Ncurses º¯Êý

Table of Contents

User Contributed Notes

g_a at freemail dot deletethispart dot hu 02-Feb-2006 06:03
To determine screen width and height without any external (OS specific) commands, I use:

<?php
ncurses_init
();
$fullscreen = ncurses_newwin ( 0, 0, 0, 0);
ncurses_getmaxyx($fullscreen,&$a,&$b);
ncurses_end();
echo
"Width:$b\nHeight:$a\n";
?>
krzysztof dot gorzelak at gmail dot com 05-Nov-2005 02:36
Here is a small example, how to use STDIN to read keys combinations in console.

$stdin = fopen('php://stdin', 'r');
stream_set_timeout($stdin, 1);
while (1) {
  $temp="";
    while (1) {
      if(stream_select($read = array($stdin), $write = NULL, $except = NULL, 0))
        $temp .= ord(fgetc($stdin));
      else break;
    }

    // F1 : $temp == 27914949126
    // ALT+F1 : $temp = 2727914949126
    // ....
   
    usleep("50000");
}
kermodebear at kermodebear dot org 17-Jun-2004 12:27
An implementation of a scrolling selection box:

<?php
function ncurses_menu_select( $options, $values, $max_height = 7, $max_width = 20, $y = 2, $x = 2 ) {
       
// Size inside of borders
       
$height = $max_height - 2;
       
$width  = $max_width  - 2;

       
// Number of options
       
$num_options = count( $options );

       
// Trim all values to fit
       
foreach( $options as $key => $value ) {
               
$options[ $key ] = substr( $value, 0, $width );
        }

       
// Create Window
       
$menu_window = ncurses_newwin( $max_height, $max_width, $y, $x );
       
ncurses_wborder( $menu_window, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0 );

       
// Initialize Window
       
$current = 0; // Currently selected
       
$position = 1; // Position in list
       
$topitem = 0; // Top menu item
       
for ( $a = 0; $a < min( $height, $num_options ); $a++ ) {
                if (
$a == $current ) {
                       
ncurses_wattron( $menu_window, NCURSES_A_REVERSE );
                       
ncurses_mvwaddstr( $menu_window, 1 + $a, 1, $options[ $a ] );
                       
ncurses_wattroff( $menu_window, NCURSES_A_REVERSE );
                } else {
                       
ncurses_mvwaddstr( $menu_window, 1 + $a, 1, $options[ $a ] );
                }
        }
       
ncurses_mvwaddstr( $menu_window, 1, 0, '*' );
       
ncurses_wrefresh( $menu_window );
       
// Loop until a selection is made
       
while( ! in_array( $key = ncurses_getch( $menu_window ), array( 13, 10 ) ) ) {
                if (
$key == NCURSES_KEY_UP && $current > 0 ) {
                       
$move = -1;
                } else if (
$key == NCURSES_KEY_DOWN && $current < $num_options - 1 ) {
                       
$move = 1;
                } else {
                        continue;
                }

               
$current += $move;
               
$position += $move;
               
// If we scroll off the window, redraw items.
               
if ( $position < 1 || $position > $height ) {
                        if (
$position < 1 ) {
                               
$position = 1;
                        } else {
                               
$position = $height;
                        }
                       
$topitem += $move;
                        for (
$a = 1; $a <= $height; $a++ ) {
                               
ncurses_mvwaddstr( $menu_window, $a, 1, str_repeat( ' ', $width ) );
                                if (
$a == $position ) {
                                       
ncurses_wattron( $menu_window, NCURSES_A_REVERSE );
                                       
ncurses_mvwaddstr( $menu_window, $a, 1, $options[ $topitem + $a - 1 ] );
                                       
ncurses_wattroff( $menu_window, NCURSES_A_REVERSE );
                                } else {
                                       
ncurses_mvwaddstr( $menu_window, $a, 1, $options[ $topitem + $a - 1 ] );
                                }
                        }
                } else {
// Just update changed items
                       
ncurses_wattron( $menu_window, NCURSES_A_REVERSE );
                       
ncurses_mvwaddstr( $menu_window, $position, 1, $options[ $current ] );
                       
ncurses_wattroff( $menu_window, NCURSES_A_REVERSE );
                       
ncurses_mvwaddstr( $menu_window, $position - $move, 1, $options[ $current - $move ] );
                }
               
