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Character user interface programming



Introduction to the Form and Menu Language Interpreter (FMLI)
        What is FMLI?
                Screen layout
                Frames
        Programming with FMLI
                Frame definition files
                        Menu frames
                        Form frames
                        Text frames
                Application level definition files
                        Initialization file
                        Commands file
                        Alias file
                Terminal independence
                        Recovering after abnormal termination
                Internationalization support
        An example application
        Writing an internationalized application
        Using an FMLI application
                Named keys and alternative keystroke sequences
                Navigating in a menu
                Selecting menu items
                Navigating in a form
                Editing and saving a form
                Using a choices menu
                Navigating in and editing a text frame
                Navigating between frames
                Executing commands
                        The command menu
                        The command line
                        Screen-labeled function keys
                        On-line help
                        Accessing the UNIX System

The Form and Menu Language
        Syntax, rules, and conventions
                Naming conventions for frame definition files
                Comments
                Case sensitivity
                Type casts
                        File type casts
                        Type casts that change the time of descriptor evaluation
                Special characters
                Quoting mechanisms
                Backquoted expressions
                        Expression operators
                File redirection
                Syntax errors
        Variables
                User-defined variables
                Built-in variables
                        Variable evaluation
        Descriptors
                Descriptor evaluation
                Descriptor types
                Frame definition file descriptors
                        Menu descriptors
                        Form descriptors
                        Text frame descriptors
                Application level file descriptors
                        Initialization file descriptors
                        Application SLK descriptors
                        Commands file descriptors
        FMLI commands
                FMLI commands: syntax and use
                User access to FMLI commands
        Built-in utilities
                Overview of the built-in utilities
        Conditional statements
        Signal handling
                Interrupt signal handling
        Terminal display attributes
                Using the alternate character set

Frame definition files
        Menu frame descriptors
                Frame descriptors for menus
                Item descriptors for menus
        Examples of menu definition files
                Defining a simple menu
                Creating multi-column and scrollable menus
                Using the reread descriptor
                Using the interrupt and oninterrupt descriptors
                Providing supplementary information for menu items
                Displaying an item message
                Using the show descriptor
                Creating a dynamic menu
        Form frame descriptors
                Frame descriptors for forms
                Field descriptors
                        Automatic layout of form fields
        Example form definition files
                Saving user input to a form
                Validating a form field
                Example of validating a field value with the valid descriptor
        Text frames
                Text frame descriptors
                The textframe command
                        Options for the textframe command
        Example text frame definition files
                Defining attributes of text frames
                Defining a text frame with readfile and longline
                Using text frame headers and terminal attributes
                Defining a help frame for menu items or form fields
                        Using the textframe command as an alternative
                Using co-processing utilities

Application level definition files
        The initialization file
                Introductory frame descriptors
                        Example definition of an introductory frame
                Banner line descriptors
                        Example definitions of a banner line
                Color attribute descriptors
                        Defining color for the banner line
                General application descriptors
                Screen-labeled function key descriptors
                        Example definitions of screen-labeled function keys
        The commands file
                Command descriptors
                        Example of adding an application-specific command
                        Example of disabling an existing FMLI command
        The alias file
                Examples of adding path aliases
        fmli command syntax

The Extended Terminal Interface (ETI)
        What Is ETI?
                The ETI libraries
                The ETI/terminfo connection
                Other components of the screen management system

Basic ETI programming
        What every ETI program needs
                The header files
                The routines initscr, refresh, endwin
        Compiling an ETI program
                Using the TAM transition library
        Running an ETI program
        More about initscr and lines and columns
        More about refresh and windows
                Pads

Simple input and output
        Output
                addch
                addstr
                printw
                move
                clear and erase
                clrtoeol and clrtobot
        Input
                getch
                getstr
                scanw
        Output attributes
                attron, attrset, and attroff
                standout and standend
                Color manipulation
                        How the color feature works
                        Using the COLOR_PAIR(n) attribute
                        Changing the definitions of colors
                        Portability guidelines
                        Other macros and routines
                        start_color
                        init_pair
                        init_color
        Bells, whistles, and flashing lights: beep and flash
        Input options
                echo and noecho
                cbreak and nocbreak

ETI windows
        Output and input
        The routines wnoutrefresh and doupdate
        New windows
                newwin
                subwin
        ETI low-level interface (curses) to high-level functions

ETI panels
        Compiling and linking panel programs
        Creating panels
        Elementary panel window operations
                Fetching pointers to panel windows
                Changing panel windows
                Moving panel windows on the screen
        Moving panels to the top or bottom of the deck
        Updating panels on the screen
        Making panels invisible
                Hiding panels
                        Checking if panels are hidden
                Reinstating panels
        Fetching panels above or below given panels
        Setting and fetching the panel user pointer
        Deleting panels

