id=
+ "MOUSEBASICS">12.1. The Basics</a></h3>
+
+ <p>Before you do any thing else, the events you want to
+ receive have to be enabled with <tt class=
+ "LITERAL">mousemask()</tt>.</p>
+ <pre class="PROGRAMLISTING">
+ mousemask( mmask_t newmask, /* The events you want to listen to */
+ mmask_t *oldmask) /* The old events mask */
+</pre>
+
+ <p>The first parameter to above function is a bit mask of
+ events you would like to listen. By default, all the events
+ are turned off. The bit mask <tt class=
+ "LITERAL">ALL_MOUSE_EVENTS</tt> can be used to get all the
+ events.</p>
+
+ <p>The following are all the event masks:</p>
+ <pre class="PROGRAMLISTING">
+ Name Description
---------------------------------------------------------------------
BUTTON1_PRESSED mouse button 1 down
BUTTON1_RELEASED mouse button 1 up
BUTTON_CTRL control was down during button state change
BUTTON_ALT alt was down during button state change
ALL_MOUSE_EVENTS report all button state changes
- REPORT_MOUSE_POSITION report mouse movement</font>
-</pre></td>
-</tr>
-</table>
-</div>
-<div class="SECT2">
-<hr>
-<h3 class="SECT2"><a name="GETTINGEVENTS" id="GETTINGEVENTS">12.2.
-Getting the events</a></h3>
-<p>Once a class of mouse events have been enabled, getch() class of
-functions return KEY_MOUSE every time some mouse event happens.
-Then the mouse event can be retrieved with <var class=
-"LITERAL">getmouse()</var>.</p>
-<p>The code approximately looks like this:</p>
-<table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="100%">
-<tr>
-<td>
-<pre class="PROGRAMLISTING">
-<font color="#000000"> MEVENT event;
+ REPORT_MOUSE_POSITION report mouse movement
+</pre>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="SECT2">
+ <hr>
+
+ <h3 class="SECT2"><a name="GETTINGEVENTS" id=
+ "GETTINGEVENTS">12.2. Getting the events</a></h3>
+
+ <p>Once a class of mouse events have been enabled, getch()
+ class of functions return KEY_MOUSE every time some mouse
+ event happens. Then the mouse event can be retrieved with
+ <tt class="LITERAL">getmouse()</tt>.</p>
+
+ <p>The code approximately looks like this:</p>
+ <pre class="PROGRAMLISTING">
+ MEVENT event;
ch = getch();
if(ch == KEY_MOUSE)
if(getmouse(&event) == OK)
. /* Do some thing with the event */
.
- .</font>
-</pre></td>
-</tr>
-</table>
-<p>getmouse() returns the event into the pointer given to it. It's
-a structure which contains</p>
-<table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="100%">
-<tr>
-<td>
-<pre class="PROGRAMLISTING">
-<font color="#000000"> typedef struct
+ .
+</pre>
+
+ <p>getmouse() returns the event into the pointer given to
+ it. It's a structure which contains</p>
+ <pre class="PROGRAMLISTING">
+ typedef struct
{
short id; /* ID to distinguish multiple devices */
int x, y, z; /* event coordinates */
mmask_t bstate; /* button state bits */
- } </font>
-</pre></td>
-</tr>
-</table>
-<p>The <var class="LITERAL">bstate</var> is the main variable we
-are interested in. It tells the button state of the mouse.</p>
-<p>Then with a code snippet like the following, we can find out
-what happened.</p>
-<table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="100%">
-<tr>
-<td>
-<pre class="PROGRAMLISTING">
-<font color="#000000"> if(event.bstate & BUTTON1_PRESSED)
- printw("Left Button Pressed");</font>
-</pre></td>
-</tr>
-</table>
-</div>
-<div class="SECT2">
-<hr>
-<h3 class="SECT2"><a name="MOUSETOGETHER" id="MOUSETOGETHER">12.3.
-Putting it all Together</a></h3>
-<p>That's pretty much interfacing with mouse. Let's create the same
-menu and enable mouse interaction. To make things simpler, key
-handling is removed.</p>
-<div class="EXAMPLE"><a name="BMOME" id="BMOME"></a>
-<p><b>Example 11. Access the menu with mouse !!!</b></p>
-<table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="100%">
-<tr>
-<td>
-<pre class="PROGRAMLISTING">
-<font color="#000000"><span class=
-"INLINEMEDIAOBJECT">#include <ncurses.h>
+ }
+</pre>
+
+ <p>The <tt class="LITERAL">bstate</tt> is the main variable
+ we are interested in. It tells the button state of the
+ mouse.</p>
+
+ <p>Then with a code snippet like the following, we can find
+ out what happened.</p>
+ <pre class="PROGRAMLISTING">
+ if(event.bstate & BUTTON1_PRESSED)
+ printw("Left Button Pressed");
+</pre>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="SECT2">
+ <hr>
+
+ <h3 class="SECT2"><a name="MOUSETOGETHER" id=
+ "MOUSETOGETHER">12.3. Putting it all Together</a></h3>
+
+ <p>That's pretty much interfacing with mouse. Let's create
+ the same menu and enable mouse interaction. To make things
+ simpler, key handling is removed.</p>
+
+ <div class="EXAMPLE">
+ <a name="BMOME" id="BMOME"></a>
+
+ <p><b>Example 11. Access the menu with mouse !!!</b></p>
+ <pre class="PROGRAMLISTING">
+<span class="INLINEMEDIAOBJECT">#include <ncurses.h>
#define WIDTH 30
#define HEIGHT 10
*p_choice = choice + 1;
break;
}
-}</span></font>
-</pre></td>
-</tr>
-</table>
-</div>
-</div>
-<div class="SECT2">
-<hr>
-<h3 class="SECT2"><a name="MISCMOUSEFUNCS" id=
-"MISCMOUSEFUNCS">12.4. Miscellaneous Functions</a></h3>
-<p>The functions mouse_trafo() and wmouse_trafo() can be used to
-convert to mouse co-ordinates to screen relative co-ordinates. See
-curs_mouse(3X) man page for details.</p>
-<p>The mouseinterval function sets the maximum time (in thousands
-of a second) that can elapse between press and release events in
-order for them to be recognized as a click. This function returns
-the previous interval value. The default is one fifth of a
-second.</p>
-</div>
-</div>
-<div class="SECT1">
-<hr>
-<h2 class="SECT1"><a name="SCREEN" id="SCREEN">13. Screen
-Manipulation</a></h2>
-<p>In this section, we will look into some functions, which allow
-us to manage the screen efficiently and to write some fancy
-programs. This is especially important in writing games.</p>
-<div class="SECT2">
-<hr>
-<h3 class="SECT2"><a name="GETYX" id="GETYX">13.1. getyx()
-functions</a></h3>
-<p>The function <var class="LITERAL">getyx()</var> can be used to
-find out the present cursor co-ordinates. It will fill the values
-of x and y co-ordinates in the arguments given to it. Since getyx()
-is a macro you don't have to pass the address of the variables. It
-can be called as</p>
-<table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="100%">
-<tr>
-<td>
-<pre class="PROGRAMLISTING">
-<font color="#000000"> getyx(win, y, x);
+}</span>
+</pre>
+ </div>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="SECT2">
+ <hr>
+
+ <h3 class="SECT2"><a name="MISCMOUSEFUNCS" id=
+ "MISCMOUSEFUNCS">12.4. Miscellaneous Functions</a></h3>
+
+ <p>The functions mouse_trafo() and wmouse_trafo() can be
+ used to convert to mouse co-ordinates to screen relative
+ co-ordinates. See curs_mouse(3X) man page for details.</p>
+
+ <p>The mouseinterval function sets the maximum time (in
+ thousands of a second) that can elapse between press and
+ release events in order for them to be recognized as a
+ click. This function returns the previous interval value.
+ The default is one fifth of a second.</p>
+ </div>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="SECT1">
+ <hr>
+
+ <h2 class="SECT1"><a name="SCREEN" id="SCREEN">13. Screen
+ Manipulation</a></h2>
+
+ <p>In this section, we will look into some functions, which
+ allow us to manage the screen efficiently and to write some
+ fancy programs. This is especially important in writing
+ games.</p>
+
+ <div class="SECT2">
+ <hr>
+
+ <h3 class="SECT2"><a name="GETYX" id="GETYX">13.1. getyx()
+ functions</a></h3>
+
+ <p>The function <tt class="LITERAL">getyx()</tt> can be
+ used to find out the present cursor co-ordinates. It will
+ fill the values of x and y co-ordinates in the arguments
+ given to it. Since getyx() is a macro you don't have to
+ pass the address of the variables. It can be called as</p>
+ <pre class="PROGRAMLISTING">
+ getyx(win, y, x);
/* win: window pointer
* y, x: y, x co-ordinates will be put into this variables
- */</font>
-</pre></td>
-</tr>
-</table>
-<p>The function getparyx() gets the beginning co-ordinates of the
-sub window relative to the main window. This is some times useful
-to update a sub window. When designing fancy stuff like writing
-multiple menus, it becomes difficult to store the menu positions,
-their first option co-ordinates etc. A simple solution to this
-problem, is to create menus in sub windows and later find the
-starting co-ordinates of the menus by using getparyx().</p>
-<p>The functions getbegyx() and getmaxyx() store current window's
-beginning and maximum co-ordinates. These functions are useful in
-the same way as above in managing the windows and sub windows
-effectively.</p>
-</div>
-<div class="SECT2">
-<hr>
-<h3 class="SECT2"><a name="SCREENDUMP" id="SCREENDUMP">13.2. Screen
-Dumping</a></h3>
-<p>While writing games, some times it becomes necessary to store
-the state of the screen and restore it back to the same state. The
-function scr_dump() can be used to dump the screen contents to a
-file given as an argument. Later it can be restored by scr_restore
-function. These two simple functions can be used effectively to
-maintain a fast moving game with changing scenarios.</p>
-</div>
-<div class="SECT2">
-<hr>
-<h3 class="SECT2"><a name="WINDOWDUMP" id="WINDOWDUMP">13.3. Window
-Dumping</a></h3>
-<p>To store and restore windows, the functions <var class=
-"LITERAL">putwin()</var> and <var class="LITERAL">getwin()</var>
-can be used. <var class="LITERAL">putwin()</var> puts the present
-window state into a file, which can be later restored by
-<var class="LITERAL">getwin()</var>.</p>
-<p>The function <var class="LITERAL">copywin()</var> can be used to
-copy a window completely onto another window. It takes the source
-and destination windows as parameters and according to the
-rectangle specified, it copies the rectangular region from source
-to destination window. It's last parameter specifies whether to
-overwrite or just overlay the contents on to the destination
-window. If this argument is true, then the copying is
-non-destructive.</p>
-</div>
-</div>
-<div class="SECT1">
-<hr>
-<h2 class="SECT1"><a name="MISC" id="MISC">14. Miscellaneous
-features</a></h2>
-<p>Now you know enough features to write a good curses program,
-with all bells and whistles. There are some miscellaneous functions
-which are useful in various cases. Let's go headlong into some of
-those.</p>
-<div class="SECT2">
-<hr>
-<h3 class="SECT2"><a name="CURSSET" id="CURSSET">14.1.
-curs_set()</a></h3>
-<p>This function can be used to make the cursor invisible. The
-parameter to this function should be</p>
-<table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="100%">
-<tr>
-<td>
-<pre class="PROGRAMLISTING">
-<font color="#000000"> 0 : invisible or
+ */
+</pre>
+
+ <p>The function getparyx() gets the beginning co-ordinates
+ of the sub window relative to the main window. This is some
+ times useful to update a sub window. When designing fancy
+ stuff like writing multiple menus, it becomes difficult to
+ store the menu positions, their first option co-ordinates
+ etc. A simple solution to this problem, is to create menus
+ in sub windows and later find the starting co-ordinates of
+ the menus by using getparyx().</p>
+
+ <p>The functions getbegyx() and getmaxyx() store current
+ window's beginning and maximum co-ordinates. These
+ functions are useful in the same way as above in managing
+ the windows and sub windows effectively.</p>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="SECT2">
+ <hr>
+
+ <h3 class="SECT2"><a name="SCREENDUMP" id=
+ "SCREENDUMP">13.2. Screen Dumping</a></h3>
+
+ <p>While writing games, some times it becomes necessary to
+ store the state of the screen and restore it back to the
+ same state. The function scr_dump() can be used to dump the
+ screen contents to a file given as an argument. Later it
+ can be restored by scr_restore function. These two simple
+ functions can be used effectively to maintain a fast moving
+ game with changing scenarios.</p>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="SECT2">
+ <hr>
+
+ <h3 class="SECT2"><a name="WINDOWDUMP" id=
+ "WINDOWDUMP">13.3. Window Dumping</a></h3>
+
+ <p>To store and restore windows, the functions <tt class=
+ "LITERAL">putwin()</tt> and <tt class=
+ "LITERAL">getwin()</tt> can be used. <tt class=
+ "LITERAL">putwin()</tt> puts the present window state into
+ a file, which can be later restored by <tt class=
+ "LITERAL">getwin()</tt>.</p>
+
+ <p>The function <tt class="LITERAL">copywin()</tt> can be
+ used to copy a window completely onto another window. It
+ takes the source and destination windows as parameters and
+ according to the rectangle specified, it copies the
+ rectangular region from source to destination window. It's
+ last parameter specifies whether to overwrite or just
+ overlay the contents on to the destination window. If this
+ argument is true, then the copying is non-destructive.</p>
+ </div>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="SECT1">
+ <hr>
+
+ <h2 class="SECT1"><a name="MISC" id="MISC">14. Miscellaneous
+ features</a></h2>
+
+ <p>Now you know enough features to write a good curses
+ program, with all bells and whistles. There are some
+ miscellaneous functions which are useful in various cases.
+ Let's go headlong into some of those.</p>
+
+ <div class="SECT2">
+ <hr>
+
+ <h3 class="SECT2"><a name="CURSSET" id="CURSSET">14.1.
+ curs_set()</a></h3>
+
+ <p>This function can be used to make the cursor invisible.
+ The parameter to this function should be</p>
+ <pre class="PROGRAMLISTING">
+ 0 : invisible or
1 : normal or
- 2 : very visible.</font>
-</pre></td>
-</tr>
-</table>
-</div>
-<div class="SECT2">
-<hr>
-<h3 class="SECT2"><a name="TEMPLEAVE" id="TEMPLEAVE">14.2.
-Temporarily Leaving Curses mode</a></h3>
-<p>Some times you may want to get back to cooked mode (normal line
-buffering mode) temporarily. In such a case you will first need to
-save the tty modes with a call to <var class=
-"LITERAL">def_prog_mode()</var> and then call <var class=
-"LITERAL">endwin()</var> to end the curses mode. This will leave
-you in the original tty mode. To get back to curses once you are
-done, call <var class="LITERAL">reset_prog_mode()</var> . This
-function returns the tty to the state stored by <var class=
-"LITERAL">def_prog_mode()</var>. Then do refresh(), and you are
-back to the curses mode. Here is an example showing the sequence of
-things to be done.</p>
-<div class="EXAMPLE"><a name="BTELE" id="BTELE"></a>
-<p><b>Example 12. Temporarily Leaving Curses Mode</b></p>
-<table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="100%">
-<tr>
-<td>
-<pre class="PROGRAMLISTING">
-<font color="#000000"><span class=
-"INLINEMEDIAOBJECT">#include <ncurses.h>
+ 2 : very visible.
+</pre>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="SECT2">
+ <hr>
+
+ <h3 class="SECT2"><a name="TEMPLEAVE" id="TEMPLEAVE">14.2.
+ Temporarily Leaving Curses mode</a></h3>
+
+ <p>Some times you may want to get back to cooked mode
+ (normal line buffering mode) temporarily. In such a case
+ you will first need to save the tty modes with a call to
+ <tt class="LITERAL">def_prog_mode()</tt> and then call
+ <tt class="LITERAL">endwin()</tt> to end the curses mode.
+ This will leave you in the original tty mode. To get back
+ to curses once you are done, call <tt class=
+ "LITERAL">reset_prog_mode()</tt> . This function returns
+ the tty to the state stored by <tt class=
+ "LITERAL">def_prog_mode()</tt>. Then do refresh(), and you
+ are back to the curses mode. Here is an example showing the
+ sequence of things to be done.</p>
+
+ <div class="EXAMPLE">
+ <a name="BTELE" id="BTELE"></a>
+
+ <p><b>Example 12. Temporarily Leaving Curses Mode</b></p>
+ <pre class="PROGRAMLISTING">
+<span class="INLINEMEDIAOBJECT">#include <ncurses.h>
int main()
{
endwin(); /* End curses mode */
return 0;
-}</span></font>
-</pre></td>
-</tr>
-</table>
-</div>
-</div>
-<div class="SECT2">
-<hr>
-<h3 class="SECT2"><a name="ACSVARS" id="ACSVARS">14.3. ACS_
-variables</a></h3>
-<p>If you have ever programmed in DOS, you know about those nifty
-characters in extended character set. They are printable only on
-some terminals. NCURSES functions like <var class=
-"LITERAL">box()</var> use these characters. All these variables
-start with ACS meaning alternative character set. You might have
-noticed me using these characters in some of the programs above.
-Here's an example showing all the characters.</p>
-<div class="EXAMPLE"><a name="BACSVARS" id="BACSVARS"></a>
-<p><b>Example 13. ACS Variables Example</b></p>
-<table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="100%">
-<tr>
-<td>
-<pre class="PROGRAMLISTING">
-<font color="#000000"><span class=
-"INLINEMEDIAOBJECT">#include <ncurses.h>
+}</span>
+</pre>
+ </div>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="SECT2">
+ <hr>
+
+ <h3 class="SECT2"><a name="ACSVARS" id="ACSVARS">14.3. ACS_
+ variables</a></h3>
+
+ <p>If you have ever programmed in DOS, you know about those
+ nifty characters in extended character set. They are
+ printable only on some terminals. NCURSES functions like
+ <tt class="LITERAL">box()</tt> use these characters. All
+ these variables start with ACS meaning alternative
+ character set. You might have noticed me using these
+ characters in some of the programs above. Here's an example
+ showing all the characters.</p>
+
+ <div class="EXAMPLE">
+ <a name="BACSVARS" id="BACSVARS"></a>
+
+ <p><b>Example 13. ACS Variables Example</b></p>
+ <pre class="PROGRAMLISTING">
+<span class="INLINEMEDIAOBJECT">#include <ncurses.h>
int main()
{
endwin();
return 0;
-}</span></font>
-</pre></td>
-</tr>
-</table>
-</div>
-</div>
-</div>
-<div class="SECT1">
-<hr>
-<h2 class="SECT1"><a name="OTHERLIB" id="OTHERLIB">15. Other
-libraries</a></h2>
-<p>Apart from the curses library, there are few text mode
-libraries, which provide more functionality and a lot of features.
-The following sections explain three standard libraries which are
-usually distributed along with curses.</p>
-</div>
-<div class="SECT1">
-<hr>
-<h2 class="SECT1"><a name="PANELS" id="PANELS">16. Panel
-Library</a></h2>
-<p>Now that you are proficient in curses, you wanted to do some
-thing big. You created a lot of overlapping windows to give a
-professional windows-type look. Unfortunately, it soon becomes
-difficult to manage these. The multiple refreshes, updates plunge
-you into a nightmare. The overlapping windows create blotches,
-whenever you forget to refresh the windows in the proper order.</p>
-<p>Don't despair. There's an elegant solution provided in panels
-library. In the words of developers of ncurses</p>
-<p><em>When your interface design is such that windows may dive
-deeper into the visibility stack or pop to the top at runtime, the
-resulting book-keeping can be tedious and difficult to get right.
-Hence the panels library.</em></p>
-<p>If you have lot of overlapping windows, then panels library is
-the way to go. It obviates the need of doing series of
-wnoutrefresh(), doupdate() and relieves the burden of doing it
-correctly(bottom up). The library maintains information about the
-order of windows, their overlapping and update the screen properly.
-So why wait? Let's take a close peek into panels.</p>
-<div class="SECT2">
-<hr>
-<h3 class="SECT2"><a name="PANELBASICS" id="PANELBASICS">16.1. The
-Basics</a></h3>
-<p>Panel object is a window that is implicitly treated as part of a
-deck including all other panel objects. The deck is treated as a
-stack with the top panel being completely visible and the other
-panels may or may not be obscured according to their positions. So
-the basic idea is to create a stack of overlapping panels and use
-panels library to display them correctly. There is a function
-similar to refresh() which, when called , displays panels in the
-correct order. Functions are provided to hide or show panels, move
-panels, change its size etc.. The overlapping problem is managed by
-the panels library during all the calls to these functions.</p>
-<p>The general flow of a panel program goes like this:</p>
-<ol type="1">
-<li>
-<p>Create the windows (with newwin()) to be attached to the
-panels.</p>
-</li>
-<li>
-<p>Create panels with the chosen visibility order. Stack them up
-according to the desired visibility. The function new_panel() is
-used to created panels.</p>
-</li>
-<li>
-<p>Call update_panels() to write the panels to the virtual screen
-in correct visibility order. Do a doupdate() to show it on the
-screen.</p>
-</li>
-<li>
-<p>Mainpulate the panels with show_panel(), hide_panel(),
-move_panel() etc. Make use of helper functions like panel_hidden()
-and panel_window(). Make use of user pointer to store custom data
-for a panel. Use the functions set_panel_userptr() and
-panel_userptr() to set and get the user pointer for a panel.</p>
-</li>
-<li>
-<p>When you are done with the panel use del_panel() to delete the
-panel.</p>
-</li>
-</ol>
-<p>Let's make the concepts clear, with some programs. The following
-is a simple program which creates 3 overlapping panels and shows
-them on the screen.</p>
-</div>
-<div class="SECT2">
-<hr>
-<h3 class="SECT2"><a name="COMPILEPANELS" id="COMPILEPANELS">16.2.