// Update 'scroll bar dot'
               
ncurses_wborder( $menu_window, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0 );
               
$dot_position = round ( ( $current / $num_options ) * ( $height - 1 ) );
               
ncurses_mvwaddstr( $menu_window, 1 + $dot_position, 0, '*' );

               
ncurses_wrefresh( $menu_window );
        }
        return
$values[ $current ];
}

?>
kermodebear at kermodebear dot org 16-Jun-2004 10:21
Not calling ncurses_end() can (will) cause issues with terminals. Although registering a shutdown function which includes ncurses_end() may help, sometimes things go awry and you're stuck with a terminal that is acting in strange ways.

This can be fixed! *NIX systems (FreeBSD, Linux, UNIX, et al.) usually support the 'reset' command which resets the terminal settings and allows you to get things back to normal.
kermodebear at kermodebear dot org 16-Jun-2004 10:17
Here is a function that takes an associative array, presents a menu in a new window, allows the user to make a choice using up and down arrows and the enter key, and returns the value of the menu item.

Limitations include:
No way of scrolling a long list, either horiontally or vertically;
No arguments for placement on screen, although this is easy to add;
No multiple selection;
Will produce all kinds of errors and warnings if the terminal is smaller than is necessary to create the window.

I'm very new at using the ncurses library; Comments and improvements would be greatly appreciated!

<?php
/**
 * Create a simple selection menu
 * @param array Associative array; The value will be shown on the menu, while the key will be returned when the associated value is selected.
 * @return mixed
 */
function ncurses_menu_select( $menu ) {
       
$keys = array_keys( $menu );
       
$values = array_values( $menu );

       
$height = $width = 0;
       
$height = count( $menu ) + 2;
        foreach(
$values as $value ) {
               
$width = max( $width, strlen( $value ) + 2 );
        }

       
$menu_window = ncurses_newwin( $height, $width, 5, 5 );
       
ncurses_wborder( $menu_window, 0,0, 0,0, 0,0, 0,0 );

       
$current = 0;
        for(
$a = 0; $a < count( $values ); $a++ ) {
                if (
$a == $current ) {
                       
ncurses_wattron( $menu_window, NCURSES_A_REVERSE );
                       
ncurses_mvwaddstr( $menu_window, 1 + $a, 1, $values[ $a ] );
                       
ncurses_wattroff( $menu_window, NCURSES_A_REVERSE );
                } else {
                       
ncurses_mvwaddstr( $menu_window, 1 + $a, 1, $values[ $a ] );
                }
        }
       
ncurses_wrefresh( $menu_window );

        while( !
in_array( $key = ncurses_getch( $menu_window ), array( 13, 10 ) ) ) {
                if (
$key == NCURSES_KEY_UP AND $current > 0 ) {
                       
$move = -1;
                } else if (
$key == NCURSES_KEY_DOWN and $current < count( $values ) - 1 ) {
                       
$move = 1;
                } else {
                       
$move = 0;
                }
               
ncurses_mvwaddstr( $menu_window, 1 + $current, 1, $values[ $current ] );
               
$current += $move;
               
ncurses_wattron( $menu_window, NCURSES_A_REVERSE );
               
ncurses_mvwaddstr( $menu_window, 1 + $current, 1, $values[ $current ] );
               
ncurses_wattroff( $menu_window, NCURSES_A_REVERSE );
               
ncurses_wrefresh( $menu_window );
        }
       
ncurses_delwin( $menu_window );
        return
$keys[ $current ];
}
?>

Example Use:

<?php
// Initialie ncurses
$ncurse = ncurses_init();
// A full screen window
$fullscreen = ncurses_newwin ( 0, 0, 0, 0);
// Add a pretty border
ncurses_border(0,0, 0,0, 0,0, 0,0);
// Draw everything so far
ncurses_refresh();

