Textui reform (warning: long and full of C)

[Nick]

Well, textui2 doesn't have any subwindow options...

Right, of course, it's all new, that's kind of the point...

Actually I quite like the environment variables idea, if I still have any credibility left

[t4nk]

Can you get it to read the Angband subwindow setup options, and then make a smart choice based on that?

Well, textui2 doesn't have any subwindow optons... that's not a problem on its own (that's just a bit of code, after all), the problem is the "smart" part

[Nick]

So, the question. I don't want to do any term-choosing GUI for it. I'd rather hardcode everything... Which terms should it display? Perhaps two options - "minimal" (map, status line, sidebar, messages line - like "-b" in main-gcu.c) and "extended" (previous four + monster list + item list)? Or maybe environment variables, like X11 frontend does? Or Poschengband-style args? (probably not, I don't see any advantage of it over env vars). Or what?

Can you get it to read the Angband subwindow setup options, and then make a smart choice based on that?

[t4nk]

Ncurses is kind of fun. Regrettably, its documentation is garbage. So I have to figure out how to do things mostly by experimenting. I can't even read its source for long, cause it's written in disgusting GNU style
Anyway, it (or, rather, uxterm) can draw some questionable looking borders:

https://postimg.org/image/9b4yjkx29/

https://postimg.org/image/r4ihxtjc7/

I also got the cursor working. I won't be using the panels library, since I have enough troubles with base ncurses already
So, the question. I don't want to do any term-choosing GUI for it. I'd rather hardcode everything... Which terms should it display? Perhaps two options - "minimal" (map, status line, sidebar, messages line - like "-b" in main-gcu.c) and "extended" (previous four + monster list + item list)? Or maybe environment variables, like X11 frontend does? Or Poschengband-style args? (probably not, I don't see any advantage of it over env vars). Or what?

[t4nk]

I got some results:

https://postimg.org/image/jrqb57qpf/

https://postimg.org/image/b0g46mwd7/

Exciting, right? Well, maybe not... after all, ncurses is obsolete crap Still, it displays something and can even be played a little!
I'll have to think what to do with overlapping terms (the ones created with Term_push_new()). Ncurses has some limited ability to draw borders, but, naturally, those take additional space, so it would increase minimal practical size of the screen to (80 + 2)x(24 + 2). Also, cursor handling has to be adjusted in textui2... perhaps some callback that is particular to ncurses (analogous to TERM_XTRA_SHAPE).
The ncurses branch is in "ui2-ncurses". Don't forget to include correct ncurses.h (widestring version - it probably lives in /usr/include/ncursesw or some such) and link with -lncursesw. I don't use panels (yet?), so libncursesw is the only dependency.

[Derakon]

4) I still have no idea what GCU means! Does anyone know?

I googled for "gcu linux", and the third result is about Angband (and the first two results are irrelevant). So I'm guessing that it's someone's initials.

[t4nk]

ncurses client

So I learned some interesting things:
1) The design of curses was obviously a big inpiration for textui, notably in having separate "old" and "pending" screens. And then people just kept adding hack upon hack to it!
2) ncurses, OTOH, does have support for stacking/overlapping subwindows. ncurses is actually several libraries, its tarball includes the "basic" one (libncursesw) and additional things. Of interest there is libpanelw, which handles stacks of subwindows. If someone knows why it shouldn't be used, speak up! Perhaps one argument could be that some people compile only libncursesw, but I don't see why "some people" should expect to run videogames using minimal ncurses? Again, libpanelw is a part of ncurses distribution.
3) ncurses defines its own struct term, bastards The comment in main-gcu.c mentions that its the case on AIX? I don't know about AIX, but on Debian 8 <term.h> does define struct term. There is a bit of preprocessor hackery in main-gcu.c to deal with that, which, I suspect, breaks strict aliasing? (pedantry...) Maybe it would be better to rename Angband's term to angband_term.
4) I still have no idea what GCU means! Does anyone know?

[t4nk]

I guess you've resolved some of these things. I do like the using of the bottom line in the store as a prompt, that's good use of space.

Yeah, I did a pretty substantial prompts reform. The goal is to eventually make message line term optional. So all the prompts that want user input ("Really do that? [y/n]" and stuff like that) are now popups, and only "informational" prompts go to the DISPLAY_MESSAGE_LINE ("Read which scroll? (c-c, ESC)").

[takkaria]

Hey, sorry I never replied here!

What to do with messages, though? "You have no room for this item" and things like that... maybe I'll just leave them where they are, on the message line. They don't seem very useful...

I guess you've resolved some of these things. I do like the using of the bottom line in the store as a prompt, that's good use of space.