-Compiling With the Panels Library</a></h3>
-<p>To use panels library functions, you have to include panel.h and
-to link the program with panels library the flag -lpanel should be
-added along with -lncurses in that order.</p>
-<table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="100%">
-<tr>
-<td>
-<pre class="PROGRAMLISTING">
-<font color="#000000"> #include <panel.h>
+}</span>
+</pre>
+ </div>
+ </div>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="SECT1">
+ <hr>
+
+ <h2 class="SECT1"><a name="OTHERLIB" id="OTHERLIB">15. Other
+ libraries</a></h2>
+
+ <p>Apart from the curses library, there are few text mode
+ libraries, which provide more functionality and a lot of
+ features. The following sections explain three standard
+ libraries which are usually distributed along with
+ curses.</p>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="SECT1">
+ <hr>
+
+ <h2 class="SECT1"><a name="PANELS" id="PANELS">16. Panel
+ Library</a></h2>
+
+ <p>Now that you are proficient in curses, you wanted to do
+ some thing big. You created a lot of overlapping windows to
+ give a professional windows-type look. Unfortunately, it soon
+ becomes difficult to manage these. The multiple refreshes,
+ updates plunge you into a nightmare. The overlapping windows
+ create blotches, whenever you forget to refresh the windows
+ in the proper order.</p>
+
+ <p>Don't despair. There's an elegant solution provided in
+ panels library. In the words of developers of ncurses</p>
+
+ <p><span class="emphasis"><i class="EMPHASIS">When your
+ interface design is such that windows may dive deeper into
+ the visibility stack or pop to the top at runtime, the
+ resulting book-keeping can be tedious and difficult to get
+ right. Hence the panels library.</i></span></p>
+
+ <p>If you have lot of overlapping windows, then panels
+ library is the way to go. It obviates the need of doing
+ series of wnoutrefresh(), doupdate() and relieves the burden
+ of doing it correctly(bottom up). The library maintains
+ information about the order of windows, their overlapping and
+ update the screen properly. So why wait? Let's take a close
+ peek into panels.</p>
+
+ <div class="SECT2">
+ <hr>
+
+ <h3 class="SECT2"><a name="PANELBASICS" id=
+ "PANELBASICS">16.1. The Basics</a></h3>
+
+ <p>Panel object is a window that is implicitly treated as
+ part of a deck including all other panel objects. The deck
+ is treated as a stack with the top panel being completely
+ visible and the other panels may or may not be obscured
+ according to their positions. So the basic idea is to
+ create a stack of overlapping panels and use panels library
+ to display them correctly. There is a function similar to
+ refresh() which, when called , displays panels in the
+ correct order. Functions are provided to hide or show
+ panels, move panels, change its size etc.. The overlapping
+ problem is managed by the panels library during all the
+ calls to these functions.</p>
+
+ <p>The general flow of a panel program goes like this:</p>
+
+ <ol type="1">
+ <li>
+ <p>Create the windows (with newwin()) to be attached to
+ the panels.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>Create panels with the chosen visibility order.
+ Stack them up according to the desired visibility. The
+ function new_panel() is used to created panels.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>Call update_panels() to write the panels to the
+ virtual screen in correct visibility order. Do a
+ doupdate() to show it on the screen.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>Mainpulate the panels with show_panel(),
+ hide_panel(), move_panel() etc. Make use of helper
+ functions like panel_hidden() and panel_window(). Make
+ use of user pointer to store custom data for a panel.
+ Use the functions set_panel_userptr() and
+ panel_userptr() to set and get the user pointer for a
+ panel.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>When you are done with the panel use del_panel() to
+ delete the panel.</p>
+ </li>
+ </ol>
+
+ <p>Let's make the concepts clear, with some programs. The
+ following is a simple program which creates 3 overlapping
+ panels and shows them on the screen.</p>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="SECT2">
+ <hr>
+
+ <h3 class="SECT2"><a name="COMPILEPANELS" id=
+ "COMPILEPANELS">16.2. Compiling With the Panels
+ Library</a></h3>
+
+ <p>To use panels library functions, you have to include
+ panel.h and to link the program with panels library the
+ flag -lpanel should be added along with -lncurses in that
+ order.</p>
+ <pre class="PROGRAMLISTING">
+ #include <panel.h>
.
.
.
- compile and link: gcc <program file> -lpanel -lncurses</font>
-</pre></td>
-</tr>
-</table>
-<div class="EXAMPLE"><a name="PPASI" id="PPASI"></a>
-<p><b>Example 14. Panel basics</b></p>
-<table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="100%">
-<tr>
-<td>
-<pre class="PROGRAMLISTING">
-<font color="#000000"><span class=
-"INLINEMEDIAOBJECT">#include <panel.h>
+ compile and link: gcc <program file> -lpanel -lncurses
+</pre>
+
+ <div class="EXAMPLE">
+ <a name="PPASI" id="PPASI"></a>
+
+ <p><b>Example 14. Panel basics</b></p>
+ <pre class="PROGRAMLISTING">
+<span class="INLINEMEDIAOBJECT">#include <panel.h>
int main()
{ WINDOW *my_wins[3];
getch();
endwin();
}
-</span></font>
-</pre></td>
-</tr>
-</table>
-</div>
-<p>As you can see, above program follows a simple flow as
-explained. The windows are created with newwin() and then they are
-attached to panels with new_panel(). As we attach one panel after
-another, the stack of panels gets updated. To put them on screen
-update_panels() and doupdate() are called.</p>
-</div>
-<div class="SECT2">
-<hr>
-<h3 class="SECT2"><a name="PANELBROWSING" id="PANELBROWSING">16.3.
-Panel Window Browsing</a></h3>
-<p>A slightly complicated example is given below. This program
-creates 3 windows which can be cycled through using tab. Have a
-look at the code.</p>
-<div class="EXAMPLE"><a name="PPABR" id="PPABR"></a>
-<p><b>Example 15. Panel Window Browsing Example</b></p>
-<table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="100%">
-<tr>
-<td>
-<pre class="PROGRAMLISTING">
-<font color="#000000"><span class=
-"INLINEMEDIAOBJECT">#include <panel.h>
+</span>
+</pre>
+ </div>
+
+ <p>As you can see, above program follows a simple flow as
+ explained. The windows are created with newwin() and then
+ they are attached to panels with new_panel(). As we attach
+ one panel after another, the stack of panels gets updated.
+ To put them on screen update_panels() and doupdate() are
+ called.</p>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="SECT2">
+ <hr>
+
+ <h3 class="SECT2"><a name="PANELBROWSING" id=
+ "PANELBROWSING">16.3. Panel Window Browsing</a></h3>
+
+ <p>A slightly complicated example is given below. This
+ program creates 3 windows which can be cycled through using
+ tab. Have a look at the code.</p>
+
+ <div class="EXAMPLE">
+ <a name="PPABR" id="PPABR"></a>
+
+ <p><b>Example 15. Panel Window Browsing Example</b></p>
+ <pre class="PROGRAMLISTING">
+<span class="INLINEMEDIAOBJECT">#include <panel.h>
#define NLINES 10
#define NCOLS 40
mvwprintw(win, y, x, "%s", string);
wattroff(win, color);
refresh();
-}</span></font>
-</pre></td>
-</tr>
-</table>
-</div>
-</div>
-<div class="SECT2">
-<hr>
-<h3 class="SECT2"><a name="USERPTRUSING" id="USERPTRUSING">16.4.
-Using User Pointers</a></h3>
-<p>In the above example I used user pointers to find out the next
-window in the cycle. We can attach custom information to the panel
-by specifying a user pointer, which can point to any information
-you want to store. In this case I stored the pointer to the next
-panel in the cycle. User pointer for a panel can be set with the
-function <var class="LITERAL">set_panel_userptr()</var>. It can be
-accessed using the function <var class=
-"LITERAL">panel_userptr()</var> which will return the user pointer
-for the panel given as argument. After finding the next panel in
-the cycle It's brought to the top by the function top_panel(). This
-function brings the panel given as argument to the top of the panel
-stack.</p>
-</div>
-<div class="SECT2">
-<hr>
-<h3 class="SECT2"><a name="PANELMOVERESIZE" id=
-"PANELMOVERESIZE">16.5. Moving and Resizing Panels</a></h3>
-<p>The function <var class="LITERAL">move_panel()</var> can be used
-to move a panel to the desired location. It does not change the
-position of the panel in the stack. Make sure that you use
-move_panel() instead mvwin() on the window associated with the
-panel.</p>
-<p>Resizing a panel is slightly complex. There is no straight
-forward function just to resize the window associated with a panel.
-A solution to resize a panel is to create a new window with the
-desired sizes, change the window associated with the panel using
-replace_panel(). Don't forget to delete the old window. The window
-associated with a panel can be found by using the function
-panel_window().</p>
-<p>The following program shows these concepts, in supposedly simple
-program. You can cycle through the window with <TAB> as
-usual. To resize or move the active panel press 'r' for resize 'm'
-for moving. Then use arrow keys to resize or move it to the desired
-way and press enter to end your resizing or moving. This example
-makes use of user data to get the required data to do the
-operations.</p>
-<div class="EXAMPLE"><a name="PPARE" id="PPARE"></a>
-<p><b>Example 16. Panel Moving and Resizing example</b></p>
-<table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="100%">
-<tr>
-<td>
-<pre class="PROGRAMLISTING">
-<font color="#000000"><span class=
-"INLINEMEDIAOBJECT">#include <panel.h>
+}</span>
+</pre>
+ </div>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="SECT2">
+ <hr>
+
+ <h3 class="SECT2"><a name="USERPTRUSING" id=
+ "USERPTRUSING">16.4. Using User Pointers</a></h3>
+
+ <p>In the above example I used user pointers to find out
+ the next window in the cycle. We can attach custom
+ information to the panel by specifying a user pointer,
+ which can point to any information you want to store. In
+ this case I stored the pointer to the next panel in the
+ cycle. User pointer for a panel can be set with the
+ function <tt class="LITERAL">set_panel_userptr()</tt>. It
+ can be accessed using the function <tt class=
+ "LITERAL">panel_userptr()</tt> which will return the user
+ pointer for the panel given as argument. After finding the
+ next panel in the cycle It's brought to the top by the
+ function top_panel(). This function brings the panel given
+ as argument to the top of the panel stack.</p>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="SECT2">
+ <hr>
+
+ <h3 class="SECT2"><a name="PANELMOVERESIZE" id=
+ "PANELMOVERESIZE">16.5. Moving and Resizing Panels</a></h3>
+
+ <p>The function <tt class="LITERAL">move_panel()</tt> can
+ be used to move a panel to the desired location. It does
+ not change the position of the panel in the stack. Make
+ sure that you use move_panel() instead mvwin() on the
+ window associated with the panel.</p>
+
+ <p>Resizing a panel is slightly complex. There is no
+ straight forward function just to resize the window
+ associated with a panel. A solution to resize a panel is to
+ create a new window with the desired sizes, change the
+ window associated with the panel using replace_panel().
+ Don't forget to delete the old window. The window
+ associated with a panel can be found by using the function
+ panel_window().</p>
+
+ <p>The following program shows these concepts, in
+ supposedly simple program. You can cycle through the window
+ with <TAB> as usual. To resize or move the active
+ panel press 'r' for resize 'm' for moving. Then use arrow
+ keys to resize or move it to the desired way and press
+ enter to end your resizing or moving. This example makes
+ use of user data to get the required data to do the
+ operations.</p>
+
+ <div class="EXAMPLE">
+ <a name="PPARE" id="PPARE"></a>
+
+ <p><b>Example 16. Panel Moving and Resizing
+ example</b></p>
+ <pre class="PROGRAMLISTING">
+<span class="INLINEMEDIAOBJECT">#include <panel.h>
typedef struct _PANEL_DATA {
int x, y, w, h;
mvwprintw(win, y, x, "%s", string);
wattroff(win, color);
refresh();
-}</span></font>
-</pre></td>
-</tr>
-</table>
-</div>
-<p>Concentrate on the main while loop. Once it finds out the type
-of key pressed, it takes appropriate action. If 'r' is pressed
-resizing mode is started. After this the new sizes are updated as
-the user presses the arrow keys. When the user presses
-<ENTER> present selection ends and panel is resized by using
-the concept explained. While in resizing mode the program doesn't
-show how the window is getting resized. It's left as an exercise to
-the reader to print a dotted border while it gets resized to a new
-position.</p>
-<p>When the user presses 'm' the move mode starts. This is a bit
-simpler than resizing. As the arrow keys are pressed the new
-position is updated and pressing of <ENTER> causes the panel
-to be moved by calling the function move_panel().</p>
-<p>In this program the user data which is represented as
-PANEL_DATA, plays very important role in finding the associated
-information with a panel. As written in the comments, the
-PANEL_DATA stores the panel sizes, label, label color and a pointer
-to the next panel in the cycle.</p>
-</div>
-<div class="SECT2">
-<hr>
-<h3 class="SECT2"><a name="PANELSHOWHIDE" id="PANELSHOWHIDE">16.6.
-Hiding and Showing Panels</a></h3>
-<p>A Panel can be hidden by using the function hide_panel(). This
-function merely removes it form the stack of panels, thus hiding it
-on the screen once you do update_panels() and doupdate(). It
-doesn't destroy the PANEL structure associated with the hidden
-panel. It can be shown again by using the show_panel()
-function.</p>
-<p>The following program shows the hiding of panels. Press 'a' or
-'b' or 'c' to show or hide first, second and third windows
-respectively. It uses a user data with a small variable hide, which
-keeps track of whether the window is hidden or not. For some reason
-the function <var class="LITERAL">panel_hidden()</var> which tells
-whether a panel is hidden or not is not working. A bug report was
-also presented by Michael Andres <a href=
-"http://www.geocrawler.com/archives/3/344/1999/9/0/2643549/"
-target="_top">here</a></p>
-<div class="EXAMPLE"><a name="PPAHI" id="PPAHI"></a>
-<p><b>Example 17. Panel Hiding and Showing example</b></p>
-<table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="100%">
-<tr>
-<td>
-<pre class="PROGRAMLISTING">
-<font color="#000000"><span class=
-"INLINEMEDIAOBJECT">#include <panel.h>
+}</span>
+</pre>
+ </div>
+
+ <p>Concentrate on the main while loop. Once it finds out
+ the type of key pressed, it takes appropriate action. If
+ 'r' is pressed resizing mode is started. After this the new
+ sizes are updated as the user presses the arrow keys. When
+ the user presses <ENTER> present selection ends and
+ panel is resized by using the concept explained. While in
+ resizing mode the program doesn't show how the window is
+ getting resized. It's left as an exercise to the reader to
+ print a dotted border while it gets resized to a new
+ position.</p>
+
+ <p>When the user presses 'm' the move mode starts. This is
+ a bit simpler than resizing. As the arrow keys are pressed
+ the new position is updated and pressing of <ENTER>
+ causes the panel to be moved by calling the function
+ move_panel().</p>
+
+ <p>In this program the user data which is represented as
+ PANEL_DATA, plays very important role in finding the
+ associated information with a panel. As written in the
+ comments, the PANEL_DATA stores the panel sizes, label,
+ label color and a pointer to the next panel in the
+ cycle.</p>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="SECT2">
+ <hr>
+
+ <h3 class="SECT2"><a name="PANELSHOWHIDE" id=
+ "PANELSHOWHIDE">16.6. Hiding and Showing Panels</a></h3>
+
+ <p>A Panel can be hidden by using the function
+ hide_panel(). This function merely removes it form the
+ stack of panels, thus hiding it on the screen once you do
+ update_panels() and doupdate(). It doesn't destroy the
+ PANEL structure associated with the hidden panel. It can be
+ shown again by using the show_panel() function.</p>
+
+ <p>The following program shows the hiding of panels. Press
+ 'a' or 'b' or 'c' to show or hide first, second and third
+ windows respectively. It uses a user data with a small
+ variable hide, which keeps track of whether the window is
+ hidden or not. For some reason the function <tt class=
+ "LITERAL">panel_hidden()</tt> which tells whether a panel
+ is hidden or not is not working. A bug report was also
+ presented by Michael Andres <a href=
+ "http://www.geocrawler.com/archives/3/344/1999/9/0/2643549/"
+ target="_top">here</a></p>
+
+ <div class="EXAMPLE">
+ <a name="PPAHI" id="PPAHI"></a>
+
+ <p><b>Example 17. Panel Hiding and Showing
+ example</b></p>
+ <pre class="PROGRAMLISTING">
+<span class="INLINEMEDIAOBJECT">#include <panel.h>
typedef struct _PANEL_DATA {
int hide; /* TRUE if panel is hidden */
mvwprintw(win, y, x, "%s", string);
wattroff(win, color);
refresh();
-}</span></font>
-</pre></td>
-</tr>
-</table>
-</div>
-</div>
-<div class="SECT2">
-<hr>
-<h3 class="SECT2"><a name="PANELABOVE" id="PANELABOVE">16.7.
-panel_above() and panel_below() Functions</a></h3>
-<p>The functions <var class="LITERAL">panel_above()</var> and
-<var class="LITERAL">panel_below()</var> can be used to find out
-the panel above and below a panel. If the argument to these
-functions is NULL, then they return a pointer to bottom panel and
-top panel respectively.</p>
-</div>
-</div>
-<div class="SECT1">
-<hr>
-<h2 class="SECT1"><a name="MENUS" id="MENUS">17. Menus
-Library</a></h2>
-<p>The menus library provides a nice extension to basic curses,
-through which you can create menus. It provides a set of functions
-to create menus. But they have to be customized to give a nicer
-look, with colors etc. Let's get into the details.</p>
-<p>A menu is a screen display that assists the user to choose some
-subset of a given set of items. To put it simple, a menu is a
-collection of items from which one or more items can be chosen.
-Some readers might not be aware of multiple item selection
-capability. Menu library provides functionality to write menus from
-which the user can chose more than one item as the preferred
-choice. This is dealt with in a later section. Now it is time for
-some rudiments.</p>
-<div class="SECT2">
-<hr>
-<h3 class="SECT2"><a name="MENUBASICS" id="MENUBASICS">17.1. The
-Basics</a></h3>
-<p>To create menus, you first create items, and then post the menu
-to the display. After that, all the processing of user responses is
-done in an elegant function menu_driver() which is the work horse
-of any menu program.</p>
-<p>The general flow of control of a menu program looks like
-this.</p>
-<ol type="1">
-<li>
-<p>Initialize curses</p>
-</li>
-<li>
-<p>Create items using new_item(). You can specify a name and
-description for the items.</p>
-</li>
-<li>
-<p>Create the menu with new_menu() by specifying the items to be
-attached with.</p>
-</li>
-<li>
-<p>Post the menu with menu_post() and refresh the screen.</p>
-</li>
-<li>
-<p>Process the user requests with a loop and do necessary updates
-to menu with menu_driver.</p>
-</li>
-<li>
-<p>Unpost the menu with menu_unpost()</p>
-</li>
-<li>
-<p>Free the memory allocated to menu by free_menu()</p>
-</li>
-<li>
-<p>Free the memory allocated to the items with free_item()</p>
-</li>
-<li>
-<p>End curses</p>
-</li>
-</ol>
-<p>Let's see a program which prints a simple menu and updates the
-current selection with up, down arrows.</p>
-</div>
-<div class="SECT2">
-<hr>
-<h3 class="SECT2"><a name="COMPILEMENUS" id="COMPILEMENUS">17.2.
-Compiling With the Menu Library</a></h3>
-<p>To use menu library functions, you have to include menu.h and to
-link the program with menu library the flag -lmenu should be added
-along with -lncurses in that order.</p>
-<table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="100%">
-<tr>
-<td>
-<pre class="PROGRAMLISTING">
-<font color="#000000"> #include <menu.h>
+}</span>
+</pre>
+ </div>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="SECT2">
+ <hr>
+
+ <h3 class="SECT2"><a name="PANELABOVE" id=
+ "PANELABOVE">16.7. panel_above() and panel_below()
+ Functions</a></h3>
+
+ <p>The functions <tt class="LITERAL">panel_above()</tt> and
+ <tt class="LITERAL">panel_below()</tt> can be used to find
+ out the panel above and below a panel. If the argument to
+ these functions is NULL, then they return a pointer to
+ bottom panel and top panel respectively.</p>
+ </div>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="SECT1">
+ <hr>
+
+ <h2 class="SECT1"><a name="MENUS" id="MENUS">17. Menus
+ Library</a></h2>
+
+ <p>The menus library provides a nice extension to basic
+ curses, through which you can create menus. It provides a set
+ of functions to create menus. But they have to be customized
+ to give a nicer look, with colors etc. Let's get into the
+ details.</p>
+
+ <p>A menu is a screen display that assists the user to choose
+ some subset of a given set of items. To put it simple, a menu
+ is a collection of items from which one or more items can be
+ chosen. Some readers might not be aware of multiple item
+ selection capability. Menu library provides functionality to
+ write menus from which the user can chose more than one item
+ as the preferred choice. This is dealt with in a later
+ section. Now it is time for some rudiments.</p>
+
+ <div class="SECT2">
+ <hr>
+
+ <h3 class="SECT2"><a name="MENUBASICS" id=
+ "MENUBASICS">17.1. The Basics</a></h3>
+
+ <p>To create menus, you first create items, and then post
+ the menu to the display. After that, all the processing of
+ user responses is done in an elegant function menu_driver()
+ which is the work horse of any menu program.</p>
+
+ <p>The general flow of control of a menu program looks like
+ this.</p>
+
+ <ol type="1">
+ <li>
+ <p>Initialize curses</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>Create items using new_item(). You can specify a
+ name and description for the items.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>Create the menu with new_menu() by specifying the
+ items to be attached with.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>Post the menu with menu_post() and refresh the
+ screen.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>Process the user requests with a loop and do
+ necessary updates to menu with menu_driver.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>Unpost the menu with menu_unpost()</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>Free the memory allocated to menu by free_menu()</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>Free the memory allocated to the items with
+ free_item()</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>End curses</p>
+ </li>
+ </ol>
+
+ <p>Let's see a program which prints a simple menu and
+ updates the current selection with up, down arrows.</p>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="SECT2">
+ <hr>
+
+ <h3 class="SECT2"><a name="COMPILEMENUS" id=
+ "COMPILEMENUS">17.2. Compiling With the Menu
+ Library</a></h3>
+
+ <p>To use menu library functions, you have to include
+ menu.h and to link the program with menu library the flag
+ -lmenu should be added along with -lncurses in that
+ order.</p>
+ <pre class="PROGRAMLISTING">
+ #include <menu.h>
.
.
.
