panel - panel stack extension for curses
#include <panel.h>
cc [flags] sourcefiles -lpanel -lncurses
PANEL *new_panel(WINDOW *win);
int bottom_panel(PANEL *pan);
int top_panel(PANEL *pan);
int show_panel(PANEL *pan);
void update_panels(void);
int hide_panel(PANEL *pan);
WINDOW *panel_window(const PANEL *pan);
int replace_panel(PANEL *pan, WINDOW
*window);
int move_panel(PANEL *pan, int starty, int
startx);
int panel_hidden(const PANEL *pan);
PANEL *panel_above(const PANEL *pan);
PANEL *panel_below(const PANEL *pan);
int set_panel_userptr(PANEL *pan, const void
* ptr);
const void *panel_userptr(const PANEL *pan);
int del_panel(PANEL *pan);
/* ncurses-extensions */
PANEL *ground_panel(SCREEN *sp);
PANEL *ceiling_panel(SCREEN *sp);
Panels are curses(3X) windows with the added feature of depth. Panel
functions allow the use of stacked windows and ensure the proper portions of
each window and the curses stdscr window are hidden or displayed when
panels are added, moved, modified or removed. The set of currently visible
panels is the stack of panels. The stdscr window is beneath all panels,
and is not considered part of the stack.
A window is associated with every panel. The panel routines enable
you to create, move, hide, and show panels, as well as position a panel at
any desired location in the stack.
Panel routines are a functional layer added to curses(3X),
make only high-level curses calls, and work anywhere terminfo curses
does.
bottom_panel(pan) puts panel pan at the bottom of
all panels.
ceiling_panel(sp) acts like panel_below(NULL), for
the given SCREEN sp.
del_panel(pan) removes the given panel pan from the
stack and deallocates the PANEL structure (but not its associated
window).
ground_panel(sp) acts like panel_above(NULL), for
the given SCREEN sp.
hide_panel(pan) removes the given panel pan from the
panel stack and thus hides it from view. The PANEL structure is not
lost, merely removed from the stack.
move_panel(pan,starty,startx)
moves the given panel pan's window so that its upper-left corner is at
starty, startx. It does not change the position of the panel in
the stack. Be sure to use this function, not mvwin(3X), to move a panel
window.
new_panel(win) allocates a PANEL structure,
associates it with win, places the panel on the top of the stack
(causes it to be displayed above any other panel) and returns a pointer to the
new panel.
panel_above(pan) returns a pointer to the panel above
pan. If the panel argument is (PANEL *)0, it returns a pointer
to the bottom panel in the stack.
panel_below(pan) returns a pointer to the panel just below
pan. If the panel argument is (PANEL *)0, it returns a pointer
to the top panel in the stack.
panel_hidden(pan) returns TRUE if the panel
pan is in the panel stack, FALSE if it is not. If the panel is a
null pointer, return ERR.
panel_userptr(pan) returns the user pointer for a given
panel pan.
panel_window(pan) returns a pointer to the window of the
given panel pan.
replace_panel(pan,window) replaces the
current window of panel pan with window This is useful, for
example if you want to resize a panel. In ncurses, you can call
replace_panel to resize a panel using a window resized with
wresize(3X). It does not change the position of the panel in the stack.
set_panel_userptr(pan,ptr) sets the panel's
user pointer.
show_panel(pan) makes a hidden panel visible by placing it
on top of the panels in the panel stack. See COMPATIBILITY below.
top_panel(pan) puts the given visible panel pan on
top of all panels in the stack. See COMPATIBILITY below.
update_panels() refreshes the virtual screen to reflect the
relations between the panels in the stack, but does not call
doupdate(3X) to refresh the physical screen. Use this function
and not wrefresh(3X) or wnoutrefresh(3X).
update_panels may be called more than once before a call to
doupdate, but doupdate is the function responsible for
updating the physical screen.
Each routine that returns a pointer returns NULL if an error occurs. Each
routine that returns an int value returns OK if it executes
successfully and ERR if not.
Except as noted, the pan and window parameters must
be non-null. If those are null, an error is returned.
The move_panel function uses mvwin(3X), and will
return an error if mvwin returns an error.
Reasonable care has been taken to ensure compatibility with the native panel
facility introduced in System V (inspection of the SVr4 manual pages suggests
the programming interface is unchanged). The PANEL data structures are
merely similar. The programmer is cautioned not to directly use PANEL
fields.
The functions show_panel and top_panel are identical
in this implementation, and work equally well with displayed or hidden
panels. In the native System V implementation, show_panel is intended
for making a hidden panel visible (at the top of the stack) and
top_panel is intended for making an already-visible panel move to the
top of the stack. You are cautioned to use the correct function to ensure
compatibility with native panel libraries.
In your library list, libpanel.a should be before libncurses.a; that is, you
should say “-lpanel -lncurses”, not the other way around (which
would give a link-error with static libraries).
The panel facility was documented in SVr4.2 in Character User Interface
Programming (UNIX SVR4.2).
It is not part of X/Open Curses.
A few implementations exist:
- Systems based on SVr4 source code, e.g., Solaris, provide this
library.
- ncurses (since version 0.6 in 1993) and PDCurses (since
version 2.2 in 1995) provide a panel library whose common ancestor was a
public domain implementation by Warren Tucker published in u386mon
2.20 (1990).
- According to Tucker, the SystemV panel library was first released in
SVr3.2 (1988), and his implementation helped with a port to SVr3.1
(1987).
- Several developers have improved each of these; they are no longer the
same as Tucker's implementation.
- •
- NetBSD 8 (2018) has a panel library begun by Valery Ushakov in 2015. This
is based on the AT&T documentation.
panel.h interface for the panels library
libpanel.a the panels library itself
Originally written by Warren Tucker <wht@n4hgf.mt-park.ga.us>, primarily
to assist in porting u386mon to systems without a native panels
library.
Repackaged for ncurses by Zeyd ben-Halim.
Juergen Pfeifer and Thomas E. Dickey revised/improved the
library.