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Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!cbosgd!mandrill!hal!ncoast!allbery
From: allbery@ncoast.UUCP (Brandon Allbery)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.questions,comp.unix.wizards
Subject: Re: unify vs curses vs terminfo
Message-ID: <6956@ncoast.UUCP>
Date: 6 Jan 88 01:35:16 GMT
References: <228@wpg.UUCP> <293@dsinc.UUCP>
Reply-To: allbery@ncoast.UUCP (Brandon Allbery)
Followup-To: comp.unix.questions
Distribution: na
Organization: Cleveland Public Access UN*X, Cleveland, Oh
Lines: 35

As quoted from <293@dsinc.UUCP> by syd@dsinc.UUCP (Syd Weinstein):
+---------------
| Using this library we have developed many applications using curses
| instead of the unify routines.  We have had no problem at all using
| curses this way and have run into no conflicts so far.  Of course it
| does not allow mixing the unify i/o and curses i/o.  You still must use
| one or the other.
| 
| BTW, unify uses their own TERMCAP/UNICAP file, and curses uses
| terminfo, so it gets even wierder if you try to mix them.
+---------------

I have a library which emulates Unify screen calls in terms of curses calls;
aside from an odd linking command, I've had no problems with it.  Because it
is based on curses, you can freely intermix Unify and curses I/O... but you
cannot call the Unify calls on any window other than stdscr.  My routines are
upwards-compatible with Unify:  you can enable trapping of ^E ^Z ^X as in
ENTER, you can enable shellouts (^P as in "push"), editing within a field,
and there are a series of calls "uptube", "upscrf", etc. which do UPDATES
rather than just input _or_ output as the standard Unify calls do.  (Don't
tell Unify Corp., but you can also enable ^V on fields with explicit relation-
ships and the screen manager will automatically construct a window on the
related record and let you pick a value directly from it.  So much for "zoom
fields"!  ;-)

Also supported on fields are right-justification and case mapping, as well
as being able to display fields in reverse video or underlined on consenting
terminals.

Anyway, it's proof positive that it is possible to combine Unify I/O with
curses/terminfo without any real hassles.
-- 
	      Brandon S. Allbery, Moderator of comp.sources.misc
 {hoptoad,harvard!necntc,cbosgd,sun!mandrill!hal,uunet!hnsurg3}!ncoast!allbery
PS/2:  Half a computer.    OS/2:  Half an operating system for half a computer.