need a little help with dialog

[kqt4at5v]

I would appreciate any help you could offer
I am trying to feed dialog with a fifo
I want to control dialog with a remote via lirc
Here is what I am trying

 rm tmp/dialog_fifo; mkfifo tmp/dialog_fifo; exec 5<tmp/dialog_fifo; dialog 
--trace tmp/dialog_trace --input-fd 5 --menu  "My List" 20 20 20 1 foo 2 bar 3 
baz

And this is my trace

** opened at Wed Apr  8 15:18:05 2015
** dialog 1.1-20120215
argv[0] = dialog
argv[1] = --trace
argv[2] = tmp/dialog_trace
argv[3] = --input-fd
argv[4] = 5
argv[5] = --menu
argv[6] = My List
argv[7] = 20
argv[8] = 20
argv[9] = 20
argv[10] = 1
argv[11] = foo
argv[12] = 2
argv[13] = bar
argv[14] = 3
argv[15] = baz
...discarding 2 parameters starting with argv[1] (--trace)
...discarding 2 parameters starting with argv[1] (--input-fd)
# dlg_register_window menubox

# key bindings for menubox widgets
bindkey menubox ^E HELPFILE
bindkey menubox F1 HELPFILE
bindkey menubox HELP HELPFILE
bindkey menubox ^J ENTER
bindkey menubox ^M ENTER
bindkey menubox ENTER ENTER
bindkey menubox \  FIELD_NEXT
bindkey menubox RIGHT FIELD_NEXT
bindkey menubox ^I FIELD_NEXT
bindkey menubox BTAB FIELD_PREV
bindkey menubox LEFT FIELD_PREV
bindkey menubox \+ ITEM_NEXT
bindkey menubox DOWN ITEM_NEXT
bindkey menubox ^N ITEM_NEXT
bindkey menubox \- ITEM_PREV
bindkey menubox UP ITEM_PREV
bindkey menubox ^P ITEM_PREV
bindkey menubox HOME PAGE_FIRST
bindkey menubox END PAGE_LAST
bindkey menubox LL PAGE_LAST
bindkey menubox NPAGE PAGE_NEXT
bindkey menubox PPAGE PAGE_PREV
# dlg_register_window menu

# key bindings for menu widgets
bindkey menu HOME BEGIN
bindkey menu ^U DELETE_ALL
bindkey menu ^H DELETE_LEFT
bindkey menu BACKSPACE DELETE_LEFT
bindkey menu ^? DELETE_RIGHT
bindkey menu DC DELETE_RIGHT
bindkey menu END FINAL
bindkey menu LEFT GRID_LEFT
bindkey menu RIGHT GRID_RIGHT
bindkey menu ^E HELPFILE
bindkey menu F1 HELPFILE
bindkey menu HELP HELPFILE
bindkey menu ^J ENTER
bindkey menu ^M ENTER
bindkey menu ENTER ENTER
window 20x20 at 14,72
  0:+------------------+
  1:| My List          |
  2:| +--------------+ |
  3:| |    1  foo    | |
  4:| |    2  bar    | |
  5:| |    3  baz    | |
  6:| |              | |
  7:| |              | |
  8:| |              | |
  9:| |              | |
 10:| |              | |
 11:| |              | |
 12:| |              | |
 13:| |              | |
 14:| |              | |
 15:| |              | |
 16:| +--------------+ |
 17:+------------------+
 18:|<  OK  > <Cancel> |
 19:+------------------+
chr ERR (ch=0xffffffff, fkey=0)
...widget returns -1
** closed at Wed Apr  8 15:18:05 2015



thanks
Richard