Jexer - Java Text User Interface library
========================================
-WARNING: THIS IS ALPHA CODE! PLEASE CONSIDER FILING BUGS AS YOU
-ENCOUNTER THEM.
+This library implements a text-based windowing system loosely
+reminiscent of Borland's [Turbo
+Vision](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turbo_Vision) system. It looks
+like this:
-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:
+Jexer works on both Xterm-like terminals and Swing, and supports
+images in both Xterm and Swing. On Swing, images are true color:
-* 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. For the demo application, this is the default backend on
- non-Windows platforms.
+
-* Java Swing UI. This backend can be selected by setting
- jexer.Swing=true. The default window size for Swing is 132x40,
- which is set in jexer.session.SwingSession. For the demo
- application, this is the default backend on Windows platforms.
+On Xterm, images are dithered to a common palette:
-The demo application showing the existing UI controls is available via
-'java -jar jexer.jar' or 'java -Djexer.Swing=true -jar jexer.jar' .
-
-Additional backends can be created by subclassing
-jexer.backend.Backend and passing it into the TApplication
-constructor.
+
License
-------
-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.
+Jexer is available to all under the MIT License. See the file LICENSE
+for the full license text.
-See the file LICENSE for the full license text, which includes both
-the GPL v3 and the LGPL supplemental terms.
+Obtaining Jexer
+---------------
-Acknowledgements
-----------------
+Jexer is available on Maven Central:
-Jexer makes use of the Terminus TrueType font [made available
-here](http://files.ax86.net/terminus-ttf/) .
+```xml
+<dependency>
+ <groupId>com.gitlab.klamonte</groupId>
+ <artifactId>jexer</artifactId>
+ <version>0.3.2</version>
+</dependency>
+```
+Binary releases are available on SourceForge:
+https://sourceforge.net/projects/jexer/files/jexer/
+The Jexer source code is hosted at: https://gitlab.com/klamonte/jexer
-Usage
------
-Usage patterns are still being worked on, but in general the goal will
-be to build applications as follows:
-```Java
-import jexer.*;
+Documentation
+-------------
-public class MyApplication extends TApplication {
+* [Java API Docs](https://jexer.sourceforge.io/apidocs/api/index.html)
- public MyApplication() {
- super(BackendType.SWING); // Could also use BackendType.XTERM
+* [Wiki](https://gitlab.com/klamonte/jexer/wikis/home)
- // Create standard menus for File and Window
- addFileMenu();
- addWindowMenu();
- }
+* [Jexer web page](https://jexer.sourceforge.io/)
- public static void main(String [] args) {
- MyApplication app = new MyApplication();
- (new Thread(app)).start();
- }
-}
-```
-See the file demos/Demo1.java for detailed examples.
+Programming Examples
+--------------------
+The examples/ folder currently contains:
-Known Issues / Arbitrary Decisions
-----------------------------------
+ * A [prototype tiling window
+ manager](/examples/JexerTilingWindowManager.java) in less than 250
+ lines of code.
-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.
+ * A much slicker [prototype tiling window
+ manager](/examples/JexerTilingWindowManager2.java) in less than 200
+ lines of code.
- TTerminalWindow
- ---------------
+ * A [prototype image thumbnail
+ viewer](/examples/JexerImageViewer.java) in less than 350 lines of
+ code.
- - 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.
+jexer.demos contains official demos showing all of the existing UI
+controls. The demos can be run as follows:
- - See jexer.tterminal.ECMA48 for more specifics of terminal
- emulation limitations.
+ * 'java -jar jexer.jar' . This will use System.in/out with
+ Xterm-like sequences on non-Windows non-Mac platforms. On Windows
+ and Mac it will use a Swing JFrame.
- - TTerminalWindow uses cmd.exe on Windows. Output will not be seen
- until enter is pressed, due to cmd.exe's use of line-oriented
- input (see the ENABLE_LINE_INPUT flag for GetConsoleMode() and
- SetConsoleMode()).
+ * 'java -Djexer.Swing=true -jar jexer.jar' . This will always use
+ Swing on any platform.
- ECMA48 Backend
- --------------
-
- - Mouse support for BackendType.ECMA48/XTERM currently requires UTF-8
- coordinates (1005 mode). Terminals that support UTF-8 mouse coordinates
- include xterm, rxvt-unicode, gnome-terminal, and konsole. Due to Java's
- InputStreamReader requirement of a valid UTF-8 stream, one must assume
- the terminal will always generate correct UTF-8 bytes. Mode 1006 (SGR)
- will be supported in a future release.
+ * 'java -cp jexer.jar jexer.demos.Demo2 PORT' (where PORT is a
+ number to run the TCP daemon on). This will use the Xterm backend
+ on a telnet server that will update with screen size changes.
+ * 'java -cp jexer.jar jexer.demos.Demo3' . This will use
+ System.in/out with Xterm-like sequences. One can see in the code
+ how to pass a different InputReader and OutputReader to
+ TApplication, permitting a different encoding than UTF-8.
+ * 'java -cp jexer.jar jexer.demos.Demo4' . This demonstrates hidden
+ windows and a custom TDesktop.