// Set up menu array
$menu_items = array(
       
'one'   => 'Menu Item #1',
       
'two'   => 'Menu Item #2',
       
'three' => 'Menu Item #3' );
// Display menu and return selection
$selection = ncurses_menu_select( $menu_items );

// Print selection
ncurses_mvaddstr( 1, 1, 'You selected ' . $menu_items[$selection] . ' with the value ' . $selection );

// Draw updates
ncurses_refresh( $fullscreen );
// End
ncurses_end();
?>
Habib Valanejad 24-Feb-2004 09:46
What if you want to draw a new window and after removing it, showing the pervious screen again? Unfortunately, there is no such a thing in php/ncurses as there is in original curses library (touchwin if I'm not mistaken - It has been a long time!).
However, you can do this by a simple trick! You can
dump the screen to a temp file and then restore it back
again!
Take a look at this function:

# Function: show_a_win()
# - Displays a small window and writes something in it.
# - waits for a key
# - shows the pervious screen again
function show_a_win()
{
   # Dump the current screen into a temp file:
   $tmpfile = tempnam("/tmp", "dump.");
   # Create a new window.
   $newwin = ncurses_newwin(4, 60, 10, 10);
   # Write something and then refresh it
   ncurses_mvwaddstr($newwin, 1, 1, "This is a test.");
   ncurses_wrefresh($newwin);
   # Wait for a key
   ncurses_wgetch($newwin);
   ncurses_delwin($newwin);  /* delete the window */
   /* Restore the screen the same way it was before entering
    * into the function:
    */
   ncurses_scr_restore($tmpfile);
   unlink($tmpfile);   /* Remove temp file */
}
Habib Valanejad 11-Dec-2003 02:30
Here is a function which would do the job for missing
ncurses_wclrtoeol() function:
/* wclrtoeol()
 * Erases  the  current line to the right of the cursor
*/
function wclrtoeol($win)
{
   # get current position
   ncurses_getyx($win, &$crow, &$ccol);
   # get maximum row and col for this window:
   ncurses_getmaxyx($win, &$max_row, &$max_col);
   for ($col = $ccol; $col < $max_col; $col ++){
      ncurses_wmove($win, $crow, $col);
      ncurses_waddch($win, 32);
   }
}
rainman at darkwired dot org 31-Jul-2003 04:55
This is not meant as spam to get people to use my client.

I have been working on a PHP4 IRC client with ncurses interface and I think it is a useful example of how ncurses with php could be used.
It is GPL licensed so you can just go and take a loot at it.

It can be found at http://torc.sourceforge.net or http://www.darkwired.org/projects/torc/

I hope this will help out some of you because php ncurses can be quite difficult I experienced :]

For any questions about the code you can ofcourse just mail me.
Habib Valanejad 25-Jun-2003 02:50
I had a small problem building php+ncurses support.
ncurses include files were installed in:
ncurses_installed_dir/include/ncurses
This caused problems when building php with ncurse support.
php was looking for include files in:
ncurses_installed_dir/include
However, include files were located in include/ncurses

I had to make symbolic links of files in ncurses directory so php could see them:
# cd ncurses_insalled_directory/include
# ln -s ncurses/* .
After that it worked.
Habib Valanejad 27-Mar-2003 06:13
For those of you who want to check if <ENTER> key is passed,
you have to check the key agains both NL and CR keys:

function get_str()
{
   for ($str = "";;){
      $key = ncurses_getch();
      switch ($key){
        case 10:   // newline
        case 13:   // Carrige Return
           return($str);
        default:
           $str .= chr($key);
            ncurses_refresh();
      } // switch
   } // for
} // get_str()

Hope that would help.
24-Mar-2003 07:18
In the example above, if you run resize from a C shell it will output the sizes in C shell syntax, run resize with -u to force Bourne syntax:
The $win parameter is just for future compatibility.

function ncurses_getmaxyx($win, &$y, &$x)
{
        exec("/usr/X11R6/bin/resize -u", $output);
        $cols = explode("=", $output[0]);
        $rows = explode("=", $output[1]);
        $x = intval($cols[1]);
        $y = intval($rows[1]);
}
joeldegan AT yahoo.com 15-Dec-2002 12:26
See the documentation for ncurses_border and ncurses_wrefresh for some more examples of doing windowing and dynamic sizing.. I also posted some information to the zend.com code-gallery for doing ncurses under php.
joeldegan AT yahoo.com 14-Dec-2002 03:10
I noticed a lack of a getxy() function so I wrote one.
You may need to change the path for your resize cmd.

