NAME

dialog - widgets and utilities for the dialog program

SYNOPSIS

cc [ flag ... ] file ... -ldialog [ library ... ]    or cc `dialog-config --cflags` file ... `dialog-config --libs` ] #include <dialog.h>

Dialog is a program that will let you to present a variety of questions or display messages using dialog boxes from a shell script. It is built from the dialog library, which consists of several widgets as well as utility functions that are used by the widgets or the main program.

DESCRIPTION

This manpage documents the features from <dialog.h> which are likely to be important to developers using the widgets directly. Some hints are also given for developing new widgets.

DEFINITIONS

Exit codes (passed back to the main program for its use) are defined with a " DLG_EXIT_ prefix. The defined constants can be mapped using environment variables as described in dialog(1), e.g., DLG_EXIT_OK corresponds to $DIALOG_OK.

Useful character constants which correspond to user input are named with the " CHR_" prefix, e.g., CHR_BACKSPACE.

Colors and video attributes are categorized and associated with settings in the configuration file (see the discussion of $DIALOGRC in dialog(1)). The DIALOG_ATR(n) macro is used for defining the references to the combined color and attribute table dlg_color_table[].

The dialog application passes its command-line parameters to the widget functions. Some of those parameters are single values, but some of the widgets accept data as an array of values. Those include checklist/radiobox, menubox and formbox. When the --item-help option is given, an extra column of data is expected. The USE_ITEM_HELP(), CHECKBOX_TAGS, MENUBOX_TAGS and FORMBOX_TAGS macros are used to hide this difference from the calling application.

Most of the other definitions found in <dialog.h> are used for convenience in building the library or main program. These include definitions based on the generated <dlg_config.h> header.

DATA STRUCTURES

All of the global data for the dialog library is stored in a few structures: DIALOG_STATE, DIALOG_VARS and DIALOG_COLORS. The corresponding dialog_state, dialog_vars and dlg_color_table global variables should be initialized to zeros, and then populated with the data to use. A few of these must be nonzero for the corresponding widgets to function. As as the case with function names, variables beginning with " dialog_" are designed for use by the calling application while variables beginning with " dlg_" are intended for lower levels, e.g., by the dialog library.

DIALOG_STATE.all_subwindows

This is a linked list of all subwindows created by the library. The dlg_del_window function uses this to free storage for subwindows when deleting a window.

DIALOG_STATE.all_windows

This is a linked list of all windows created by the library. The dlg_del_window function uses this to locate windows which may be redrawn after deleting a window.

DIALOG_STATE.aspect_ratio

This corresponds to the command-line option " --aspect-ratio". The value gives the application some control over the box dimensions when using auto sizing (specifying 0 for height and width). It represents width / height. The default is 9, which means 9 characters wide to every 1 line high.

DIALOG_STATE.finish_string

When set to true, this allows calls to dlg_finish_string to discard the corresponding data which is created to speed up layout computations for the given string parameter. The gauge widget uses this feature.

DIALOG_STATE.getc_callbacks

This is setup in ui_getc.c to record windows which must be polled for input, e.g,. to handle the background tailbox widget. One window is designated as the foreground or control window.

DIALOG_STATE.getc_redirect

If the control window for DIALOG_STATE.getc_callbacks is closed, the list is transferred to this variable. Closing all windows causes the application to exit.

DIALOG_STATE.no_mouse

This corresponds to the command-line option " --no-mouse". If true, dialog will not initialize (and enable) the mouse in init_dialog.

DIALOG_STATE.output

This is set in the dialog application to the stream on which the application and library functions may write text results. Normally that is the standard error, since the curses library prefers to write its data to the standard output. Some scripts, trading portability for convenience, prefer to write results to the standard output, e.g., by using the " --stdout" option.

DIALOG_STATE.output_count

This is incremented by dlg_does_output, which is called by each widget that writes text to the output. The dialog application uses that to decide if it should also write a separator, i.e., DIALOG_STATE.separate_str, between calls to each widget.

DIALOG_STATE.pipe_input

This is set in init_dialog to a stream which can be used by the gauge widget, which must be the application's standard input. The dialog application calls init_dialog normally with input set to the standard input, but optionally based on the " --input-fd" option. Since the application cannot read from a pipe (standard input) and at the same time read the curses input from the standard input, it must allow for reopening the latter from either a specific file descriptor, or directly from the terminal. The adjusted pipe stream value is stored in this variable.

DIALOG_STATE.screen_initialized

This is set in init_dialog and reset in end_dialog. It is used to check if curses has been initialized, and if the endwin function must be called on exit.

DIALOG_STATE.screen_output

This is set in init_dialog to the output stream used by the curses library. Normally that is the standard output, unless that happens to not be a terminal (and if init_dialog can successfully open the terminal directly).

DIALOG_STATE.separate_str

This corresponds to the command-line option " --separate-widget". The given string specifies a string that will separate the output on dialog's output from each widget. This is used to simplify parsing the result of a dialog with several widgets. If this option is not given, the default separator string is a tab character.

