This library implements a text-based windowing system reminiscient of
Borland's [Turbo Vision](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turbo_Vision)
system. (For those wishing to use the actual C++ Turbo Vision
-library, see [Sergio Sigala's C++ version based on the public domain
-sources released by Borland.](http://tvision.sourceforge.net/) )
+library, see [Sergio Sigala's C++ version based on the sources
+released by Borland,](http://tvision.sourceforge.net/) or consider
+Free Pascal's [Free Vision
+library.](http://wiki.freepascal.org/Free_Vision))
Jexer currently supports three backends:
sequences generated by the library itself: ncurses is not required
or linked to. xterm mouse tracking using UTF8 and SGR coordinates
are supported. For the demo application, this is the default
- backend on non-Windows platforms.
+ backend on non-Windows/non-Mac platforms.
* The same command-line ECMA-48 / ANSI X3.64 type terminal as above,
but to any general InputStream/OutputStream or Reader/Writer. See
TCP socket. jexer.demos.Demo3 demonstrates how one might use a
character encoding than the default UTF-8.
-* 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.
+* Java Swing UI. The default window size for Swing is 80x25 and 20
+ point font; this can be changed in the TApplication(BackendType)
+ constructor. For the demo applications, this is the default backend
+ on Windows and Mac platforms. This backend can be explicitly
+ selected for the demo applications by setting jexer.Swing=true.
Additional backends can be created by subclassing
jexer.backend.Backend and passing it into the TApplication
constructor.
+The Jexer homepage, which includes additional information and binary
+release downloads, is at: https://jexer.sourceforge.io . The Jexer
+source code is hosted at: https://github.com/klamonte/jexer .
+
License
See the files in jexer.demos for many more detailed examples showing
-all of the existing UI controls. The demo can be run in three
-different ways:
+all of the existing UI controls. The available demos can be run as
+follows:
* 'java -jar jexer.jar' . This will use System.in/out with
- xterm-like sequences on non-Windows platforms. On Windows it will
- use a Swing JFrame.
+ xterm-like sequences on non-Windows non-Mac platforms. On Windows
+ and Mac it will use a Swing JFrame.
* 'java -Djexer.Swing=true -jar jexer.jar' . This will always use
Swing on any platform.
protocol to establish an 8-bit clean channel and be aware of
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.
+
+ * '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 one
+ application performing I/O to two screens: an xterm screen and a
+ Swing screen.
+
More Screenshots
jexer.Swing
-----------
- Used only by jexer.demos.Demo1. If true, use the Swing interface
- for the demo application. Default: true on Windows platforms
- (os.name starts with "Windows"), false on non-Windows platforms.
+ Used only by jexer.demos.Demo1 and jexer.demos.Demo4. If true, use
+ the Swing interface for the demo application. Default: true on
+ Windows (os.name starts with "Windows") and Mac (os.name starts with
+ "Mac"), false on non-Windows and non-Mac platforms.
jexer.Swing.cursorStyle
-----------------------
- Used by jexer.io.SwingScreen. Selects the cursor style to draw.
- Valid values are: underline, block, outline. Default: underline.
+ Used by jexer.backend.SwingTerminal. Selects the cursor style to
+ draw. Valid values are: underline, block, outline. Default:
+ underline.
+
+ jexer.Swing.tripleBuffer
+ ------------------------
+
+ Used by jexer.backend.SwingTerminal. If true, use triple-buffering
+ which reduces screen tearing but may also be slower to draw on
+ slower systems. If false, use naive Swing thread drawing, which may
+ be faster on slower systems but also more likely to have screen
+ tearing. Default: true.
obviously expected behavior did not happen or when a specification was
ambiguous. This section describes such issues.
- - 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.
+ - The JVM needs some warmup time to exhibit the true performance
+ behavior. Drag a window around for a bit to see this: the initial
+ performance is slow, then the JIT compiler kicks in and Jexer can
+ be visually competitive with C/C++ curses applications.
- See jexer.tterminal.ECMA48 for more specifics of terminal
emulation limitations.
input (see the ENABLE_LINE_INPUT flag for GetConsoleMode() and
SetConsoleMode()).
- - TTerminalWindow launches 'script -fqe /dev/null' on non-Windows
- platforms. This is a workaround for the C library behavior of
- checking for a tty: script launches $SHELL in a pseudo-tty. This
- works on Linux but might not on other Posix-y platforms.
+ - TTerminalWindow launches 'script -fqe /dev/null' or 'script -q -F
+ /dev/null' on non-Windows platforms. This is a workaround for the
+ C library behavior of checking for a tty: script launches $SHELL
+ in a pseudo-tty. This works on Linux and Mac but might not on
+ other Posix-y platforms.
+
+ - Closing a TTerminalWindow without exiting the process inside it
+ may result in a zombie 'script' process.
- Java's InputStreamReader as used by the ECMA48 backend requires a
valid UTF-8 stream. The default X10 encoding for mouse
check the current window size, performing the same function as
ioctl(TIOCGWINSZ) but without requiring a native library.
- - jexer.io.ECMA48Terminal calls 'stty' to perform the equivalent of
- cfmakeraw() when using System.in/out. System.out is also
- (blindly!) put in 'stty sane cooked' mode when exiting.
+ - jexer.backend.ECMA48Terminal calls 'stty' to perform the
+ equivalent of cfmakeraw() when using System.in/out. System.out is
+ also (blindly!) put in 'stty sane cooked' mode when exiting.
Roadmap
-------
-Many tasks remain before calling this version 1.0:
-
-0.0.4
-
-- TStatusBar
-- TEditor
-- TWindow
- - "Smart placement" for new windows
-
-0.0.5: BUG HUNT
-
-- Swing performance. Even with double buffering it isn't great.
-
-0.1.0: BETA RELEASE
-
-- TSpinner
-- TComboBox
-- TCalendar
-
-Wishlist features (2.0):
-
-- TTerminal
- - Handle resize events (pass to child process)
-- Screen
- - Allow complex characters in putCharXY() and detect them in putStringXY().
-- Drag and drop
- - TEditor
- - TField
- - TText
- - TTerminal
- - TComboBox
+Many tasks remain before calling this version 1.0. See docs/TODO.md
+for the complete list of tasks.
git://git.nikiroo.be / nikiroo-utils.git / blobdiff