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[nikiroo-utils.git] / README.md

Jexer - Java Text User Interface library
========================================

WARNING: THIS IS ALPHA CODE!

This library is intended to implement a text-based windowing system
loosely reminiscient of Borland's [Turbo
Vision](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turbo_Vision) library.  For those
wishing to use the actual C++ Turbo Vision library, see [Sergio
Sigala's updated version](http://tvision.sourceforge.net/) that runs
on many more platforms.

Two backends are available:

* System.in/out to a command-line ECMA-48 / ANSI X3.64 type terminal
  (tested on Linux + xterm).  I/O is handled through terminal escape
  sequences generated by the library itself: ncurses is not required
  or linked to.  xterm mouse tracking using UTF8 coordinates is
  supported.  This is the default backend on non-Windows platforms.

* Java AWT UI.  This backend can be selected by setting
  jexer.AWT=true.  This is the default backend on Windows platforms.
  AWT is VERY experimental, please consider filing bugs when you
  encounter them.

A demo application showing the existing UI controls is available via
'java -jar jexer.jar' or 'java -Djexer.AWT=true -jar jexer.jar' .



License
-------

This project is licensed LGPL ("GNU Lesser General Public License")
version 3 or greater.  See the file LICENSE for the full license text,
which includes both the GPL v3 and the LGPL supplemental terms.



Acknowledgements
----------------

Jexer makes use of the Terminus TrueType font [made available
here](http://files.ax86.net/terminus-ttf/) .



Usage
-----

Usage patterns are still being worked on, but in general the goal will
be to build applications somewhat as follows:

```Java
import jexer.*;

public class MyApplication extends TApplication {

    public MyApplication() {
        super();

        // Create standard menus for File and Window
        addFileMenu();
        addWindowMenu();
    }

    public static void main(String [] args) {
        MyApplication app = new MyApplication();
        app.run();
    }
}
```

See the file demos/Demo1.java for detailed examples.



Known Issues / Arbitrary Decisions
----------------------------------

Some arbitrary design decisions had to be made when either the
obviously expected behavior did not happen or when a specification was
ambiguous.  This section describes such issues.

  TTerminalWindow
  ---------------

  - TTerminalWindow will hang on input from the remote if the
    TApplication is exited before the TTerminalWindow's process has
    closed on its own.  This is due to a Java limitation/interaction
    between blocking reads (which is necessary to get UTF8 translation
    correct) and file streams.


Roadmap
-------

Many tasks remain before calling this version 1.0:

0.0.2:

- Making TMenu keyboard accelerators active/inactive
- AWT:
  - Blinking cursor
  - Block cursor
  - Fix mouse artifacts
- ECMA48Backend running on socket
- TTreeView
- TDirectoryList
- TFileOpen
- Decide on naming convention: getText, getValue, getLabel: one or all
  of them?
- Refactor:
  - TKeypress:
    - getCh() --> getChar()
    - getAlt/getCtrl/getShift --> isAltDown / isCtrlDown / isShiftDown
  - Other boolean getters --> isSomething

0.0.3:

- TEditor

0.0.4:

- Bugs
  - TSubMenu keyboard mnemonic not working
  - TDirectoryList cannot be navigated only with keyboard
  - TTreeView cannot be navigated only with keyboard
  - RangeViolation after dragging scrollbar up/down

0.1.0:

- TWindow
  - "Smart placement" for new windows
- ECMATerminal
  - Mouse 1006 mode parsing

Wishlist features (2.0):

- TTerminal
  - Handle resize events (pass to child process)
  - xterm mouse handling
- Screen
  - Allow complex characters in putCharXY() and detect them in putStrXY().
- TComboBox
- TListBox
- TSpinner
- TCalendar widget
- TColorPicker widget
- Drag and drop
  - TEditor
  - TField
  - TText
  - TTerminal
  - TComboBox


Screenshots
-----------

![Several Windows Open Including A Terminal](/screenshots/screenshot1.png?raw=true "Several Windows Open Including A Terminal")