DIALOG_STATE.tab_len

This corresponds to the command-line option " --tab-len number". Specify the number of spaces that a tab character occupies if the " --tab-correct" option is given. The default is 8.

DIALOG_STATE.trace_output

This corresponds to the command-line option " --trace file". It is the file pointer to which trace messages are written.

DIALOG_STATE.use_colors

This is set in init_dialog if the curses implementation supports color.

DIALOG_STATE.use_scrollbar

This corresponds to the command-line option " --scrollbar". If true, draw a scrollbar to make windows holding scrolled data more readable.

DIALOG_STATE.use_shadow

This corresponds to the command-line option " --no-shadow". This is set in init_dialog if the curses implementation supports color. If true, suppress shadows that would be drawn to the right and bottom of each dialog box.

DIALOG_STATE.visit_items

This corresponds to the command-line option " --visit-items".

The dialog application resets the dialog_vars data before accepting options to invoke each widget. Most of the DIALOG_VARS members are set directly from dialog's command-line options:

DIALOG_VARS.ascii_lines

This corresponds to the command-line option " --ascii-lines. It causes line-drawing to be done with ASCII characters, e.g., "+" and "-". See DIALOG_VARS.no_lines.

DIALOG_VARS.backtitle

This corresponds to the command-line option " --backtitle backtitle". It specifies a backtitle string to be displayed on the backdrop, at the top of the screen.

DIALOG_VARS.beep_after_signal

This corresponds to the command-line option " --beep-after". If true, beep after a user has completed a widget by pressing one of the buttons.

DIALOG_VARS.beep_signal

This corresponds to the command-line option " --beep". It is obsolete.

DIALOG_VARS.begin_set

This is true if the command-line option " --begin y x" was used. It specifies the position of the upper left corner of a dialog box on the screen.

DIALOG_VARS.begin_x

This corresponds to the x value from the command-line option " --begin y x" (second value).

DIALOG_VARS.begin_y

This corresponds to the y value from the command-line option " --begin y x" (first value).

DIALOG_VARS.cancel_label

This corresponds to the command-line option " --cancel-label string". The given string overrides the label used for "Cancel" buttons.

DIALOG_VARS.cant_kill

This corresponds to the command-line option " --no-kill". If true, this tells dialog to put the tailboxbg box in the background, printing its process id to dialog's output. SIGHUP is disabled for the background process.

DIALOG_VARS.colors

This corresponds to the command-line option " --colors". If true, interpret embedded "\Z" sequences in the dialog text by the following character, which tells dialog to set colors or video attributes: 0 through 7 are the ANSI codes used in curses: black, red, green, yellow, blue, magenta, cyan and white respectively. Bold is set by 'b', reset by 'B'. Reverse is set by 'r', reset by 'R'. Underline is set by 'u', reset by 'U'. The settings are cumulative, e.g., "\Zb\Z1" makes the following text bright red. Restore normal settings with "\Zn".

DIALOG_VARS.column_separator

This corresponds to the command-line option " --column-separator". Dialog splits data for radio/checkboxes and menus on the occurrences of the given string, and aligns the split data into columns.

DIALOG_VARS.cr_wrap

This corresponds to the command-line option " --cr-wrap". If true, interpret embedded newlines in the dialog text as a newline on the screen. Otherwise, dialog will only wrap lines where needed to fit inside the text box. Even though you can control line breaks with this, dialog will still wrap any lines that are too long for the width of the box. Without cr-wrap, the layout of your text may be formatted to look nice in the source code of your script without affecting the way it will look in the dialog.

DIALOG_VARS.date_format

This corresponds to the command-line option " --date-format string". If the host provides strftime, and the value is nonnull, the calendar widget uses this to format its output.

DIALOG_VARS.default_button

This is set by the command-line option " --default-button. It is used by dlg_default_button.

DIALOG_VARS.default_item

This corresponds to the command-line option " --default-item string". The given string is used as the default item in a checklist, form or menu box. Normally the first item in the box is the default.

DIALOG_VARS.defaultno

This corresponds to the command-line option " --defaultno". If true, make the default value of the yes/no box a No. Likewise, make the default button of widgets that provide "OK" and "Cancel" a Cancel. If --nocancel was given that option overrides this, making the default button always "Yes" (internally the same as "OK").

DIALOG_VARS.dlg_clear_screen

This corresponds to the command-line option " --clear". This option is implemented in the main program, not the library. If true, the screen will be cleared on exit. This may be used alone, without other options.

DIALOG_VARS.exit_label

This corresponds to the command-line option " --exit-label string". The given string overrides the label used for "EXIT" buttons.

DIALOG_VARS.extra_button

This corresponds to the command-line option " --extra-button". If true, some widgets show an extra button, between "OK" and "Cancel" buttons.

DIALOG_VARS.extra_label

This corresponds to the command-line option " --extra-label string". The given string overrides the label used for "Extra" buttons. Note: for inputmenu widgets, this defaults to "Rename".

DIALOG_VARS.formitem_type

This is set by the command-line option " --passwordform" to tell the form widget that its text fields should be treated like password widgets.