- compile and link: gcc <program file> -lmenu -lncurses</font>
-</pre></td>
-</tr>
-</table>
-<div class="EXAMPLE"><a name="MMESI" id="MMESI"></a>
-<p><b>Example 18. Menu Basics</b></p>
-<table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="100%">
-<tr>
-<td>
-<pre class="PROGRAMLISTING">
-<font color="#000000"><span class=
-"INLINEMEDIAOBJECT">#include <curses.h>
+ compile and link: gcc <program file> -lmenu -lncurses
+</pre>
+
+ <div class="EXAMPLE">
+ <a name="MMESI" id="MMESI"></a>
+
+ <p><b>Example 18. Menu Basics</b></p>
+ <pre class="PROGRAMLISTING">
+<span class="INLINEMEDIAOBJECT">#include <curses.h>
#include <menu.h>
#define ARRAY_SIZE(a) (sizeof(a) / sizeof(a[0]))
free_menu(my_menu);
endwin();
}
- </span></font>
-</pre></td>
-</tr>
-</table>
-</div>
-<p>This program demonstrates the basic concepts involved in
-creating a menu using menus library. First we create the items
-using new_item() and then attach them to the menu with new_menu()
-function. After posting the menu and refreshing the screen, the
-main processing loop starts. It reads user input and takes
-corresponding action. The function menu_driver() is the main work
-horse of the menu system. The second parameter to this function
-tells what's to be done with the menu. According to the parameter,
-menu_driver() does the corresponding task. The value can be either
-a menu navigational request, an ascii character, or a KEY_MOUSE
-special key associated with a mouse event.</p>
-<p>The menu_driver accepts following navigational requests.</p>
-<table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="100%">
-<tr>
-<td>
-<pre class="PROGRAMLISTING">
-<font color=
-"#000000"> REQ_LEFT_ITEM Move left to an item.
+ </span>
+</pre>
+ </div>
+
+ <p>This program demonstrates the basic concepts involved in
+ creating a menu using menus library. First we create the
+ items using new_item() and then attach them to the menu
+ with new_menu() function. After posting the menu and
+ refreshing the screen, the main processing loop starts. It
+ reads user input and takes corresponding action. The
+ function menu_driver() is the main work horse of the menu
+ system. The second parameter to this function tells what's
+ to be done with the menu. According to the parameter,
+ menu_driver() does the corresponding task. The value can be
+ either a menu navigational request, an ascii character, or
+ a KEY_MOUSE special key associated with a mouse event.</p>
+
+ <p>The menu_driver accepts following navigational
+ requests.</p>
+ <pre class="PROGRAMLISTING">
+ REQ_LEFT_ITEM Move left to an item.
REQ_RIGHT_ITEM Move right to an item.
REQ_UP_ITEM Move up to an item.
REQ_DOWN_ITEM Move down to an item.
REQ_CLEAR_PATTERN Clear the menu pattern buffer.
REQ_BACK_PATTERN Delete the previous character from the pattern buffer.
REQ_NEXT_MATCH Move to the next item matching the pattern match.
- REQ_PREV_MATCH Move to the previous item matching the pattern match. </font>
-</pre></td>
-</tr>
-</table>
-<p>Don't get overwhelmed by the number of options. We will see them
-slowly one after another. The options of interest in this example
-are REQ_UP_ITEM and REQ_DOWN_ITEM. These two options when passed to
-menu_driver, menu driver updates the current item to one item up or
-down respectively.</p>
-</div>
-<div class="SECT2">
-<hr>
-<h3 class="SECT2"><a name="MENUDRIVER" id="MENUDRIVER">17.3. Menu
-Driver: The work horse of the menu system</a></h3>
-<p>As you have seen in the above example, menu_driver plays an
-important role in updating the menu. It is very important to
-understand various options it takes and what they do. As explained
-above, the second parameter to menu_driver() can be either a
-navigational request, a printable character or a KEY_MOUSE key.
-Let's dissect the different navigational requests.</p>
-<ul>
-<li>
-<p><em>REQ_LEFT_ITEM and REQ_RIGHT_ITEM</em></p>
-<p>A Menu can be displayed with multiple columns for more than one
-item. This can be done by using the <var class=
-"LITERAL">menu_format()</var>function. When a multi columnar menu
-is displayed these requests cause the menu driver to move the
-current selection to left or right.</p>
-</li>
-<li>
-<p><em>REQ_UP_ITEM and REQ_DOWN_ITEM</em></p>
-<p>These two options you have seen in the above example. These
-options when given, makes the menu_driver to move the current
-selection to an item up or down.</p>
-</li>
-<li>
-<p><em>REQ_SCR_* options</em></p>
-<p>The four options REQ_SCR_ULINE, REQ_SCR_DLINE, REQ_SCR_DPAGE,
-REQ_SCR_UPAGE are related to scrolling. If all the items in the
-menu cannot be displayed in the menu sub window, then the menu is
-scrollable. These requests can be given to the menu_driver to do
-the scrolling either one line up, down or one page down or up
-respectively.</p>
-</li>
-<li>
-<p><em>REQ_FIRST_ITEM, REQ_LAST_ITEM, REQ_NEXT_ITEM and
-REQ_PREV_ITEM</em></p>
-<p>These requests are self explanatory.</p>
-</li>
-<li>
-<p><em>REQ_TOGGLE_ITEM</em></p>
-<p>This request when given, toggles the present selection. This
-option is to be used only in a multi valued menu. So to use this
-request the option O_ONEVALUE must be off. This option can be made
-off or on with set_menu_opts().</p>
-</li>
-<li>
-<p><em>Pattern Requests</em></p>
-<p>Every menu has an associated pattern buffer, which is used to
-find the nearest match to the ascii characters entered by the user.
-Whenever ascii characters are given to menu_driver, it puts in to
-the pattern buffer. It also tries to find the nearest match to the
-pattern in the items list and moves current selection to that item.
-The request REQ_CLEAR_PATTERN clears the pattern buffer. The
-request REQ_BACK_PATTERN deletes the previous character in the
-pattern buffer. In case the pattern matches more than one item then
-the matched items can be cycled through REQ_NEXT_MATCH and
-REQ_PREV_MATCH which move the current selection to the next and
-previous matches respectively.</p>
-</li>
-<li>
-<p><em>Mouse Requests</em></p>
-<p>In case of KEY_MOUSE requests, according to the mouse position
-an action is taken accordingly. The action to be taken is explained
-in the man page as,</p>
-<table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="90%">
-<tr>
-<td>
-<pre class="PROGRAMLISTING">
-<font color=
-"#000000"><em> If the second argument is the KEY_MOUSE special key, the
+ REQ_PREV_MATCH Move to the previous item matching the pattern match.
+</pre>
+
+ <p>Don't get overwhelmed by the number of options. We will
+ see them slowly one after another. The options of interest
+ in this example are REQ_UP_ITEM and REQ_DOWN_ITEM. These
+ two options when passed to menu_driver, menu driver updates
+ the current item to one item up or down respectively.</p>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="SECT2">
+ <hr>
+
+ <h3 class="SECT2"><a name="MENUDRIVER" id=
+ "MENUDRIVER">17.3. Menu Driver: The work horse of the menu
+ system</a></h3>
+
+ <p>As you have seen in the above example, menu_driver plays
+ an important role in updating the menu. It is very
+ important to understand various options it takes and what
+ they do. As explained above, the second parameter to
+ menu_driver() can be either a navigational request, a
+ printable character or a KEY_MOUSE key. Let's dissect the
+ different navigational requests.</p>
+
+ <ul>
+ <li>
+ <p><span class="emphasis"><i class=
+ "EMPHASIS">REQ_LEFT_ITEM and
+ REQ_RIGHT_ITEM</i></span></p>
+
+ <p>A Menu can be displayed with multiple columns for
+ more than one item. This can be done by using the
+ <tt class="LITERAL">menu_format()</tt>function. When a
+ multi columnar menu is displayed these requests cause
+ the menu driver to move the current selection to left
+ or right.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p><span class="emphasis"><i class=
+ "EMPHASIS">REQ_UP_ITEM and REQ_DOWN_ITEM</i></span></p>
+
+ <p>These two options you have seen in the above
+ example. These options when given, makes the
+ menu_driver to move the current selection to an item up
+ or down.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p><span class="emphasis"><i class="EMPHASIS">REQ_SCR_*
+ options</i></span></p>
+
+ <p>The four options REQ_SCR_ULINE, REQ_SCR_DLINE,
+ REQ_SCR_DPAGE, REQ_SCR_UPAGE are related to scrolling.
+ If all the items in the menu cannot be displayed in the
+ menu sub window, then the menu is scrollable. These
+ requests can be given to the menu_driver to do the
+ scrolling either one line up, down or one page down or
+ up respectively.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p><span class="emphasis"><i class=
+ "EMPHASIS">REQ_FIRST_ITEM, REQ_LAST_ITEM, REQ_NEXT_ITEM
+ and REQ_PREV_ITEM</i></span></p>
+
+ <p>These requests are self explanatory.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p><span class="emphasis"><i class=
+ "EMPHASIS">REQ_TOGGLE_ITEM</i></span></p>
+
+ <p>This request when given, toggles the present
+ selection. This option is to be used only in a multi
+ valued menu. So to use this request the option
+ O_ONEVALUE must be off. This option can be made off or
+ on with set_menu_opts().</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p><span class="emphasis"><i class="EMPHASIS">Pattern
+ Requests</i></span></p>
+
+ <p>Every menu has an associated pattern buffer, which
+ is used to find the nearest match to the ascii
+ characters entered by the user. Whenever ascii
+ characters are given to menu_driver, it puts in to the
+ pattern buffer. It also tries to find the nearest match
+ to the pattern in the items list and moves current
+ selection to that item. The request REQ_CLEAR_PATTERN
+ clears the pattern buffer. The request REQ_BACK_PATTERN
+ deletes the previous character in the pattern buffer.
+ In case the pattern matches more than one item then the
+ matched items can be cycled through REQ_NEXT_MATCH and
+ REQ_PREV_MATCH which move the current selection to the
+ next and previous matches respectively.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p><span class="emphasis"><i class="EMPHASIS">Mouse
+ Requests</i></span></p>
+
+ <p>In case of KEY_MOUSE requests, according to the
+ mouse position an action is taken accordingly. The
+ action to be taken is explained in the man page as,</p>
+ <pre class="PROGRAMLISTING">
+<span class="emphasis"><i class=
+"EMPHASIS"> If the second argument is the KEY_MOUSE special key, the
associated mouse event is translated into one of the above
pre-defined requests. Currently only clicks in the user
window (e.g. inside the menu display area or the decora­
generated, if you doubleclick a REQ_SCR_DPAGE is generated
and if you tripleclick a REQ_LAST_ITEM is generated. If
you click at an item inside the display area of the menu,
- the menu cursor is positioned to that item.</em></font>
-</pre></td>
-</tr>
-</table>
-</li>
-</ul>
-<p>Each of the above requests will be explained in the following
-lines with several examples whenever appropriate.</p>
-</div>
-<div class="SECT2">
-<hr>
-<h3 class="SECT2"><a name="MENUWINDOWS" id="MENUWINDOWS">17.4. Menu
-Windows</a></h3>
-<p>Every menu created is associated with a window and a sub window.
-The menu window displays any title or border associated with the
-menu. The menu sub window displays the menu items currently
-available for selection. But we didn't specify any window or sub
-window in the simple example. When a window is not specified,
-stdscr is taken as the main window, and then menu system calculates
-the sub window size required for the display of items. Then items
-are displayed in the calculated sub window. So let's play with
-these windows and display a menu with a border and a title.</p>
-<div class="EXAMPLE"><a name="MMEWI" id="MMEWI"></a>
-<p><b>Example 19. Menu Windows Usage example</b></p>
-<table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="100%">
-<tr>
-<td>
-<pre class="PROGRAMLISTING">
-<font color="#000000"><span class=
-"INLINEMEDIAOBJECT">#include <menu.h>
+ the menu cursor is positioned to that item.</i></span>
+</pre>
+ </li>
+ </ul>
+
+ <p>Each of the above requests will be explained in the
+ following lines with several examples whenever
+ appropriate.</p>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="SECT2">
+ <hr>
+
+ <h3 class="SECT2"><a name="MENUWINDOWS" id=
+ "MENUWINDOWS">17.4. Menu Windows</a></h3>
+
+ <p>Every menu created is associated with a window and a sub
+ window. The menu window displays any title or border
+ associated with the menu. The menu sub window displays the
+ menu items currently available for selection. But we didn't
+ specify any window or sub window in the simple example.
+ When a window is not specified, stdscr is taken as the main
+ window, and then menu system calculates the sub window size
+ required for the display of items. Then items are displayed
+ in the calculated sub window. So let's play with these
+ windows and display a menu with a border and a title.</p>
+
+ <div class="EXAMPLE">
+ <a name="MMEWI" id="MMEWI"></a>
+
+ <p><b>Example 19. Menu Windows Usage example</b></p>
+ <pre class="PROGRAMLISTING">
+<span class="INLINEMEDIAOBJECT">#include <menu.h>
#define ARRAY_SIZE(a) (sizeof(a) / sizeof(a[0]))
#define CTRLD 4
mvwprintw(win, y, x, "%s", string);
wattroff(win, color);
refresh();
-}</span></font>
-</pre></td>
-</tr>
-</table>
-</div>
-<p>This example creates a menu with a title, border, a fancy line
-separating title and the items. As you can see, in order to attach
-a window to a menu the function set_menu_win() has to be used. Then
-we attach the sub window also. This displays the items in the sub
-window. You can also set the mark string which gets displayed to
-the left of the selected item with set_menu_mark().</p>
-</div>
-<div class="SECT2">
-<hr>
-<h3 class="SECT2"><a name="SCROLLMENUS" id="SCROLLMENUS">17.5.
-Scrolling Menus</a></h3>
-<p>If the sub window given for a window is not big enough to show
-all the items, then the menu will be scrollable. When you are on
-the last item in the present list, if you send REQ_DOWN_ITEM, it
-gets translated into REQ_SCR_DLINE and the menu scrolls by one
-item. You can manually give REQ_SCR_ operations to do scrolling.
-Let's see how it can be done.</p>
-<div class="EXAMPLE"><a name="MMESC" id="MMESC"></a>
-<p><b>Example 20. Scrolling Menus example</b></p>
-<table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="100%">
-<tr>
-<td>
-<pre class="PROGRAMLISTING">
-<font color="#000000"><span class=
-"INLINEMEDIAOBJECT">#include <curses.h>
+}</span>
+</pre>
+ </div>
+
+ <p>This example creates a menu with a title, border, a
+ fancy line separating title and the items. As you can see,
+ in order to attach a window to a menu the function
+ set_menu_win() has to be used. Then we attach the sub
+ window also. This displays the items in the sub window. You
+ can also set the mark string which gets displayed to the
+ left of the selected item with set_menu_mark().</p>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="SECT2">
+ <hr>
+
+ <h3 class="SECT2"><a name="SCROLLMENUS" id=
+ "SCROLLMENUS">17.5. Scrolling Menus</a></h3>
+
+ <p>If the sub window given for a window is not big enough
+ to show all the items, then the menu will be scrollable.
+ When you are on the last item in the present list, if you
+ send REQ_DOWN_ITEM, it gets translated into REQ_SCR_DLINE
+ and the menu scrolls by one item. You can manually give
+ REQ_SCR_ operations to do scrolling. Let's see how it can
+ be done.</p>
+
+ <div class="EXAMPLE">
+ <a name="MMESC" id="MMESC"></a>
+
+ <p><b>Example 20. Scrolling Menus example</b></p>
+ <pre class="PROGRAMLISTING">
+<span class="INLINEMEDIAOBJECT">#include <curses.h>
#include <menu.h>
#define ARRAY_SIZE(a) (sizeof(a) / sizeof(a[0]))
mvwprintw(win, y, x, "%s", string);
wattroff(win, color);
refresh();
-}</span></font>
-</pre></td>
-</tr>
-</table>
-</div>
-<p>This program is self-explanatory. In this example the number of
-choices has been increased to ten, which is larger than our sub
-window size which can hold 6 items. This message has to be
-explicitly conveyed to the menu system with the function
-set_menu_format(). In here we specify the number of rows and
-columns we want to be displayed for a single page. We can specify
-any number of items to be shown, in the rows variables, if it is
-less than the height of the sub window. If the key pressed by the
-user is a PAGE UP or PAGE DOWN, the menu is scrolled a page due to
-the requests (REQ_SCR_DPAGE and REQ_SCR_UPAGE) given to
-menu_driver().</p>
-</div>
-<div class="SECT2">
-<hr>
-<h3 class="SECT2"><a name="MULTICOLUMN" id="MULTICOLUMN">17.6.
-Multi Columnar Menus</a></h3>
-<p>In the above example you have seen how to use the function
-set_menu_format(). I didn't mention what the cols variable (third
-parameter) does. Well, If your sub window is wide enough, you can
-opt to display more than one item per row. This can be specified in
-the cols variable. To make things simpler, the following example
-doesn't show descriptions for the items.</p>
-<div class="EXAMPLE"><a name="MMEMUCO" id="MMEMUCO"></a>
-<p><b>Example 21. Milt Columnar Menus Example</b></p>
-<table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="100%">
-<tr>
-<td>
-<pre class="PROGRAMLISTING">
-<font color="#000000"><span class=
-"INLINEMEDIAOBJECT">#include <curses.h>
+}</span>
+</pre>
+ </div>
+
+ <p>This program is self-explanatory. In this example the
+ number of choices has been increased to ten, which is
+ larger than our sub window size which can hold 6 items.
+ This message has to be explicitly conveyed to the menu
+ system with the function set_menu_format(). In here we
+ specify the number of rows and columns we want to be
+ displayed for a single page. We can specify any number of
+ items to be shown, in the rows variables, if it is less
+ than the height of the sub window. If the key pressed by
+ the user is a PAGE UP or PAGE DOWN, the menu is scrolled a
+ page due to the requests (REQ_SCR_DPAGE and REQ_SCR_UPAGE)
+ given to menu_driver().</p>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="SECT2">
+ <hr>
+
+ <h3 class="SECT2"><a name="MULTICOLUMN" id=
+ "MULTICOLUMN">17.6. Multi Columnar Menus</a></h3>
+
+ <p>In the above example you have seen how to use the
+ function set_menu_format(). I didn't mention what the cols
+ variable (third parameter) does. Well, If your sub window
+ is wide enough, you can opt to display more than one item
+ per row. This can be specified in the cols variable. To
+ make things simpler, the following example doesn't show
+ descriptions for the items.</p>
+
+ <div class="EXAMPLE">
+ <a name="MMEMUCO" id="MMEMUCO"></a>
+
+ <p><b>Example 21. Milt Columnar Menus Example</b></p>
+ <pre class="PROGRAMLISTING">
+<span class="INLINEMEDIAOBJECT">#include <curses.h>
#include <menu.h>
#define ARRAY_SIZE(a) (sizeof(a) / sizeof(a[0]))
for(i = 0; i < n_choices; ++i)
free_item(my_items[i]);
endwin();
-}</span></font>
-</pre></td>
-</tr>
-</table>
-</div>
-<p>Watch the function call to set_menu_format(). It specifies the
-number of columns to be 3, thus displaying 3 items per row. We have
-also switched off the showing descriptions with the function
-menu_opts_off(). There are couple of functions set_menu_opts(),
-menu_opts_on() and menu_opts() which can be used to manipulate menu
-options. The following menu options can be specified.</p>
-<table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="100%">
-<tr>
-<td>
-<pre class="PROGRAMLISTING">
-<font color="#000000"> O_ONEVALUE
+}</span>
+</pre>
+ </div>
+
+ <p>Watch the function call to set_menu_format(). It
+ specifies the number of columns to be 3, thus displaying 3
+ items per row. We have also switched off the showing
+ descriptions with the function menu_opts_off(). There are
+ couple of functions set_menu_opts(), menu_opts_on() and
+ menu_opts() which can be used to manipulate menu options.
+ The following menu options can be specified.</p>
+ <pre class="PROGRAMLISTING">
+ O_ONEVALUE
Only one item can be selected for this menu.
O_SHOWDESC
O_NONCYCLIC
Don't wrap around next-item and previous-item,
- requests to the other end of the menu.</font>
-</pre></td>
-</tr>
-</table>
-<p>All options are on by default. You can switch specific
-attributes on or off with menu_opts_on() and menu_opts_off()
-functions. You can also use set_menu_opts() to directly specify the
-options. The argument to this function should be a OR ed value of
-some of those above constants. The function menu_opts() can be used
-to find out a menu's present options.</p>
-</div>
-<div class="SECT2">
-<hr>
-<h3 class="SECT2"><a name="MULTIVALUEMENUS" id=
-"MULTIVALUEMENUS">17.7. Multi Valued Menus</a></h3>
-<p>You might be wondering what if you switch off the option
-O_ONEVALUE. Then the menu becomes multi-valued. That means you can
-select more than one item. This brings us to the request
-REQ_TOGGLE_ITEM. Let's see it in action.</p>
-<div class="EXAMPLE"><a name="MMETO" id="MMETO"></a>
-<p><b>Example 22. Multi Valued Menus example</b></p>
-<table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="100%">
-<tr>
-<td>
-<pre class="PROGRAMLISTING">
-<font color="#000000"><span class=
-"INLINEMEDIAOBJECT">#include <curses.h>
+ requests to the other end of the menu.
+</pre>
+
+ <p>All options are on by default. You can switch specific
+ attributes on or off with menu_opts_on() and
+ menu_opts_off() functions. You can also use set_menu_opts()
+ to directly specify the options. The argument to this
+ function should be a OR ed value of some of those above
+ constants. The function menu_opts() can be used to find out
+ a menu's present options.</p>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="SECT2">
+ <hr>
+
+ <h3 class="SECT2"><a name="MULTIVALUEMENUS" id=
+ "MULTIVALUEMENUS">17.7. Multi Valued Menus</a></h3>
+
+ <p>You might be wondering what if you switch off the option
+ O_ONEVALUE. Then the menu becomes multi-valued. That means
+ you can select more than one item. This brings us to the
+ request REQ_TOGGLE_ITEM. Let's see it in action.</p>
+
+ <div class="EXAMPLE">
+ <a name="MMETO" id="MMETO"></a>
+
+ <p><b>Example 22. Multi Valued Menus example</b></p>
+ <pre class="PROGRAMLISTING">
+<span class="INLINEMEDIAOBJECT">#include <curses.h>
#include <menu.h>
#define ARRAY_SIZE(a) (sizeof(a) / sizeof(a[0]))
free_menu(my_menu);
endwin();
}
- </span></font>
-</pre></td>
-</tr>
-</table>
-</div>
-<p>Whew, A lot of new functions. Let's take them one after another.
-Firstly, the REQ_TOGGLE_ITEM. In a multi-valued menu, the user
-should be allowed to select or un select more than one item. The
-request REQ_TOGGLE_ITEM toggles the present selection. In this case
-when space is pressed REQ_TOGGLE_ITEM request is sent to
-menu_driver to achieve the result.</p>
-<p>Now when the user presses <ENTER> we show the items he
-presently selected. First we find out the items associated with the
-menu using the function menu_items(). Then we loop through the
-items to find out if the item is selected or not. The function
-item_value() returns TRUE if an item is selected. The function
-item_count() returns the number of items in the menu. The item name
-can be found with item_name(). You can also find the description
-associated with an item using item_description().</p>
-</div>
-<div class="SECT2">
-<hr>
-<h3 class="SECT2"><a name="MENUOPT" id="MENUOPT">17.8. Menu
-Options</a></h3>
-<p>Well, by this time you must be itching for some difference in
-your menu, with lots of functionality. I know. You want Colors !!!.
