form(3X)

📦 version 15.1, in freebsd 14.5, freebsd 15.1

💖 form(3X) — the form library 💖

okay so this is the form(3X) page from the Library calls section, and it's literally your whole guide to making user-fillable forms in curses windows. bestie, it's giving terminal UI main character energy 💅

✨ NAME ✨

form — present user-fillable forms in curses windows 🎀

🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

#include <form.h>

🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

The form library gives you terminal-independent facilities for composing form screens on character-cell terminals. no cap, it's the whole vibe.

The library includes:

  • field routines, which create and modify form fields
  • form routines, which group fields into forms, display forms on the screen, and handle interaction with the user

The form library uses the curses libraries. To use the form library, link with the options -lform -lcurses. periodt.

Your program should set up the locale, e.g.:

setlocale(LC_ALL, "");

so that input/output processing will work. 💖

A curses initialization routine such as initscr must be called before using any of these functions.

✨ Current Default Values for Field Attributes ✨

The form library maintains a default value for field attributes. You can get or set this default by calling the appropriate set_ or retrieval routine with a NULL field pointer. 🫶

Changing this default with a set_ function affects future field creations, but does not change the rendering of fields already created.

🌈 Routine Name Index 🌈

The following table lists each form routine and the name of the manual page on which it is described. Routines flagged with “*” are ncurses-specific, not present in SVr4. 💀

  • current_field — form_page(3X)
  • data_ahead — form_data(3X)
  • data_behind — form_data(3X)
  • dup_field — form_field_new(3X)
  • dynamic_field_info — form_field_info(3X)
  • field_arg — form_field_validation(3X)
  • field_back — form_field_attributes(3X)
  • field_buffer — form_field_buffer(3X)
  • field_count — form_field(3X)
  • field_fore — form_field_attributes(3X)
  • field_index — form_page(3X)
  • field_info — form_field_info(3X)
  • field_init — form_hook(3X)
  • field_just — form_field_just(3X)
  • field_opts — form_field_opts(3X)
  • field_opts_off — form_field_opts(3X)
  • field_opts_on — form_field_opts(3X)
  • field_pad — form_field_attributes(3X)
  • field_status — form_field_buffer(3X)
  • field_term — form_hook(3X)
  • field_type — form_field_validation(3X)
  • field_userptr — form_field_userptr(3X)
  • form_driver — form_driver(3X)
  • form_driver_w — form_driver(3X)*
  • form_fields — form_field(3X)
  • form_init — form_hook(3X)
  • form_opts — form_opts(3X)
  • form_opts_off — form_opts(3X)
  • form_opts_on — form_opts(3X)
  • form_page — form_page(3X)
  • form_request_by_name — form_requestname(3X)*
  • form_request_name — form_requestname(3X)*
  • form_sub — form_win(3X)
  • form_term — form_hook(3X)
  • form_userptr — form_userptr(3X)
  • form_win — form_win(3X)
  • free_field — form_field_new(3X)
  • free_fieldtype — form_fieldtype(3X)
  • free_form — form_new(3X)
  • link_field — form_field_new(3X)
  • link_fieldtype — form_fieldtype(3X)
  • move_field — form_field(3X)
  • new_field — form_field_new(3X)
  • new_fieldtype — form_fieldtype(3X)
  • new_form — form_new(3X)
  • new_page — form_new_page(3X)
  • pos_form_cursor — form_cursor(3X)
  • post_form — form_post(3X)
  • scale_form — form_win(3X)
  • set_current_field — form_page(3X)
  • set_field_back — form_field_attributes(3X)
  • set_field_buffer — form_field_buffer(3X)
  • set_field_fore — form_field_attributes(3X)
  • set_field_init — form_hook(3X)
  • set_field_just — form_field_just(3X)
  • set_field_opts — form_field_opts(3X)
  • set_field_pad — form_field_attributes(3X)
  • set_field_status — form_field_buffer(3X)
  • set_field_term — form_hook(3X)
  • set_field_type — form_field_validation(3X)
  • set_field_userptr — form_field_userptr(3X)
  • set_fieldtype_arg — form_fieldtype(3X)
  • set_fieldtype_choice — form_fieldtype(3X)
  • set_form_fields — form_field(3X)
  • set_form_init — form_hook(3X)
  • set_form_opts — form_field_opts(3X)
  • set_form_page — form_page(3X)
  • set_form_sub — form_win(3X)
  • set_form_term — form_hook(3X)
  • set_form_userptr — form_userptr(3X)
  • set_form_win — form_win(3X)
  • set_max_field — form_field_buffer(3X)
  • set_new_page — form_new_page(3X)
  • unfocus_current_field — form_page(3X)*
  • unpost_form — form_post(3X)

🎀 RETURN VALUE 🎀

Routines that return pointers return NULL on error, and set errno to the corresponding error-code returned by functions returning an integer. iykyk.

Routines that return an integer return one of the following error codes:

  • E_OK — the routine succeeded. slay.
  • E_BAD_ARGUMENT — routine detected an incorrect or out-of-range argument.
  • E_BAD_STATE — routine was called from an initialization or termination function.
  • E_CONNECTED — the field is already connected to a form.
  • E_INVALID_FIELD — contents of a field are not valid.
  • E_NOT_CONNECTED — no fields are connected to the form.
  • E_NOT_POSTED — the form has not been posted.
  • E_NO_ROOM — form is too large for its window.
  • E_POSTED — the form is already posted.
  • E_REQUEST_DENIED — the form driver could not process the request.
  • E_SYSTEM_ERROR — system error occurred (see errno(3)).
  • E_UNKNOWN_COMMAND — the form driver code saw an unknown request code.

💜 NOTES 💜

The header file form.h itself includes curses.h. lowkey convenient.

🌟 PORTABILITY 🌟

These routines emulate the System V forms library. They were not supported on Version 7 or BSD versions.

A form facility was documented in SVr4.2's Character User Interface Programming document.

It is not part of X/Open Curses.

Aside from ncurses, there are few implementations:

  • systems based on SVr4 source code, e.g., Solaris.
  • NetBSD curses.

A few functions in this implementation are extensions added for ncurses, but not provided by other implementations, e.g., form_driver_w, unfocus_current_field.

👑 AUTHORS 👑

Juergen Pfeifer. Manual pages and adaptation for ncurses by Eric S. Raymond. iconic, honestly.

🍓 SEE ALSO 🍓

curses(3X) and related pages whose names begin “form_” for detailed descriptions of the entry points.

xoxo bestie 💖 this was the form(3X) page from ncurses 6.5, dated 2025-11-11. periodt. 💅

📦 where this page comes from