DIALOG_VARS.help_button

This corresponds to the command-line option " --help-button". If true, some widgets show a help-button after "OK" and "Cancel" buttons, i.e., in checklist, radiolist and menu boxes. If --item-help is also given, on exit the return status will be the same as for the "OK" button, and the item-help text will be written to dialog's output after the token "HELP". Otherwise, the return status will indicate that the Help button was pressed, and no message printed.

DIALOG_VARS.help_file

This corresponds to the command-line option " --hfile string". The given filename is passed to dialog_helpfile when the user presses F1.

DIALOG_VARS.help_label

This corresponds to the command-line option " --help-label string". The given string overrides the label used for "Help" buttons.

DIALOG_VARS.help_line

This corresponds to the command-line option " --hline string". The given string is displayed in the bottom of dialog windows, like a subtitle.

DIALOG_VARS.help_status

This corresponds to the command-line option " --help-status". If true, and the the help-button is selected, writes the checklist or radiolist information after the item-help "HELP" information. This can be used to reconstruct the state of a checklist after processing the help request.

DIALOG_VARS.help_tags

This corresponds to the command-line option " --help-tags". If true, dlg_add_help_formitem and dlg_add_help_listitem use the item's tag value consistently rather than using the tag's help-text value when DIALOG_VARS.item_help is set.

DIALOG_VARS.input_length

This is nonzero if DIALOG_VARS.input_result is allocated, versus being a pointer to the user's local variables.

DIALOG_VARS.input_menu

This flag is set to denote whether the menubox widget implements a menu versus a inputmenu widget.

DIALOG_VARS.input_result

This may be either a user-supplied buffer, or a buffer dynamically allocated by the library, depending on DIALOG_VARS.input_length:

Certain widgets copy a result to this buffer. If the pointer is NULL, or if the length is insufficient for the result, then the dialog library allocates a buffer which is large enough, and sets DIALOG_VARS.input_length. Callers should check for this case if they have supplied their own buffer.

DIALOG_VARS.insecure

This corresponds to the command-line option " --insecure". If true, make the password widget friendlier but less secure, by echoing asterisks for each character.

DIALOG_VARS.in_helpfile

This variable is used to prevent dialog_helpfile from showing anything, e.g., if F1 were pressed within a help-file display.

DIALOG_VARS.item_help

This corresponds to the command-line option " --item-help". If true, interpret the tags data for checklist, radiolist and menu boxes adding a column whose text is displayed in the bottom line of the screen, for the currently selected item.

DIALOG_VARS.keep_tite

This is set by the command-line option " --keep-tite" to tell dialog to not attempt to cancel the terminal initialization (termcap ti/ te) sequences which correspond to xterm's alternate-screen switching. Normally dialog does this to avoid flickering when run several times in a script.

DIALOG_VARS.keep_window

This corresponds to the command-line option " --keep-window". If true, do not remove/repaint the window on exit. This is useful for keeping the window contents visible when several widgets are run in the same process. Note that curses will clear the screen when starting a new process.

DIALOG_VARS.last_key

This corresponds to the command-line option " --last-key".

DIALOG_VARS.max_input

This corresponds to the command-line option " --max-input size". Limit input strings to the given size. If not specified, the limit is 2048.

DIALOG_VARS.no_items

This corresponds to the command-line option " --no-items". Some widgets (checklist, inputmenu, radiolist, menu) display a list with two columns (a "tag" and "item", i.e., "description"). This tells dialog to read shorter rows from data, omitting the "list".

DIALOG_VARS.no_label

This corresponds to the command-line option " --no-label string". The given string overrides the label used for "No" buttons.

DIALOG_VARS.no_lines

This corresponds to the command-line option " --no-lines. It suppresses line-drawing. See DIALOG_VARS.ascii_lines.

DIALOG_VARS.no_nl_expand

This corresponds to the command-line option " --no-nl-expand". If false, dlg_trim_string converts literal "\n" substrings in a message into newlines.

DIALOG_VARS.no_tags

This corresponds to the command-line option " --no-tags". Some widgets (checklist, inputmenu, radiolist, menu) display a list with two columns (a "tag" and "item", also known as "description"). The tag is useful for scripting, but may not help the user. The --no-tags option (from Xdialog) may be used to suppress the column of tags from the display.

Normally dialog allows you to quickly move to entries on the displayed list, by matching a single character to the first character of the tag. When the --no-tags option is given, dialog matches against the first character of the description. In either case, the matchable character is highlighted.

Here is a table showing how the no_tags and no_items values interact:

Widget	Fields Shown	Fields Read	.no_items	.no_tags
buildlist	item	tag,item	0	0*
buildlist	item	tag,item	0	1
buildlist	tag	tag	1	0*
buildlist	tag	tag	1	1
checklist	tag,item	tag,item	0	0
checklist	item	tag,item	0	1
checklist	tag	tag	1	0
checklist	tag	tag	1	1
inputmenu	tag,item	tag,item	0	0
inputmenu	item	tag,item	0	1
inputmenu	tag	tag	1	0
inputmenu	tag	tag	1	1
menu	tag,item	tag,item	0	0
menu	item	tag,item	0	1
menu	tag	tag	1	0
menu	tag	tag	1	1
radiolist	tag,item	tag,item	0	0
radiolist	item	tag,item	0	1
radiolist	tag	tag	1	0
radiolist	tag	tag	1	1
treeview	item	tag,item	0	0*
treeview	item	tag,item	0	1
treeview	tag	tag	1	0*
treeview	tag	tag	1	1

DIALOG_VARS.nocancel

This corresponds to the command-line option " --no-cancel". If true, suppress the "Cancel" button in checklist, inputbox and menu box modes. A script can still test if the user pressed the ESC key to cancel to quit.

