NAME

       panel - panel stack extension for curses

SYNOPSIS

       #include <panel.h>

       cc [flags] sourcefiles -lpanel -lncurses

       PANEL *new_panel(WINDOW *win);
       int bottom_panel(PANEL *pan);
       int top_panel(PANEL *pan);
       int show_panel(PANEL *pan);
       void update_panels();
       int hide_panel(PANEL *pan);
       WINDOW *panel_window(const PANEL *pan);
       int replace_panel(PANEL *pan, WINDOW *window);
       int move_panel(PANEL *pan, int starty, int startx);
       int panel_hidden(const PANEL *pan);
       PANEL *panel_above(const PANEL *pan);
       PANEL *panel_below(const PANEL *pan);
       int set_panel_userptr(PANEL *pan, const void *ptr);
       const void *panel_userptr(const PANEL *pan);
       int del_panel(PANEL *pan);

DESCRIPTION

       Panels  are  ncurses(3NCURSES) windows with the added feature of depth.  Panel functions allow the use of
       stacked windows and ensure the proper portions of each window and the curses stdscr window are hidden  or
       displayed  when panels are added, moved, modified or removed.  The set of currently visible panels is the
       stack of panels.  The stdscr window is beneath all panels, and is not considered part of the stack.

       A window is associated with every panel. The panel routines enable you to create, move,  hide,  and  show
       panels, as well as position a panel at any desired location in the stack.

       Panel  routines are a functional layer added to ncurses(3NCURSES), make only high-level curses calls, and
       work anywhere terminfo curses does.

FUNCTIONS

       new_panel(win)
              allocates  a  PANEL structure, associates it with win, places the panel on the top  of  the  stack
              (causes  it to  be  displayed above any other panel) and returns a pointer to the new panel.

       update_panels
              refreshes  the  virtual  screen to reflect the relations between the panels in the stack, but does
              not call doupdate to refresh  the  physical  screen.   Use  this  function  and  not  wrefresh  or
              wnoutrefresh.   update_panels may be called more than once before a call to doupdate, but doupdate
              is the function responsible for updating the physical screen.

       del_panel(pan)
              removes the given panel from  the   stack  and  deallocates  the  PANEL  structure  (but  not  its
              associated window).

       hide_panel(pan)
              removes  the  given panel from the panel stack and thus hides it from view. The PANEL structure is
              not lost, merely removed from the stack.

       panel_hidden(pan)
              returns TRUE if the panel is in the panel stack, FALSE if it is not.   If  the  panel  is  a  null
              pointer, return ERR.

       show_panel(pan)
              makes  a  hidden  panel  visible  by  placing  it  on  top  of  the panels in the panel stack. See
              COMPATIBILITY below.

       top_panel(pan)
              puts the given visible panel on top of all panels in the stack.  See COMPATIBILITY below.

       bottom_panel(pan)
              puts panel at the bottom of all panels.

       move_panel(pan,starty,startx)
              moves the given panel window so that its upper-left corner is at  starty,  startx.   It  does  not
              change the position of the panel in the stack.  Be sure to use this function, not mvwin, to move a
              panel window.

       replace_panel(pan,window)
              replaces the current window of panel with window (useful, for example if  you  want  to  resize  a
              panel;  if  you're  using ncurses, you can call replace_panel on the output of wresize(3NCURSES)).
              It does not change the position of the panel in the stack.

       panel_above(pan)
              returns a pointer to the panel above pan.  If the panel argument  is  (PANEL  *)0,  it  returns  a
              pointer to the bottom panel in the stack.

       panel_below(pan)
              returns  a pointer to the panel just below pan.  If the panel argument is (PANEL *)0, it returns a
              pointer to the top panel in the stack.

       set_panel_userptr(pan,ptr)
              sets the panel's user pointer.

       panel_userptr(pan)
              returns the user pointer for a given panel.

       panel_window(pan)
              returns a pointer to the window of the given panel.

DIAGNOSTICS

       Each routine that returns a pointer returns NULL if an error occurs. Each routine  that  returns  an  int
       value returns OK if it executes successfully and ERR if not.

COMPATIBILITY

       Reasonable  care has been taken to  ensure  compatibility with  the  native  panel facility introduced in
       System V (inspection of the SVr4 manual pages suggests the  programming  interface  is  unchanged).   The
       PANEL data structures are merely  similar. The  programmer is cautioned not to directly use PANEL fields.

       The  functions  show_panel and top_panel are identical in this implementation, and work equally well with
       displayed or hidden panels.  In the native System V implementation, show_panel is intended for  making  a
       hidden  panel  visible  (at the top of the stack) and top_panel is intended for making an already-visible
       panel move to the top of the stack. You are cautioned to use the correct function to ensure compatibility
       with native panel libraries.

NOTE

       In  your  library  list,  libpanel.a  should  be  before  libncurses.a;  that is, you should say “-lpanel
       -lncurses”, not the other way around (which would give a link-error with static libraries).

PORTABILITY

       The panel facility was documented in SVr4.2 in Character User Interface Programming (UNIX SVR4.2).

       It is not part of X/Open Curses.

       Aside from ncurses, only systems based on SVr4 source code, e.g., Solaris provide this library.

FILES

       panel.h interface for the panels library

       libpanel.a the panels library itself

SEE ALSO

       ncurses(3NCURSES), curses_variables(3NCURSES),

       This describes ncurses version 6.1 (patch 20180127).

AUTHOR

       Originally written by Warren Tucker <wht@n4hgf.mt-park.ga.us>, primarily to assist in porting u386mon  to
       systems without a native panels library.  Repackaged for ncurses by Zeyd ben-Halim.

                                                                                                  panel(3CURSES)