1.\" $NetBSD: forms.3,v 1.8 2002/05/20 15:00:11 blymn Exp $ 2.\" 3.\" Copyright (c) 2001 4.\" Brett Lymn - blymn@baea.com.au, brett_lymn@yahoo.com.au 5.\" 6.\" This code is donated to The NetBSD Foundation by the author. 7.\" 8.\" Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without 9.\" modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions 10.\" are met: 11.\" 1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright 12.\" notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer. 13.\" 2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright 14.\" notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the 15.\" documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution. 16.\" 3. The name of the Author may not be used to endorse or promote 17.\" products derived from this software without specific prior written 18.\" permission. 19.\" 20.\" THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE AUTHOR ``AS IS'' AND 21.\" ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE 22.\" IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE 23.\" ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHOR BE LIABLE 24.\" FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL 25.\" DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS 26.\" OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) 27.\" HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT 28.\" LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY 29.\" OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF 30.\" SUCH DAMAGE. 31.\" 32.Dd January 1, 2001 33.Dt FORMS 3 34.Os 35.Sh NAME 36.Nm form 37.Nd form library 38.Sh LIBRARY 39.Lb libform 40.Sh SYNOPSIS 41.Fd #include \*[Lt]form.h\*[Gt] 42.Sh DESCRIPTION 43The 44.Nm 45library provides a terminal independent form system using the 46.Xr curses 3 47library. Before using the 48.Nm 49functions the terminal must be set up by 50.Xr curses 3 51using the 52.Fn initscr 53function or similar. Programs using 54.Nm 55functions must be linked with the 56.Xr curses 3 57library 58.Fl lcurses . 59.Pp 60The 61.Nm 62library provides facilities for defining form fields, placing a form on the 63terminal screen, assign pre and post change operations and setting the 64attributes of both the form and its fields. 65.Ss Defining default attributes for forms and fields 66The 67.Nm 68library allows any settable attribute or option of both the form and field 69objects to be defined such that any new form or field automatically inherits 70the value as default. Setting the default value will not affect any field or 71form that has already been created but will be applied to subsequent objects. 72To set the default attribute or option the set routine is passed a NULL 73pointer in the field or form parameter when calling the set routine. The 74current default value can be retrieved by calling the get routine with a 75NULL pointer for the field or form parameter. 76.Pp 77.ta 20 78.nf 79.ft 3 80Form Routine Name Manual Page Name 81.sp 0.5 82current_field form_page(3) 83data_ahead form_data(3 84data_behind form_data(3) 85dup_field form_field_new(3) 86dynamic_field_info form_field_info(3) 87field_arg form_field_validation(3) 88field_back form_field_attributes(3) 89field_buffer form_field_buffer(3) 90field_count form_field(3) 91field_fore form_field_attributes(3) 92field_index form_page(3) 93field_info form_field_info(3) 94field_init form_hook(3) 95field_just form_field_just(3) 96field_opts form_field_opts(3) 97field_opts_off form_field_opts(3) 98field_opts_on form_field_opts(3) 99field_pad form_field_attributes(3) 100field_status form_field_buffer(3) 101field_term form_hook(3) 102field_type form_field_validation(3) 103field_userptr form_field_userptr(3) 104form_driver form_driver(3) 105form_fields form_field(3) 106form_init form_hook(3) 107form_max_page form_page(3) 108form_opts form_opts(3) 109form_opts_off form_opts(3) 110form_opts_on form_opts(3) 111form_page form_page(3) 112form_sub form_win(3) 113form_term form_hook(3) 114form_userptr form_userptr(3) 115form_win form_win(3) 116free_field form_field_new(3) 117free_fieldtype form_fieldtype(3) 118free_form form_new(3) 119link_field form_field_new(3) 120link_fieldtype form_fieldtype(3) 121move_field form_field(3) 122new_field