DIALOG_VARS.nocollapse

This corresponds to the command-line option " --no-collapse". Normally dialog converts tabs to spaces and reduces multiple spaces to a single space for text which is displayed in a message boxes, etc. It true, that feature is disabled. Note that dialog will still wrap text, subject to the --cr-wrap option.

DIALOG_VARS.nook

This corresponds to the command-line option " --nook. Dialog will suppress the "ok" (or "yes") button from the widget.

DIALOG_VARS.ok_label

This corresponds to the command-line option " --ok-label string". The given string overrides the label used for "OK" buttons.

DIALOG_VARS.print_siz

This corresponds to the command-line option " --print-size". If true, each widget prints its size to dialog's output when it is invoked.

DIALOG_VARS.quoted

This corresponds to the command-line option " --quoted.

DIALOG_VARS.separate_output

This corresponds to the command-line option " --separate-output". If true, checklist widgets output result one line at a time, with no quoting. This facilitates parsing by another program.

DIALOG_VARS.single_quoted

This corresponds to the command-line option " --single-quoted". If true, Use single-quoting as needed (and no quotes if unneeded) for the output of checklist's as well as the item-help text. If this option is not set, dialog uses double quotes around each item. The latter requires occasional use of backslashes to make the output useful in shell scripts.

DIALOG_VARS.size_err

This corresponds to the command-line option " --size-err". If true, check the resulting size of a dialog box before trying to use it, printing the resulting size if it is larger than the screen. (This option is obsolete, since all new-window calls are checked).

DIALOG_VARS.sleep_secs

This corresponds to the command-line option " --sleep secs". This option is implemented in the main program, not the library. If nonzero, this is the number of seconds after to delay after processing a dialog box.

DIALOG_VARS.tab_correct

This corresponds to the command-line option " --tab-correct". If true, convert each tab character of the text to one or more spaces. Otherwise, tabs are rendered according to the curses library's interpretation.

DIALOG_VARS.time_format

This corresponds to the command-line option " --time-format string". If the host provides strftime, and the value is nonnull, the timebox widget uses this to format its output.

DIALOG_VARS.timeout_secs

This corresponds to the command-line option " --timeout secs". If nonzero, timeout input requests (exit with error code) if no user response within the given number of seconds.

DIALOG_VARS.title

This corresponds to the command-line option " --title title". Specifies a title string to be displayed at the top of the dialog box.

DIALOG_VARS.trim_whitespace

This corresponds to the command-line option " --trim". If true, eliminate leading blanks, trim literal newlines and repeated blanks from message text.

DIALOG_VARS.visit_items

This corresponds to the command-line option " --visit-items". Modify the tab-traversal of the list-oriented widgets (buildlist, checklist, radiobox, menubox, inputmenu, and treeview) to include the list of items as one of the states. This is useful as a visual aid, i.e., the cursor position helps some users.

DIALOG_VARS.yes_label

This corresponds to the command-line option " --yes-label string". The given string overrides the label used for "Yes" buttons.

WIDGETS

Functions that implement major functionality for the command-line dialog program, e.g., widgets, have names beginning " dialog_". All dialog boxes have at least three parameters:

title

the caption for the box, shown on its top border.

height

the height of the dialog box.

width

the width of the dialog box.

Other parameters depend on the box type.

dialog_buildlist

implements the " --buildlist" option.

dialog_calendar

implements the " --calendar" option.

dialog_checklist

implements the " --checklist" and " --radiolist" options depending on the flag parameter.

dialog_dselect

implements the " --dselect" option.

dialog_editbox

implements the " --editbox" option.

dialog_form

implements the " --form" option.

dialog_fselect

implements the " --fselect" option.

dialog_gauge

implements the " --gauge" option. Alternatively, a simpler or customized gauge widget can be setup using dlg_allocate_gauge, dlg_reallocate_gauge, dlg_update_gauge and dlg_free_gauge.

dialog_inputbox

implements the " --inputbox" or " --password" option, depending on the value of password.

dialog_helpfile

implements the " --hfile" option.

dialog_menu

implements the " --menu" or " --inputmenu" option depending on whether dialog_vars.input_menu is set.

dialog_mixedform

implements the " --mixedform" option.

dialog_mixedgauge

implements the " --mixedgauge" option

dialog_msgbox

implements the " --msgbox" or " --infobox" option depending on whether pauseopt is set.

dialog_pause

implements the " --pause" option.

dialog_prgbox

implements the " --prgbox" option.

dialog_progressbox

implements the " --progressbox" option.

dialog_rangebox

implements the " --rangebox" option.

dialog_tailbox

implements the " --tailbox" or " --tailboxbg" option depending on whether bg_task is set.

dialog_textbox

implements the " --textbox" option.

dialog_timebox

implements the " --timebox" option.

dialog_treeview

implements the " --treeview" option.

dialog_yesno

implements the " --yesno" option.

