I've been trying out curses under Python (on Linux of course, since curses is unavailable under Win32) and I've discovered the ff:
First, the curses interface is not as Pythonic as one would want (leading to a bit of cursing on the side). Performance is adequate. It supports overlapping text areas (panels), but neither these nor the standard "blit string to screen" functions really support 'drawing' outside screen boundaries. In other words, a Turbo Vision style interface where you have movable windows which have certain parts off screen is not explicitly supported. But this is OK for my purposes, since I don't think trying to mimic a WIMP UI in text mode ala Turbo Vision is all that ideal anyway. You can probably simulate it with complex code but this is going to be quite involved and likely to sap performance. Haven't tried mouse support yet... but that is not critical, as like I mentioned, emulating a WIMP environment is not my goal. Arrowkey driven lightbar menus with the occasional modal popup dialogs (ala Midnight Commander) are likely to fulfill my needs pretty well and from what I have seen, curses will support this kind of UI pretty well. I also managed to get the Linux version of Turbo Vision (graciously pointed out by fooler at http://tvision.sourceforge.net) to compile cleanly in Linux without any real problems. Majority of the samples worked without a hitch with only some pretty specialized ones giving problems. If a WIMP-like TUI is your goal and you actually find wrestling with a complex C++ framework fun, then you should check TV out. It is quite powerful actually. Maybe someone could make a Python binding for it someday??? That might be cool. _ Philippine Linux Users Group. Web site and archives at http://plug.linux.org.ph To leave: send "unsubscribe" in the body to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Fully Searchable Archives With Friendly Web Interface at http://marc.free.net.ph To subscribe to the Linux Newbies' List: send "subscribe" in the body to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