-You want to create nice menus similar to those text mode <a href=
-"http://www.jersey.net/~debinjoe/games/" target="_top">dos
-games</a>. The functions set_menu_fore() and set_menu_back() can be
-used to change the attribute of the selected item and unselected
-item. The names are misleading. They don't change menu's foreground
-or background which would have been useless.</p>
-<p>The function set_menu_grey() can be used to set the display
-attribute for the non-selectable items in the menu. This brings us
-to the interesting option for an item the one and only
-O_SELECTABLE. We can turn it off by the function item_opts_off()
-and after that that item is not selectable. It's like a grayed item
-in those fancy windows menus. Let's put these concepts in practice
-with this example</p>
-<div class="EXAMPLE"><a name="MMEAT" id="MMEAT"></a>
-<p><b>Example 23. Menu Options example</b></p>
-<table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="100%">
-<tr>
-<td>
-<pre class="PROGRAMLISTING">
-<font color="#000000"><span class=
-"INLINEMEDIAOBJECT">#include <menu.h>
+ </span>
+</pre>
+ </div>
+
+ <p>Whew, A lot of new functions. Let's take them one after
+ another. Firstly, the REQ_TOGGLE_ITEM. In a multi-valued
+ menu, the user should be allowed to select or un select
+ more than one item. The request REQ_TOGGLE_ITEM toggles the
+ present selection. In this case when space is pressed
+ REQ_TOGGLE_ITEM request is sent to menu_driver to achieve
+ the result.</p>
+
+ <p>Now when the user presses <ENTER> we show the
+ items he presently selected. First we find out the items
+ associated with the menu using the function menu_items().
+ Then we loop through the items to find out if the item is
+ selected or not. The function item_value() returns TRUE if
+ an item is selected. The function item_count() returns the
+ number of items in the menu. The item name can be found
+ with item_name(). You can also find the description
+ associated with an item using item_description().</p>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="SECT2">
+ <hr>
+
+ <h3 class="SECT2"><a name="MENUOPT" id="MENUOPT">17.8. Menu
+ Options</a></h3>
+
+ <p>Well, by this time you must be itching for some
+ difference in your menu, with lots of functionality. I
+ know. You want Colors !!!. You want to create nice menus
+ similar to those text mode <a href=
+ "http://www.jersey.net/~debinjoe/games/" target="_top">dos
+ games</a>. The functions set_menu_fore() and
+ set_menu_back() can be used to change the attribute of the
+ selected item and unselected item. The names are
+ misleading. They don't change menu's foreground or
+ background which would have been useless.</p>
+
+ <p>The function set_menu_grey() can be used to set the
+ display attribute for the non-selectable items in the menu.
+ This brings us to the interesting option for an item the
+ one and only O_SELECTABLE. We can turn it off by the
+ function item_opts_off() and after that that item is not
+ selectable. It's like a grayed item in those fancy windows
+ menus. Let's put these concepts in practice with this
+ example</p>
+
+ <div class="EXAMPLE">
+ <a name="MMEAT" id="MMEAT"></a>
+
+ <p><b>Example 23. Menu Options example</b></p>
+ <pre class="PROGRAMLISTING">
+<span class="INLINEMEDIAOBJECT">#include <menu.h>
#define ARRAY_SIZE(a) (sizeof(a) / sizeof(a[0]))
#define CTRLD 4
free_menu(my_menu);
endwin();
}
- </span></font>
-</pre></td>
-</tr>
-</table>
-</div>
-</div>
-<div class="SECT2">
-<hr>
-<h3 class="SECT2"><a name="MENUUSERPTR" id="MENUUSERPTR">17.9. The
-useful User Pointer</a></h3>
-<p>We can associate a user pointer with each item in the menu. It
-works the same way as user pointer in panels. It's not touched by
-menu system. You can store any thing you like in that. I usually
-use it to store the function to be executed when the menu option is
-chosen (It's selected and may be the user pressed
-<ENTER>);</p>
-<div class="EXAMPLE"><a name="MMEUS" id="MMEUS"></a>
-<p><b>Example 24. Menu User Pointer Usage</b></p>
-<table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="100%">
-<tr>
-<td>
-<pre class="PROGRAMLISTING">
-<font color="#000000"><span class=
-"INLINEMEDIAOBJECT">#include <curses.h>
+ </span>
+</pre>
+ </div>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="SECT2">
+ <hr>
+
+ <h3 class="SECT2"><a name="MENUUSERPTR" id=
+ "MENUUSERPTR">17.9. The useful User Pointer</a></h3>
+
+ <p>We can associate a user pointer with each item in the
+ menu. It works the same way as user pointer in panels. It's
+ not touched by menu system. You can store any thing you
+ like in that. I usually use it to store the function to be
+ executed when the menu option is chosen (It's selected and
+ may be the user pressed <ENTER>);</p>
+
+ <div class="EXAMPLE">
+ <a name="MMEUS" id="MMEUS"></a>
+
+ <p><b>Example 24. Menu User Pointer Usage</b></p>
+ <pre class="PROGRAMLISTING">
+<span class="INLINEMEDIAOBJECT">#include <curses.h>
#include <menu.h>
#define ARRAY_SIZE(a) (sizeof(a) / sizeof(a[0]))
{ move(20, 0);
clrtoeol();
mvprintw(20, 0, "Item selected is : %s", name);
-} </span></font>
-</pre></td>
-</tr>
-</table>
-</div>
-</div>
-</div>
-<div class="SECT1">
-<hr>
-<h2 class="SECT1"><a name="FORMS" id="FORMS">18. Forms
-Library</a></h2>
-<p>Well. If you have seen those forms on web pages which take input
-from users and do various kinds of things, you might be wondering
-how would any one create such forms in text mode display. It's
-quite difficult to write those nifty forms in plain ncurses. Forms
-library tries to provide a basic frame work to build and maintain
-forms with ease. It has lot of features(functions) which manage
-validation, dynamic expansion of fields etc.. Let's see it in full
-flow.</p>
-<p>A form is a collection of fields; each field can be either a
-label(static text) or a data-entry location. The forms also library
-provides functions to divide forms into multiple pages.</p>
-<div class="SECT2">
-<hr>
-<h3 class="SECT2"><a name="FORMBASICS" id="FORMBASICS">18.1. The
-Basics</a></h3>
-<p>Forms are created in much the same way as menus. First the
-fields related to the form are created with new_field(). You can
-set options for the fields, so that they can be displayed with some
-fancy attributes, validated before the field looses focus etc..
-Then the fields are attached to form. After this, the form can be
-posted to display and is ready to receive inputs. On the similar
-lines to menu_driver(), the form is manipulated with form_driver().
-We can send requests to form_driver to move focus to a certain
-field, move cursor to end of the field etc.. After the user enters
-values in the fields and validation done, form can be unposted and
-memory allocated can be freed.</p>
-<p>The general flow of control of a forms program looks like
-this.</p>
-<ol type="1">
-<li>
-<p>Initialize curses</p>
-</li>
-<li>
-<p>Create fields using new_field(). You can specify the height and
-width of the field, and its position on the form.</p>
-</li>
-<li>
-<p>Create the forms with new_form() by specifying the fields to be
-attached with.</p>
-</li>
-<li>
-<p>Post the form with form_post() and refresh the screen.</p>
-</li>
-<li>
-<p>Process the user requests with a loop and do necessary updates
-to form with form_driver.</p>
-</li>
-<li>
-<p>Unpost the menu with form_unpost()</p>
-</li>
-<li>
-<p>Free the memory allocated to menu by free_form()</p>
-</li>
-<li>
-<p>Free the memory allocated to the items with free_field()</p>
-</li>
-<li>
-<p>End curses</p>
-</li>
-</ol>
-<p>As you can see, working with forms library is much similar to
-handling menu library. The following examples will explore various
-aspects of form processing. Let's start the journey with a simple
-example. first.</p>
-</div>
-<div class="SECT2">
-<hr>
-<h3 class="SECT2"><a name="COMPILEFORMS" id="COMPILEFORMS">18.2.
-Compiling With the Forms Library</a></h3>
-<p>To use forms library functions, you have to include form.h and
-to link the program with forms library the flag -lform should be
-added along with -lncurses in that order.</p>
-<table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="100%">
-<tr>
-<td>
-<pre class="PROGRAMLISTING">
-<font color="#000000"> #include <form.h>
+} </span>
+</pre>
+ </div>
+ </div>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="SECT1">
+ <hr>
+
+ <h2 class="SECT1"><a name="FORMS" id="FORMS">18. Forms
+ Library</a></h2>
+
+ <p>Well. If you have seen those forms on web pages which take
+ input from users and do various kinds of things, you might be
+ wondering how would any one create such forms in text mode
+ display. It's quite difficult to write those nifty forms in
+ plain ncurses. Forms library tries to provide a basic frame
+ work to build and maintain forms with ease. It has lot of
+ features(functions) which manage validation, dynamic
+ expansion of fields etc.. Let's see it in full flow.</p>
+
+ <p>A form is a collection of fields; each field can be either
+ a label(static text) or a data-entry location. The forms also
+ library provides functions to divide forms into multiple
+ pages.</p>
+
+ <div class="SECT2">
+ <hr>
+
+ <h3 class="SECT2"><a name="FORMBASICS" id=
+ "FORMBASICS">18.1. The Basics</a></h3>
+
+ <p>Forms are created in much the same way as menus. First
+ the fields related to the form are created with
+ new_field(). You can set options for the fields, so that
+ they can be displayed with some fancy attributes, validated
+ before the field looses focus etc.. Then the fields are
+ attached to form. After this, the form can be posted to
+ display and is ready to receive inputs. On the similar
+ lines to menu_driver(), the form is manipulated with
+ form_driver(). We can send requests to form_driver to move
+ focus to a certain field, move cursor to end of the field
+ etc.. After the user enters values in the fields and
+ validation done, form can be unposted and memory allocated
+ can be freed.</p>
+
+ <p>The general flow of control of a forms program looks
+ like this.</p>
+
+ <ol type="1">
+ <li>
+ <p>Initialize curses</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>Create fields using new_field(). You can specify the
+ height and width of the field, and its position on the
+ form.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>Create the forms with new_form() by specifying the
+ fields to be attached with.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>Post the form with form_post() and refresh the
+ screen.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>Process the user requests with a loop and do
+ necessary updates to form with form_driver.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>Unpost the menu with form_unpost()</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>Free the memory allocated to menu by free_form()</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>Free the memory allocated to the items with
+ free_field()</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>End curses</p>
+ </li>
+ </ol>
+
+ <p>As you can see, working with forms library is much
+ similar to handling menu library. The following examples
+ will explore various aspects of form processing. Let's
+ start the journey with a simple example. first.</p>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="SECT2">
+ <hr>
+
+ <h3 class="SECT2"><a name="COMPILEFORMS" id=
+ "COMPILEFORMS">18.2. Compiling With the Forms
+ Library</a></h3>
+
+ <p>To use forms library functions, you have to include
+ form.h and to link the program with forms library the flag
+ -lform should be added along with -lncurses in that
+ order.</p>
+ <pre class="PROGRAMLISTING">
+ #include <form.h>
.
.
.
- compile and link: gcc <program file> -lform -lncurses</font>
-</pre></td>
-</tr>
-</table>
-<div class="EXAMPLE"><a name="FFOSI" id="FFOSI"></a>
-<p><b>Example 25. Forms Basics</b></p>
-<table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="100%">
-<tr>
-<td>
-<pre class="PROGRAMLISTING">
-<font color="#000000"><span class=
-"INLINEMEDIAOBJECT">#include <form.h>
+ compile and link: gcc <program file> -lform -lncurses
+</pre>
+
+ <div class="EXAMPLE">
+ <a name="FFOSI" id="FFOSI"></a>
+
+ <p><b>Example 25. Forms Basics</b></p>
+ <pre class="PROGRAMLISTING">
+<span class="INLINEMEDIAOBJECT">#include <form.h>
int main()
{ FIELD *field[3];
endwin();
return 0;
-}</span></font>
-</pre></td>
-</tr>
-</table>
-</div>
-<p>Above example is pretty straight forward. It creates two fields
-with <var class="LITERAL">new_field()</var>. new_field() takes
-height, width, starty, startx, number of offscreen rows and number
-of additional working buffers. The fifth argument number of
-offscreen rows specifies how much of the field to be shown. If it
-is zero, the entire field is always displayed otherwise the form
-will be scrollable when the user accesses not displayed parts of
-the field. The forms library allocates one buffer per field to
-store the data user enters. Using the last parameter to new_field()
-we can specify it to allocate some additional buffers. These can be
-used for any purpose you like.</p>
-<p>After creating the fields, back ground attribute of both of them
-is set to an underscore with set_field_back(). The AUTOSKIP option
-is turned off using field_opts_off(). If this option is turned on,
-focus will move to the next field in the form once the active field
-is filled up completely.</p>
-<p>After attaching the fields to the form, it is posted. Here on,
-user inputs are processed in the while loop, by making
-corresponding requests to form_driver. The details of all the
-requests to the form_driver() are explained later.</p>
-</div>
-<div class="SECT2">
-<hr>
-<h3 class="SECT2"><a name="PLAYFIELDS" id="PLAYFIELDS">18.3.
-Playing with Fields</a></h3>
-<p>Each form field is associated with a lot of attributes. They can
-be manipulated to get the required effect and to have fun !!!. So
-why wait?</p>
-<div class="SECT3">
-<hr>
-<h4 class="SECT3"><a name="FETCHINFO" id="FETCHINFO">18.3.1.
-Fetching Size and Location of Field</a></h4>
-<p>The parameters we have given at the time of creation of a field
-can be retrieved with field_info(). It returns height, width,
-starty, startx, number of offscreen rows, and number of additional
-buffers into the parameters given to it. It is a sort of inverse of
-new_field().</p>
-<table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="100%">
-<tr>
-<td>
-<pre class="PROGRAMLISTING">
-<font color=
-"#000000">int field_info( FIELD *field, /* field from which to fetch */
+}</span>
+</pre>
+ </div>
+
+ <p>Above example is pretty straight forward. It creates two
+ fields with <tt class="LITERAL">new_field()</tt>.
+ new_field() takes height, width, starty, startx, number of
+ offscreen rows and number of additional working buffers.
+ The fifth argument number of offscreen rows specifies how
+ much of the field to be shown. If it is zero, the entire
+ field is always displayed otherwise the form will be
+ scrollable when the user accesses not displayed parts of
+ the field. The forms library allocates one buffer per field
+ to store the data user enters. Using the last parameter to
+ new_field() we can specify it to allocate some additional
+ buffers. These can be used for any purpose you like.</p>
+
+ <p>After creating the fields, back ground attribute of both
+ of them is set to an underscore with set_field_back(). The
+ AUTOSKIP option is turned off using field_opts_off(). If
+ this option is turned on, focus will move to the next field
+ in the form once the active field is filled up
+ completely.</p>
+
+ <p>After attaching the fields to the form, it is posted.
+ Here on, user inputs are processed in the while loop, by
+ making corresponding requests to form_driver. The details
+ of all the requests to the form_driver() are explained
+ later.</p>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="SECT2">
+ <hr>
+
+ <h3 class="SECT2"><a name="PLAYFIELDS" id=
+ "PLAYFIELDS">18.3. Playing with Fields</a></h3>
+
+ <p>Each form field is associated with a lot of attributes.
+ They can be manipulated to get the required effect and to
+ have fun !!!. So why wait?</p>
+
+ <div class="SECT3">
+ <hr>
+
+ <h4 class="SECT3"><a name="FETCHINFO" id=
+ "FETCHINFO">18.3.1. Fetching Size and Location of
+ Field</a></h4>
+
+ <p>The parameters we have given at the time of creation
+ of a field can be retrieved with field_info(). It returns
+ height, width, starty, startx, number of offscreen rows,
+ and number of additional buffers into the parameters
+ given to it. It is a sort of inverse of new_field().</p>
+ <pre class="PROGRAMLISTING">
+int field_info( FIELD *field, /* field from which to fetch */
int *height, *int width, /* field size */
int *top, int *left, /* upper left corner */
int *offscreen, /* number of offscreen rows */
- int *nbuf); /* number of working buffers */</font>
-</pre></td>
-</tr>
-</table>
-</div>
-<div class="SECT3">
-<hr>
-<h4 class="SECT3"><a name="MOVEFIELD" id="MOVEFIELD">18.3.2. Moving
-the field</a></h4>
-<p>The location of the field can be moved to a different position
-with move_field().</p>
-<table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="100%">
-<tr>
-<td>
-<pre class="PROGRAMLISTING">
-<font color=
-"#000000">int move_field( FIELD *field, /* field to alter */
- int top, int left); /* new upper-left corner */</font>
-</pre></td>
-</tr>
-</table>
-<p>As usual, the changed position can be queried with
-field_infor().</p>
-</div>
-<div class="SECT3">
-<hr>
-<h4 class="SECT3"><a name="JUSTIFYFIELD" id="JUSTIFYFIELD">18.3.3.
-Field Justification</a></h4>
-<p>The justification to be done for the field can be fixed using
-the function set_field_just().</p>
-<table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="100%">
-<tr>
-<td>
-<pre class="PROGRAMLISTING">
-<font color=
-"#000000"> int set_field_just(FIELD *field, /* field to alter */
+ int *nbuf); /* number of working buffers */
+</pre>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="SECT3">
+ <hr>
+
+ <h4 class="SECT3"><a name="MOVEFIELD" id=
+ "MOVEFIELD">18.3.2. Moving the field</a></h4>
+
+ <p>The location of the field can be moved to a different
+ position with move_field().</p>
+ <pre class="PROGRAMLISTING">
+int move_field( FIELD *field, /* field to alter */
+ int top, int left); /* new upper-left corner */
+</pre>
+
+ <p>As usual, the changed position can be queried with
+ field_infor().</p>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="SECT3">
+ <hr>
+
+ <h4 class="SECT3"><a name="JUSTIFYFIELD" id=
+ "JUSTIFYFIELD">18.3.3. Field Justification</a></h4>
+
+ <p>The justification to be done for the field can be
+ fixed using the function set_field_just().</p>
+ <pre class="PROGRAMLISTING">
+ int set_field_just(FIELD *field, /* field to alter */
int justmode); /* mode to set */
- int field_just(FIELD *field); /* fetch justify mode of field */</font>
-</pre></td>
-</tr>
-</table>
-<p>The justification mode valued accepted and returned by these
-functions are NO_JUSTIFICATION, JUSTIFY_RIGHT, JUSTIFY_LEFT, or
-JUSTIFY_CENTER.</p>
-</div>
-<div class="SECT3">
-<hr>
-<h4 class="SECT3"><a name="FIELDDISPATTRIB" id=
-"FIELDDISPATTRIB">18.3.4. Field Display Attributes</a></h4>
-<p>As you have seen, in the above example, display attribute for
-the fields can be set with set_field_fore() and setfield_back().
-These functions set foreground and background attribute of the
-fields. You can also specify a pad character which will be filled
-in the unfilled portion of the field. The pad character is set with
-a call to set_field_pad(). Default pad value is a space. The
-functions field_fore(), field_back, field_pad() can be used to
-query the present foreground, background attributes and pad
-character for the field. The following list gives the usage of
-functions.</p>
-<table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="100%">
-<tr>
-<td>
-<pre class="PROGRAMLISTING">
-<font color=
-"#000000"> int set_field_fore(FIELD *field, /* field to alter */
+ int field_just(FIELD *field); /* fetch justify mode of field */
+</pre>
+
+ <p>The justification mode valued accepted and returned by
+ these functions are NO_JUSTIFICATION, JUSTIFY_RIGHT,
+ JUSTIFY_LEFT, or JUSTIFY_CENTER.</p>
+ </div>
+
+ <hr>
+
+ <h4 class="SECT3"><a name="FIELDDISPATTRIB" id=
+ "FIELDDISPATTRIB">18.3.4. Field Display
+ Attributes</a></h4>
+
+ <p>As you have seen, in the above example, display
+ attribute for the fields can be set with set_field_fore()
+ and setfield_back(). These functions set foreground and
+ background attribute of the fields. You can also specify
+ a pad character which will be filled in the unfilled
+ portion of the field. The pad character is set with a
+ call to set_field_pad(). Default pad value is a space.
+ The functions field_fore(), field_back, field_pad() can
+ be used to query the present foreground, background
+ attributes and pad character for the field. The following
+ list gives the usage of functions.</p>
+ <pre class="PROGRAMLISTING">
+ int set_field_fore(FIELD *field, /* field to alter */
chtype attr); /* attribute to set */
chtype field_fore(FIELD *field); /* field to query */
int pad); /* pad character to set */
chtype field_pad(FIELD *field); /* field to query */
- /* returns present pad character */ </font>
-</pre></td>
-</tr>
-</table>
-<p>Though above functions seem quite simple, using colors with
-set_field_fore() may be frustrating in the beginning. Let me first
-explain about foreground and background attributes of a field. The
-foreground attribute is associated with the character. That means a
-character in the field is printed with the attribute you have set
-with set_field_fore(). Background attribute is the attribute used
-to fill background of field, whether any character is there or not.
-So what about colors? Since colors are always defined in pairs,
-what is the right way to display colored fields? Here's an example
-clarifying color attributes.</p>
-<div class="EXAMPLE"><a name="FFOAT" id="FFOAT"></a>
-<p><b>Example 26. Form Attributes example</b></p>
-<table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="100%">
-<tr>
-<td>
-<pre class="PROGRAMLISTING">
-<font color="#000000"><span class=
-"INLINEMEDIAOBJECT">#include <form.h>
+ /* returns present pad character */
+</pre>
+
+ <p>Though above functions seem quite simple, using colors
+ with set_field_fore() may be frustrating in the
+ beginning. Let me first explain about foreground and
+ background attributes of a field. The foreground
+ attribute is associated with the character. That means a
+ character in the field is printed with the attribute you
+ have set with set_field_fore(). Background attribute is
+ the attribute used to fill background of field, whether
+ any character is there or not. So what about colors?