UTILITY FUNCTIONS

Most functions that implement lower-level functionality for the command-line dialog program or widgets, have names beginning " dlg_". Bowing to longstanding usage, the functions that initialize the display and end it are named init_dialog and end_dialog.

The only non-widget function whose name begins with " dialog_" is dialog_version, which returns the version number of the library as a string.

Here is a brief summary of the utility functions and their parameters:

dlg_add_callback

Add a callback, used to allow polling input from multiple tailbox widgets.

dlg_add_callback_ref

Like dlg_add_callback, but passes a reference to the DIALOG_CALLBACK as well as a pointer to a cleanup function which will be called when the associated input ends.

dlg_add_help_formitem

This is a utility function used enforce consistent behavior for the DIALOG_VARS.help_tags and DIALOG_VARS.item_help variables.

dlg_add_help_listitem

This is a utility function used enforce consistent behavior for the DIALOG_VARS.help_tags and DIALOG_VARS.item_help variables.

dlg_add_last_key

Report the last key entered by the user. This implements the --last-key command-line option, using dialog_vars.last_key.

dlg_add_quoted

Add a quoted string to the result buffer (see dlg_add_result). If no quotes are necessary, none are used. If dialog_vars.single_quoted is set, single-quotes are used. Otherwise, double-quotes are used.

dlg_add_result

Add a string to the result buffer dialog_vars.input_result.

dlg_add_separator

Add an output-separator to the result buffer dialog_vars.input_result. If dialog_vars.output_separator is set, use that. Otherwise, if dialog_vars.separate_output is set, use newline. If neither is set, use a space.

dlg_add_string

Add a quoted or unquoted string to the result buffer (see dlg_add_quoted) and dlg_add_result), according to whether dialog_vars.quoted is true.

dlg_align_columns

Copy and reformat an array of pointers to strings, aligning according to the column separator dialog_vars.column_separator. If no column separator is set, the array will be unmodified; otherwise it is copied and reformatted.

Caveat: This function is only implemented for 8-bit characters.

dlg_allocate_gauge

Allocates a gauge widget. Use dlg_update_gauge to display the result.

dlg_asciibox

returns its parameter transformed to the corresponding "+" or "-", etc. for the line-drawing characters used in dialog. If the parameter is not a line-drawing or other special character such as ACS_DARROW, it returns 0.

dlg_attr_clear

Set window to the given attribute.

dlg_auto_size

Automatically size the window used for a widget. If the given height or width are zero, justify the prompt text and return the actual limits.

dlg_auto_sizefile

Like dlg_auto_size, but use a file contents to decide how large the widget should be.

dlg_beeping

If dialog_vars.beep_signal is nonzero, this calls beep once and sets dialog_vars.beep_signal to zero.

dlg_boxchar

returns its chtype parameter transformed as follows:

dlg_box_x_ordinate

returns a suitable x-ordinate (column) for a new widget. If dialog_vars.begin_set is 1, use dialog_vars.begin_x; otherwise center the widget on the screen (using the width parameter).

dlg_box_y_ordinate

returns a suitable y-ordinate (row) for a new widget. If dialog_vars.begin_set is 1, use dialog_vars.begin_y; otherwise center the widget on the screen (using the height parameter).

dlg_buildlist

This is an alternate interface to the buildlist widget which allows the application to read the list item states back directly without putting them in the output buffer.

dlg_button_count

Count the buttons in the list.

dlg_button_layout

Make sure there is enough space for the buttons by computing the width required for their labels, adding margins and limiting based on the screen size.

dlg_button_sizes

Compute the size of the button array in columns.

dlg_button_x_step

Compute the step-size needed between elements of the button array.

dlg_button_to_char

Find the first uppercase character in the label, which we may use for an abbreviation. If the label is empty, return -1. If no uppercase character is found, return 0. Otherwise return the uppercase character.

Normally dlg_draw_buttons and dlg_char_to_button use the first uppercase character. However, they keep track of all of the labels and if the first has already been used in another label, they will continue looking for another uppercase character. This function does not have enough information to make that check.

dlg_calc_list_width

Calculate the minimum width for the list, assuming none of the items are truncated.

dlg_calc_listh

Calculate new height and list_height values.

dlg_calc_listw

This function is obsolete, provided for library-compatibility. It is replaced by dlg_calc_list_width.

dlg_char_to_button

Given a list of button labels, and a character which may be the abbreviation for one, find it, if it exists. An abbreviation will be the first character which happens to be capitalized in the label. If the character is found, return its index within the list of labels. Otherwise, return DLG_EXIT_UNKNOWN.

dlg_checklist

This entrypoint provides the --checklist or --radiolist functionality without the limitations of dialog's command-line syntax (compare to dialog_checklist).

dlg_check_scrolled

given a function key (or other key that was mapped to a function key), check if it is one of the up/down scrolling functions:

 

Some widgets use these key bindings for scrolling the prompt-text up and down, to allow for display in very small windows.