form_field_new(3) 123new_fieldtype form_fieldtype(3) 124new_form form_new(3) 125new_page form_new_page(3) 126pos_form_cursor form_cursor(3) 127post_form form_post(3) 128scale_form form_win(3) 129set_current_field form_page(3) 130set_field_back form_field_attributes(3) 131set_field_buffer form_field_buffer(3) 132set_field_fore form_field_attributes(3) 133set_field_init form_hook(3) 134set_field_just form_field_just(3) 135set_field_opts form_field_opts(3) 136set_field_pad form_field_attributes(3) 137set_field_status form_field_buffer(3) 138set_field_term form_hook(3) 139set_field_type form_field_validation(3) 140set_field_userptr form_field_userptr(3) 141set_fieldtype_arg form_fieldtype(3) 142set_fieldtype_choice form_fieldtype(3) 143set_form_fields form_field(3) 144set_form_init form_hook(3) 145set_form_opts form_opts(3) 146set_form_page form_page(3) 147set_form_sub form_win(3) 148set_form_term form_hook(3) 149set_form_userptr form_userptr(3) 150set_form_win form_win(3) 151set_max_field form_field_buffer(3) 152set_new_page form_new_page(3) 153unpost_form form_post(3) 154.fi 155.ft 1 156.br 157.ne 8 158.Sh RETURN VALUES 159Any function returning a string pointer will return NULL if an error 160occurs. Functions returning an integer will return one of the 161following: 162.Pp 163.ta 20 164.nf 165E_OK The function was successful 166E_SYSTEM_ERROR There was a system error during the call. 167E_BAD_ARGUMENT One or more of the arguments passed to the function 168 was incorrect. 169E_POSTED The form is already posted. 170E_CONNECTED An field was already connected to a form. 171E_BAD_STATE The function was called from within an initialisation 172 or termination routine. 173E_NO_ROOM The form does not fit within the subwindow. 174E_NOT_POSTED The form is not posted 175E_UNKNOWN_COMMAND The form driver does not recognise the request 176 passed to it. 177E_NOT_SELECTABLE The field could not be selected. 178E_NOT_CONNECTED The field is not connected to a form. 179E_REQUEST_DENIED The form driver could not process the request. 180E_INVALID_FIELD The field is invalid. 181E_CURRENT The field is the active one on the form. 182.fi 183.ft 1 184.br 185.ne 8 186.Sh SEE ALSO 187.Xr curses 3 , 188.Xr menus 3 189.Sh NOTES 190This implementation of the forms library does depart in behaviour 191subtly from the original AT \*[Am] T implementation. Some of the more 192notable departures are: 193.Pp 194.Bl -tag -width "circular fields" -compact 195.It field wrapping 196For multiline fields the data will be wrapped as it is entered, this 197does not happen in the AT\*[Am]T implementation. 198.It buffer 0 199In this implementation, the contents of buffer 0 are always current 200regardless of whether the field has been validated or not. 201.It circular fields 202In the AT\*[Am]T implementation fields are circular on a page, that is, a 203next field from the last field will go to the first field on the 204curent page. In this implementation a next field request on the last 205field of a page will result in the forms library positioning the 206cursor on the first field of the next page. If the field is the last 207field in the form then going to the next field will be denied, in the 208AT\*[Am]T it would result in the cursor being placed on the first field of 209the first page. 210.It buffer returns 211In this implementation only the data entered by the user in the form 212field will be returned, unlike the AT\*[Am]T library which would return the 213contents of the field padded to the size of the field with the pad 214character. 215.It The TAB character 216The handling of the TAB character in fields varies between 217implementations. In ncurses attempting to set a field contents with a 218string containing a TAB will result in an error and will not allow a 219TAB to be entered into a field. The AT\*[Am]T library statically 220converts tabs to the equivalent number of spaces when the field buffer 221is set but the form driver will not allow a TAB to be inserted into 222the field buffer. This implementation allows TAB when setting the 223field buffer and also will allow TAB to be inserted into a field 224buffer via the form driver and correctly calculates the cursor 225position allowing for expansion of the TAB character. 226.El 227