Curses::Widgets::ComboBox - Combo-Box Widgets

$Id: ComboBox.pm,v 1.103 2002/11/03 23:34:50 corliss Exp corliss $

  use Curses::Widgets::ComboBox;

  $cb = Curses::Widgets::ComboBox->new({
    CAPTION     => 'Select',
    CAPTIONCOL  => 'yellow',
    COLUMNS     => 10,
    MAXLENGTH   => 255,
    MASK        => undef,
    VALUE       => '',
    INPUTFUNC   => \&scankey,
    FOREGROUND  => 'white',
    BACKGROUND  => 'black',
    BORDER      => 1,
    BORDERCOL   => 'red',
    FOCUSSWITCH => "\t\n",
    CURSORPOS   => 0,
    TEXTSTART   => 0,
    PASSWORD    => 0,
    X           => 1,
    Y           => 1,
    READONLY    => 0,
    LISTITEMS   => [qw(foo bar wop)],
    });

  $cb->draw($mwh, 1);

  See the Curses::Widgets pod for other methods.

Curses

Curses::Widgets

Curses::Widgets::TextField

Curses::Widgets::ListBox

Curses::Widgets::ComboBox provides simplified OO access to Curses-based combo-boxes. This widget essentially acts as text field widget, but upon a KEY_DOWN or \n, a drop-down list is displayed, and the item selected is put in the text field as the value.

  $cb = Curses::Widgets::ComboBox->new({
    CAPTION     => 'Select',
    CAPTIONCOL  => 'yellow',
    COLUMNS     => 10,
    MAXLENGTH   => 255,
    MASK        => undef,
    VALUE       => '',
    INPUTFUNC   => \&scankey,
    FOREGROUND  => 'white',
    BACKGROUND  => 'black',
    BORDER      => 1,
    BORDERCOL   => 'red',
    FOCUSSWITCH => "\t\n",
    CURSORPOS   => 0,
    TEXTSTART   => 0,
    PASSWORD    => 0,
    X           => 1,
    Y           => 1,
    READONLY    => 0,
    LISTITEMS   => [qw(foo bar wop)],
    });

The new method instantiates a new ComboBox object. The only mandatory key/value pairs in the configuration hash are X and Y. All others have the following defaults:

  Key         Default   Description
  ============================================================
  CAPTION       undef   Caption superimposed on border
  CAPTIONCOL    undef   Foreground colour for caption text
  COLUMNS          10   Number of columns displayed
  MAXLENGTH       255   Maximum string length allowed
  MASK          undef   Not yet implemented
  VALUE            ''   Current field text
  INPUTFUNC \&scankey   Function to use to scan for keystrokes
  FOREGROUND    undef   Default foreground colour
  BACKGROUND    undef   Default background colour
  BORDER            1   Display a border around the field
  BORDERCOL     undef   Foreground colour for border
  FOCUSSWITCH  "\t\n"   Characters which signify end of input
  CURSORPOS         0   Starting position of the cursor
  TEXTSTART         0   Position in string to start displaying
  PASSWORD          0   Subsitutes '*' instead of characters
  READONLY          0   Prevents alteration to content
  LISTLINES         5   Number of lines to display at a time 
                        in the drop-down list
  LISTCOLUMNS[COLUMNS]  Width of the drop-down list.  Defaults 
                        to the same length specified for the 
                        CombBox widget
  LISTITEMS        []   Items listed in drop-down list

The CAPTION is only valid when the BORDER is enabled. If the border is disabled, the field will be underlined, provided the terminal supports it.

If MAXLENGTH is undefined, no limit will be placed on the string length.

  $cb->draw($mwh, 1);

The draw method renders the text field in its current state. This requires a valid handle to a curses window in which it will render itself. The optional second argument, if true, will cause the field's text cursor to be rendered as well.

  $combo->popup;

This method causes the drop down list to be displayed. Since, theoretically, this list should never be seen unless it's being actively used, we will always assume that we need to draw a cursor on the list as well.

2001/12/09 First version of the combo box

(c) 2001 Arthur Corliss (corliss@digitalmages.com)