The function returns 0 (zero) if it finds one of these keys, and -1 if not.

dlg_clear

Set window to the default dialog screen attribute. This is set in the rc-file with screen_color.

dlg_clr_result

Free storage used for the result buffer ( dialog_vars.input_result). The corresponding pointer is set to NULL.

dlg_color_count

Return the number of colors that can be configured in dialog.

dlg_color_setup

Initialize the color pairs used in dialog.

dlg_count_argv

Count the entries in an argument vector.

dlg_count_columns

Returns the number of columns used for a string. This is not necessarily the number of bytes in a string.

dlg_count_real_columns

Returns the number of columns used for a string, accounting for "\Z" sequences which can be used for coloring the text if dialog_vars.colors is set. This is not necessarily the number of bytes in a string.

dlg_count_wchars

Returns the number of wide-characters in the string.

dlg_create_rc

Create a configuration file, i.e., write internal tables to a file which can be read back by dialog as an rc-file.

dlg_ctl_size

If dialog_vars.size_err is true, check if the given window size is too large to fit on the screen. If so, exit with an error reporting the size of the window.

dlg_default_button

If dialog_vars.default_button is positive, return the button-index for that button code, using dlg_ok_buttoncode to test indices starting with zero. Otherwise (or if no match was found for the button code), return zero.

dlg_default_formitem

If dialog_vars.default_item is not null, find that name by matching the name field in the list of form items. If found, return the index of that item in the list. Otherwise, return zero.

dlg_default_item

This function is obsolete, provided for library-compatibility. It is replaced by dlg_default_formitem and dlg_default_listitem.

dlg_defaultno_button

If dialog_vars.defaultno is true, and dialog_vars.nocancel is not, find the button-index for the "Cancel" button. Otherwise, return the index for "OK" (always zero).

dlg_del_window

Remove a window, repainting everything else.

dlg_does_output

This is called each time a widget is invoked which may do output. It increments dialog_state.output_count, so the output function in dialog can test this and add a separator.

dlg_draw_arrows

Draw up/down arrows on a window, e.g., for scrollable lists. It calls dlg_draw_arrows2 using the menubox_color and menubox_border_color attributes.

dlg_draw_arrows2

Draw up/down arrows on a window, e.g., for scrollable lists.

dlg_draw_bottom_box

Draw a partial box at the bottom of a window, e.g., to surround a row of buttons. It is designed to merge with an existing box around the whole window (see dlg_draw_box), so it uses tee-elements rather than corner-elements on the top corners of this box.

dlg_draw_bottom_box2

Draw a partial box at the bottom of a window, e.g., to surround a row of buttons. It is designed to merge with an existing box around the whole window (see dlg_draw_box2), so it uses tee-elements rather than corner-elements on the top corners of this box.

dlg_draw_box

Draw a rectangular box with line drawing characters.

dlg_draw_box2

Draw a rectangular box with line drawing characters.

dlg_draw_buttons

Print a list of buttons at the given position.

dlg_draw_helpline

draw the text in dialog_vars.help_line at the bottom of the given window.

dlg_draw_scrollbar

If dialog_state.use_scrollbar is set, draw a scrollbar on the right margin of windows holding scrollable data. Also (whether or not the scrollbar is drawn), annotate the bottom margin of the window with the percentage of data by the bottom of that window, and call dlg_draw_arrows2 to put markers on the window showing when more data is available.

dlg_draw_shadow

Draw shadows along the right and bottom edge of a window to give it a 3-dimensional look. (The height, etc., may not be the same as the window's actual values).

dlg_draw_title

Draw a title centered at the top of the window.

dlg_dummy_menutext

This is a utility function which supports the --inputmenu option of the dialog program. If dialog_vars.input_menu is set, dialog_menu passes this pointer to dlg_menu as the rename_menutext parameter. Otherwise, it passes dlg_dummy_menutext.

The function should only return DLG_EXIT_ERROR.

dlg_dump_keys

Write all user-defined key-bindings to the given stream, e.g., as part of dlg_create_rc.

dlg_dump_window_keys

Write all user-defined key-bindings to the given stream, e.g., as part of dlg_create_rc.

dlg_eat_argv

Remove one or more items from an argument vector.

dlg_edit_offset

Given the character-offset in the string, returns the display-offset where dialog should position the cursor. In this context, "characters" may be multicolumn, since the string can be a multibyte character string.

dlg_edit_string

Updates the string and character-offset, given various editing characters or literal characters which are inserted at the character-offset. Returns true if an editing change was made (and the display should be updated), and false if the key was something like KEY_ENTER, which is a non-editing action outside this function.

dlg_exit

Given an internal exit code, check if the corresponding environment variable is set. If so, remap the exit code to match the environment variable. Finally call exit with the resulting exit code.

