NAME
menus —
menu library
LIBRARY
Curses Menu Library (libmenu, -lmenu)
SYNOPSIS
#include <menu.h>
DESCRIPTION
The
menus library provides a terminal independent menu system
using the
curses(3) library.
Before using the
menus functions the terminal must be set up
by
curses(3) using the
initscr() function or similar. Programs using
menus functions must be linked with the
curses(3) library.
The
menus library provides facilities for defining menu items,
placing a menu on the terminal screen, assign pre- and post-change operations
and setting the attributes of both the menu and its items.
Defining
default attributes for menus and items
The
menus library allows any settable attribute or option of
both the menu and item objects to be defined such that any new menu or item
automatically inherits the value as default. Setting the default value will
not affect any item or menu that has already been created but will be applied
to subsequent objects. To set the default attribute or option the set routine
is passed a NULL pointer in the item or menu parameter when calling the set
routine. The current default value can be retrieved by calling the get routine
with a NULL pointer for the item or menu parameter.
- function name
- manual page name
- current_item
- menu_item_current(3)
- free_item
- menu_item_new(3)
- free_menu
- menu_new(3)
- item_count
- menu_items(3)
- item_description
- menu_item_name(3)
- item_index
- menu_item_current(3)
- item_init
- menu_hook(3)
- item_name
- menu_item_name(3)
- item_opts
- menu_item_opts(3)
- item_opts_off
- menu_item_opts(3)
- item_opts_on
- menu_item_opts(3)
- item_selected
- menu_item_value(3)
- item_term
- menu_hook(3)
- item_userptr
- menu_item_userptr(3)
- item_value
- menu_item_value(3)
- item_visible
- menu_item_visible(3)
- menu_back
- menu_attributes(3)
- menu_driver
- menu_driver(3)
- menu_fore
- menu_attributes(3)
- menu_format
- menu_format(3)
- menu_grey
- menu_attributes(3)
- menu_init
- menu_hook(3)
- menu_items
- menu_items(3)
- menu_mark
- menu_mark(3)
- menu_opts
- menu_opts(3)
- menu_opts_off
- menu_opts(3)
- menu_opts_on
- menu_opts(3)
- menu_pad
- menu_attributes(3)
- menu_pattern
- menu_pattern(3)
- menu_sub
- menu_win(3)
- menu_term
- menu_hook(3)
- menu_unmark
- menu_mark(3)
- menu_userptr
- menu_userptr(3)
- men_win
- menu_win(3)
- new_item
- menu_item_new(3)
- new_menu
- menu_new(3)
- pos_menu_cursor
- menu_cursor(3)
- post_menu
- menu_post(3)
- scale_menu
- menu_win(3)
- set_current_item
- menu_item_current(3)
- set_item_init
- menu_hook(3)
- set_item_opts
- menu_item_opts(3)
- set_item_term
- menu_hook(3)
- set_item_userptr
- menu_item_userptr(3)
- set_item_value
- menu_item_value(3)
- set_menu_back
- menu_attributes(3)
- set_menu_fore
- menu_attributes(3)
- set_menu_format
- menu_format(3)
- set_menu_grey
- menu_attributes(3)
- set_menu_init
- menu_hook(3)
- set_menu_items
- menu_items(3)
- set_menu_mark
- menu_mark(3)
- set_menu_opts
- menu_opts(3)
- set_menu_pad
- menu_attributes(3)
- set_menu_pattern
- menu_pattern(3)
- set_menu_sub
- menu_win(3)
- set_menu_term
- menu_hook(3)
- set_menu_unmark
- menu_mark(3)
- set_menu_userptr
- menu_userptr(3)
- set_menu_win
- menu_win(3)
- set_top_row
- menu_item_current(3)
- top_row
- menu_item_current(3)
- unpost_menu
- menu_post(3)
RETURN VALUES
Any function returning a string pointer will return NULL if an error occurs.
Functions returning an integer will return one of the following:
E_OK
- The function was successful.
E_SYSTEM_ERROR
- There was a system error during the call.
E_BAD_ARGUMENT
- One or more of the arguments passed to the function was
incorrect.
E_POSTED
- The menu is already posted.
E_CONNECTED
- An item was already connected to a menu.
E_BAD_STATE
- The function was called from within an initialization or
termination routine.
E_NO_ROOM
- The menu does not fit within the subwindow.
E_NOT_POSTED
- The menu is not posted.
E_UNKNOWN_COMMAND
- The menu driver does not recognize the request passed to
it.
E_NO_MATCH
- The character search failed to find a match.
E_NOT_SELECTABLE
- The item could not be selected.
E_NOT_CONNECTED
- The item is not connected to a menu.
E_REQUEST_DENIED
- The menu driver could not process the request.
SEE ALSO
curses(3),
menu_attributes(3),
menu_cursor(3),
menu_driver(3),
menu_format(3),
menu_hook(3),
menu_item_current(3),
menu_item_name(3),
menu_item_new(3),
menu_item_opts(3),
menu_item_userptr(3),
menu_item_value(3),
menu_item_visible(3),
menu_items(3),
menu_mark(3),
menu_new(3),
menu_opts(3),
menu_pattern(3),
menu_post(3),
menu_userptr(3),
menu_win(3)
NOTES
This implementation of the menus library does depart in behaviour subtly from
the original AT & T implementation. Some of the more notable departures
are:
- unmark
- The original implementation did not have a marker for an
unmarked field the mark was only displayed next to a field when it had
been marked using the REQ_TOGGLE_ITEM. In this implementation a separate
marker can be used to indicate an unmarked item. This can be set using
set_menu_unmark function. There is no requirement for the mark and unmark
strings to be the same length. Room will be left for the longest of the
two. The unmark string is optional, if it is not set then menus defaults
to the old behaviour.
- item marking
- In the original implementation the current item was
considered selected and hence had the mark string displayed next to it.
This implementation does not do this because the Author considers the
effect too confusing. Especially in the case of a multiple selection menu
because there was no way to tell if the current item is selected or not
without shifting off of it. Since the current item is displayed using the
foreground attribute it was deemed unnecessary to also display the mark
string against the current item.
The option O_RADIO and the function
item_selected() are
NetBSD extensions and must not be used in portable
code.