POE::Wheel::Curses - non-blocking Curses.pm input for full-screen console apps

  use POE;
  use Curses;  # for unctrl, etc
  use POE::Wheel::Curses;

  # Generate events from console input.  Sets up Curses, too.
  $heap->{console} = POE::Wheel::Curses->new(
    InputEvent => 'got_keystroke',
  );

  # A keystroke handler.  This is the body of the program's main input
  # loop.
  sub keystroke_handler {
    my ($keystroke, $wheel_id) = @_[ARG0, ARG1];

    # Control characters.  Change them into something printable via
    # Curses' unctrl function.

    if ($keystroke lt ' ') {
      $keystroke = '<' . uc(unctrl($keystroke)) . '>';
    }

    # Extended keys get translated into their names via Curses'
    # keyname function.

    elsif ($keystroke =~ /^\d{2,}$/) {
      $keystroke = '<' . uc(keyname($keystroke)) . '>';
    }

    # Just display it.
    addstr( $heap->{some_window}, $keystroke );
    noutrefresh( $heap->{some_window} );
    doupdate;
  }

Many console programs work best with full-screen input: top, systat, nethack, and various text editors. POE::Wheel::Curses provides a simple way to add full-screen interfaces to POE programs.

Whenever something occurs on a recognized input device usually just the keyboard, but also sometimes the mouse, as in the case of ncurses the Curses wheel will emit a predetermined event to tell the program about it. This lets the program do other non-blocking things in between keystrokes, like interact on sockets or watch log files or move monsters or highlight text or something.

new NOT_SO_MANY_THINGS

new() creates a new Curses wheel. Note, though, that there can be only one Curses wheel in any given program, since they glom onto *STDIN real hard. Maybe this will change. new() always returns a Curses wheel reference, even if there is a problem glomming onto *STDIN or otherwise initializing curses. new() accepts only one parameter so far: InputEvent. InputEvent contains the name of the event that the Curses wheel will emit whenever there is input on the console or terminal.

InputEvent

InputEvent defines the event that will be emitted when the Curses wheel detects and receives input. InputEvent is accompanied by two parameters: CWARG0 contains the raw keystroke as received by Curses' getch() function. It may be passed to Curses' unctrl() and keyname() functions for further processing. CWARG1 contains the ID of the Curses wheel.

curses, Curses, POE::Wheel.

The SEE ALSO section in POE contains a table of contents covering the entire POE distribution.

Curses implementations vary widely, and Wheel::Curses was written on a system sporting ncurses. The functions used may not be the same as those used on systems with other curses implementations, and Bad Things might happen. Please send patches.

Please see POE for more information about authors and contributors.