The dialog program uses this function to allow shell scripts to remap the exit codes so they can distinguish ESC from ERROR.

dlg_exit_buttoncode

Map the given button index for dlg_exit_label into dialog's exit-code.

dlg_exit_label

Return a list of button labels. If dialog_var.extra_button is true, return the result of dlg_ok_labels. Otherwise, return a list with the "Exit" label and (if dialog_vars.help_button is set) the "Help" button as well.

dlg_exiterr

Quit program killing all tailboxbg widgets.

dlg_find_index

Given the character-offset to find in the list, return the corresponding array index.

dlg_finish_string

If DIALOG_STATE.finish_string is true, this function discards data used to speed up layout computations.

dlg_flush_getc

Cancel the local data saved by dlg_last_getc.

dlg_editbox

This entrypoint provides the --editbox functionality without the limitations of dialog's command-line syntax (compare to dialog_editbox).

dlg_form

This entrypoint provides the --form functionality without the limitations of dialog's command-line syntax (compare to dialog_form).

dlg_free_columns

Free data allocated by dlg_align_columns.

dlg_free_formitems

Free memory owned by a list of DIALOG_FORMITEM's.

dlg_free_gauge

Remove the gauge widget from the screen and free its associated memory.

dlg_getc

Read a character from the given window. Handle repainting here (to simplify things in the calling application). Also, if input-callback(s) are set up, poll the corresponding files and handle the updates, e.g., for displaying a tailbox. Returns the key-code.

dlg_get_attrs

extract the video attributes from the given window.

dlg_getc_callbacks

passes the given key-code ch to the current window that has established a callback. If the callback returns zero, remove it and try the next window. If no more callbacks remain, return. If any callbacks were found, return true, otherwise false.

dlg_index_columns

Build a list of the display-columns for the given multibyte string's characters.

dlg_index_wchars

Build an index of the wide-characters in the string, so the caller can easily tell which byte-offset begins a given wide-character.

dlg_item_help

Draw the string for the dialog_vars.item_help feature.

dlg_killall_bg

If dialog has callbacks active, purge the list of all that are not marked to keep in the background. If any remain, run those in a background process.

dlg_last_getc

returns the most recent character that was read via dlg_getc.

dlg_limit_columns

Given a column limit, count the number of wide characters that can fit into that limit. The offset is used to skip over a leading character that was already written.

dlg_lookup_key

Check for a key-binding. If there is no binding associated with the widget, it simply returns the given curses-key. Otherwise, it returns the result of the binding

dlg_max_input

Limit the parameter according to dialog_vars.max_input

dlg_match_char

Match a given character against the beginning of the string, ignoring case of the given character. The matching string must begin with an uppercase character.

dlg_menu

This entrypoint provides the --menu functionality without the limitations of dialog's command-line syntax (compare to dialog_menu).

dlg_move_window

Moves/resizes the given window to the given position and size.

dlg_mouse_bigregion

Retrieve the big-region under the pointer.

dlg_mouse_free_regions

Free the memory associated with mouse regions.

dlg_mouse_mkbigregion

Creates a region on which the mouse-clicks will return a specifed code.

dlg_mouse_mkregion

dlg_mouse_region

Retrieve the frame under the mouse pointer

dlg_mouse_setbase

Sets a base for subsequent calls to dlg_mouse_mkregion, so they can make regions relative to the start of a given window.

dlg_mouse_setcode

Sets a value used internally by dlg_mouse_mkregion which is added to the code parameter. By providing different values, e.g., multiples of KEY_MAX, it is possible to support multiple "big" regions in a widget. The buildlist widget uses this feature to recognize mouse-clicks in the left/right panes.

dlg_mouse_wgetch

is a wrapper for dlg_getc which additionally maps mouse-clicks (if the curses library supports those) into extended function-keys which encode the position according to the mode in dlg_mouse_mkbigregion. Returns the corresponding key-code.

dlg_mouse_wgetch_nowait

This is a non-blocking variant of dlg_mouse_wgetch.

dlg_need_separator

Check if an output-separator is needed. If dialog_vars.output_separator is set, return true. Otherwise, if dialog_vars.input_result is nonempty, return true. If neither, return false.

dlg_new_modal_window

Create a modal window, optionally with a shadow. The shadow is created if dialog_state.use_shadow is true.

dlg_new_window

Create a window, optionally with a shadow. The shadow is created if dialog_state.use_shadow is true.

dlg_next_button

Return the next index in the list of labels.

dlg_next_ok_buttonindex

Assuming that the caller is using dlg_ok_labels to list buttons, find the next index in the list of buttons.

dlg_ok_buttoncode

Map the given button index for dlg_ok_labels into dialog's exit-code.

dlg_ok_label

Returns a list with the "Ok" label, and if dialog_vars.help_button is true, the "Help" label as well.

dlg_ok_labels

Return a list of button labels for the OK/Cancel group of widgets.

dlg_ordinate

Decode the string as an integer, decrement if greater than zero to make a curses-ordinate from a dialog-ordinate.

dlg_parse_bindkey

Parse the parameters of the "bindkeys" configuration-file entry. This expects widget name which may be "*", followed by curses key definition and then dialog key definition.

dlg_parse_rc

Parse the configuration file and set up variables.

dlg_prev_button

Return the previous index in the list of labels.

dlg_print_listitem

This is a helper function used for the various "list" widgets, e.g., checklist, menu, buildlist, treeview. Each list-widget has "tag" and "description" values for each item which can be displayed. If dialog_vars.no_tags is true, the "tag" value is not shown. The first character of the first value shown (tag or description) is highlighted to indicate that the widget will match it for quick navigation.

dlg_print_scrolled

This is a wrapper for dlg_print_autowrap which allows the user to scroll too-long prompt text up/down.

