curs_pad(3) Library calls curs_pad(3)
NAME
newpad, subpad, prefresh, pnoutrefresh, pechochar, pecho_wchar - create
and display curses pads
SYNOPSIS
#include <curses.h>
WINDOW *newpad(int nlines, int ncols);
WINDOW *subpad(WINDOW *parent, int nlines, int ncols,
int begin_y, int begin_x);
int prefresh(WINDOW *pad, int pminrow, int pmincol,
int sminrow, int smincol, int smaxrow, int smaxcol);
int pnoutrefresh(WINDOW *pad, int pminrow, int pmincol,
int sminrow, int smincol, int smaxrow, int smaxcol);
int pechochar(WINDOW *pad, chtype ch);
int pecho_wchar(WINDOW *pad, const cchar_t *wch);
DESCRIPTION
A curses pad is like a window, except that it is not restricted by the
screen size, and is not necessarily associated with a particular part
of the screen. Pads can be used when a large window is needed, only
part of which is to be visible on the screen. Pads are not
automatically refreshed by scrolling or input-echoing operations.
Pads cannot be refreshed with wrefresh(3X); use prefresh or
pnoutrefresh instead.
newpad
newpad creates and returns a pointer to a new pad data structure with
the given number of lines, nlines, and columns, ncols.
subpad
subpad creates and returns a pointer to a subwindow within a pad with
the given number of lines, nlines, and columns, ncols. Unlike
subwin(3X), which uses screen coordinates, the new pad is placed at
position (begin_y, begin_x) relative to its parent. Thus, changes made
to one pad can affect both. When operating on a subpad, it is often
necessary to call touchwin(3X) or touchline(3X) on parent before
calling prefresh.
prefresh, pnoutrefresh
prefresh and pnoutrefresh are analogous to wrefresh(3X) and
wnoutrefresh(3X) except that they operate on pads rather than windows.
They require additional parameters are needed to indicate what portions
of the pad and screen are involved.
o pminrow and pmincol specify the upper left-hand corner of a
rectangular view of the pad.
o sminrow, smincol, smaxrow, and smaxcol specify the vertices of the
rectangle to be displayed on the screen.
The lower right-hand corner of the rectangle to be displayed in the pad
is calculated from the screen coordinates, since the rectangles must be
the same size. Both rectangles must be entirely contained within their
respective structures. curses treats negative values of any of these
parameters as zero.
pechochar
pechochar is functionally equivalent to calling waddch(3X) followed by
prefresh. It suggests to the curses optimizer that only a single
character is being output; a considerable performance benefit may be
thus enjoyed. The location of the character ch written to the pad is
used to populate the arguments to prefresh.
pecho_wchar
pecho_wchar is functionally equivalent to calling wadd_wch(3X) followed
by prefresh. It suggests to the curses optimizer that only a single
wide character is being output; a considerable performance benefit may
be thus enjoyed. The location of the character wch written to the pad
is used to populate the arguments to prefresh.
RETURN VALUE
Functions that return an integer return ERR upon failure and OK (SVr4
specifies only "an integer value other than ERR") upon successful
completion.
Functions that return pointers return NULL on error, and set errno to
ENOMEM.
X/Open Curses does not specify any error conditions. In this
implementation
prefresh and pnoutrefresh
return an error if the window pointer is null, or if the window
is not really a pad or if the area to refresh extends off-
screen or if the minimum coordinates are greater than the
maximum.
pechochar
returns an error if the window is not really a pad, and the
associated call to wechochar returns an error.
pecho_wchar
returns an error if the window is not really a pad, and the
associated call to wecho_wchar returns an error.
NOTES
pechochar may be a macro.
PORTABILITY
BSD curses has no pad feature.
SVr2 curses (1986) provided the newpad and related functions,
documenting them in a single line each. SVr3 (1987) provided more
extensive documentation.
The documentation does not explain the term pad. However, the Apollo
Aegis workstation operating system supported a graphical pad feature:
o These graphical pads could be much larger than the computer's
display.
o The read-only output from a command could be scrolled back to
inspect, and select text from the pad.
The two uses may be related.
X/Open Curses, Issue 4 describes these functions, without significant
change from the SVr3 documentation. It describes no error conditions.
The behavior of subpad if the parent window is not a pad is
undocumented, and is not checked by the vendor Unix implementations:
o SVr4 curses sets a flag in the WINDOW structure in newpad which
tells if the window is a pad.
However, it uses this information only in waddch (to decide if it
should call wrefresh) and wscrl (to avoid scrolling a pad), and
does not check in wrefresh to ensure that the pad is refreshed
properly.
o Solaris xcurses checks whether a window is a pad in wnoutrefresh,
returning ERR in that case.
However, it only sets the flag for subwindows if the parent window
is a pad. Its newpad function does not set this information.
Consequently, the check will never fail.
It makes no comparable check in pnoutrefresh, though interestingly
enough, a comment in the source code states that the lack of a
check was an MKS extension.
o NetBSD 7 curses sets a flag in the WINDOW structure for newpad and
subpad, using this to help with the distinction between
wnoutrefresh and pnoutrefresh.
It does not check for the case where a subwindow is created in a
pad using subwin or derwin.
The dupwin function returns a regular window when duplicating a
pad. Likewise, getwin always returns a window, even if the saved
data was from a pad.
This implementation
o sets a flag in the WINDOW structure for newpad and subpad,
o allows a subwin or derwin call to succeed having a pad parent by
forcing the subwindow to be a pad,
o checks in both wnoutrefresh and pnoutrefresh to ensure that pads
and windows are handled distinctly, and
o ensures that dupwin and getwin treat pads versus windows
consistently.
SEE ALSO
curses(3X), curs_addch(3X), curs_refresh(3X), curs_touch(3X)
ncurses 6.5 2024-04-27 curs_pad(3)
ncurses 6.5 - Generated Sun May 5 16:00:51 CDT 2024