Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!njin!princeton!phoenix!bskendig
From: bskendig@phoenix.Princeton.EDU (Brian Kendig)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.programmer
Subject: Wanted: Code for simple text interface
Message-ID: <9674@phoenix.Princeton.EDU>
Date: 31 Jul 89 14:17:06 GMT
Reply-To: bskendig@phoenix.Princeton.EDU (Brian Kendig)
Organization: Systems Engineering, NASA Space Station Freedom Project
Lines: 30

A while ago, I made a thorough search for a command-line interface for a
Macintosh.  The only one I found did not quite suit my needs, so I decided
to take the most logical route and create my own.

Here's my problem: I want to be able to open a simple window into which the
user can type commands.  When he types a character, it is displayed; when he
types delete, a character is erased; when he types return or enter, the
entire command is parsed by the program.  Simple enough, right?

When I use TextEdit for the text window, the user is able to go back into the
stuff already displayed and edit it.  I don't want this.  Besides, I can't
trap for the return or enter keys easily, and even when I do, I don't know
how to go back to the beginning of the line and retrieve the whole thing.

A simpler way would be to ignore TextEdit.  I can listen for characters and
echo them to the screen when I get them, and when I get a return or enter, I
can parse the line.  Scrolling is a tad difficult and unwieldy, but that can
be overcome.  The problem here is that when the user types delete, the delete
appears as a *character* on the screen - one of those little white rectangles.

So, how do I do this?  I want to have an IBM-style interface (hold your cries;
there's a method to my madness) in a window.  There's got to be an easy way!

Help!

-- 
| Brian S. Kendig       |  I feel more like I   | bskendig                   |
| Computer Engineering  |  did when I got here  | @phoenix.Princeton.EDU     |
| Princeton University  |       than I do now.  | @PUCC.BITNET               |
| Systems Engineering, NASA Space Station Freedom / General Electric WP3     |