|
X/Open Curses (XCURSES)
XCURSES is not part of the Base Specifications, Issue 7, but is a separate
Open Group Technical Standard. XCURSES describes a set of interfaces
providing a terminal-independent method of updating character screens
that are available to application programs on systems conformant to this
part of the Single UNIX Specification.
This document is structured as follows:
Chapter 1 introduces Curses and gives an overview of the changes made in
this version. This chapter also defines the requirements for conformance
to this document and shows the generic format followed by interface
definitions in Chapter 4.
Chapter 2 describes the relationship between Curses and the C language,
the compilation environment, and the X/Open System Interface (XSI)
operating system requirements. It also defines the effect of the interface
on the name space for identifiers and introduces the major data types
that the interfaces use.
Chapter 3 gives an overview of Curses. It discusses the use of some of
the key data types and gives general rules for important common concepts
such as characters, renditions, and window properties. It contains
general rules for the common Curses operations and operating modes. This
information is implicitly referenced by the interface definitions in
Chapter 4. The chapter explains the system of naming the Curses functions
and presents a table of function families. Finally, the chapter contains
notes regarding use of macros and restrictions on block-mode terminals.
Chapter 4 defines the Curses functional interfaces.
Chapter 5 defines the contents of headers which declare the functions
and global variables, and define types, constants, macros, and data
structures that are needed by programs using the services provided by
the interfaces defined in Chapter 4.
Chapter 6 defines the Curses utilities.
Chapter 7 discusses the
terminfo
database which Curses uses to describe terminals. The chapter specifies
the source format of a
terminfo
entry using a formal grammar, an informal discussion, and an example.
Boolean, numeric, and string capabilities are presented in tabular
form.
Appendix A discusses the use of these capabilities by the writer of a
terminfo
entry to describe the characteristics of the terminal in use.
The Glossary contains normative definitions of terms used in the document.
|