<?
function getxy(){
    $rez = `/usr/X11R6/bin/resize`;
    $rez = explode("\n",$rez);
    while(list($key,$val)=each($rez)){
        $a=explode("=",$val);
        if(trim($a[0])=="COLUMNS"){ $COLUMNS = $a[1]; }
        if(trim($a[0])=="LINES"){ $LINES = $a[1]; }
    }//
    $retval[0]=$COLUMNS;
    $retval[1]=$LINES;
   return $retval;
}

print_r(getxy());
?>
joeldegan AT yahoo.com 14-Dec-2002 02:37
This is from the examples that come with the latest release.

From:
php-4.3.0RC3/ext/ncurses/example1.php

I found this useful...

<?php
$n
=0;
ncurses_init();
if(
ncurses_has_colors()){
ncurses_start_color();
       
ncurses_init_pair(1,NCURSES_COLOR_RED,NCURSES_COLOR_BLACK);
       
ncurses_init_pair(2,NCURSES_COLOR_GREEN,NCURSES_COLOR_BLACK);
       
ncurses_init_pair(3,NCURSES_COLOR_YELLOW,NCURSES_COLOR_BLACK);
       
ncurses_init_pair(4,NCURSES_COLOR_BLUE,NCURSES_COLOR_BLACK);
       
ncurses_init_pair(5,NCURSES_COLOR_MAGENTA,NCURSES_COLOR_BLACK);
       
ncurses_init_pair(6,NCURSES_COLOR_CYAN,NCURSES_COLOR_BLACK);
       
ncurses_init_pair(7,NCURSES_COLOR_WHITE,NCURSES_COLOR_BLACK);
}
while(
1){
for (
$x=0; $x<80; $x++) {
for (
$y=0; $y<24; $y++) {
 
$n++;
 
ncurses_move($y,$x);
 
ncurses_addch($n+64);
 
ncurses_color_set($n%8);
 
ncurses_refresh();
  if(
$n>26)$n=0;
}
}
ncurses_getch();
}
?>
joeldegan AT yahoo.com 13-Dec-2002 10:56
actually *that* example does not work...
here is one that I took and trimmed down from the ncurses examples.
I will do some more and post them here..

<?
ncurses_init();
##############################################
ncurses_noecho();

    $large = ncurses_newwin(20, 60, 2, 10);
    $small = ncurses_newwin(10, 30, 7, 25);
   
    ncurses_refresh();
    ncurses_wrefresh($large);
    ncurses_wrefresh($small);

    ncurses_mvwaddstr($small, 5, 5, "   Test  String   ");
    ncurses_wrefresh($small);
    ncurses_getch();

##############################################
ncurses_end(); // Clean up, and quit
?>

This is from PHP 4.3.0RC0 compiled with the following flags..
./configure --prefix=/wwwroot/php --with-config-file-path=/wwwroot/php --with-mysql --enable-pcntl --with-tsrm-pthreads --enable-sysvsem --enable-sysvshm --with-curl --enable-bcmath --enable-sigchild --enable-sockets --with-ncurses
nweeks at utas dot edu dot au 07-Nov-2002 04:43
With your CGI version of PHP compiled with ncurses support, console apps are amazingly easy!

For example:
whack the following into a file, chmod +x it, and run it.

#!/usr/local/bin/php -q
<?php
ncurses_init
();
ncurses_border(25,25,18,18,24,24,23,23); // Do a lovely border
ncurses_move(1,1); // Start top left(inside border)
ncurses_addstr("Welcome to NCurses");
ncurses_addstr(" with PHP!");
ncurses_refresh(); // Send buffer to screen
ncurses_end(); // Clean up, and quit
?&gt;

You'll notice the second addstr simply tacks onto the first.