termcap str + params -> control seq. How?

[Peter da Silva]

In article <1991Apr02.223345.15465 at buster.stafford.tx.us> rli at buster.stafford.tx.us writes:
> peter at ficc.ferranti.com (Peter da Silva) writes:
> >In article <12587 at hydra.Helsinki.FI> kankkune at cs.Helsinki.FI (Risto Kankkunen) writes:
> >> What is the standard way to apply parameters to the termcap strings you
> >> have read with tgetent?

> >tgoto.

> WRONG ANSWER: 

> tparm( str, p1, p2, p3, ...) 

> is the proper way to instantiate strings with parameters.

Really. Termcap, termcap... let's see what the manual says:

	tgetent, check.
	tgetnum, check.
	tgetflag, check.
	tgetstr, check.
	tgoto, check.
	tputs, check.

	tparm... um...

Not in Xenix/286, let's try System V.2... It's under "curses... termcap
emulation".  OK:

	tgetent, check.
	tgetflag, check.
	tgetnum, check.
	tgetstr, check.
	tgoto, check.
	tputs, check.

	tparm... um...

Someone's swiped my V.3.2 manuals, but nm /usr/lib/libcurses.a shows there
*is* an entry for tparm. So it showed up in V.3.2. After some digging, I found
it in SunOS but not in BSD. Under the System V compatibility library. Yep,
it's a V.3 thing.

> Newsgroups: comp.unix.programmer

Now if this was comp.unix.sysv386 you might have a point.

> Also,
> tputs() is the method used to output non cursor positioning
> strings after instantiation.  tgoto() is a special case and is
> only used for cursor positioning, which means that it is *very*
> tied to cm.

It's used for expanding "cs", too, at the very least.

> This is all defined in the manual under curses(3x).

Whose manual?

If you're using termcap in the first place, rather than terminfo or curses,
portability is obviously a concern. In that case it behooves you to use the
least common denominator.

tgoto.
-- 
Peter da Silva.  `-_-'  peter at ferranti.com
+1 713 274 5180.  'U`  "Have you hugged your wolf today?"