Jexer - Java Text User Interface library
========================================
-This library is currently in design, but when finished it 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.
+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 experimental, please consider filing bugs when you encounter
+ them. The default window size for AWT is 132x40, which is set in
+ jexer.session.AWTSession.
+
+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 library 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.
+This project is licensed LGPL ("GNU Lesser General Public License",
+sometimes called the "Library GPL") version 3 or greater. You may
+freely use Jexer in both closed source (proprietary) and open source
+applications, however any changes you make to the Jexer code must be
+made available to your users.
+
+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
-----
-The library is currently under initial development, usage patterns are
-still being worked on. Generally the goal will be to build
-applications somewhat as follows:
+Usage patterns are still being worked on, but in general the goal will
+be to build applications somewhat as follows:
```Java
import jexer.*;
public MyApplication() {
super();
- // Create an editor window that has support for
- // copy/paste, search text, arrow keys, horizontal
- // and vertical scrollbar, etc.
- addEditor();
-
// Create standard menus for File and Window
addFileMenu();
addWindowMenu();
}
```
+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.
+
+ - See jexer.tterminal.ECMA48 for more specifics of terminal
+ emulation limitations.
+
Roadmap
-------
Many tasks remain before calling this version 1.0:
-0.0.1:
-
-- TMessageBox
-- TInputBox
-- AWTBackend
-
0.0.2:
+- Making TMenu keyboard accelerators active/inactive
+- AWT:
+ - Blinking cursor
+ - Handle kbTab (disable focus traversal BS)
+ - Block cursor
+- 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
-- TTerminal
0.0.4:
- Bugs
- - Bare ESC isn't being returned immediately
- - TTimer is jittery with I/O
- TSubMenu keyboard mnemonic not working
- - kbDel assertion failure in TMenu (MID_CLEAR)
- TDirectoryList cannot be navigated only with keyboard
- TTreeView cannot be navigated only with keyboard
- RangeViolation after dragging scrollbar up/down
-- TEditor
- - Word wrap
- - Forward/backward word
- - Search
- - Replace
- - Cut/Copy/Paste
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
- TText
- TTerminal
- TComboBox
+
+
+Screenshots
+-----------
+
+![Several Windows Open Including A Terminal](/screenshots/screenshot1.png?raw=true "Several Windows Open Including A Terminal")
+