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Cross platform TUI :-)

Started by Xori Oct 27, 2002 at 8:09 PM 2 replies 2.6k views
Original Post
Xori
Xori
I remember back in the old days - writing DOS text user interfaces by directly accessing the memory, using interrupts to set cursor position... blah blah blah. Since then I''ve moved on, Windows has taken over as a more convenient developing platform. But here I am. I need to design a TUI once again. The only trouble is now, that it needs to be cross platform. I''m using C++ or C (haven''t decided on either and/or purity). I''m wondering if there is a library with C/++ that allows you to do things I would need for creating a cross platform TUI? Ya know.. the basic crap like clearing the screen, setting cursor position, querying console size, etc etc. Any suggestions (or criticisms if I''m saying something wrong) would be helpful and welcome. Thanks! (PS. by cross platform I mean that I will need to run the code in windows, BSD, and possibly SunOS - and yes, I want to use a TUI. I think that writing cross platform code with a GUI to work on all those OS''s would be just too much of a bitch )
HellRaider
HellRaider
Well... I don''t know if anyone has done it before, but it should be simple to write your interfaces using an abtraction layer, and then use conditional compilation to set which TUI implementation should be used depending on the OS your application is being compiled on.

I, personally, wouldn''t bother looking for a library for such a simple task.
Sphet
Sphet
I think you should be able to find a Unix based text tool set like .. ncurses maybe? And try to port that to DOS.
Xori
Xori
Thanks for the suggestions.

Trouble is - while i know how to take care of the issue in dos/windows, I have no idea what to do in BSD, sunos, etc. If I did, an abstraction layer would be a superior idea - however, I can't spend much time on this - I have to basically have these tools at my disposal almost immediately - I have a pretty serious time crunch. My last resort is having ugly B+W text, scrolling. ... ugh



[edited by - Xori on October 27, 2002 10:08:56 PM]

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