+ Since colors are always defined in pairs, what is the
+ right way to display colored fields? Here's an example
+ clarifying color attributes.</p>
+
+ <div class="EXAMPLE">
+ <a name="FFOAT" id="FFOAT"></a>
+
+ <p><b>Example 26. Form Attributes example</b></p>
+ <pre class="PROGRAMLISTING">
+<span class="INLINEMEDIAOBJECT">#include <form.h>
int main()
{ FIELD *field[3];
endwin();
return 0;
-}</span></font>
-</pre></td>
-</tr>
-</table>
-</div>
-<p>Play with the color pairs and try to understand the foreground
-and background attributes. In my programs using color attributes, I
-usually set only the background with set_field_back(). Curses
-simply doesn't allow defining individual color attributes.</p>
-</div>
-<div class="SECT3">
-<hr>
-<h4 class="SECT3"><a name="FIELDOPTIONBITS" id=
-"FIELDOPTIONBITS">18.3.5. Field Option Bits</a></h4>
-<p>There is also a large collection of field option bits you can
-set to control various aspects of forms processing. You can
-manipulate them with these functions:</p>
-<table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="100%">
-<tr>
-<td>
-<pre class="PROGRAMLISTING">
-<font color=
-"#000000">int set_field_opts(FIELD *field, /* field to alter */
+}</span>
+</pre>
+ </div>
+
+ <p>Play with the color pairs and try to understand the
+ foreground and background attributes. In my programs
+ using color attributes, I usually set only the background
+ with set_field_back(). Curses simply doesn't allow
+ defining individual color attributes.</p>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="SECT3">
+ <hr>
+
+ <h4 class="SECT3"><a name="FIELDOPTIONBITS" id=
+ "FIELDOPTIONBITS">18.3.5. Field Option Bits</a></h4>
+
+ <p>There is also a large collection of field option bits
+ you can set to control various aspects of forms
+ processing. You can manipulate them with these
+ functions:</p>
+ <pre class="PROGRAMLISTING">
+int set_field_opts(FIELD *field, /* field to alter */
int attr); /* attribute to set */
int field_opts_on(FIELD *field, /* field to alter */
int field_opts_off(FIELD *field, /* field to alter */
int attr); /* attributes to turn off */
-int field_opts(FIELD *field); /* field to query */ </font>
-</pre></td>
-</tr>
-</table>
-<p>The function set_field_opts() can be used to directly set
-attributes of a field or you can choose to switch a few attributes
-on and off with field_opts_on() and field_opts_off() selectively.
-Anytime you can query the attributes of a field with field_opts().
-The following is the list of available options. By default, all
-options are on.</p>
-<div class="VARIABLELIST">
-<dl>
-<dt>O_VISIBLE</dt>
-<dd>
-<p>Controls whether the field is visible on the screen. Can be used
-during form processing to hide or pop up fields depending on the
-value of parent fields.</p>
-</dd>
-<dt>O_ACTIVE</dt>
-<dd>
-<p>Controls whether the field is active during forms processing
-(i.e. visited by form navigation keys). Can be used to make labels
-or derived fields with buffer values alterable by the forms
-application, not the user.</p>
-</dd>
-<dt>O_PUBLIC</dt>
-<dd>
-<p>Controls whether data is displayed during field entry. If this
-option is turned off on a field, the library will accept and edit
-data in that field, but it will not be displayed and the visible
-field cursor will not move. You can turn off the O_PUBLIC bit to
-define password fields.</p>
-</dd>
-<dt>O_EDIT</dt>
-<dd>
-<p>Controls whether the field's data can be modified. When this
-option is off, all editing requests except <var class=
-"LITERAL">REQ_PREV_CHOICE</var> and <var class=
-"LITERAL">REQ_NEXT_CHOICE</var>will fail. Such read-only fields may
-be useful for help messages.</p>
-</dd>
-<dt>O_WRAP</dt>
-<dd>
-<p>Controls word-wrapping in multi-line fields. Normally, when any
-character of a (blank-separated) word reaches the end of the
-current line, the entire word is wrapped to the next line (assuming
-there is one). When this option is off, the word will be split
-across the line break.</p>
-</dd>
-<dt>O_BLANK</dt>
-<dd>
-<p>Controls field blanking. When this option is on, entering a
-character at the first field position erases the entire field
-(except for the just-entered character).</p>
-</dd>
-<dt>O_AUTOSKIP</dt>
-<dd>
-<p>Controls automatic skip to next field when this one fills.
-Normally, when the forms user tries to type more data into a field
-than will fit, the editing location jumps to next field. When this
-option is off, the user's cursor will hang at the end of the field.
-This option is ignored in dynamic fields that have not reached
-their size limit.</p>
-</dd>
-<dt>O_NULLOK</dt>
-<dd>
-<p>Controls whether validation is applied to blank fields.
-Normally, it is not; the user can leave a field blank without
-invoking the usual validation check on exit. If this option is off
-on a field, exit from it will invoke a validation check.</p>
-</dd>
-<dt>O_PASSOK</dt>
-<dd>
-<p>Controls whether validation occurs on every exit, or only after
-the field is modified. Normally the latter is true. Setting
-O_PASSOK may be useful if your field's validation function may
-change during forms processing.</p>
-</dd>
-<dt>O_STATIC</dt>
-<dd>
-<p>Controls whether the field is fixed to its initial dimensions.
-If you turn this off, the field becomes dynamic and will stretch to
-fit entered data.</p>
-</dd>
-</dl>
-</div>
-<p>A field's options cannot be changed while the field is currently
-selected. However, options may be changed on posted fields that are
-not current.</p>
-<p>The option values are bit-masks and can be composed with
-logical-or in the obvious way. You have seen the usage of switching
-off O_AUTOSKIP option. The following example clarifies usage of
-some more options. Other options are explained where
-appropriate.</p>
-<div class="EXAMPLE"><a name="FFOOP" id="FFOOP"></a>
-<p><b>Example 27. Field Options Usage example</b></p>
-<table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="100%">
-<tr>
-<td>
-<pre class="PROGRAMLISTING">
-<font color="#000000"><span class=
-"INLINEMEDIAOBJECT">#include <form.h>
+int field_opts(FIELD *field); /* field to query */
+</pre>
+
+ <p>The function set_field_opts() can be used to directly
+ set attributes of a field or you can choose to switch a
+ few attributes on and off with field_opts_on() and
+ field_opts_off() selectively. Anytime you can query the
+ attributes of a field with field_opts(). The following is
+ the list of available options. By default, all options
+ are on.</p>
+
+ <div class="VARIABLELIST">
+ <dl>
+ <dt>O_VISIBLE</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>Controls whether the field is visible on the
+ screen. Can be used during form processing to hide
+ or pop up fields depending on the value of parent
+ fields.</p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt>O_ACTIVE</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>Controls whether the field is active during
+ forms processing (i.e. visited by form navigation
+ keys). Can be used to make labels or derived fields
+ with buffer values alterable by the forms
+ application, not the user.</p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt>O_PUBLIC</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>Controls whether data is displayed during field
+ entry. If this option is turned off on a field, the
+ library will accept and edit data in that field,
+ but it will not be displayed and the visible field
+ cursor will not move. You can turn off the O_PUBLIC
+ bit to define password fields.</p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt>O_EDIT</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>Controls whether the field's data can be
+ modified. When this option is off, all editing
+ requests except <tt class=
+ "LITERAL">REQ_PREV_CHOICE</tt> and <tt class=
+ "LITERAL">REQ_NEXT_CHOICE</tt>will fail. Such
+ read-only fields may be useful for help
+ messages.</p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt>O_WRAP</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>Controls word-wrapping in multi-line fields.
+ Normally, when any character of a (blank-separated)
+ word reaches the end of the current line, the
+ entire word is wrapped to the next line (assuming
+ there is one). When this option is off, the word
+ will be split across the line break.</p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt>O_BLANK</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>Controls field blanking. When this option is on,
+ entering a character at the first field position
+ erases the entire field (except for the
+ just-entered character).</p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt>O_AUTOSKIP</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>Controls automatic skip to next field when this
+ one fills. Normally, when the forms user tries to
+ type more data into a field than will fit, the
+ editing location jumps to next field. When this
+ option is off, the user's cursor will hang at the
+ end of the field. This option is ignored in dynamic
+ fields that have not reached their size limit.</p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt>O_NULLOK</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>Controls whether validation is applied to blank
+ fields. Normally, it is not; the user can leave a
+ field blank without invoking the usual validation
+ check on exit. If this option is off on a field,
+ exit from it will invoke a validation check.</p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt>O_PASSOK</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>Controls whether validation occurs on every
+ exit, or only after the field is modified. Normally
+ the latter is true. Setting O_PASSOK may be useful
+ if your field's validation function may change
+ during forms processing.</p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt>O_STATIC</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>Controls whether the field is fixed to its
+ initial dimensions. If you turn this off, the field
+ becomes dynamic and will stretch to fit entered
+ data.</p>
+ </dd>
+ </dl>
+ </div>
+
+ <p>A field's options cannot be changed while the field is
+ currently selected. However, options may be changed on
+ posted fields that are not current.</p>
+
+ <p>The option values are bit-masks and can be composed
+ with logical-or in the obvious way. You have seen the
+ usage of switching off O_AUTOSKIP option. The following
+ example clarifies usage of some more options. Other
+ options are explained where appropriate.</p>
+
+ <div class="EXAMPLE">
+ <a name="FFOOP" id="FFOOP"></a>
+
+ <p><b>Example 27. Field Options Usage example</b></p>
+ <pre class="PROGRAMLISTING">
+<span class="INLINEMEDIAOBJECT">#include <form.h>
#define STARTX 15
#define STARTY 4
endwin();
return 0;
-}</span></font>
-</pre></td>
-</tr>
-</table>
-</div>
-<p>This example, though useless, shows the usage of options. If
-used properly, they can present information very effectively in a
-form. The second field being not O_PUBLIC, does not show the
-characters you are typing.</p>
-</div>
-<div class="SECT3">
-<hr>
-<h4 class="SECT3"><a name="FIELDSTATUS" id="FIELDSTATUS">18.3.6.
-Field Status</a></h4>
-<p>The field status specifies whether the field has got edited or
-not. It is initially set to FALSE and when user enters something
-and the data buffer gets modified it becomes TRUE. So a field's
-status can be queried to find out whether it has been modified or
-not. The following functions can assist in those operations.</p>
-<table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="100%">
-<tr>
-<td>
-<pre class="PROGRAMLISTING">
-<font color=
-"#000000">int set_field_status(FIELD *field, /* field to alter */
+}</span>
+</pre>
+ </div>
+
+ <p>This example, though useless, shows the usage of
+ options. If used properly, they can present information
+ very effectively in a form. The second field being not
+ O_PUBLIC, does not show the characters you are
+ typing.</p>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="SECT3">
+ <hr>
+
+ <h4 class="SECT3"><a name="FIELDSTATUS" id=
+ "FIELDSTATUS">18.3.6. Field Status</a></h4>
+
+ <p>The field status specifies whether the field has got
+ edited or not. It is initially set to FALSE and when user
+ enters something and the data buffer gets modified it
+ becomes TRUE. So a field's status can be queried to find
+ out whether it has been modified or not. The following
+ functions can assist in those operations.</p>
+ <pre class="PROGRAMLISTING">
+int set_field_status(FIELD *field, /* field to alter */
int status); /* status to set */
-int field_status(FIELD *field); /* fetch status of field */</font>
-</pre></td>
-</tr>
-</table>
-<p>It's better to check the field's status only after after leaving
-the field, as data buffer might not have been updated yet as the
-validation is still due. To guarantee that right status is
-returned, call field_status() either (1) in the field's exit
-validation check routine, (2) from the field's or form's
-initialization or termination hooks, or (3) just after a
-REQ_VALIDATION request has been processed by the forms driver</p>
-</div>
-<div class="SECT3">
-<hr>
-<h4 class="SECT3"><a name="FIELDUSERPTR" id="FIELDUSERPTR">18.3.7.
-Field User Pointer</a></h4>
-<p>Every field structure contains one pointer that can be used by
-the user for various purposes. It is not touched by forms library
-and can be used for any purpose by the user. The following
-functions set and fetch user pointer.</p>
-<table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="100%">
-<tr>
-<td>
-<pre class="PROGRAMLISTING">
-<font color="#000000">int set_field_userptr(FIELD *field,
+int field_status(FIELD *field); /* fetch status of field */
+</pre>
+
+ <p>It's better to check the field's status only after
+ after leaving the field, as data buffer might not have
+ been updated yet as the validation is still due. To
+ guarantee that right status is returned, call
+ field_status() either (1) in the field's exit validation
+ check routine, (2) from the field's or form's
+ initialization or termination hooks, or (3) just after a
+ REQ_VALIDATION request has been processed by the forms
+ driver</p>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="SECT3">
+ <hr>
+
+ <h4 class="SECT3"><a name="FIELDUSERPTR" id=
+ "FIELDUSERPTR">18.3.7. Field User Pointer</a></h4>
+
+ <p>Every field structure contains one pointer that can be
+ used by the user for various purposes. It is not touched
+ by forms library and can be used for any purpose by the
+ user. The following functions set and fetch user
+ pointer.</p>
+ <pre class="PROGRAMLISTING">
+int set_field_userptr(FIELD *field,
char *userptr); /* the user pointer you wish to associate */
/* with the field */
-char *field_userptr(FIELD *field); /* fetch user pointer of the field */</font>
-</pre></td>
-</tr>
-</table>
-</div>
-<div class="SECT3">
-<hr>
-<h4 class="SECT3"><a name="VARIABLESIZEFIELDS" id=
-"VARIABLESIZEFIELDS">18.3.8. Variable-Sized Fields</a></h4>
-<p>If you want a dynamically changing field with variable width,
-this is the feature you want to put to full use. This will allow
-the user to enter more data than the original size of the field and
-let the field grow. According to the field orientation it will
-scroll horizontally or vertically to incorporate the new data.</p>
-<p>To make a field dynamically growable, the option O_STATIC should
-be turned off. This can be done with a</p>
-<table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="100%">
-<tr>
-<td>
-<pre class="PROGRAMLISTING">
-<font color=
-"#000000"> field_opts_off(field_pointer, O_STATIC);</font>
-</pre></td>
-</tr>
-</table>
-<p>But it's usually not advisable to allow a field to grow
-infinitely. You can set a maximum limit to the growth of the field
-with</p>
-<table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="100%">
-<tr>
-<td>
-<pre class="PROGRAMLISTING">
-<font color=
-"#000000">int set_max_field(FIELD *field, /* Field on which to operate */
- int max_growth); /* maximum growth allowed for the field */</font>
-</pre></td>
-</tr>
-</table>
-<p>The field info for a dynamically growable field can be retrieved
-by</p>
-<table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="100%">
-<tr>
-<td>
-<pre class="PROGRAMLISTING">
-<font color=
-"#000000">int dynamic_field_info( FIELD *field, /* Field on which to operate */
+char *field_userptr(FIELD *field); /* fetch user pointer of the field */
+</pre>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="SECT3">
+ <hr>
+
+ <h4 class="SECT3"><a name="VARIABLESIZEFIELDS" id=
+ "VARIABLESIZEFIELDS">18.3.8. Variable-Sized
+ Fields</a></h4>
+
+ <p>If you want a dynamically changing field with variable
+ width, this is the feature you want to put to full use.
+ This will allow the user to enter more data than the
+ original size of the field and let the field grow.
+ According to the field orientation it will scroll
+ horizontally or vertically to incorporate the new
+ data.</p>
+
+ <p>To make a field dynamically growable, the option
+ O_STATIC should be turned off. This can be done with
+ a</p>
+ <pre class="PROGRAMLISTING">
+ field_opts_off(field_pointer, O_STATIC);
+</pre>
+
+ <p>But it's usually not advisable to allow a field to
+ grow infinitely. You can set a maximum limit to the
+ growth of the field with</p>
+ <pre class="PROGRAMLISTING">
+int set_max_field(FIELD *field, /* Field on which to operate */
+ int max_growth); /* maximum growth allowed for the field */
+</pre>
+
+ <p>The field info for a dynamically growable field can be
+ retrieved by</p>
+ <pre class="PROGRAMLISTING">
+int dynamic_field_info( FIELD *field, /* Field on which to operate */
int *prows, /* number of rows will be filled in this */
int *pcols, /* number of columns will be filled in this*/
int *pmax) /* maximum allowable growth will be filled */
- /* in this */</font>
-</pre></td>
-</tr>
-</table>
-Though field_info work as usual, it is advisable to use this
+ /* in this */
+</pre>Though field_info work as usual, it is advisable to use this
function to get the proper attributes of a dynamically growable
field.
-<p>Recall the library routine new_field; a new field created with
-height set to one will be defined to be a one line field. A new
-field created with height greater than one will be defined to be a
-multi line field.</p>
-<p>A one line field with O_STATIC turned off (dynamically growable
-field) will contain a single fixed row, but the number of columns
-can increase if the user enters more data than the initial field
-will hold. The number of columns displayed will remain fixed and
-the additional data will scroll horizontally.</p>
-<p>A multi line field with O_STATIC turned off (dynamically
-growable field) will contain a fixed number of columns, but the
-number of rows can increase if the user enters more data than the
-initial field will hold. The number of rows displayed will remain
-fixed and the additional data will scroll vertically.</p>
-<p>The above two paragraphs pretty much describe a dynamically
-growable field's behavior. The way other parts of forms library
-behaves is described below:</p>
-<ol type="1">
-<li>
-<p>The field option O_AUTOSKIP will be ignored if the option
-O_STATIC is off and there is no maximum growth specified for the
-field. Currently, O_AUTOSKIP generates an automatic REQ_NEXT_FIELD
-form driver request when the user types in the last character
-position of a field. On a growable field with no maximum growth
-specified, there is no last character position. If a maximum growth
-is specified, the O_AUTOSKIP option will work as normal if the
-field has grown to its maximum size.</p>
-</li>
-<li>
-<p>The field justification will be ignored if the option O_STATIC
-is off. Currently, set_field_just can be used to JUSTIFY_LEFT,
-JUSTIFY_RIGHT, JUSTIFY_CENTER the contents of a one line field. A
-growable one line field will, by definition, grow and scroll
-horizontally and may contain more data than can be justified. The
-return from field_just will be unchanged.</p>
-</li>
-<li>
-<p>The overloaded form driver request REQ_NEW_LINE will operate the
-same way regardless of the O_NL_OVERLOAD form option if the field
-option O_STATIC is off and there is no maximum growth specified for
-the field. Currently, if the form option O_NL_OVERLOAD is on,
-REQ_NEW_LINE implicitly generates a REQ_NEXT_FIELD if called from
-the last line of a field. If a field can grow without bound, there
-is no last line, so REQ_NEW_LINE will never implicitly generate a
-REQ_NEXT_FIELD. If a maximum growth limit is specified and the
-O_NL_OVERLOAD form option is on, REQ_NEW_LINE will only implicitly
-generate REQ_NEXT_FIELD if the field has grown to its maximum size
-and the user is on the last line.</p>
-</li>
-<li>
-<p>The library call dup_field will work as usual; it will duplicate
-the field, including the current buffer size and contents of the
-field being duplicated. Any specified maximum growth will also be
-duplicated.</p>
-</li>
-<li>
-<p>The library call link_field will work as usual; it will
-duplicate all field attributes and share buffers with the field
-being linked. If the O_STATIC field option is subsequently changed
-by a field sharing buffers, how the system reacts to an attempt to
-enter more data into the field than the buffer will currently hold
-will depend on the setting of the option in the current field.</p>
-</li>
-<li>
-<p>The library call field_info will work as usual; the variable
-nrow will contain the value of the original call to new_field. The
-user should use dynamic_field_info, described above, to query the
-current size of the buffer.</p>
-</li>
-</ol>
-<p>Some of the above points make sense only after explaining form
-driver. We will be looking into that in next few sections.</p>
-</div>
-</div>
-<div class="SECT2">
-<hr>
-<h3 class="SECT2"><a name="FORMWINDOWS" id="FORMWINDOWS">18.4. Form
-Windows</a></h3>
-<p>The form windows concept is pretty much similar to menu windows.
-Every form is associated with a main window and a sub window. The
-form main window displays any title or border associated or
-whatever the user wishes. Then the sub window contains all the
-fields and displays them according to their position. This gives
-the flexibility of manipulating fancy form displaying very
-easily.</p>
-<p>Since this is pretty much similar to menu windows, I am
-providing an example with out much explanation. The functions are
-similar and they work the same way.</p>
-<div class="EXAMPLE"><a name="FFOWI" id="FFOWI"></a>
-<p><b>Example 28. Form Windows Example</b></p>
-<table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="100%">
-<tr>
-<td>
-<pre class="PROGRAMLISTING">
-<font color="#000000"><span class=
-"INLINEMEDIAOBJECT">#include <form.h>
+
+ <p>Recall the library routine new_field; a new field
+ created with height set to one will be defined to be a
+ one line field. A new field created with height greater
+ than one will be defined to be a multi line field.</p>
+
+ <p>A one line field with O_STATIC turned off (dynamically
+ growable field) will contain a single fixed row, but the
+ number of columns can increase if the user enters more
+ data than the initial field will hold. The number of
+ columns displayed will remain fixed and the additional
+ data will scroll horizontally.</p>
+
+ <p>A multi line field with O_STATIC turned off
+ (dynamically growable field) will contain a fixed number
+ of columns, but the number of rows can increase if the
+ user enters more data than the initial field will hold.
