Moving the cursor around

OK, so I've found some of the escape codes to move the cursor around the screen, but I've looked at what the escape codes provide, and I cant seem to figure out how I could do what I need it to do.. here is the algorithm...

User is typing input at the bottom of the screen
Message arrives
Insert a blank line 2nd row up from the bottom (everything moves up except for user input)
Print incoming message above the current user input line
Return cursor to previous point.

I dont know if what I want can be done, especially since it seems my terminal doesnt support save/restore cursor positions. If it isnt, does anyone have any way to do what I want (keep input where it is, add a new line from the incoming message). I was thinking ncurses, but it seems so much more complex vs the amount of effort I want to exert for this project (and the time constraints).

might want to look into ncurses
http://www.gnu.org/software/ncurses/ncurses.html

Is ncurses the only way you think? It looks quite complex and I really dont have a lot of free time to invest into making it look pretty. I need a quick and dirty solution. Is there any way to get a line of text the user is currently typing? Like get every charecter on the current line w/o having them have to hit enter.

not without 3rd party libraries, like ncurses, or a compiler with getch(), etc.

Is there any way to get a line of text the user is currently typing? Like get every charecter on the current line w/o having them have to hit enter.

Just a couple threads down from this one:
faq: cached input with mygetch()

Hmm... I got it sorta working, using escape codes. The only problem is that when I've inserted the line that came in from another client, I cant figure out how to put the cursor back in the correct column. I tell it to move to the first col in row 1, but I cant figure out a way to put it at the end of the user's input. My proof of concept code is as follows.

Code:

#include <stdio.h>

int main() {

  printf("\033[2J"); /*clear screen*/
  printf("\033[2;1H"); /*put in seperator between User input and chat text*/
  printf("-----------------------------\n"); /*barrier*/
  printf("\033[1;1H"); /*put at upper left*/
  printf(">some user text not done yet... "); /*user is in the middle of typing*/

  printf("\033[3;1H"); /*move to 2nd line on screen*/
  printf("\033[1L"); /*insert line here*/
  printf("comment one\n"); /*some text arrives*/
  printf("\033[1;1H"); /*go back to first row*/
  printf("\033[4~"); /*supposed to be "END" key but doesnt work (hitting the end key doesnt seem to work either, so I dont know what to put here)*/
  printf("more text... ");

  printf("\033[3;1H"); /*move to 2nd line on screen*/
  printf("\033[1L"); /*insert line here*/
  printf("comment two\n"); /*some more text arrives*/
  printf("\033[1;1H"); /*go back to first row*/
  printf("\033[4~"); /*supposed to be "END" key but doesnt work (hitting the end key doesnt seem to work either, so I dont know what to put here)*/

  char ui[255];

  fgets(ui, 255, stdin);
  printf("%s\n", ui);

  return 0;
  
}

Originally Posted by doormat

Is ncurses the only way you think? It looks quite complex and I really dont have a lot of free time to invest into making it look pretty......

Actually it's not really hard as it possibly looks like at first sight.
Check: http://www.tldp.org/HOWTO/NCURSES-Pr...WTO/index.html
This is kind a good document to start using / learn ncurses, atleast for me it didn't cause any pains.
ncurses just makes it easy to manipulate whole window, taking inputs from mouse / keyboard, move cursor anywhere on window etc....





-- 1. weekend with ncurses --