162 lines
5.3 KiB
Plaintext
162 lines
5.3 KiB
Plaintext
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dialog - Display dialog boxes in shell script (version 0.3)
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===========================================================
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This is a program that will enable you to present a variety of questions or
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display messages using dialog boxes from a shell script. Currently, these
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types of dialog boxes are implemented: yes/no box, menu box, input box,
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message box, text box, info box, checklist box. The idea of writing this
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program came from the fact that most questions asked in a shell script (and
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many interactive programs as well) can be classified into these few types:
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1) One that requires the user to answer either yes or no.
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2) One that presents a number of options for the user to choose.
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3) One that requires the user to input a string.
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4) One that displays a message and optionally wait for a key press
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before continuing.
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5) One that presents a list of options that can be turned on or off.
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The program 'dialog' can, say for example, be called in a shell script to
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present the first type of questions like this:
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if dialog --yesno <question text> <height> <width>
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then
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...
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fi
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e.g. if dialog --yesno "Do you want to continue?" 7 51
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then
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echo "Continuing..."
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else
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echo "Aborting..."
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fi
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I've included a sample shell script for each type of boxes in the directory
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samples. The program requires ncurses to compile. Running 'dialog' without
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arguments will display the usage.
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FEATURES
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--------
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* Friendly dialog box interface with buttons, etc.
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* Auto wrap around of question text if it's too long to fit on
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one line.
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* "\n" can be inserted in question text to control line breaking
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explicitly. The real newline character '\n' can also be used.
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* run-time configruation of color settings and other options using
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a configuration file.
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WHAT'S NEW SINCE VERSION 0.21?
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------------------------------
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* some changes for faster screen update.
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* much more flexible color settings. Can use all 16 colors
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(8 normal, 8 highlight) of the Linux console.
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* added run-time configuration using configuration file.
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* some minor bug fixes and cleanups for menubox, checklist and
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textbox.
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* added a man page.
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* some changes for easier porting to other Unix systems (tested
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on Ultrix, SunOS and HPUX)
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INSTALLATION
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------------
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1. cd ./src
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2. Go to step 3 if your system has ncurses (e.g. Linux).
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Edit Makefile and remove -DHAVE_NCURSES from DEFS. Also
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remove rc.c from SRCS and rc.o from OBJS. Change LIBS as
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appropriate (Usually, it should be '-lcurses -ltermcap').
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Go to step 6.
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3. Edit Makefile and remove -DBROKEN_WSCRL from DEFS if you
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are using ncurses 1.8.3 or newer. Menu scrolling should
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be faster. DON'T REMOVE IT IF YOU ARE NOT USING AT LEAST
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VERSION 1.8.3 OF NCURSES.
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4. Edit dialog.h and change USE_SHADOW to FALSE if you don't
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want shadowed dialog boxes. Also change USE_COLORS to
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FALSE if you don't want colors. Note that 'dialog' will
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check if the terminal supports colors, and will use mono
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settings if it doesn't, so USE_COLORS won't do any harm
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even if you have a mono display. Also note that USE_SHADOW
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implies USE_COLORS. These two options can be changed at
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run-time using the run-time configuration file (see below).
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5. Edit colors.h to change default color definitions if you
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don't like the defaults. These are only compiled in defaults,
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you can change them at run-time using the run-time
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configuration file.
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6. 'make depend; make install' will compile and install the
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binaries in /usr/local/bin (change BINDIR in Makefile if
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you want to install elsewhere).
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7. 'make install.man' will install the man page to
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/usr/local/man (change MANDIR in Makefile if you want to
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install elsewhere).
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8. You can then try the sample shell scripts in the samples
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directory (make sure the environment variable DIALOG is
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not set, the scripts use it to find the dialog binary, if
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it's not set, "../src/dialog" will be used).
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9. Don't forget to mail me (mail address at end of this file)
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if you find any bugs, have some good color settings to
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contribute or just want to tell me that you like it, Don't
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mail me if you don't like it :-)
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RUN-TIME CONFIGURATION
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----------------------
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1. Create a sample configuration file by typing:
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"dialog --create-rc <file>"
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2. At start, 'dialog' determines the settings to use as follows:
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a) if environment variable DIALOGRC is set, it's value
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determines the name of the configuration file.
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b) if the file in (a) can't be found, use the file
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$HOME/.dialogrc as the configuration file.
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c) if the file in (b) can't be found, use compiled in
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defaults.
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3. Edit the sample configuration file and copy it to some place
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that 'dialog' can find, as stated in step 2 above.
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Comments and bug reports welcome.
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- Savio Lam (lam836@cs.cuhk.hk)
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