.\"	$NetBSD: msgc.1,v 1.13 2000/07/06 20:10:42 jhawk Exp $
.\"
.\" Copyright 1997 Piermont Information Systems Inc.
.\" All rights reserved.
.\"
.\" Written by Philip A. Nelson for Piermont Information Systems Inc.
.\"
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.\"    must display the following acknowledgement:
.\"      This product includes software develooped for the NetBSD Project by
.\"      Piermont Information Systems Inc.
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.\"    or promote products derived from this software without specific prior
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.Dd September 26, 1997
.Os
.Dt MSGC 1
.Sh NAME
.Nm msgc ,
.Nm msg_window ,
.Nm msg_string ,
.Nm msg_clear ,
.Nm msg_standout ,
.Nm msg_standend ,
.Nm msg_display ,
.Nm msg_display_add ,
.Nm msg_prompt ,
.Nm msg_prompt_add ,
.Nm msg_prompt_noecho ,
.Nm msg_table_add
.Nd simple message list compiler
.Sh SYNOPSIS
msgc
.Op Fl o Ar name
.Ar file
.Pp
.Fd #include \b'"'msg_defs.h\b'"'
.Ft void
.Fn msg_window "WINDOW *window" 
.Ft const char *
.Fn msg_string "msg msg_no"
.Ft void 
.Fn msg_clear "void"
.Ft void 
.Fn msg_standout "void"
.Ft void 
.Fn msg_standend "void"
.Ft void 
.Fn msg_display "msg msg_no" ...
.Ft void 
.Fn msg_display_add "msg msg_no" ...
.Ft void 
.Fn msg_prompt  "msg msg_no" "const char *def" "char *val" "int max_chars" ...
.Ft void 
.Fn msg_prompt_add  "msg msg_no" "const char *def" "char *val" "int max_chars" ...
.Ft void 
.Fn msg_prompt_noecho  "msg msg_no" "const char *def" "char *val" "int max_chars" ...
.Ft void 
.Fn msg_table_add "msg msg_no" ...
.Sh DESCRIPTION
This implements a curses based message display system.  A source file that 
lists messages with associated names is given to
.Nm
and produces both a .c and a .h file that implement the menu system.
The standard root name of the files is 
.Pa msg_defs .
The 
.Fl o Ar name
can be used to specify a different root name.
.Sh ENVIRONMENT
.Bl -tag -width MSGDEF
.It Ev MSGDEF
Can be set to point to a different set of
definition files for
.Nm msgc .
The current location defaults to
.Pa /usr/share/misc .
.El
.Sh FILES
.Bl -item -width /usr/share/misc/msg_sys.def
.It
.Pa /usr/share/misc/msg_sys.def
.El
.Sh SOURCE DESCRIPTION
The format is very simple.  Each message is started with the word
.Sq message
followed by the name of the message.  The body of the message is
next and is started by a { and closed by a }.  The braces are not
part of the message.  Everything, including newlines between the
braces are part of the message.
.Sh MESSAGE FUNCTIONS 
The defined messages are used through calls routines that manipulate
the messages.  You first need to set the 
.Xr curses 3
environment up and then tell the message system which window to use
for displaying message by calling the function
.Fn msg_window .
.Pp
All variable argument lists in the functions are used as 
are arguments to sprintf.  The messages
may have sprintf conversions in them and the corresponding parameters
should match.  Messages are identified by name using the notation
.Sq MENU_name
where 
.Dq name
is the name in the message source file.  (The definitions are accessed
by including the genereated .h file into a source file wanting to use
the message routines.)
.Pp
The function
.Fn msg_string
just returns a pointer to the actual message string.
The functions
.Fn msg_clear ,
.Fn msg_standout 
and
.Fn msg_standend
respectively clear the message window, set standout mode and clear standout
mode.
.Pp
The functions
.Fn msg_display 
and
.Fn msg_display_add 
cause a defined message to be displayed in the message window and does
the requested conversions before printing.  The difference is that
.Fn msg_display
clears the window before displaying the message. These functions
fill paragraphs for readability. The
.Fn msg_table_add
function behaves like
.Fn msg_display_add
but does not fill text.
.Pp
The remaining functions deal with a prompt facility.  A prompt message
is either taken from the message directory or from a given string.  The
message is processed with sprintf and then displayed.  If the parameter
.Ar def
non-NULL or not a string of zero length, a default value is printed
in brackets.  The user is allowed to type in a response.  If the user
types just the newline character, the default is returned in the value.
the parameter
.Ar max_chars
is the length if the parameter
.Ar val ,
where the results are stored.
The parameters
.Ar def 
and 
.Ar val
may point to the same character array.  If the default is chosen, the 
character array is not changed.
The functions
.Fn msg_echo
and 
.Fn msg_noecho
control whether the prompt routine echo or don't echo the input that
is typed by the user.
.Sh AUTHOR
Philip A. Nelson for Piermont Information Systems Inc.