dodgez / termconfig

Cross-platform terminal helper library in Racket

termconfig

Cross-platform terminal helper library in Racket

This library currently supports unix and windows. Mac OS is supported implicitly via posix compatibility. Explicit testing is done one Ubuntu and development is done on Windows and WSL.

Exported functions

• (enable-raw) - Platform specifically enables raw (aka non-canonical) mode.
• (disable-raw) - Platform specifically disables raw mode. This currently needs to be called after enable-raw to restore the saved terminal state.
• (with-raw expr*) - evaluates the exprs in the context of raw mode (recommended approach).
• (move-cursor-x x), (move-cursor-y y), and (move-cursor x y) move the cursor relatively by x, y, or x and y respectively.
• (set-cursor x y) sets the cursor position to the x column and y row.
• (show-cursor) and (hide-cursor) show and hide the cursor respectively.
• (set-color-style #:fg-style fg-{color} #:bg-style bg-{color}) sets the color style for the terminal going forward. The foreground and background are optional keywords and colors are exported as fg-color, bg-color, fg-bright-color, and bg-bright-color.
• (clear-screen) clears the screen.

Roadmap

To see more information, go to the issues and projects tabs in the GitHub repository as well as the current statuses.

• Raw mode
• Cursor movement
• Clear the terminal or a single cell
• Foreground and background colors
• Retrieve input in raw mode (see next item)
• Callbacks or polling for input?
• Resize and cursor movement events
• Better documentation
• Better testing, including platform specific testing

termconfig's Issues

FFI code uses generic pointer types

Code in question (one of several):

termconfig/private/unix.rkt

Line 8 in e5d7348

(define-c tcgetattr (_fun _int _pointer -> _int))

Add a function to clear the screen and individual character cells

Currently the library does not expose helper functions to clear the terminal entirely nor an individual cell. This should be as easy as sending the appropriate ANSI escape codes.

One nuance would be if the Windows terminal is not setup for virtual codes. This may be able to be fixed by forcefully setting that flag when the library is loaded.

Add cursor movement code

Currently the library does not expose helper functions to move a cursor in the terminal. This should be as easy as sending the appropriate ANSI escape codes.

One nuance would be if the Windows terminal is not setup for virtual codes. This may be able to be fixed by forcefully setting that flag when the library is loaded.

FFI values are (probably) not freed

Both unix.rkt and windows.rkt do not provide any intelligent value handing.

FFI discards return values

Both unix.rkt and windows.rkt discard the return values provided by the FFI functions.

Add foreground and background color functions

Currently the library does not expose helper functions to set the current character color scheme in the terminal. This should be as easy as sending the appropriate ANSI escape codes.

One nuance would be if the Windows terminal is not setup for virtual codes. This may be able to be fixed by forcefully setting that flag when the library is loaded.