ncurses, how do i check how many colors my terminal supports?

I'm generating all ncurses color pairs like this

Code:

void generate_all_color_pairs(){        int foreground;
        int background;
        int i = 0;


        for(foreground=0; foreground<8; foreground++){          
                for(background=0; background<8; background++){
                        i++;
                        init_pair(i, foreground, background);
                }
        }
}

but according on several sources, some terminals suport more colors.

Is there any way to determine how many colors the current terminal supports?

terminfo(5): terminal capability data base - Linux man page
Scroll down to "Color Handling"

Also look up termcap as well.

After calling initscr(), you can use LINES, COLS and COLOR_PAIRS to determine if the numbers meet your program requirements. Here is an example of how I initialize some curses programs

Code:

#include <curses.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <unistd.h>
#include <errno.h>
#include <assert.h>
#include <string.h>

#define PROGNAME "curses_init"
#define REQD_COLOR_PAIRS (5)
#define REQD_COLS (40)
#define REQD_LINES (7)
int main(void)
{
/* Verify terminal capabilities */
	if (!isatty(1) || initscr() == NULL) {
		fprintf(stderr, "%s: This program must be run from a terminal!\n",
				PROGNAME);
		return EXIT_FAILURE;
	}
	if (has_colors() && COLOR_PAIRS < REQD_COLOR_PAIRS) {
		printw("This program requires at least %d colors (%d found)\n", 
				REQD_COLOR_PAIRS, COLOR_PAIRS);
		goto cleanup_curses;
	}
	if (!has_colors()) {
		printw("This program requires colors (no support found)\n");
		goto cleanup_curses;
	}
	if (COLS < REQD_COLS || LINES < REQD_LINES) {
		printw("Terminal must be at least %dx%d!\n", REQD_COLS, REQD_LINES);
		goto cleanup_curses;
	}
	
/* Initialize all the colors */
	printw("This terminal supports %d colors\n", COLOR_PAIRS);
	start_color();
	init_pair(1, COLOR_WHITE, COLOR_BLACK);
	init_pair(2, COLOR_GREEN, COLOR_BLACK);
	init_pair(3, COLOR_BLUE, COLOR_BLACK);
	init_pair(4, COLOR_CYAN, COLOR_BLACK);
	init_pair(5, COLOR_YELLOW, COLOR_BLUE);
	assert(5 <= REQD_COLOR_PAIRS);
	
	for (int i=1; i <= 5; i++) {
		attron(COLOR_PAIR(i));
		printw("This is color pair %d\n", i);
	}
	assert(6 <= REQD_LINES);
	assert(strlen("This is color pair XXX\n") <= REQD_COLS);	
	refresh();

/* End of program */
cleanup_curses:
	attron(COLOR_PAIR(5) | A_BOLD );
	mvprintw(LINES-1,0,"Press any key to end the program...");
	refresh();
	getch();
	endwin();
	return EXIT_SUCCESS;
}

Thank you, I'll experiment in different terminals and see how they differ.