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PDCurses 2.8 - 2006-04-01
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@wmcbrine wmcbrine released this 11 Apr 15:55
· 1761 commits to master since this release
PDCurses_2_8
f10e704

As with the previous version, you should assume that apps linked against
older dynamic versions of the library won't work with this one until
recompiled.

New features:

  • Simpler, faster.

  • Declarations for all supported, standard functions, per the X/Open
    Curses 4.2 spec, with the notable exception of getch() and ungetch().
    You can disable the use of the macro versions by defining NOMACROS
    before including curses.h (see xmas.c for an example). NOMACROS yields
    smaller but theoretically slower executables.

  • New functions: vwprintw(), vwscanw(), vw_printw() and vw_scanw(). This
    completes the list of X/Open 4.2 functions, except for those concerned
    with attr_t and wide characters. Some (especially the terminfo/termcap
    functions) aren't yet fully fleshed out, though.

  • Non-macro implementations for COLOR_PAIR(), PAIR_NUMBER(), getbkgd(),
    mvgetnstr(), mvwgetnstr(), mvhline(), mvvline(), mvwhline(), and
    mvwvline(). (The macros are still available, too.)

  • newterm() works now, in a limited way -- the parameters are ignored,
    and only the first invocation will work (i.e., only one SCREEN can be
    used).

  • start_color() works now -- which is to say, if you don't call it,
    you'll only get monochrome output. Also, without calling it, the
    terminal's default colors will be used, where supported (currently
    only in Win32). This is equivalent to the PDC_ORIGINAL_COLORS behavior
    introduced in 2.7, except that only the default colors will be used.
    (PDC_ORIGINAL_COLORS is still available, if you want to combine the
    use of specific colors and the default colors.)

  • New logic for termname() and longname(): termname() always returns
    "pdcurses"; longname() returns "PDCurses for [platform] [adapter]
    [COLOR/MONO]-YxX" (adapter is only defined for DOS and OS/2). This is
    the first time these functions return anything in Win32.

  • New installation method for XCurses: the header files are placed in a
    subdirectory "xcurses" within the include directory, rather than being
    renamed. (But the renamed xcurses.h and xpanel.h are also installed,
    for backwards compatibility.) curspriv.h and term.h are now available,
    and existing curses-based code need no longer be edited to use
    XCurses' curses.h. And with no more need for explicit XCursesExit()
    calls (see below), your code need not be changed at all to move from
    another curses implementation to XCurses. It can be as simple as "gcc
    -I/usr/local/include/xcurses -lXCurses -oprogname progname.c".

  • Combined readme.* into this HISTORY file, and incorporated the old 1.x
    (PCcurses) history.

  • New functionality for the testcurs demo: ACS character display; menu
    support for PgUp, PgDn, Home and End; centered menu; and it can now
    be resized in X.

  • Added modified versions of the rain and worm demos from ncurses.

Bug fixes and such:

  • Big cleanup of dead and redundant code, including unneeded defines,
    ifdefs, and structure elements.

  • flushinp() was not implemented for Win32.

  • resetty() was not restoring LINES and COLS.

  • nonl() made '\n' print a line feed without carriage return. This was
    incorrect.

  • Removed bogus implementation of intrflush().

  • The line-breakout optimization system, disabled by default in 2.7, is
    removed in 2.8. It simply didn't work, and never has. (The typeahead()
    function remains, for compatibility, but does nothing.)

  • The declarations for the printw() and scanw() function families were
    erroneously ifdef'd.

  • Safer printw() calls on platforms that support vsnprintf().

  • Use the native vsscanf() in DJGPP, MinGW and Cygwin.

  • ACS_BLOCK now works in X.

  • Explicit calls to XCursesExit() are no longer needed.

  • XCURSES is now defined automatically if not DOS, OS2 or WIN32.

  • The default icon for XCurses wasn't working (had to remove the focus
    hint code to fix this). Also, the default title is now "XCurses"
    instead of "main".

  • Incorrect dimensions (undercounting by two in each direction) were
    shown while resizing in X.

  • Scroll wheel events were not always correctly reported in X.

  • 32 bits are enough for the "long" chtype, but 64 bits were used on a
    64-bit system, wasting memory. Now conditioned on _LP64. This could be
    faster, too.

  • The short, 16-bit chtype now works with XCurses.

  • Corrected return value for is_linetouched(), is_wintouched(),
    can_change_color() and isendwin() (bool instead of int).

  • timeout(), wtimeout(), idcok() and immedok() return void.

  • pair_content() takes a short.

  • Replaced incorrect usages of attr_t with chtype. attr_t is still
    typedef'd, for backwards compatibility. (It's supposed to be used for
    the WA_*-style functions, which PDCurses doesn't yet support.)

  • Added const where required by the spec, and in other appropriate
    places.

  • Removed PDC_usleep(). napms() is now the core delay routine.

  • Fixed poll() support in napms().

  • Various changes to the internal PDC_* functions -- don't depend on
    these, and don't use them unless you absolutely have to.

  • Some routines accessed window structures in their variable
    declarations, before checking for a NULL window pointer.

  • Dropped support for the undocumented PDC_FULL_DISPLAY, wtitle(), and
    PDC_print().

  • Cleaned up remaining warnings.

  • Reduced unnecessary #include directives -- speeds up compilation.

  • Fix for demos build in Borland/DOS -- the makefile in 2.7 didn't
    specify the memory model. Reported by Erwin Waterlander.

  • Simplified the makefiles; e.g., some now build each demo in a single
    step, and Watcom no longer uses demos.lnk. Also, the demo exes are now
    stripped when possible; maximum compression used for archives built
    by the makefiles; xcurses-config removed as part of "make distclean";
    and I tweaked optimization for some platforms.

  • Reverted to /usr/local/ as default installation directory for XCurses.

  • Upgraded to autoconf 2.59... instantly doubling the size of the
    configure script. Ah well. Otherwise, simplified the build system.

  • Dropped support for pre-ANSI compilers. (It hasn't worked since at
    least version 2.4, anyway.)

  • Revised and, I hope, clarified the boilerplate and other comments.

  • Simplified logging and RCS ids; added RCS ids where missing.

  • Consistent formatting for all code, approximately equivalent to
    "indent -kr -i8 -bl -bli0", with adjustments for 80 columns.

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