+ The number of rows displayed will remain fixed and the
+ additional data will scroll vertically.</p>
+
+ <p>The above two paragraphs pretty much describe a
+ dynamically growable field's behavior. The way other
+ parts of forms library behaves is described below:</p>
+
+ <ol type="1">
+ <li>
+ <p>The field option O_AUTOSKIP will be ignored if the
+ option O_STATIC is off and there is no maximum growth
+ specified for the field. Currently, O_AUTOSKIP
+ generates an automatic REQ_NEXT_FIELD form driver
+ request when the user types in the last character
+ position of a field. On a growable field with no
+ maximum growth specified, there is no last character
+ position. If a maximum growth is specified, the
+ O_AUTOSKIP option will work as normal if the field
+ has grown to its maximum size.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>The field justification will be ignored if the
+ option O_STATIC is off. Currently, set_field_just can
+ be used to JUSTIFY_LEFT, JUSTIFY_RIGHT,
+ JUSTIFY_CENTER the contents of a one line field. A
+ growable one line field will, by definition, grow and
+ scroll horizontally and may contain more data than
+ can be justified. The return from field_just will be
+ unchanged.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>The overloaded form driver request REQ_NEW_LINE
+ will operate the same way regardless of the
+ O_NL_OVERLOAD form option if the field option
+ O_STATIC is off and there is no maximum growth
+ specified for the field. Currently, if the form
+ option O_NL_OVERLOAD is on, REQ_NEW_LINE implicitly
+ generates a REQ_NEXT_FIELD if called from the last
+ line of a field. If a field can grow without bound,
+ there is no last line, so REQ_NEW_LINE will never
+ implicitly generate a REQ_NEXT_FIELD. If a maximum
+ growth limit is specified and the O_NL_OVERLOAD form
+ option is on, REQ_NEW_LINE will only implicitly
+ generate REQ_NEXT_FIELD if the field has grown to its
+ maximum size and the user is on the last line.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>The library call dup_field will work as usual; it
+ will duplicate the field, including the current
+ buffer size and contents of the field being
+ duplicated. Any specified maximum growth will also be
+ duplicated.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>The library call link_field will work as usual; it
+ will duplicate all field attributes and share buffers
+ with the field being linked. If the O_STATIC field
+ option is subsequently changed by a field sharing
+ buffers, how the system reacts to an attempt to enter
+ more data into the field than the buffer will
+ currently hold will depend on the setting of the
+ option in the current field.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>The library call field_info will work as usual;
+ the variable nrow will contain the value of the
+ original call to new_field. The user should use
+ dynamic_field_info, described above, to query the
+ current size of the buffer.</p>
+ </li>
+ </ol>
+
+ <p>Some of the above points make sense only after
+ explaining form driver. We will be looking into that in
+ next few sections.</p>
+ </div>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="SECT2">
+ <hr>
+
+ <h3 class="SECT2"><a name="FORMWINDOWS" id=
+ "FORMWINDOWS">18.4. Form Windows</a></h3>
+
+ <p>The form windows concept is pretty much similar to menu
+ windows. Every form is associated with a main window and a
+ sub window. The form main window displays any title or
+ border associated or whatever the user wishes. Then the sub
+ window contains all the fields and displays them according
+ to their position. This gives the flexibility of
+ manipulating fancy form displaying very easily.</p>
+
+ <p>Since this is pretty much similar to menu windows, I am
+ providing an example with out much explanation. The
+ functions are similar and they work the same way.</p>
+
+ <div class="EXAMPLE">
+ <a name="FFOWI" id="FFOWI"></a>
+
+ <p><b>Example 28. Form Windows Example</b></p>
+ <pre class="PROGRAMLISTING">
+<span class="INLINEMEDIAOBJECT">#include <form.h>
void print_in_middle(WINDOW *win, int starty, int startx, int width, char *string, chtype color);
mvwprintw(win, y, x, "%s", string);
wattroff(win, color);
refresh();
-}</span></font>
-</pre></td>
-</tr>
-</table>
-</div>
-</div>
-<div class="SECT2">
-<hr>
-<h3 class="SECT2"><a name="FILEDVALIDATE" id="FILEDVALIDATE">18.5.
-Field Validation</a></h3>
-<p>By default, a field will accept any data input by the user. It
-is possible to attach validation to the field. Then any attempt by
-the user to leave the field, while it contains data that doesn't
-match the validation type will fail. Some validation types also
-have a character-validity check for each time a character is
-entered in the field.</p>
-<p>Validation can be attached to a field with the following
-function.</p>
-<table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="100%">
-<tr>
-<td>
-<pre class="PROGRAMLISTING">
-<font color=
-"#000000">int set_field_type(FIELD *field, /* field to alter */
+}</span>
+</pre>
+ </div>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="SECT2">
+ <hr>
+
+ <h3 class="SECT2"><a name="FILEDVALIDATE" id=
+ "FILEDVALIDATE">18.5. Field Validation</a></h3>
+
+ <p>By default, a field will accept any data input by the
+ user. It is possible to attach validation to the field.
+ Then any attempt by the user to leave the field, while it
+ contains data that doesn't match the validation type will
+ fail. Some validation types also have a character-validity
+ check for each time a character is entered in the
+ field.</p>
+
+ <p>Validation can be attached to a field with the following
+ function.</p>
+ <pre class="PROGRAMLISTING">
+int set_field_type(FIELD *field, /* field to alter */
FIELDTYPE *ftype, /* type to associate */
- ...); /* additional arguments*/</font>
-</pre></td>
-</tr>
-</table>
-Once set, the validation type for a field can be queried with
-<table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="100%">
-<tr>
-<td>
-<pre class="PROGRAMLISTING">
-<font color=
-"#000000">FIELDTYPE *field_type(FIELD *field); /* field to query */</font>
-</pre></td>
-</tr>
-</table>
-<p>The form driver validates the data in a field only when data is
-entered by the end-user. Validation does not occur when</p>
-<ul>
-<li>
-<p>the application program changes the field value by calling
-set_field_buffer.</p>
-</li>
-<li>
-<p>linked field values are changed indirectly -- by changing the
-field to which they are linked</p>
-</li>
-</ul>
-<p>The following are the pre-defined validation types. You can also
-specify custom validation, though it's a bit tricky and
-cumbersome.</p>
-<h1 class="BRIDGEHEAD"><a name="AEN1069" id=
-"AEN1069"></a>TYPE_ALPHA</h1>
-<p>This field type accepts alphabetic data; no blanks, no digits,
-no special characters (this is checked at character-entry time). It
-is set up with:</p>
-<table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="100%">
-<tr>
-<td>
-<pre class="PROGRAMLISTING">
-<font color=
-"#000000">int set_field_type(FIELD *field, /* field to alter */
+ ...); /* additional arguments*/
+</pre>Once set, the validation type for a field can be queried with
+ <pre class="PROGRAMLISTING">
+FIELDTYPE *field_type(FIELD *field); /* field to query */
+</pre>
+
+ <p>The form driver validates the data in a field only when
+ data is entered by the end-user. Validation does not occur
+ when</p>
+
+ <ul>
+ <li>
+ <p>the application program changes the field value by
+ calling set_field_buffer.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>linked field values are changed indirectly -- by
+ changing the field to which they are linked</p>
+ </li>
+ </ul>
+
+ <p>The following are the pre-defined validation types. You
+ can also specify custom validation, though it's a bit
+ tricky and cumbersome.</p>
+
+ <h1 class="BRIDGEHEAD"><a name="AEN1069" id=
+ "AEN1069"></a>TYPE_ALPHA</h1>
+
+ <p>This field type accepts alphabetic data; no blanks, no
+ digits, no special characters (this is checked at
+ character-entry time). It is set up with:</p>
+ <pre class="PROGRAMLISTING">
+int set_field_type(FIELD *field, /* field to alter */
TYPE_ALPHA, /* type to associate */
- int width); /* maximum width of field */</font>
-</pre></td>
-</tr>
-</table>
-<p>The width argument sets a minimum width of data. The user has to
-enter at-least width number of characters before he can leave the
-field. Typically you'll want to set this to the field width; if
-it's greater than the field width, the validation check will always
-fail. A minimum width of zero makes field completion optional.</p>
-<h1 class="BRIDGEHEAD"><a name="AEN1073" id=
-"AEN1073"></a>TYPE_ALNUM</h1>
-<p>This field type accepts alphabetic data and digits; no blanks,
-no special characters (this is checked at character-entry time). It
-is set up with:</p>
-<table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="100%">
-<tr>
-<td>
-<pre class="PROGRAMLISTING">
-<font color=
-"#000000">int set_field_type(FIELD *field, /* field to alter */
+ int width); /* minimum width of field */
+</pre>
+
+ <p>The width argument sets a minimum width of data. The
+ user has to enter at-least width number of characters
+ before he can leave the field. Typically you'll want to set
+ this to the field width; if it's greater than the field
+ width, the validation check will always fail. A minimum
+ width of zero makes field completion optional.</p>
+
+ <h1 class="BRIDGEHEAD"><a name="AEN1073" id=
+ "AEN1073"></a>TYPE_ALNUM</h1>
+
+ <p>This field type accepts alphabetic data and digits; no
+ blanks, no special characters (this is checked at
+ character-entry time). It is set up with:</p>
+ <pre class="PROGRAMLISTING">
+int set_field_type(FIELD *field, /* field to alter */
TYPE_ALNUM, /* type to associate */
- int width); /* maximum width of field */</font>
-</pre></td>
-</tr>
-</table>
-<p>The width argument sets a minimum width of data. As with
-TYPE_ALPHA, typically you'll want to set this to the field width;
-if it's greater than the field width, the validation check will
-always fail. A minimum width of zero makes field completion
-optional.</p>
-<h1 class="BRIDGEHEAD"><a name="AEN1077" id=
-"AEN1077"></a>TYPE_ENUM</h1>
-<p>This type allows you to restrict a field's values to be among a
-specified set of string values (for example, the two-letter postal
-codes for U.S. states). It is set up with:</p>
-<table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="100%">
-<tr>
-<td>
-<pre class="PROGRAMLISTING">
-<font color=
-"#000000">int set_field_type(FIELD *field, /* field to alter */
+ int width); /* minimum width of field */
+</pre>
+
+ <p>The width argument sets a minimum width of data. As with
+ TYPE_ALPHA, typically you'll want to set this to the field
+ width; if it's greater than the field width, the validation
+ check will always fail. A minimum width of zero makes field
+ completion optional.</p>
+
+ <h1 class="BRIDGEHEAD"><a name="AEN1077" id=
+ "AEN1077"></a>TYPE_ENUM</h1>
+
+ <p>This type allows you to restrict a field's values to be
+ among a specified set of string values (for example, the
+ two-letter postal codes for U.S. states). It is set up
+ with:</p>
+ <pre class="PROGRAMLISTING">
+int set_field_type(FIELD *field, /* field to alter */
TYPE_ENUM, /* type to associate */
char **valuelist; /* list of possible values */
int checkcase; /* case-sensitive? */
- int checkunique); /* must specify uniquely? */</font>
-</pre></td>
-</tr>
-</table>
-<p>The valuelist parameter must point at a NULL-terminated list of
-valid strings. The checkcase argument, if true, makes comparison
-with the string case-sensitive.</p>
-<p>When the user exits a TYPE_ENUM field, the validation procedure
-tries to complete the data in the buffer to a valid entry. If a
-complete choice string has been entered, it is of course valid. But
-it is also possible to enter a prefix of a valid string and have it
-completed for you.</p>
-<p>By default, if you enter such a prefix and it matches more than
-one value in the string list, the prefix will be completed to the
-first matching value. But the checkunique argument, if true,
-requires prefix matches to be unique in order to be valid.</p>
-<p>The REQ_NEXT_CHOICE and REQ_PREV_CHOICE input requests can be
-particularly useful with these fields.</p>
-<h1 class="BRIDGEHEAD"><a name="AEN1084" id=
-"AEN1084"></a>TYPE_INTEGER</h1>
-<p>This field type accepts an integer. It is set up as follows:</p>
-<table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="100%">
-<tr>
-<td>
-<pre class="PROGRAMLISTING">
-<font color=
-"#000000">int set_field_type(FIELD *field, /* field to alter */
+ int checkunique); /* must specify uniquely? */
+</pre>
+
+ <p>The valuelist parameter must point at a NULL-terminated
+ list of valid strings. The checkcase argument, if true,
+ makes comparison with the string case-sensitive.</p>
+
+ <p>When the user exits a TYPE_ENUM field, the validation
+ procedure tries to complete the data in the buffer to a
+ valid entry. If a complete choice string has been entered,
+ it is of course valid. But it is also possible to enter a
+ prefix of a valid string and have it completed for you.</p>
+
+ <p>By default, if you enter such a prefix and it matches
+ more than one value in the string list, the prefix will be
+ completed to the first matching value. But the checkunique
+ argument, if true, requires prefix matches to be unique in
+ order to be valid.</p>
+
+ <p>The REQ_NEXT_CHOICE and REQ_PREV_CHOICE input requests
+ can be particularly useful with these fields.</p>
+
+ <h1 class="BRIDGEHEAD"><a name="AEN1084" id=
+ "AEN1084"></a>TYPE_INTEGER</h1>
+
+ <p>This field type accepts an integer. It is set up as
+ follows:</p>
+ <pre class="PROGRAMLISTING">
+int set_field_type(FIELD *field, /* field to alter */
TYPE_INTEGER, /* type to associate */
int padding, /* # places to zero-pad to */
- int vmin, int vmax); /* valid range */</font>
-</pre></td>
-</tr>
-</table>
-<p>Valid characters consist of an optional leading minus and
-digits. The range check is performed on exit. If the range maximum
-is less than or equal to the minimum, the range is ignored.</p>
-<p>If the value passes its range check, it is padded with as many
-leading zero digits as necessary to meet the padding argument.</p>
-<p>A TYPE_INTEGER value buffer can conveniently be interpreted with
-the C library function atoi(3).</p>
-<h1 class="BRIDGEHEAD"><a name="AEN1090" id=
-"AEN1090"></a>TYPE_NUMERIC</h1>
-<p>This field type accepts a decimal number. It is set up as
-follows:</p>
-<table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="100%">
-<tr>
-<td>
-<pre class="PROGRAMLISTING">
-<font color=
-"#000000">int set_field_type(FIELD *field, /* field to alter */
+ int vmin, int vmax); /* valid range */
+</pre>
+
+ <p>Valid characters consist of an optional leading minus
+ and digits. The range check is performed on exit. If the
+ range maximum is less than or equal to the minimum, the
+ range is ignored.</p>
+
+ <p>If the value passes its range check, it is padded with
+ as many leading zero digits as necessary to meet the
+ padding argument.</p>
+
+ <p>A TYPE_INTEGER value buffer can conveniently be
+ interpreted with the C library function atoi(3).</p>
+
+ <h1 class="BRIDGEHEAD"><a name="AEN1090" id=
+ "AEN1090"></a>TYPE_NUMERIC</h1>
+
+ <p>This field type accepts a decimal number. It is set up
+ as follows:</p>
+ <pre class="PROGRAMLISTING">
+int set_field_type(FIELD *field, /* field to alter */
TYPE_NUMERIC, /* type to associate */
int padding, /* # places of precision */
- int vmin, int vmax); /* valid range */</font>
-</pre></td>
-</tr>
-</table>
-<p>Valid characters consist of an optional leading minus and
-digits. possibly including a decimal point. The range check is
-performed on exit. If the range maximum is less than or equal to
-the minimum, the range is ignored.</p>
-<p>If the value passes its range check, it is padded with as many
-trailing zero digits as necessary to meet the padding argument.</p>
-<p>A TYPE_NUMERIC value buffer can conveniently be interpreted with
-the C library function atof(3).</p>
-<h1 class="BRIDGEHEAD"><a name="AEN1096" id=
-"AEN1096"></a>TYPE_REGEXP</h1>
-<p>This field type accepts data matching a regular expression. It
-is set up as follows:</p>
-<table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="100%">
-<tr>
-<td>
-<pre class="PROGRAMLISTING">
-<font color=
-"#000000">int set_field_type(FIELD *field, /* field to alter */
+ int vmin, int vmax); /* valid range */
+</pre>
+
+ <p>Valid characters consist of an optional leading minus
+ and digits. possibly including a decimal point. The range
+ check is performed on exit. If the range maximum is less
+ than or equal to the minimum, the range is ignored.</p>
+
+ <p>If the value passes its range check, it is padded with
+ as many trailing zero digits as necessary to meet the
+ padding argument.</p>
+
+ <p>A TYPE_NUMERIC value buffer can conveniently be
+ interpreted with the C library function atof(3).</p>
+
+ <h1 class="BRIDGEHEAD"><a name="AEN1096" id=
+ "AEN1096"></a>TYPE_REGEXP</h1>
+
+ <p>This field type accepts data matching a regular
+ expression. It is set up as follows:</p>
+ <pre class="PROGRAMLISTING">
+int set_field_type(FIELD *field, /* field to alter */
TYPE_REGEXP, /* type to associate */
- char *regexp); /* expression to match */</font>
-</pre></td>
-</tr>
-</table>
-<p>The syntax for regular expressions is that of regcomp(3). The
-check for regular-expression match is performed on exit.</p>
-</div>
-<div class="SECT2">
-<hr>
-<h3 class="SECT2"><a name="FORMDRIVER" id="FORMDRIVER">18.6. Form
-Driver: The work horse of the forms system</a></h3>
-<p>As in the menu system, form_driver() plays a very important role
-in forms system. All types of requests to forms system should be
-funneled through form_driver().</p>
-<table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="100%">
-<tr>
-<td>
-<pre class="PROGRAMLISTING">
-<font color=
-"#000000">int form_driver(FORM *form, /* form on which to operate */
- int request) /* form request code */</font>
-</pre></td>
-</tr>
-</table>
-<p>As you have seen some of the examples above, you have to be in a
-loop looking for user input and then decide whether it's a field
-data or a form request. The form requests are then passed to
-form_driver() to do the work.</p>
-<p>The requests roughly can be divided into following categories.
-Different requests and their usage is explained below:</p>
-<div class="SECT3">
-<hr>
-<h4 class="SECT3"><a name="PAGENAVREQ" id="PAGENAVREQ">18.6.1. Page
-Navigation Requests</a></h4>
-<p>These requests cause page-level moves through the form,
-triggering display of a new form screen. A form can be made of
-multiple pages. If you have a big form with lot of fields and
-logical sections, then you can divide the form into pages. The
-function set_new_page() to set a new page at the field
-specified.</p>
-<table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="100%">
-<tr>
-<td>
-<pre class="PROGRAMLISTING">
-<font color=
-"#000000">int set_new_page(FIELD *field,/* Field at which page break to be set or unset */
- bool new_page_flag); /* should be TRUE to put a break */</font>
-</pre></td>
-</tr>
-</table>
-<p>The following requests allow you to move to different pages</p>
-<ul>
-<li>
-<p><em>REQ_NEXT_PAGE</em> Move to the next form page.</p>
-</li>
-<li>
-<p><em>REQ_PREV_PAGE</em> Move to the previous form page.</p>
-</li>
-<li>
-<p><em>REQ_FIRST_PAGE</em> Move to the first form page.</p>
-</li>
-<li>
-<p><em>REQ_LAST_PAGE</em> Move to the last form page.</p>
-</li>
-</ul>
-<p>These requests treat the list as cyclic; that is, REQ_NEXT_PAGE
-from the last page goes to the first, and REQ_PREV_PAGE from the
-first page goes to the last.</p>
-</div>
-<div class="SECT3">
-<hr>
-<h4 class="SECT3"><a name="INTERFIELDNAVREQ" id=
-"INTERFIELDNAVREQ">18.6.2. Inter-Field Navigation Requests</a></h4>
-<p>These requests handle navigation between fields on the same
-page.</p>
-<ul>
-<li>
-<p><em>REQ_NEXT_FIELD</em> Move to next field.</p>
-</li>
-<li>
-<p><em>REQ_PREV_FIELD</em> Move to previous field.</p>
-</li>
-<li>
-<p><em>REQ_FIRST_FIELD</em> Move to the first field.</p>
-</li>
-<li>
-<p><em>REQ_LAST_FIELD</em> Move to the last field.</p>
-</li>
-<li>
-<p><em>REQ_SNEXT_FIELD</em> Move to sorted next field.</p>
-</li>
-<li>
-<p><em>REQ_SPREV_FIELD</em> Move to sorted previous field.</p>
-</li>
-<li>
-<p><em>REQ_SFIRST_FIELD</em> Move to the sorted first field.</p>
-</li>
-<li>
-<p><em>REQ_SLAST_FIELD</em> Move to the sorted last field.</p>
-</li>
-<li>
-<p><em>REQ_LEFT_FIELD</em> Move left to field.</p>
-</li>
-<li>
-<p><em>REQ_RIGHT_FIELD</em> Move right to field.</p>
-</li>
-<li>
-<p><em>REQ_UP_FIELD</em> Move up to field.</p>
-</li>
-<li>
-<p><em>REQ_DOWN_FIELD</em> Move down to field.</p>
-</li>
-</ul>
-<p>These requests treat the list of fields on a page as cyclic;
-that is, REQ_NEXT_FIELD from the last field goes to the first, and
-REQ_PREV_FIELD from the first field goes to the last. The order of
-the fields for these (and the REQ_FIRST_FIELD and REQ_LAST_FIELD
-requests) is simply the order of the field pointers in the form
-array (as set up by new_form() or set_form_fields()</p>
-<p>It is also possible to traverse the fields as if they had been
-sorted in screen-position order, so the sequence goes left-to-right
-and top-to-bottom. To do this, use the second group of four
-sorted-movement requests.</p>
-<p>Finally, it is possible to move between fields using visual
-directions up, down, right, and left. To accomplish this, use the
-third group of four requests. Note, however, that the position of a
-form for purposes of these requests is its upper-left corner.</p>
-<p>For example, suppose you have a multi-line field B, and two
-single-line fields A and C on the same line with B, with A to the
-left of B and C to the right of B. A REQ_MOVE_RIGHT from A will go
-to B only if A, B, and C all share the same first line; otherwise
-it will skip over B to C.</p>
-</div>
-<div class="SECT3">
-<hr>
-<h4 class="SECT3"><a name="INTRAFIELDNAVREQ" id=
-"INTRAFIELDNAVREQ">18.6.3. Intra-Field Navigation Requests</a></h4>
-<p>These requests drive movement of the edit cursor within the
-currently selected field.</p>
-<ul>
-<li>
-<p><em>REQ_NEXT_CHAR</em> Move to next character.</p>
-</li>
-<li>
-<p><em>REQ_PREV_CHAR</em> Move to previous character.</p>
-</li>
-<li>
-<p><em>REQ_NEXT_LINE</em> Move to next line.</p>
-</li>
-<li>
-<p><em>REQ_PREV_LINE</em> Move to previous line.</p>
-</li>
-<li>
-<p><em>REQ_NEXT_WORD</em> Move to next word.</p>
-</li>
-<li>
-<p><em>REQ_PREV_WORD</em> Move to previous word.</p>
-</li>
-<li>
-<p><em>REQ_BEG_FIELD</em> Move to beginning of field.</p>
-</li>
-<li>
-<p><em>REQ_END_FIELD</em> Move to end of field.</p>
-</li>
-<li>
-<p><em>REQ_BEG_LINE</em> Move to beginning of line.</p>
-</li>
-<li>
-<p><em>REQ_END_LINE</em> Move to end of line.</p>
-</li>
-<li>
-<p><em>REQ_LEFT_CHAR</em> Move left in field.</p>
-</li>
-<li>
-<p><em>REQ_RIGHT_CHAR</em> Move right in field.</p>
-</li>
-<li>
-<p><em>REQ_UP_CHAR</em> Move up in field.</p>
-</li>
-<li>
-<p><em>REQ_DOWN_CHAR</em> Move down in field.</p>
-</li>
-</ul>
-<p>Each word is separated from the previous and next characters by
-whitespace. The commands to move to beginning and end of line or
-field look for the first or last non-pad character in their
-ranges.</p>
-</div>
-<div class="SECT3">
-<hr>
-<h4 class="SECT3"><a name="SCROLLREQ" id="SCROLLREQ">18.6.4.
