Re: Embedded Project -- LINUX5250

Hi Brian,

Since my project only has a 160x160 px display (20 char x 20 char with thecurrent font), I need to only display that much of the display buffer. Hereis what I am thinking: if I take the display buffer from tn5250 and copy thecharacters that I want to display into a new 20x20 buffer. Each time I havethe cursor move or want the screen to move I can just update the 20x20buffer. My only real question is where in the code is dbuffer actuallypushed to the screen? I need to add a function just like it but pushing my20x20 buffer to the display.

What you want to do is write your own "terminal object". If your screenis curses based, it would probably make sense to copy cursesterm.c andthen change the names, so that the original is still intact.

TN5250 will call the routines in the terminal object that are defined inthe Tn5250Terminal structure. There's a whole list of callbacks in thatstructure for the various routines that need to be called.

For example, in the tn5250_curses_terminal_new() routine in cursesterm.c,you'll see the following code:


   r->conn_fd = -1;
   r->init = curses_terminal_init;
   r->term = curses_terminal_term;
   r->destroy = curses_terminal_destroy;
   r->width = curses_terminal_width;
   r->height = curses_terminal_height;
   r->flags = curses_terminal_flags;
   r->update = curses_terminal_update;
   r->update_indicators = curses_terminal_update_indicators;
   r->waitevent = curses_terminal_waitevent;
   r->getkey = curses_terminal_getkey;
   r->putkey = NULL;
   r->beep = curses_terminal_beep;
   r->enhanced = curses_terminal_enhanced;
   r->config = curses_terminal_config;

This is setting the callbacks. When lib5250 wants the terminal to make abeep noice, it calls curses_terminal_beep(). When lib5250 wants to read akeypress from the terminal, it calls curses_terminal_getkey(), etc.

You can write your own terminal object by creating code that providesthese different "events". If your terminal is curses based, it might makesense to just copy the existing cursesterm.c, rename the functions, andmodify them to work the way you want. That way, you'll be able to displaythe screen differently.

As far as how the display buffer gets "pushed" to the screen, the "update"routine is called by lib5250 (in the above example, "update" points to thecurses_terminal_update() function, so that function would be called).Also, when the indicators (for message waiting, input inhibited, etc) needto be updated, it called the "update_indicators" routine (which is mappedto curses_terminal_update_indicators) and so on.


Take a look at those routines in cursesterm.c to see how they work...