See dlg_check_scrolled for a function which updates the offset variable used as a parameter here. It complements this function; you need both. If pauseopt is set, this function returns an updated last parameter, needed for dlg_check_scrolled calls.

dlg_print_line

Print one line of the prompt in the window within the limits of the specified right margin. The line will end on a word boundary and a pointer to the start of the next line is returned, or a NULL pointer if the end of *prompt is reached.

dlg_prev_ok_buttonindex

Find the previous button index in the list from dlg_ok_labels.

dlg_print_autowrap

Print a string of text in a window, automatically wrap around to the next line if the string is too long to fit on one line. Note that the string may contain embedded newlines. The text is written starting at the top of the window.

dlg_print_size

If dialog_vars.print_siz is true, print the given height/width (from a widget) to dialog_state.output, e.g., Size: height, width.

dlg_print_text

Print up to cols columns from text, optionally rendering dialog's escape sequences for attributes and color.

dlg_progressbox implements the " --prgbox" and " --progressbox" options.

dlg_put_backtitle

Display the background title if dialog_vars.backtitle is non-null. The background title is shown at the top of the screen.

dlg_reallocate_gauge

Allocates or reallocates a gauge widget (see dlg_allocate_gauge). Use dlg_update_gauge to display the result.

dlg_register_buttons

The widget developer should call this function after dlg_register_window, for the list of button labels associated with the widget. One may bind a key to a button, e.g., "OK" for DLGK_OK,

dlg_register_window

For a given named widget's window, associate a binding table.

dlg_remove_callback

Remove a callback.

dlg_renamed_menutext

This is a utility function which supports the --inputmenu option of the dialog program. If dialog_vars.input_menu is set, dialog_menu passes this pointer to dlg_menu as the rename_menutext parameter. Otherwise, it passes dlg_dummy_menutext.

The function should add "RENAMED" to dialog_vars.input_result , followed by the menu item's name and the newtext value (with a space separating the three items), and return DLG_EXIT_EXTRA.

dlg_restore_vars

Restore dialog's variables from the given variable (see dialog_save_vars).

The DIALOG_VARS.input_length and DIALOG_VARS.input_result members are treated specially, since these are used by a widget to pass data to the caller. They are not modified by this function.

dlg_result_key

Test a dialog internal keycode to see if it corresponds to one of the push buttons on the widget such as "OK". This is only useful if there are user-defined key bindings, since there are no built-in bindings that map directly to DLGK_OK, etc. Return true if a mapping was done.

dlg_save_vars

Save dialog's variables into the given variable (see dlg_restore_vars).

dlg_set_focus

Set focus on the given window, making it display above other windows on the screen.

dlg_set_result

Setup a fixed-buffer for the result in dialog_vars.input_result

dlg_show_string

Displays the string, shifted as necessary, to fit within the box and show the current character-offset.

dlg_strclone

duplicate the string, like strdup.

dlg_strcmp

compare two strings, ignoring case.

dlg_string_to_argv

Convert a string to an argument vector returning an index (which must be freed by the caller). The string is modified (replacing gaps between tokens with nulls).

dlg_sub_window

create a subwindow, e.g., for an input area of a widget

dlg_tab_correct_str

If the dialog_vars.tab_correct is true, convert tabs to single spaces. Return the converted result. The caller is responsible for freeing the string.

dlg_trace

If the parameter is non-null, opens a trace file with that name and stores the file pointer in dialog_state.trace.

dlg_trace_chr

If dialog_state.trace is set, translate the parameters into a printable representation, log it on a "chr" line.

dlg_trace_msg

Write a formatted message to the trace file.

Use the DLG_TRACE macro for portability, in case the trace feature is not compiled into the library. It uses an extra level of parentheses to work with a variable number of parameters, e.g.,

DLG_TRACE(("this is dialog version %s\n", dialog_version()));

dlg_trace_win

If dialog_state.trace is set, log a printable picture of the given window.

dlg_treeview

This is an alternate interface to 'treeview' which allows the application to read the list item states back directly without putting them in the output buffer.

dlg_trim_string

The dialog program uses this in each widget to adjust the message string, which may contain the newline character (referred to as '\n') and/or the special substring "\n" (which can be translated into a newline character).

There are several optional features:

dlg_unregister_window

Remove the bindings for a given window.

dlg_update_gauge

Update a gauge widget to show a different percentage value.

dlg_yes_buttoncode

Map the given button index for dlg_yes_labels into dialog's exit-code.

dlg_yes_labels

Return a list of buttons for Yes/No labels.

SEE ALSO

dialog (1).

AUTHOR

Thomas E. Dickey