-Scrolling Requests</a></h4>
-<p>Fields that are dynamic and have grown and fields explicitly
-created with offscreen rows are scrollable. One-line fields scroll
-horizontally; multi-line fields scroll vertically. Most scrolling
-is triggered by editing and intra-field movement (the library
-scrolls the field to keep the cursor visible). It is possible to
-explicitly request scrolling with the following requests:</p>
-<ul>
-<li>
-<p><em>REQ_SCR_FLINE</em> Scroll vertically forward a line.</p>
-</li>
-<li>
-<p><em>REQ_SCR_BLINE</em> Scroll vertically backward a line.</p>
-</li>
-<li>
-<p><em>REQ_SCR_FPAGE</em> Scroll vertically forward a page.</p>
-</li>
-<li>
-<p><em>REQ_SCR_BPAGE</em> Scroll vertically backward a page.</p>
-</li>
-<li>
-<p><em>REQ_SCR_FHPAGE</em> Scroll vertically forward half a
-page.</p>
-</li>
-<li>
-<p><em>REQ_SCR_BHPAGE</em> Scroll vertically backward half a
-page.</p>
-</li>
-<li>
-<p><em>REQ_SCR_FCHAR</em> Scroll horizontally forward a
-character.</p>
-</li>
-<li>
-<p><em>REQ_SCR_BCHAR</em> Scroll horizontally backward a
-character.</p>
-</li>
-<li>
-<p><em>REQ_SCR_HFLINE</em> Scroll horizontally one field width
-forward.</p>
-</li>
-<li>
-<p><em>REQ_SCR_HBLINE</em> Scroll horizontally one field width
-backward.</p>
-</li>
-<li>
-<p><em>REQ_SCR_HFHALF</em> Scroll horizontally one half field width
-forward.</p>
-</li>
-<li>
-<p><em>REQ_SCR_HBHALF</em> Scroll horizontally one half field width
-backward.</p>
-</li>
-</ul>
-<p>For scrolling purposes, a page of a field is the height of its
-visible part.</p>
-</div>
-<div class="SECT3">
-<hr>
-<h4 class="SECT3"><a name="EDITREQ" id="EDITREQ">18.6.5. Editing
-Requests</a></h4>
-<p>When you pass the forms driver an ASCII character, it is treated
-as a request to add the character to the field's data buffer.
-Whether this is an insertion or a replacement depends on the
-field's edit mode (insertion is the default.</p>
-<p>The following requests support editing the field and changing
-the edit mode:</p>
-<ul>
-<li>
-<p><em>REQ_INS_MODE</em> Set insertion mode.</p>
-</li>
-<li>
-<p><em>REQ_OVL_MODE</em> Set overlay mode.</p>
-</li>
-<li>
-<p><em>REQ_NEW_LINE</em> New line request (see below for
-explanation).</p>
-</li>
-<li>
-<p><em>REQ_INS_CHAR</em> Insert space at character location.</p>
-</li>
-<li>
-<p><em>REQ_INS_LINE</em> Insert blank line at character
-location.</p>
-</li>
-<li>
-<p><em>REQ_DEL_CHAR</em> Delete character at cursor.</p>
-</li>
-<li>
-<p><em>REQ_DEL_PREV</em> Delete previous word at cursor.</p>
-</li>
-<li>
-<p><em>REQ_DEL_LINE</em> Delete line at cursor.</p>
-</li>
-<li>
-<p><em>REQ_DEL_WORD</em> Delete word at cursor.</p>
-</li>
-<li>
-<p><em>REQ_CLR_EOL</em> Clear to end of line.</p>
-</li>
-<li>
-<p><em>REQ_CLR_EOF</em> Clear to end of field.</p>
-</li>
-<li>
-<p><em>REQ_CLR_FIELD</em> Clear entire field.</p>
-</li>
-</ul>
-<p>The behavior of the REQ_NEW_LINE and REQ_DEL_PREV requests is
-complicated and partly controlled by a pair of forms options. The
-special cases are triggered when the cursor is at the beginning of
-a field, or on the last line of the field.</p>
-<p>First, we consider REQ_NEW_LINE:</p>
-<p>The normal behavior of REQ_NEW_LINE in insert mode is to break
-the current line at the position of the edit cursor, inserting the
-portion of the current line after the cursor as a new line
-following the current and moving the cursor to the beginning of
-that new line (you may think of this as inserting a newline in the
-field buffer).</p>
-<p>The normal behavior of REQ_NEW_LINE in overlay mode is to clear
-the current line from the position of the edit cursor to end of
-line. The cursor is then moved to the beginning of the next
-line.</p>
-<p>However, REQ_NEW_LINE at the beginning of a field, or on the
-last line of a field, instead does a REQ_NEXT_FIELD. O_NL_OVERLOAD
-option is off, this special action is disabled.</p>
-<p>Now, let us consider REQ_DEL_PREV:</p>
-<p>The normal behavior of REQ_DEL_PREV is to delete the previous
-character. If insert mode is on, and the cursor is at the start of
-a line, and the text on that line will fit on the previous one, it
-instead appends the contents of the current line to the previous
-one and deletes the current line (you may think of this as deleting
-a newline from the field buffer).</p>
-<p>However, REQ_DEL_PREV at the beginning of a field is instead
-treated as a REQ_PREV_FIELD.</p>
-<p>If the O_BS_OVERLOAD option is off, this special action is
-disabled and the forms driver just returns E_REQUEST_DENIED.</p>
-</div>
-<div class="SECT3">
-<hr>
-<h4 class="SECT3"><a name="ORDERREQ" id="ORDERREQ">18.6.6. Order
-Requests</a></h4>
-<p>If the type of your field is ordered, and has associated
-functions for getting the next and previous values of the type from
-a given value, there are requests that can fetch that value into
-the field buffer:</p>
-<ul>
-<li>
-<p><em>REQ_NEXT_CHOICE</em> Place the successor value of the
-current value in the buffer.</p>
-</li>
-<li>
-<p><em>REQ_PREV_CHOICE</em> Place the predecessor value of the
-current value in the buffer.</p>
-</li>
-</ul>
-<p>Of the built-in field types, only TYPE_ENUM has built-in
-successor and predecessor functions. When you define a field type
-of your own (see Custom Validation Types), you can associate our
-own ordering functions.</p>
-</div>
-<div class="SECT3">
-<hr>
-<h4 class="SECT3"><a name="APPLICCOMMANDS" id=
-"APPLICCOMMANDS">18.6.7. Application Commands</a></h4>
-<p>Form requests are represented as integers above the curses value
-greater than KEY_MAX and less than or equal to the constant
-MAX_COMMAND. A value within this range gets ignored by
-form_driver(). So this can be used for any purpose by the
-application. It can be treated as an application specific action
-and take corresponding action.</p>
-</div>
-</div>
-</div>
-<div class="SECT1">
-<hr>
-<h2 class="SECT1"><a name="TOOLS" id="TOOLS">19. Tools and Widget
-Libraries</a></h2>
-<p>Now that you have seen the capabilities of ncurses and its
-sister libraries, you are rolling your sleeves up and gearing for a
-project that heavily manipulates screen. But wait.. It can be
-pretty difficult to write and maintain complex GUI widgets in plain
-ncurses or even with the additional libraries. There are some
-ready-to-use tools and widget libraries that can be used instead of
-writing your own widgets. You can use some of them, get ideas from
-the code, or even extend them.</p>
-<div class="SECT2">
-<hr>
-<h3 class="SECT2"><a name="CDK" id="CDK">19.1. CDK (Curses
-Development Kit)</a></h3>
-<p>In the author's words</p>
-<p><em>CDK stands for 'Curses Development Kit' and it currently
-contains 21 ready to use widgets which facilitate the speedy
-development of full screen curses programs.</em></p>
-<p>The kit provides some useful widgets, which can be used in your
-programs directly. It's pretty well written and the documentation
-is very good. The examples in the examples directory can be a good
-place to start for beginners. The CDK can be downloaded from
-<a href="http://invisible-island.net/cdk/" target=
-"_top">http://invisible-island.net/cdk/</a> . Follow the
-instructions in README file to install it.</p>
-<div class="SECT3">
-<hr>
-<h4 class="SECT3"><a name="WIDGETLIST" id="WIDGETLIST">19.1.1.
-Widget List</a></h4>
-<p>The following is the list of widgets provided with cdk and their
-description.</p>
-<table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="100%">
-<tr>
-<td>
-<pre class="PROGRAMLISTING">
-<font color="#000000">Widget Type Quick Description
+ char *regexp); /* expression to match */
+</pre>
+
+ <p>The syntax for regular expressions is that of
+ regcomp(3). The check for regular-expression match is
+ performed on exit.</p>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="SECT2">
+ <hr>
+
+ <h3 class="SECT2"><a name="FORMDRIVER" id=
+ "FORMDRIVER">18.6. Form Driver: The work horse of the forms
+ system</a></h3>
+
+ <p>As in the menu system, form_driver() plays a very
+ important role in forms system. All types of requests to
+ forms system should be funneled through form_driver().</p>
+ <pre class="PROGRAMLISTING">
+int form_driver(FORM *form, /* form on which to operate */
+ int request) /* form request code */
+</pre>
+
+ <p>As you have seen some of the examples above, you have to
+ be in a loop looking for user input and then decide whether
+ it's a field data or a form request. The form requests are
+ then passed to form_driver() to do the work.</p>
+
+ <p>The requests roughly can be divided into following
+ categories. Different requests and their usage is explained
+ below:</p>
+
+ <div class="SECT3">
+ <hr>
+
+ <h4 class="SECT3"><a name="PAGENAVREQ" id=
+ "PAGENAVREQ">18.6.1. Page Navigation Requests</a></h4>
+
+ <p>These requests cause page-level moves through the
+ form, triggering display of a new form screen. A form can
+ be made of multiple pages. If you have a big form with
+ lot of fields and logical sections, then you can divide
+ the form into pages. The function set_new_page() to set a
+ new page at the field specified.</p>
+ <pre class="PROGRAMLISTING">
+int set_new_page(FIELD *field,/* Field at which page break to be set or unset */
+ bool new_page_flag); /* should be TRUE to put a break */
+</pre>
+
+ <p>The following requests allow you to move to different
+ pages</p>
+
+ <ul>
+ <li>
+ <p><span class="emphasis"><i class=
+ "EMPHASIS">REQ_NEXT_PAGE</i></span> Move to the next
+ form page.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p><span class="emphasis"><i class=
+ "EMPHASIS">REQ_PREV_PAGE</i></span> Move to the
+ previous form page.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p><span class="emphasis"><i class=
+ "EMPHASIS">REQ_FIRST_PAGE</i></span> Move to the
+ first form page.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p><span class="emphasis"><i class=
+ "EMPHASIS">REQ_LAST_PAGE</i></span> Move to the last
+ form page.</p>
+ </li>
+ </ul>
+
+ <p>These requests treat the list as cyclic; that is,
+ REQ_NEXT_PAGE from the last page goes to the first, and
+ REQ_PREV_PAGE from the first page goes to the last.</p>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="SECT3">
+ <hr>
+
+ <h4 class="SECT3"><a name="INTERFIELDNAVREQ" id=
+ "INTERFIELDNAVREQ">18.6.2. Inter-Field Navigation
+ Requests</a></h4>
+
+ <p>These requests handle navigation between fields on the
+ same page.</p>
+
+ <ul>
+ <li>
+ <p><span class="emphasis"><i class=
+ "EMPHASIS">REQ_NEXT_FIELD</i></span> Move to next
+ field.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p><span class="emphasis"><i class=
+ "EMPHASIS">REQ_PREV_FIELD</i></span> Move to previous
+ field.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p><span class="emphasis"><i class=
+ "EMPHASIS">REQ_FIRST_FIELD</i></span> Move to the
+ first field.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p><span class="emphasis"><i class=
+ "EMPHASIS">REQ_LAST_FIELD</i></span> Move to the last
+ field.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p><span class="emphasis"><i class=
+ "EMPHASIS">REQ_SNEXT_FIELD</i></span> Move to sorted
+ next field.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p><span class="emphasis"><i class=
+ "EMPHASIS">REQ_SPREV_FIELD</i></span> Move to sorted
+ previous field.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p><span class="emphasis"><i class=
+ "EMPHASIS">REQ_SFIRST_FIELD</i></span> Move to the
+ sorted first field.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p><span class="emphasis"><i class=
+ "EMPHASIS">REQ_SLAST_FIELD</i></span> Move to the
+ sorted last field.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p><span class="emphasis"><i class=
+ "EMPHASIS">REQ_LEFT_FIELD</i></span> Move left to
+ field.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p><span class="emphasis"><i class=
+ "EMPHASIS">REQ_RIGHT_FIELD</i></span> Move right to
+ field.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p><span class="emphasis"><i class=
+ "EMPHASIS">REQ_UP_FIELD</i></span> Move up to
+ field.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p><span class="emphasis"><i class=
+ "EMPHASIS">REQ_DOWN_FIELD</i></span> Move down to
+ field.</p>
+ </li>
+ </ul>
+
+ <p>These requests treat the list of fields on a page as
+ cyclic; that is, REQ_NEXT_FIELD from the last field goes
+ to the first, and REQ_PREV_FIELD from the first field
+ goes to the last. The order of the fields for these (and
+ the REQ_FIRST_FIELD and REQ_LAST_FIELD requests) is
+ simply the order of the field pointers in the form array
+ (as set up by new_form() or set_form_fields()</p>
+
+ <p>It is also possible to traverse the fields as if they
+ had been sorted in screen-position order, so the sequence
+ goes left-to-right and top-to-bottom. To do this, use the
+ second group of four sorted-movement requests.</p>
+
+ <p>Finally, it is possible to move between fields using
+ visual directions up, down, right, and left. To
+ accomplish this, use the third group of four requests.
+ Note, however, that the position of a form for purposes
+ of these requests is its upper-left corner.</p>
+
+ <p>For example, suppose you have a multi-line field B,
+ and two single-line fields A and C on the same line with
+ B, with A to the left of B and C to the right of B. A
+ REQ_MOVE_RIGHT from A will go to B only if A, B, and C
+ all share the same first line; otherwise it will skip
+ over B to C.</p>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="SECT3">
+ <hr>
+
+ <h4 class="SECT3"><a name="INTRAFIELDNAVREQ" id=
+ "INTRAFIELDNAVREQ">18.6.3. Intra-Field Navigation
+ Requests</a></h4>
+
+ <p>These requests drive movement of the edit cursor
+ within the currently selected field.</p>
+
+ <ul>
+ <li>
+ <p><span class="emphasis"><i class=
+ "EMPHASIS">REQ_NEXT_CHAR</i></span> Move to next
+ character.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p><span class="emphasis"><i class=
+ "EMPHASIS">REQ_PREV_CHAR</i></span> Move to previous
+ character.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p><span class="emphasis"><i class=
+ "EMPHASIS">REQ_NEXT_LINE</i></span> Move to next
+ line.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p><span class="emphasis"><i class=
+ "EMPHASIS">REQ_PREV_LINE</i></span> Move to previous
+ line.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p><span class="emphasis"><i class=
+ "EMPHASIS">REQ_NEXT_WORD</i></span> Move to next
+ word.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p><span class="emphasis"><i class=
+ "EMPHASIS">REQ_PREV_WORD</i></span> Move to previous
+ word.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p><span class="emphasis"><i class=
+ "EMPHASIS">REQ_BEG_FIELD</i></span> Move to beginning
+ of field.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p><span class="emphasis"><i class=
+ "EMPHASIS">REQ_END_FIELD</i></span> Move to end of
+ field.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p><span class="emphasis"><i class=
+ "EMPHASIS">REQ_BEG_LINE</i></span> Move to beginning
+ of line.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p><span class="emphasis"><i class=
+ "EMPHASIS">REQ_END_LINE</i></span> Move to end of
+ line.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p><span class="emphasis"><i class=
+ "EMPHASIS">REQ_LEFT_CHAR</i></span> Move left in
+ field.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p><span class="emphasis"><i class=
+ "EMPHASIS">REQ_RIGHT_CHAR</i></span> Move right in
+ field.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p><span class="emphasis"><i class=
+ "EMPHASIS">REQ_UP_CHAR</i></span> Move up in
+ field.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p><span class="emphasis"><i class=
+ "EMPHASIS">REQ_DOWN_CHAR</i></span> Move down in
+ field.</p>
+ </li>
+ </ul>
+
+ <p>Each word is separated from the previous and next
+ characters by whitespace. The commands to move to
+ beginning and end of line or field look for the first or
+ last non-pad character in their ranges.</p>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="SECT3">
+ <hr>
+
+ <h4 class="SECT3"><a name="SCROLLREQ" id=
+ "SCROLLREQ">18.6.4. Scrolling Requests</a></h4>
+
+ <p>Fields that are dynamic and have grown and fields
+ explicitly created with offscreen rows are scrollable.
+ One-line fields scroll horizontally; multi-line fields
+ scroll vertically. Most scrolling is triggered by editing
+ and intra-field movement (the library scrolls the field
+ to keep the cursor visible). It is possible to explicitly
+ request scrolling with the following requests:</p>
+
+ <ul>
+ <li>
+ <p><span class="emphasis"><i class=
+ "EMPHASIS">REQ_SCR_FLINE</i></span> Scroll vertically
+ forward a line.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p><span class="emphasis"><i class=
+ "EMPHASIS">REQ_SCR_BLINE</i></span> Scroll vertically
+ backward a line.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p><span class="emphasis"><i class=
+ "EMPHASIS">REQ_SCR_FPAGE</i></span> Scroll vertically
+ forward a page.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p><span class="emphasis"><i class=
+ "EMPHASIS">REQ_SCR_BPAGE</i></span> Scroll vertically
+ backward a page.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p><span class="emphasis"><i class=
+ "EMPHASIS">REQ_SCR_FHPAGE</i></span> Scroll
+ vertically forward half a page.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p><span class="emphasis"><i class=
+ "EMPHASIS">REQ_SCR_BHPAGE</i></span> Scroll
+ vertically backward half a page.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p><span class="emphasis"><i class=
+ "EMPHASIS">REQ_SCR_FCHAR</i></span> Scroll
+ horizontally forward a character.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p><span class="emphasis"><i class=
+ "EMPHASIS">REQ_SCR_BCHAR</i></span> Scroll
+ horizontally backward a character.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p><span class="emphasis"><i class=
+ "EMPHASIS">REQ_SCR_HFLINE</i></span> Scroll
+ horizontally one field width forward.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p><span class="emphasis"><i class=
+ "EMPHASIS">REQ_SCR_HBLINE</i></span> Scroll
+ horizontally one field width backward.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p><span class="emphasis"><i class=
+ "EMPHASIS">REQ_SCR_HFHALF</i></span> Scroll
+ horizontally one half field width forward.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p><span class="emphasis"><i class=
+ "EMPHASIS">REQ_SCR_HBHALF</i></span> Scroll
+ horizontally one half field width backward.</p>
+ </li>
+ </ul>
+
+ <p>For scrolling purposes, a page of a field is the
+ height of its visible part.</p>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="SECT3">
+ <hr>
+
+ <h4 class="SECT3"><a name="EDITREQ" id="EDITREQ">18.6.5.