I'll look into it... the new viewport shifting system is still pretty experimental
edit: was that the latest code? (8d4b3c53e2a6062099 or later) also, did the panel fail to shift, or just the @ was invisible?
edit2: well, can't reproduce this one! but there were changes to how map is redrawn several days ago, which were supposed to fix problems like this. I'll think about it...
edit3: wait, I reproduced it! that was with (shockbolts) tiles and indeed a trap...
edit4: that was embarassing. fixed

Hehe. Thanks for sorting it out

Not a bug, they're declared as 16x16 and they actually are 16x16. It's impossible to determine (programmatically) that they should be squished horizontally. The only (easy) way to do it is to special-case Nomads tiles.
edit: well, I guess I could parse their name... but really, they should just be rescaled. I don't know why they're square in the first place.

Ah OK, my bad. I wonder if they're 16x16 because when the tileset was made, there was no support for non-square tiles. Hm.

[t4nk]

ncurses client

After some thinking, I decided to go for it. Unfortunately, I didn't find good documentation about ncurses, so I guess I'll have to do with this guide, manpages and I recall "The Linux Programming Interface" had some good chapters on pseudo ttys and job control (not particular to Linux). I intend to keep textui2 current with upstream, and fix bugs, but otherwise won't be pushing updates for a while. So don't take it as I sign that I'm done! Although I do think textui2 is in a pretty good shape now.

[t4nk]

Ah, ok then

[Nick]

LOL! No so embarassed anymore! I was puzzled why I couldn't reproduce it with a staff of teleportation...

#define PR_MAP			0x00010000L	/* Redraw whole map */
#define PR_INVEN		0x00010000L /* Display inven/equip */

(player-calcs.h)
Whenever something changes in inventory (such as number of charges in a staff), it tries to redraw whole map! (and flushes the term). And it probably was like this for years! Maybe Ben Harrison made this typo and no one ever noticed.
I'll complain to Nick about it

All my own work

[t4nk]

LOL! No so embarassed anymore! I was puzzled why I couldn't reproduce it with a staff of teleportation...

#define PR_MAP			0x00010000L	/* Redraw whole map */
#define PR_INVEN		0x00010000L /* Display inven/equip */

(player-calcs.h)
Whenever something changes in inventory (such as number of charges in a staff), it tries to redraw whole map! (and flushes the term). And it probably was like this for years! Maybe Ben Harrison made this typo and no one ever noticed.
I'll complain to Nick about it

[t4nk]

I guess I was imagining something more like:

"Buying: 5 Potions of See Invisible
You already have 4 of this item.
How many do you want?
___"

What to do with messages, though? "You have no room for this item" and things like that... maybe I'll just leave them where they are, on the message line. They don't seem very useful...

1. I just hit a teleport trap and the panel didn't shift to show the @ until I moved around a bit.

I'll look into it... the new viewport shifting system is still pretty experimental
edit: was that the latest code? (8d4b3c53e2a6062099 or later) also, did the panel fail to shift, or just the @ was invisible?
edit2: well, can't reproduce this one! but there were changes to how map is redrawn several days ago, which were supposed to fix problems like this. I'll think about it...
edit3: wait, I reproduced it! that was with (shockbolts) tiles and indeed a trap...
edit4: that was embarassing. fixed

2. Nomad's tiles should be 8x16, not 16x16.

Not a bug, they're declared as 16x16 and they actually are 16x16. It's impossible to determine (programmatically) that they should be squished horizontally. The only (easy) way to do it is to special-case Nomads tiles.
edit: well, I guess I could parse their name... but really, they should just be rescaled. I don't know why they're square in the first place.

3. When you try to read/quaff etc. the letters displayed next to the items are not the letters used for the slot they're in - e.g. if you have scrolls in slots c and d, pressing 'r' will say "Read which scroll? (c-d)" but the actual menu tags will be a and b.

Ah, right. Well, that's easy to fix... That's because Angband must stop inventory shuffling

Thanks for bug reports, keep them coming!

[takkaria]

Well I got around to doing it:

https://postimg.org/image/ffp99bhwd/

Where can I place other prompts and messages, though? Some stores have tons of stuff...
https://postimg.org/image/fbgs8uckl/

I guess I was imagining something more like:

"Buying: 5 Potions of See Invisible
You already have 4 of this item.
How many do you want?
___"

Just to make it a bit clearer about what you're actually buying...

Also I just found the following bugs after running around a bit:

1. I just hit a teleport trap and the panel didn't shift to show the @ until I moved around a bit.
2. Nomad's tiles should be 8x16, not 16x16.
3. When you try to read/quaff etc. the letters displayed next to the items are not the letters used for the slot they're in - e.g. if you have scrolls in slots c and d, pressing 'r' will say "Read which scroll? (c-d)" but the actual menu tags will be a and b.

PS Having Shockbolt's tiles working properly is amazing!