These functions initialize terminals and screens.
The
newterm() function initialises the curses data structures and pointers ready for use by curses. The
type argument points to a
termcap(5) capability name, or it may be
NULL in which case the TERM environment variable is used. The
outfd and
infd are the output and input file descriptors for the terminal. The
newterm() function must only be called once per terminal.
The
set_term() function can be used to switch between the screens defined by calling
newterm(), a pointer to the previous screen structure that was in use will be returned on success.
Calling
delscreen() will destroy the given screen and free all allocated resources.
Calling
endwin() will end the curses session and restore the saved terminal settings.
The curses session must be initialised by calling
initscr() which saves the current terminal state and sets up the terminal and internal data structures to support the curses application. This function call must be, with few exceptions, the first Curses library call made. The exception to this rule is the
newterm() call which may be called prior to
initscr(). The size of the curses screen is determined by checking the
tty(4) size and then the
termcap(5) entries for the terminal type. If the environment variables
LINES or
COLS are set, then these will be used instead.
When either
newterm() or
initscr() are called, the Curses library sets up signal handlers for
SIGTSTP and
SIGWINCH. If a signal handler is already installed for
SIGWINCH, this will also be called when the Curses library handler is called.
The
isendwin() function can be used to determine whether or not a refresh of the screen has occurred since the last call to
endwin().
The size of the screen may be changed by calling
resizeterm() with the updated number of lines and columns. This will resize the curses internal data structures to accommodate the changed terminal geometry. The
curscr and
stdscr windows and any of their subwindows will be resized to fit the new screen size. The application must redraw the screen after a call to
resizeterm().
The
setterm() function sets the terminal type for the current screen to the one passed, initialising all the curses internal data structures with information related to the named terminal. The
name argument must be a valid name or alias in the
termcap(5) database for this function to succeed.