NAME

menu - curses extension for programming menus

SYNOPSIS

#include <menu.h>

DESCRIPTION

The menu library provides terminal-independent facilities for composing menu systems on character-cell terminals. The library includes: item routines, which create and modify menu items; and menu routines, which group items into menus, display menus on the screen, and handle interaction with the user.

The menu library uses the curses libraries, and a curses initialization routine such as initscr must be called before using any of these functions. To use the menu library, link with the options -lmenu -lcurses.

Current Default Values for Item Attributes

The menu library maintains a default value for item attributes. You can get or set this default by calling the appropriate get_ or set_ routine with a NULL item pointer. Changing this default with a set_ function affects future item creations, but does not change the rendering of items already created.

Routine Name Index

The following table lists each menu routine and the name of the manual page on which it is described.

curses Routine Name	Manual Page Name
current_item	menu_current(3MENU)
free_item	menu_new(3MENU)
free_menu	new(3MENU)
item_count	items(3MENU)
item_description	menu_name(3MENU)
item_index	menu_current(3MENU)
item_init	hook(3MENU)
item_name	menu_name(3MENU)
item_opts	menu_opts(3MENU)
item_opts_off	menu_opts(3MENU)
item_opts_on	menu_opts(3MENU)
item_term	hook(3MENU)
item_userptr	menu_userptr(3MENU)
item_value	menu_value(3MENU)
item_visible	menu_visible(3MENU)
menu_back	attributes(3MENU)
menu_driver	driver(3MENU)
menu_fore	attributes(3MENU)
menu_format	format(3MENU)
menu_grey	attributes(3MENU)
menu_init	hook(3MENU)
menu_items	items(3MENU)
menu_mark	mark(3MENU)
menu_opts	opts(3MENU)
menu_opts_off	opts(3MENU)
menu_opts_on	opts(3MENU)
menu_pad	attributes(3MENU)
menu_pattern	pattern(3MENU)
menu_request_by_name	requestname(3MENU)
menu_request_name	requestname(3MENU)
menu_spacing	spacing(3MENU)
menu_sub	win(3MENU)
menu_term	hook(3MENU)
menu_userptr	userptr(3MENU)
menu_win	win(3MENU)
new_item	menu_new(3MENU)
new_menu	new(3MENU)
pos_menu_cursor	cursor(3MENU)
post_menu	post(3MENU)
scale_menu	win(3MENU)
set_current_item	menu_current(3MENU)
set_item_init	hook(3MENU)
set_item_opts	menu_opts(3MENU)
set_item_term	hook(3MENU)
set_item_userptr	menu_userptr(3MENU)
set_item_value	menu_value(3MENU)
set_menu_back	attributes(3MENU)
set_menu_fore	attributes(3MENU)
set_menu_format	format(3MENU)
set_menu_grey	attributes(3MENU)
set_menu_init	hook(3MENU)
set_menu_items	items(3MENU)
set_menu_mark	mark(3MENU)
set_menu_opts	menu_opts(3MENU)
set_menu_pad	attributes(3MENU)
set_menu_pattern	pattern(3MENU)
set_menu_spacing	spacing(3MENU)
set_menu_sub	win(3MENU)
set_menu_term	hook(3MENU)
set_menu_userptr	userptr(3MENU)
set_menu_win	win(3MENU)
set_top_row	menu_current(3MENU)
top_row	menu_current(3MENU)
unpost_menu	post(3MENU)

RETURN VALUE

Routines that return pointers return NULL on error. Routines that return an integer return one of the following error codes:

E_OK: The routine succeeded.
E_BAD_ARGUMENT: Routine detected an incorrect or out-of-range argument.
E_BAD_STATE: Routine was called from an initialization or termination function.
E_NO_MATCH: Character failed to match.
E_NO_ROOM: Menu is too large for its window.
E_NOT_CONNECTED: No items are connected to the menu.
E_NOT_POSTED: The menu has not been posted.
E_NOT_SELECTABLE: The designated item cannot be selected.
E_POSTED: The menu is already posted.
E_REQUEST_DENIED: The menu driver could not process the request.
E_SYSTEM_ERROR: System error occurred (see errno).
E_UNKNOWN_COMMAND: The menu driver code saw an unknown request code.

NOTES

The header file <menu.h> automatically includes the header files <curses.h> and <eti.h>.

In your library list, libmenu.a should be before libncurses.a; that is, you should say “-lmenu -lncurses”, not the other way around (which would give a link-error when using static libraries).

PORTABILITY

These routines emulate the System V menu library. They were not supported on Version 7 or BSD versions.

The menu facility was documented in SVr4.2 in Character User Interface Programming (UNIX SVR4.2).

It is not part of X/Open Curses.

Aside from ncurses, there are few implementations:

systems based on SVr4 source code, e.g., Solaris.
NetBSD curses.

AUTHORS

Juergen Pfeifer. Manual pages and adaptation for ncurses by Eric S. Raymond.