Re: Displaying multiple forms at the same time

[Elliot Li]

On Nov 25, 2015, at 5:29 PM, Thomas Dickey <address@hidden> wrote:
> 
> On Wed, Nov 25, 2015 at 12:38:15PM -0800, Elliot Li wrote:
>> Hello!
>> 
>> I’m new to ncurses and am trying to develop a C/C++ program that should look
>> like HDCopy [1].  The content of the Messages box will be dynamically added
>> and should be scrollable (no need to be editable).
>> 
>> I think each block should be programmed using a form and managed separately
>> but please let me know if there’s an easier way to achieve that appearance.
>> 
>> I’m testing the dialog library because I like its style and widgets.  But it
>> seems not supporting showing multiple forms (or dialogs) at the same time so
>> I’m digging into the lower level and am trying to do it using dlg_*
>> functions.
>> 
>> Do you guys think this is the right direction to go?  Or should I try CDK
>> instead?  Or just use plain ncurses?
> 
> Both dialog and cdk have limited ability to use the tab-key for traversing
> between widgets.  However - that is "limited", and it's easy to conceive
> of user interfaces which require something more sophisticated (or 
> specialized).
> 
> Likewise, the form- and menu-libraries in ncurses address a certain style.
> So... if you really know what you want, and spend time on it, low-level
> ncurses works well.  But if you want something quick which follows one of
> the respective libraries' limitations, then the libraries are a good choice.

Thanks, Thomas. I should begin with something quick and dive into ncurses 
probably later. Actually I don’t need traversal across widgets. One box will 
have a menu that controls stuff in other boxes.

I’m comparing dialog and cdk now. I feel like cdk is more developer friendly 
while dialog more focuses on providing single dialog functions.

Is there an easy hack to let cdk widgets draw their titles right on the upper 
box boundary to cover part of the boundary lines? Right now it is shown one 
line bellow the box boundary, and I think that’s kinda wasting a line.

--
Elliot