+ Editing Requests</a></h4>
+
+ <p>When you pass the forms driver an ASCII character, it
+ is treated as a request to add the character to the
+ field's data buffer. Whether this is an insertion or a
+ replacement depends on the field's edit mode (insertion
+ is the default.</p>
+
+ <p>The following requests support editing the field and
+ changing the edit mode:</p>
+
+ <ul>
+ <li>
+ <p><span class="emphasis"><i class=
+ "EMPHASIS">REQ_INS_MODE</i></span> Set insertion
+ mode.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p><span class="emphasis"><i class=
+ "EMPHASIS">REQ_OVL_MODE</i></span> Set overlay
+ mode.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p><span class="emphasis"><i class=
+ "EMPHASIS">REQ_NEW_LINE</i></span> New line request
+ (see below for explanation).</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p><span class="emphasis"><i class=
+ "EMPHASIS">REQ_INS_CHAR</i></span> Insert space at
+ character location.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p><span class="emphasis"><i class=
+ "EMPHASIS">REQ_INS_LINE</i></span> Insert blank line
+ at character location.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p><span class="emphasis"><i class=
+ "EMPHASIS">REQ_DEL_CHAR</i></span> Delete character
+ at cursor.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p><span class="emphasis"><i class=
+ "EMPHASIS">REQ_DEL_PREV</i></span> Delete previous
+ word at cursor.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p><span class="emphasis"><i class=
+ "EMPHASIS">REQ_DEL_LINE</i></span> Delete line at
+ cursor.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p><span class="emphasis"><i class=
+ "EMPHASIS">REQ_DEL_WORD</i></span> Delete word at
+ cursor.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p><span class="emphasis"><i class=
+ "EMPHASIS">REQ_CLR_EOL</i></span> Clear to end of
+ line.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p><span class="emphasis"><i class=
+ "EMPHASIS">REQ_CLR_EOF</i></span> Clear to end of
+ field.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p><span class="emphasis"><i class=
+ "EMPHASIS">REQ_CLR_FIELD</i></span> Clear entire
+ field.</p>
+ </li>
+ </ul>
+
+ <p>The behavior of the REQ_NEW_LINE and REQ_DEL_PREV
+ requests is complicated and partly controlled by a pair
+ of forms options. The special cases are triggered when
+ the cursor is at the beginning of a field, or on the last
+ line of the field.</p>
+
+ <p>First, we consider REQ_NEW_LINE:</p>
+
+ <p>The normal behavior of REQ_NEW_LINE in insert mode is
+ to break the current line at the position of the edit
+ cursor, inserting the portion of the current line after
+ the cursor as a new line following the current and moving
+ the cursor to the beginning of that new line (you may
+ think of this as inserting a newline in the field
+ buffer).</p>
+
+ <p>The normal behavior of REQ_NEW_LINE in overlay mode is
+ to clear the current line from the position of the edit
+ cursor to end of line. The cursor is then moved to the
+ beginning of the next line.</p>
+
+ <p>However, REQ_NEW_LINE at the beginning of a field, or
+ on the last line of a field, instead does a
+ REQ_NEXT_FIELD. O_NL_OVERLOAD option is off, this special
+ action is disabled.</p>
+
+ <p>Now, let us consider REQ_DEL_PREV:</p>
+
+ <p>The normal behavior of REQ_DEL_PREV is to delete the
+ previous character. If insert mode is on, and the cursor
+ is at the start of a line, and the text on that line will
+ fit on the previous one, it instead appends the contents
+ of the current line to the previous one and deletes the
+ current line (you may think of this as deleting a newline
+ from the field buffer).</p>
+
+ <p>However, REQ_DEL_PREV at the beginning of a field is
+ instead treated as a REQ_PREV_FIELD.</p>
+
+ <p>If the O_BS_OVERLOAD option is off, this special
+ action is disabled and the forms driver just returns
+ E_REQUEST_DENIED.</p>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="SECT3">
+ <hr>
+
+ <h4 class="SECT3"><a name="ORDERREQ" id=
+ "ORDERREQ">18.6.6. Order Requests</a></h4>
+
+ <p>If the type of your field is ordered, and has
+ associated functions for getting the next and previous
+ values of the type from a given value, there are requests
+ that can fetch that value into the field buffer:</p>
+
+ <ul>
+ <li>
+ <p><span class="emphasis"><i class=
+ "EMPHASIS">REQ_NEXT_CHOICE</i></span> Place the
+ successor value of the current value in the
+ buffer.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p><span class="emphasis"><i class=
+ "EMPHASIS">REQ_PREV_CHOICE</i></span> Place the
+ predecessor value of the current value in the
+ buffer.</p>
+ </li>
+ </ul>
+
+ <p>Of the built-in field types, only TYPE_ENUM has
+ built-in successor and predecessor functions. When you
+ define a field type of your own (see Custom Validation
+ Types), you can associate our own ordering functions.</p>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="SECT3">
+ <hr>
+
+ <h4 class="SECT3"><a name="APPLICCOMMANDS" id=
+ "APPLICCOMMANDS">18.6.7. Application Commands</a></h4>
+
+ <p>Form requests are represented as integers above the
+ curses value greater than KEY_MAX and less than or equal
+ to the constant MAX_COMMAND. A value within this range
+ gets ignored by form_driver(). So this can be used for
+ any purpose by the application. It can be treated as an
+ application specific action and take corresponding
+ action.</p>
+ </div>
+ </div>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="SECT1">
+ <hr>
+
+ <h2 class="SECT1"><a name="TOOLS" id="TOOLS">19. Tools and
+ Widget Libraries</a></h2>
+
+ <p>Now that you have seen the capabilities of ncurses and its
+ sister libraries, you are rolling your sleeves up and gearing
+ for a project that heavily manipulates screen. But wait.. It
+ can be pretty difficult to write and maintain complex GUI
+ widgets in plain ncurses or even with the additional
+ libraries. There are some ready-to-use tools and widget
+ libraries that can be used instead of writing your own
+ widgets. You can use some of them, get ideas from the code,
+ or even extend them.</p>
+
+ <div class="SECT2">
+ <hr>
+
+ <h3 class="SECT2"><a name="CDK" id="CDK">19.1. CDK (Curses
+ Development Kit)</a></h3>
+
+ <p>In the author's words</p>
+
+ <p><span class="emphasis"><i class="EMPHASIS">CDK stands
+ for 'Curses Development Kit' and it currently contains 21
+ ready to use widgets which facilitate the speedy
+ development of full screen curses programs.</i></span></p>
+
+ <p>The kit provides some useful widgets, which can be used
+ in your programs directly. It's pretty well written and the
+ documentation is very good. The examples in the examples
+ directory can be a good place to start for beginners. The
+ CDK can be downloaded from <a href=
+ "https://invisible-island.net/cdk/" target=
+ "_top">https://invisible-island.net/cdk/</a> . Follow the
+ instructions in README file to install it.</p>
+
+ <div class="SECT3">
+ <hr>
+
+ <h4 class="SECT3"><a name="WIDGETLIST" id=
+ "WIDGETLIST">19.1.1. Widget List</a></h4>
+
+ <p>The following is the list of widgets provided with cdk
+ and their description.</p>
+ <pre class="PROGRAMLISTING">
+Widget Type Quick Description
===========================================================================
Alphalist Allows a user to select from a list of words, with
the ability to narrow the search list by typing in a
dates and phone numbers.
Viewer This is a file/information viewer. Very useful
when you need to display loads of information.
-===========================================================================</font>
-</pre></td>
-</tr>
-</table>
-<p>A few of the widgets are modified by Thomas Dickey in recent
-versions.</p>
-</div>
-<div class="SECT3">
-<hr>
-<h4 class="SECT3"><a name="CDKATTRACT" id="CDKATTRACT">19.1.2. Some
-Attractive Features</a></h4>
-<p>Apart from making our life easier with readily usable widgets,
-cdk solves one frustrating problem with printing multi colored
-strings, justified strings elegantly. Special formatting tags can
-be embedded in the strings which are passed to CDK functions. For
-Example</p>
-<p>If the string</p>
-<table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="100%">
-<tr>
-<td>
-<pre class="PROGRAMLISTING">
-<font color=
-"#000000">"</B/1>This line should have a yellow foreground and a blue
-background.<!1>"</font>
-</pre></td>
-</tr>
-</table>
-<p>given as a parameter to newCDKLabel(), it prints the line with
-yellow foreground and blue background. There are other tags
-available for justifying string, embedding special drawing
-characters etc.. Please refer to the man page cdk_display(3X) for
-details. The man page explains the usage with nice examples.</p>
-</div>
-<div class="SECT3">
-<hr>
-<h4 class="SECT3"><a name="CDKCONCLUSION" id=
-"CDKCONCLUSION">19.1.3. Conclusion</a></h4>
-<p>All in all, CDK is a well-written package of widgets, which if
-used properly can form a strong frame work for developing complex
-GUI.</p>
-</div>
-</div>
-<div class="SECT2">
-<hr>
-<h3 class="SECT2"><a name="DIALOG" id="DIALOG">19.2. The
-dialog</a></h3>
-<p>Long long ago, in September 1994, when few people knew linux,
-Jeff Tranter wrote an <a href=
-"http://www2.linuxjournal.com/lj-issues/issue5/2807.html" target=
-"_top">article</a> on dialog in Linux Journal. He starts the
-article with these words..</p>
-<p><em>Linux is based on the Unix operating system, but also
-features a number of unique and useful kernel features and
-application programs that often go beyond what is available under
-Unix. One little-known gem is "dialog", a utility for creating
-professional-looking dialog boxes from within shell scripts. This
-article presents a tutorial introduction to the dialog utility, and
-shows examples of how and where it can be used</em></p>
-<p>As he explains, dialog is a real gem in making
-professional-looking dialog boxes with ease. It creates a variety
-of dialog boxes, menus, check lists etc.. It is usually installed
-by default. If not, you can download it from <a href=
-"http://invisible-island.net/dialog/" target="_top">Thomas
-Dickey</a>'s site.</p>
-<p>The above-mentioned article gives a very good overview of its
-uses and capabilites. The man page has more details. It can be used
-in variety of situations. One good example is building of linux
-kernel in text mode. Linux kernel uses a modified version of dialog
-tailored for its needs.</p>
-<p>dialog was initially designed to be used with shell scripts. If
-you want to use its functionality in a c program, then you can use
-libdialog. The documentation regarding this is sparse. Definitive
-reference is the dialog.h header file which comes with the library.
-You may need to hack here and there to get the required output. The
-source is easily customizable. I have used it on a number of
-occasions by modifying the code.</p>
-</div>
-<div class="SECT2">
-<hr>
-<h3 class="SECT2"><a name="PERLCURSES" id="PERLCURSES">19.3. Perl
-Curses Modules CURSES::FORM and CURSES::WIDGETS</a></h3>
-<p>The perl module Curses, Curses::Form and Curses::Widgets give
-access to curses from perl. If you have curses and basic perl is
-installed, you can get these modules from <a href=
-"http://www.cpan.org/modules/01modules.index.html" target=
-"_top">CPAN All Modules page</a>. Get the three zipped modules in
-the Curses category. Once installed you can use these modules from
-perl scripts like any other module. For more information on perl
-modules see perlmod man page. The above modules come with good
-documentation and they have some demo scripts to test the
-functionality. Though the widgets provided are very rudimentary,
-these modules provide good access to curses library from perl.</p>
-<p>Some of my code examples are converted to perl by Anuradha
-Ratnaweera and they are available in the <var class=
-"LITERAL">perl</var> directory.</p>
-<p>For more information see man pages Curses(3) , Curses::Form(3)
-and Curses::Widgets(3). These pages are installed only when the
-above modules are acquired and installed.</p>
-</div>
-</div>
-<div class="SECT1">
-<hr>
-<h2 class="SECT1"><a name="JUSTFORFUN" id="JUSTFORFUN">20. Just For
-Fun !!!</a></h2>
-<p>This section contains few programs written by me just for fun.
-They don't signify a better programming practice or the best way of
-using ncurses. They are provided here so as to allow beginners to
-get ideas and add more programs to this section. If you have
-written a couple of nice, simple programs in curses and want them
-to included here, contact <a href="mailto:ppadala@gmail.com"
-target="_top">me</a>.</p>
-<div class="SECT2">
-<hr>
-<h3 class="SECT2"><a name="GAMEOFLIFE" id="GAMEOFLIFE">20.1. The
-Game of Life</a></h3>
-<p>Game of life is a wonder of math. In <a href=
-"http://www.math.com/students/wonders/life/life.html" target=
-"_top">Paul Callahan</a>'s words</p>
-<table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="100%">
-<tr>
-<td>
-<pre class="PROGRAMLISTING">
-<font color=
-"#000000"><em>The Game of Life (or simply Life) is not a game in the conventional sense. There
+===========================================================================
+</pre>
+
+ <p>A few of the widgets are modified by Thomas Dickey in
+ recent versions.</p>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="SECT3">
+ <hr>
+
+ <h4 class="SECT3"><a name="CDKATTRACT" id=
+ "CDKATTRACT">19.1.2. Some Attractive Features</a></h4>
+
+ <p>Apart from making our life easier with readily usable
+ widgets, cdk solves one frustrating problem with printing
+ multi colored strings, justified strings elegantly.
+ Special formatting tags can be embedded in the strings
+ which are passed to CDK functions. For Example</p>
+
+ <p>If the string</p>
+ <pre class="PROGRAMLISTING">
+"</B/1>This line should have a yellow foreground and a blue
+background.<!1>"
+</pre>
+
+ <p>given as a parameter to newCDKLabel(), it prints the
+ line with yellow foreground and blue background. There
+ are other tags available for justifying string, embedding
+ special drawing characters etc.. Please refer to the man
+ page cdk_display(3X) for details. The man page explains
+ the usage with nice examples.</p>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="SECT3">
+ <hr>
+
+ <h4 class="SECT3"><a name="CDKCONCLUSION" id=
+ "CDKCONCLUSION">19.1.3. Conclusion</a></h4>
+
+ <p>All in all, CDK is a well-written package of widgets,
+ which if used properly can form a strong frame work for
+ developing complex GUI.</p>
+ </div>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="SECT2">
+ <hr>
+
+ <h3 class="SECT2"><a name="DIALOG" id="DIALOG">19.2. The
+ dialog</a></h3>
+
+ <p>Long long ago, in September 1994, when few people knew
+ linux, Jeff Tranter wrote an <a href=
+ "http://www2.linuxjournal.com/lj-issues/issue5/2807.html"
+ target="_top">article</a> on dialog in Linux Journal. He
+ starts the article with these words..</p>
+
+ <p><span class="emphasis"><i class="EMPHASIS">Linux is
+ based on the Unix operating system, but also features a
+ number of unique and useful kernel features and application
+ programs that often go beyond what is available under Unix.
+ One little-known gem is "dialog", a utility for creating
+ professional-looking dialog boxes from within shell
+ scripts. This article presents a tutorial introduction to
+ the dialog utility, and shows examples of how and where it
+ can be used</i></span></p>
+
+ <p>As he explains, dialog is a real gem in making
+ professional-looking dialog boxes with ease. It creates a
+ variety of dialog boxes, menus, check lists etc.. It is
+ usually installed by default. If not, you can download it
+ from <a href="https://invisible-island.net/dialog/" target=
+ "_top">Thomas Dickey</a>'s site.</p>
+
+ <p>The above-mentioned article gives a very good overview
+ of its uses and capabilites. The man page has more details.
+ It can be used in variety of situations. One good example
+ is building of linux kernel in text mode. Linux kernel uses
+ a modified version of dialog tailored for its needs.</p>
+
+ <p>dialog was initially designed to be used with shell
+ scripts. If you want to use its functionality in a c
+ program, then you can use libdialog. The documentation
+ regarding this is sparse. Definitive reference is the
+ dialog.h header file which comes with the library. You may
+ need to hack here and there to get the required output. The
+ source is easily customizable. I have used it on a number
+ of occasions by modifying the code.</p>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="SECT2">
+ <hr>
+
+ <h3 class="SECT2"><a name="PERLCURSES" id=
+ "PERLCURSES">19.3. Perl Curses Modules CURSES::FORM and
+ CURSES::WIDGETS</a></h3>
+
+ <p>The perl module Curses, Curses::Form and Curses::Widgets
+ give access to curses from perl. If you have curses and
+ basic perl is installed, you can get these modules from
+ <a href="http://www.cpan.org/modules/01modules.index.html"
+ target="_top">CPAN All Modules page</a>. Get the three
+ zipped modules in the Curses category. Once installed you
+ can use these modules from perl scripts like any other
+ module. For more information on perl modules see perlmod
+ man page. The above modules come with good documentation
+ and they have some demo scripts to test the functionality.
+ Though the widgets provided are very rudimentary, these
+ modules provide good access to curses library from
+ perl.</p>
+
+ <p>Some of my code examples are converted to perl by
+ Anuradha Ratnaweera and they are available in the
+ <tt class="LITERAL">perl</tt> directory.</p>
+
+ <p>For more information see man pages Curses(3) ,
+ Curses::Form(3) and Curses::Widgets(3). These pages are
+ installed only when the above modules are acquired and
+ installed.</p>
+ </div>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="SECT1">
+ <hr>
+
+ <h2 class="SECT1"><a name="JUSTFORFUN" id="JUSTFORFUN">20.
+ Just For Fun !!!</a></h2>
+
+ <p>This section contains few programs written by me just for
+ fun. They don't signify a better programming practice or the
+ best way of using ncurses. They are provided here so as to
+ allow beginners to get ideas and add more programs to this
+ section. If you have written a couple of nice, simple
+ programs in curses and want them to included here, contact
+ <a href="mailto:ppadala@gmail.com" target="_top">me</a>.</p>
+
+ <div class="SECT2">
+ <hr>
+
+ <h3 class="SECT2"><a name="GAMEOFLIFE" id=
+ "GAMEOFLIFE">20.1. The Game of Life</a></h3>
+
+ <p>Game of life is a wonder of math. In <a href=
+ "http://www.math.com/students/wonders/life/life.html"
+ target="_top">Paul Callahan</a>'s words</p>
+ <pre class="PROGRAMLISTING">
+<span class="emphasis"><i class=
+"EMPHASIS">The Game of Life (or simply Life) is not a game in the conventional sense. There
are no players, and no winning or losing. Once the "pieces" are placed in the
starting position, the rules determine everything that happens later.
Nevertheless, Life is full of surprises! In most cases, it is impossible to look
at a starting position (or pattern) and see what will happen in the future. The
-only way to find out is to follow the rules of the game.</em></font>
-</pre></td>
-</tr>
-</table>
-<p>This program starts with a simple inverted U pattern and shows
-how wonderful life works. There is a lot of room for improvement in
-the program. You can let the user enter pattern of his choice or
-even take input from a file. You can also change rules and play
-with a lot of variations. Search on <a href="http://www.google.com"
-target="_top">google</a> for interesting information on game of
-life.</p>
-<p><em>File Path: JustForFun/life.c</em></p>
-</div>
-<div class="SECT2">
-<hr>
-<h3 class="SECT2"><a name="MAGIC" id="MAGIC">20.2. Magic
-Square</a></h3>
-<p>Magic Square, another wonder of math, is very simple to
-understand but very difficult to make. In a magic square sum of the
-numbers in each row, each column is equal. Even diagnol sum can be
-equal. There are many variations which have special properties.</p>
-<p>This program creates a simple magic square of odd order.</p>
-<p><em>File Path: JustForFun/magic.c</em></p>
-</div>
-<div class="SECT2">
-<hr>
-<h3 class="SECT2"><a name="HANOI" id="HANOI">20.3. Towers of
-Hanoi</a></h3>
-<p>The famous towers of hanoi solver. The aim of the game is to
-move the disks on the first peg to last peg, using middle peg as a
-temporary stay. The catch is not to place a larger disk over a
-small disk at any time.</p>
-<p><em>File Path: JustForFun/hanoi.c</em></p>
-</div>
-<div class="SECT2">
-<hr>
-<h3 class="SECT2"><a name="QUEENS" id="QUEENS">20.4. Queens
-Puzzle</a></h3>
-<p>The objective of the famous N-Queen puzzle is to put N queens on
-a N X N chess board without attacking each other.</p>
-<p>This program solves it with a simple backtracking technique.</p>
-<p><em>File Path: JustForFun/queens.c</em></p>
-</div>
-<div class="SECT2">
-<hr>
-<h3 class="SECT2"><a name="SHUFFLE" id="SHUFFLE">20.5.
-Shuffle</a></h3>
-<p>A fun game, if you have time to kill.</p>
-<p><em>File Path: JustForFun/shuffle.c</em></p>
-</div>
-<div class="SECT2">
-<hr>
-<h3 class="SECT2"><a name="TT" id="TT">20.6. Typing Tutor</a></h3>
-<p>A simple typing tutor, I created more out of need than for ease
-of use. If you know how to put your fingers correctly on the
-keyboard, but lack practice, this can be helpful.</p>
-<p><em>File Path: JustForFun/tt.c</em></p>
-</div>
-</div>
-<div class="SECT1">
-<hr>
-<h2 class="SECT1"><a name="REF" id="REF">21. References</a></h2>
-<ul>
-<li>
-<p>NCURSES man pages</p>
-</li>
-<li>
-<p>NCURSES FAQ at <a href=
-"http://invisible-island.net/ncurses/ncurses.faq.html" target=
-"_top">http://invisible-island.net/ncurses/ncurses.faq.html</a></p>
-</li>
-<li>
-<p>Writing programs with NCURSES by Eric Raymond and Zeyd M.
-Ben-Halim at <a href=
-"http://invisible-island.net/ncurses/ncurses-intro.html" target=
-"_top">http://invisible-island.net/ncurses/ncurses-intro.html</a> -
-somewhat obsolete. I was inspired by this document and the
-structure of this HOWTO follows from the original document</p>
-</li>
-</ul>
-</div>
-</div>
+only way to find out is to follow the rules of the game.</i></span>
+</pre>
+
+ <p>This program starts with a simple inverted U pattern and
+ shows how wonderful life works. There is a lot of room for
+ improvement in the program. You can let the user enter
+ pattern of his choice or even take input from a file. You
+ can also change rules and play with a lot of variations.
+ Search on <a href="http://www.google.com" target=
+ "_top">google</a> for interesting information on game of
+ life.</p>
+
+ <p><span class="emphasis"><i class="EMPHASIS">File Path:
+ JustForFun/life.c</i></span></p>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="SECT2">
+ <hr>
+
+ <h3 class="SECT2"><a name="MAGIC" id="MAGIC">20.2. Magic
+ Square</a></h3>
+
+ <p>Magic Square, another wonder of math, is very simple to
+ understand but very difficult to make. In a magic square
+ sum of the numbers in each row, each column is equal. Even
+ diagnol sum can be equal. There are many variations which
+ have special properties.</p>
+
+ <p>This program creates a simple magic square of odd
+ order.</p>
+
+ <p><span class="emphasis"><i class="EMPHASIS">File Path:
+ JustForFun/magic.c</i></span></p>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="SECT2">
+ <hr>
+
+ <h3 class="SECT2"><a name="HANOI" id="HANOI">20.3. Towers
+ of Hanoi</a></h3>
+
+ <p>The famous towers of hanoi solver. The aim of the game
+ is to move the disks on the first peg to last peg, using
+ middle peg as a temporary stay. The catch is not to place a
+ larger disk over a small disk at any time.</p>
+
+ <p><span class="emphasis"><i class="EMPHASIS">File Path:
+ JustForFun/hanoi.c</i></span></p>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="SECT2">
+ <hr>
+
+ <h3 class="SECT2"><a name="QUEENS" id="QUEENS">20.4. Queens
+ Puzzle</a></h3>
+
+ <p>The objective of the famous N-Queen puzzle is to put N
+ queens on a N X N chess board without attacking each
+ other.</p>
+
+ <p>This program solves it with a simple backtracking
+ technique.</p>
+
+ <p><span class="emphasis"><i class="EMPHASIS">File Path:
+ JustForFun/queens.c</i></span></p>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="SECT2">
+ <hr>
+
+ <h3 class="SECT2"><a name="SHUFFLE" id="SHUFFLE">20.5.
+ Shuffle</a></h3>
+
+ <p>A fun game, if you have time to kill.</p>
+
+ <p><span class="emphasis"><i class="EMPHASIS">File Path:
+ JustForFun/shuffle.c</i></span></p>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="SECT2">
+ <hr>
+
+ <h3 class="SECT2"><a name="TT" id="TT">20.6. Typing
+ Tutor</a></h3>
+
+ <p>A simple typing tutor, I created more out of need than
+ for ease of use. If you know how to put your fingers
+ correctly on the keyboard, but lack practice, this can be
+ helpful.</p>
+
+ <p><span class="emphasis"><i class="EMPHASIS">File Path:
+ JustForFun/tt.c</i></span></p>
+ </div>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="SECT1">
+ <hr>
+
+ <h2 class="SECT1"><a name="REF" id="REF">21.
+ References</a></h2>
+
+ <ul>
+ <li>
+ <p>NCURSES man pages</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>NCURSES FAQ at <a href=
+ "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/ncurses.faq.html"
+ target=
+ "_top">https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/ncurses.faq.html</a></p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>Writing programs with NCURSES by Eric Raymond and Zeyd
+ M. Ben-Halim at <a href=
+ "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/ncurses-intro.html"
+ target=
+ "_top">https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/ncurses-intro.html</a>
+ - somewhat obsolete. I was inspired by this document and
+ the structure of this HOWTO follows from the original
+ document</p>
+ </li>
+ </ul>
+ </div>
+ </div>
</body>
</html>
projects / ncurses.git / blobdiff