-Roadmap
--------
+ * 'java -cp jexer.jar jexer.demos.Demo5' . This demonstrates two
+ demo applications using different fonts in the same Swing frame.
+
+ * 'java -cp jexer.jar jexer.demos.Demo6' . This demonstrates two
+ applications performing I/O across three screens: an Xterm screen
+ and Swing screen, monitored from a third Swing screen.
+
+ * 'java -cp jexer.jar jexer.demos.Demo7' . This demonstrates the
+ BoxLayoutManager, achieving a similar result as the
+ javax.swing.BoxLayout apidocs example.
+
+
+
+More Screenshots
+----------------
-Many tasks remain before calling this version 1.0:
+Jexer can be run inside its own terminal window, with support for all
+of its features including images and mouse, and more terminals:
-0.0.2: STABILIZE EXISTING
+
-- TTerminalWindow
- - Expose shell commands as properties
-- Swing:
- - Blinking cursor
- - Block cursor
-- ECMA48Backend running on socket
-- TFileOpen
-- Document any properties used
- - Expose use of 'stty'
+Sixel output uses a single palette which works OK for a variety of
+real-world images:
-0.0.3: FINISH PORTING
+
-- TTreeView
- - Also add keyboard navigation
-- TDirectoryList
- - Also add keyboard navigation
+The color wheel with that palette is shown below:
-0.0.4: NEW STUFF
+
-- Making TMenu keyboard accelerators active/inactive
-- TStatusBar
-- TEditor
-- TWindow
- - "Smart placement" for new windows
-0.0.5: BUG HUNT
-- TSubMenu keyboard mnemonic not working
-- ECMA48Terminal
- - Mode 1006 mouse coordinates
+Terminal Support
+----------------
+
+The table below lists terminals tested against Jexer's Xterm backend:
+
+| Terminal | Environment | Mouse Click | Mouse Cursor | Images |
+| -------------- | ------------------ | ----------- | ------------ | ------ |
+| xterm | X11 | yes | yes | yes |
+| jexer | CLI, X11, Windows | yes | yes | yes |
+| mlterm | X11 | yes | yes | yes |
+| RLogin | Windows | yes | yes | yes |
+| alacritty(3) | X11 | yes | yes | no |
+| gnome-terminal | X11 | yes | yes | no |
+| iTerm2 | Mac | yes | yes | no(5) |
+| kitty(3) | X11 | yes | yes | no |
+| lcxterm(3) | CLI, Linux console | yes | yes | no |
+| mintty | Windows | yes | yes | no(5) |
+| rxvt-unicode | X11 | yes | yes | no(2) |
+| xfce4-terminal | X11 | yes | yes | no |
+| aminal(3) | X11 | yes | no | no |
+| konsole | X11 | yes | no | no |
+| yakuake | X11 | yes | no | no |
+| Windows Terminal(6) | Windows | no | no | no(2) |
+| screen | CLI | yes(1) | yes(1) | no(2) |
+| tmux | CLI | yes(1) | yes(1) | no |
+| putty | X11, Windows | yes | no | no(2) |
+| Linux | Linux console | no | no | no(2) |
+| qodem(3) | CLI, Linux console | yes | yes(4) | no |
+| qodem-x11(3) | X11 | yes | no | no |
+| yaft | Linux console (FB) | no | no | yes |
+
+1 - Requires mouse support from host terminal.
+
+2 - Also fails to filter out sixel data, leaving garbage on screen.
+
+3 - Latest in repository.
+
+4 - Requires TERM=xterm-1003 before starting.
-0.1.0: BETA RELEASE
+5 - Sixel images can crash terminal.
-- TSpinner
-- TComboBox
-- TListBox
-- TCalendar
-- TColorPicker
+6 - Version 0.4.2382.0, on Windows 10.0.18362.30. Tested against
+ WSL-1 Debian instance.
-Wishlist features (2.0):
-- TTerminal
- - Handle resize events (pass to child process)
-- Screen
- - Allow complex characters in putCharXY() and detect them in putStrXY().
-- Drag and drop
- - TEditor
- - TField
- - TText
- - TTerminal
- - TComboBox
+See Also
+--------
-Screenshots
------------
+* [Tranquil Java IDE](https://tjide.sourceforge.io) is a TUI-based
+ integrated development environment for the Java language that was
+ built using a very lightly modified GPL version of Jexer. TJ
+ provided a real-world use case to shake out numerous bugs and
+ limitations of Jexer.
-
+* [LCXterm](https://lcxterm.sourceforge.io) is a curses-based terminal
+ emulator that allows one to use Jexer with full support on the raw
+ Linux console.
-
+* [ptypipe](https://gitlab.com/klamonte/ptypipe) is a small C utility
+ that permits a Jexer TTerminalWindow to resize the running shell
+ when its window is resized.
+
+
+Acknowledgements
+----------------
+
+Jexer makes use of the Terminus TrueType font [made available
+here](http://files.ax86.net/terminus-ttf/) .
git://git.nikiroo.be / nikiroo-utils.git / blobdiff