           form - curses extension for programming forms

## SYNOPSIS

           #include <form.h>

## DESCRIPTION

           The  form library provides terminal-independent facilities
           for composing form screens  on  character-cell  terminals.
           The  library  includes:  field  routines, which create and
           modify form fields; and form routines, which group  fields
           into forms, display forms on the screen, and handle inter-
           action with the user.

           The form library uses the curses libraries, and  a  curses
           initialization  routine  such  as  initscr  must be called
           before using any of these  functions.   To  use  the  form
           library, link with the options -lform -lcurses.

       Current Default Values for Field Attributes
           The  form  library  maintains  a  default  value for field
           attributes.  You can get or set this  default  by  calling
           the  appropriate  get_  or  set_ routine with a NULL field
           pointer.  Changing  this  default  with  a  set_  function
           affects  future  field  creations, but does not change the
           rendering of fields already created.

       Routine Name Index
           The following table lists each form routine and  the  name
           of the manual page on which it is described.

           l  l  l  l  .   curses  Routine  Name Manual  Page  Name =
           current_field  form_page(3X)  data_ahead     form_data(3X)
           data_behind    form_data(3X)  dup_field form_field_new(3X)
           dynamic_fieldinfo   form_field_info(3X)
           field_arg form_field_validation(3X)
           field_back     form_field_attributes(3X)
           field_buffer   form_field_buffer(3X)
           field_count    form_field(3X)
           field_fore     form_field_attributes(3X)
           field_index    form_page(3X)
           field_info     form_field_info(3X)
           field_init     form_hook(3X)
           field_just     form_field_just(3X)
           field_opts     form_field_opts(3X)
           field_opts_off form_field_opts(3X)
           field_opts_on  form_field_opts(3X)
           field_pad form_field_attributes(3X)
           field_status   form_field_buffer(3X)
           field_term     form_hook(3X)
           field_type     form_field_validation(3X)
           form_fields    form_field(3X)      form_init form_hook(3X)
           form_opts form_opts(3X)       form_opts_off  form_opts(3X)
           form_opts_on   form_opts(3X)       form_page form_page(3X)
           form_request_by_name     form_requestname(3X)
           form_request_name   form_requestname(3X)
           form_sub  form_win(3X)             form_term form_hook(3X)
           form_userptr   form_userptr(3X)     form_win  form_win(3X)
           free_field     form_field_new(3X)   free_form form_new(3X)
           link_field     form_field_new(3X)
           link_fieldtype form_fieldtype(3X)
           move_field     form_field(3X) new_field form_field_new(3X)
           new_form  form_new(3X)         new_page  form_new_page(3X)
           pos_form_cursor     form_cursor(3X)
           post_form form_post(3X)        scale_form     form_win(3X)
           set_current_field   form_page(3X)
           set_field_back form_field_attributes(3X)
           set_field_buffer    form_field_buffer(3X)
           set_field_fore form_field_attributes(3X)
           set_field_init form_hook(3X)
           set_field_just form_field_just(3X)
           set_field_opts form_field_opts(3X)
           set_field_pad  form_field_attributes(3X)
           set_field_status    form_field_buffer(3X)
           set_field_term form_hook(3X)
           set_field_type form_field_validation(3X)
           set_field_userptr   form_field_userptr(3X)
           set_fieldtype_arg   form_fieldtype(3X)
           set_fieldtype_choice     form_fieldtype(3X)
           set_form_fields     form_field(3X)
           set_form_init  form_hook(3X)
           set_form_opts  form_field_opts(3X)
           set_form_page  form_page(3X)   set_form_sub   form_win(3X)
           set_form_term  form_hook(3X)
           set_form_userptr    form_userptr(3X)
           set_form_win   form_win(3X)
           set_max_field  form_field_buffer(3X)
           set_new_page   form_new_page(3X)
           unpost_form    form_post(3X)

## RETURN VALUE

           Routines that return pointers return NULL on error.   Rou-
           tines  that  return an integer return one of the following
           error codes:

           E_OK The routine succeeded.

           E_CONNECTED
                The field is already connected to a form.

           E_SYSTEM_ERROR
                System error occurred (see errno).

                Routine detected an incorrect or  out-of-range  argu-
                ment.

           E_POSTED
                The form is already posted.

           E_BAD_STATE
                Routine was called from an initialization or termina-
                tion function.

           E_NO_ROOM
                Form is too large for its window.

           E_NOT_POSTED
                The form has not been posted.

           E_UNKNOWN_COMMAND
                The form driver code saw an unknown request code.

           E_INVALID_FIELD
                Contents of a field are not valid.

           E_NOT_CONNECTED
                No fields are connected to the form.

           E_REQUEST_DENIED
                The form driver could not process the request.

## SEE ALSO

           curses(3X) and 3X pages  whose  names  begin  "form_"  for
           detailed descriptions of the entry points.

## NOTES

           The header file <form.h> automatically includes the header
           files <curses.h> and <eti.h>.

           In your library list, libform.a  should  be  before  libn-
           curses.a; that is, you want to say `-lform -lncurses', not
           the other way around (which would give you  a  link  error
           using GNU ld(1) and many other linkers).

## PORTABILITY

           These  routines  emulate the System V forms library.  They
           were not supported on Version 7 or BSD versions.

## AUTHORS

           Juergen Pfeifer.  Manual pages and adaptation for  ncurses
           by Eric S. Raymond.