Re: Some questions - before I get too far ... :)

On Wed, 24 Sep 2003, Marek Bajon wrote:
>
> Ok, i'll follow both X and MS "traditions" - in my company users were using
> Client Access before, so they used to Ctrl-C/Ctrl-V.

Please don't require Ctrl-C or Ctrl-V.  They need to be optional.   Right
now, Ctrl-C is System Request...   Why?  Because in Unix we're used to
using Ctrl-C to break out of a program.   So, the Unix TN5250 also uses
Ctrl-C to break out of AS/400 programs.

However, having a config option like "+windows_like_copy" would allow you
to only enable the Ctrl-C/Ctrl-V style copy/paste if the user asks for it.
That way, those of us who are used to Ctrl-C for SysReq won't have to
change :)


> I think that having internal clipboard as a file in user's home dir is also
> good idea, because it will allow copy-paste in console version (tn5250
> without xterm).
>

Currently, in console mode, I can copy/paste between different sessions.
You're right, it would be nice if I could mark a "rectangular" area.  It
would also be nice if pastes didn't "press enter" (send LF) at the end of
every line.

However, I don't understand what you mean about writing it to a file in
your home directory.   How does writing it to a file help you?   Right
now, I can copy/paste between different sessions without copying it to a
file?   Are you worried about the data being lost if the system should go
down unexpectedly?

Then again -- I don't use the console version in Linux.  I only use it in
FreeBSD.  I suppose what you could be saying is that you can't copy/paste
between different sessions on the Linux console?   Certainly the FreeBSD
console allows it.


>
> Sorry, I forgot that you guys don't know that I'm talking about selecting
> rectangular region. This is much different from what xterm offers.
>

Actually, we know what you're talking about.   The Win32 and GTK versions
of TN5250 already do rectangular regions.

I didn't do them in the Curses version of TN5250 because I couldn't figure
out how to handle a "paste" properly.    You see, when doing a paste, when
you encounter a LF in the clipboard data that you're pasting, you need to
go back to the column you started in, and move down a row -- but not send
the "Enter/RecordAdvance" AID code to the AS/400.

The problem is, the paste is read into your program the same way that
keyboard data is read in.  Therefore, you can't tell the difference
between the LF char in "paste" data, and the user pressing Enter.

If you can figure out a way to do it in Curses, that would be great!


Otherwise, sounds good..   can't wait to try out your code!