ETI menus
        Compiling and linking menu programs
        Overview: writing menu programs in ETI
                Some important menu terminology
                What a menu application program does
                A sample menu program
        Creating and freeing menu items
        Two kinds of menus: single- or multi-valued
                Manipulating an item's select value in a multi-valued menu
        Manipulating item attributes
                Fetching item names and descriptions
                Setting item options
                Checking an item's visibility
                Changing the current default values for item attributes
        Setting the item user pointer
        Creating and freeing menus
        Manipulating menu attributes
                Fetching and changing menu items
                Counting the number of menu items
                Changing the current default values for menu attributes
        Displaying menus
                Determining the dimensions of menus
                        Specifying the menu format
                        Changing your menu's mark string
                        Querying the menu dimensions
                Associating windows and subwindows with menus
                Fetching and changing a menu's display attributes
                Posting and unposting menus
        Menu driver processing
                Defining the key virtualization correspondence
                ETI menu requests
                        Item navigation requests
                        Directional item navigation requests
                        Menu scrolling requests
                        Multi-valued menu selection request
                        Pattern buffer requests
                Application-defined commands
                Calling the menu driver
                Establishing item and menu initialization and termination routines
                        Function set_menu_init
                        Function set_item_init
                        Function set_item_term
                        Function set_menu_term
                Fetching and changing the current item
                Fetching and changing the top row
                Positioning the menu cursor
                Changing and fetching the pattern buffer
        Manipulating the menu user pointer
        Setting and fetching menu options

ETI forms
        Compiling and linking form programs
        Overview: writing form programs in ETI
                Some important form terminology
                What a typical form application program does
                A sample form application program
        Creating and freeing fields
        Manipulating field attributes
                Obtaining field size and location information
                Dynamically growable fields
                Moving a field
                Changing the current default values for field attributes
                Setting the field type to ensure validation
                        TYPE_ALPHA
                        TYPE_ALNUM
                        TYPE_ENUM
                        TYPE_INTEGER
                        TYPE_NUMERIC
                        TYPE_REGEXP
                Justifying data in a field
        Setting the field foreground, background, and pad character
        Some helpful features of fields
                Setting and reading field buffers
                Setting and reading the field status
                Setting and fetching the field user pointer
        Manipulating field options
        Creating and freeing forms
        Manipulating form attributes
                Changing and fetching the fields on an existing form
                Counting the number of fields
                Querying the presence of offscreen data
                Changing ETI form default attributes
        Displaying forms
                Determining the dimensions of forms
                        Scaling the form
                Associating windows and subwindows with a form
                Posting and unposting forms
        Form driver processing
                Defining the virtual key mapping
                ETI form requests
                        Page navigation requests
                        Inter-field navigation requests on the current page
                        Intra-field navigation requests
                        Field editing requests
                        Scrolling requests
                        Field validation requests
                        Choice requests
                Application-defined commands
                Calling the form driver
                Establishing field and form initialization and termination routines
                        Function set_form_init
                        Function set_field_init
                        Function set_field_term
                        Function set_form_term
                Manipulating the current field
                Changing the form page
                Positioning the form cursor
        Setting and fetching the form user pointer
        Setting and fetching form options
        Creating and manipulating programmer-defined field types
                Building a field type from two other field types
                Creating a field type with validation functions
                Freeing programmer-defined field types
                Supporting programmer-defined field types
                        Argument support for field types
                        Supporting next and previous choice functions

Other ETI routines
        Routines for drawing lines and other graphics
        Routines for using soft labels
        Working with more than one terminal

terminfo programming
        Organization of this topic
        What is terminfo?
        Working with terminfo routines
                What every terminfo program needs
                Compiling and running a terminfo program
                An example terminfo program
        Working with the terminfo database
                Writing terminal descriptions
                        1. Name the terminal
                        2. Learn about the capabilities
                        3. Specify capabilities
                        4. Compile the description
                        5. Test the description
                Comparing or printing terminfo descriptions
                Converting a termcap description to a terminfo description

Programming tips and known problems
        Internationalization support
        Building trusted FMLI applications
                Access to external executables
                        Interruptible commands
                        Variables
                        Frequency of evaluation type casts
                        Co-processing
        Validation of form fields
                Scenario 1
                Scenario 2
        Commands
        Co-processing functions
        Forms
        Menus
        Text
        Backquoted expressions
        Color
        Message line
        Syntax
        Miscellaneous
        Known problems with messages
        Known problems with screen labels for function keys
        Known problems with forms
        Known problems with text frames
        Known problems with commands
        Known problems with built-in utilities
                regex
                readfile
                Co-processing utilities
                if-then-else
                fmlcut
        Known problems with descriptors
        Known problems with the interrupt facility
        Miscellaneous known problems

Keyboard and mouse support
        Named keys and alternative keystroke sequences
        Automatic function key downloading
        Mouse support

TAM transition library
        Compiling and running TAM applications under ETI
        Tips for polishing TAM application programs running under ETI
        How the TAM transition library works
                Translations from TAM calls to ETI calls
                The TAM transition keyboard subsystem

ETI program examples
                The editor program
                The highlight program
                The scatter program
                The show program
                The two program
                The window program
                The colors program