2 .TH DIALOG 1 "2 October 1998"
4 dialog \- display dialog boxes from shell scripts
8 .BI "dialog --create-rc " file
12 .BI "\-\-title " title
26 is a program which allows you to present a variety of questions or
27 display messages in dialog box form from a shell script. The following
28 types of dialog objects are currently supported:
30 .BR yes/no " box," " menu" " box," " input" " box,"
31 .BR message " box," " text" " box," " info" " box,"
32 .BR checklist " box," " program" " box,"
34 .BR ftree " and " tree " boxes."
38 The screen will be cleared to the
39 .BR "screen attribute" " on exit."
41 .BI \-\-create-rc " file"
42 .RB "Since " dialog " supports run-time configuration,"
43 this can be used to dump a sample configuration file to the file specified
47 .BI \-\-title " title"
50 string to be displayed at the top of the dialog box.
55 string to be displayed at the bottom of the dialog box.
60 to be displayed by pressing ? or F1.
64 .BI \-\-yesno " text height width \fR[ \fByes \fR| \fBno \fR]"
65 .RB A " yes/no" " dialog box of size"
69 columns will be displayed. The string specified by
71 is displayed inside the dialog box. If this string is too long to fit
72 in one line, it will be automatically divided into multiple lines at
73 the appropriate points. The
75 string may also contain the sub-string
80 to control line breaking explicitly. This dialog box is useful for
81 asking questions that require the user to answer either yes or no.
82 .RB "The dialog box has a" " Yes" " button and a " No
83 button, in which the user can switch between by pressing the
85 .RB A " Yes" " button is selected by default unless" " no"
88 .BI \-\-msgbox " text height width"
89 .RB A " message" " box is very similar to a" " yes/no" " box."
90 The only difference between a
98 button. You can use this dialog box to display any message you like.
99 After reading the message, the user can press the
103 will exit and the calling shell script can continue its operation.
105 .BI \-\-infobox " text height width"
106 .RB An " info" " box is basically a" " message" " box."
107 However, in this case,
109 will exit immediately after displaying the message to the user. The
110 screen is not cleared when
112 exits, so that the message will remain on the screen until the calling
113 shell script clears it later. This is useful when you want to inform
114 the user that some operations are carrying on that may require some
117 .BI \-\-inputbox " text height width"
118 .RB "An " input " box is useful when you want to ask questions that"
119 require the user to input a string as the answer. When inputing the
122 key can be used to correct typing errors. If the input string is longer than
123 can be fitted in the dialog box, the input field will be scrolled. On exit,
124 the input string will be printed on
127 .BI \-\-textbox " file height width"
128 .RB A " text" " box lets you display the contents of a text file in a"
129 dialog box. It is like a simple text file viewer. The user can move
130 through the file by using the
131 .IR UP/DOWN ", " PGUP/PGDN
132 .RI and " HOME/END" " keys available on most keyboards."
133 If the lines are too long to be displayed in the box, the
135 keys can be used to scroll the text region horizontally. For more
136 convenience, forward and backward searching functions are also provided.
137 .IP "\fB\-\-menu \fItext height width menu-height \fR[ \fItag item \fR] \fI..."
138 As its name suggests, a
140 box is a dialog box that can be used to present a list of choices in
141 the form of a menu for the user to choose. Each menu entry consists of a
142 .IR tag " string and an " item " string. The"
144 gives the entry a name to distinguish it from the other entries in the
147 is a short description of the option that the entry represents. The
148 user can move between the menu entries by pressing the
150 keys, the first letter of the
152 as a hot-key, or the number keys
153 .IR 1-9 ". There are"
155 entries displayed in the menu at one time, but the menu will be
156 scrolled if there are more entries than that. When
160 of the chosen menu entry will be printed on
163 .BI \-\-prgbox " command height width"
164 .RB A " program" " box lets you display output of command in"
166 .IP "\fB\-\-checklist \fItext height width list-height \fR[ \fItag item status \fR] \fI..."
167 .RB "A " checklist " box is similar to a " menu " box in that there are"
168 multiple entries presented in the form of a menu. Instead of choosing
169 one entry among the entries, each entry can be turned on or off by the
170 user. The initial on/off state of each entry is specified by
172 On exit, a list of the
174 strings of those entries that are turned on will be printed on
176 .IP "\fB\-\-radiolist \fItext height width list-height \fR[ \fItag item status \fR] \fI..."
177 .RB "A " radiolist " box is similar to a " checklist " but it only allows"
178 a single entry to be selected. One entry may initially be turned on as
183 string of the entry that is turned on will be printed on
185 .IP "\fB\-\-ftree \fIfile FS text height width menu-height"
187 box is a dialog box showing the tree described by the data from the file
189 The data in the file should look like find(1) output. For the
190 find output, the field separator
196 positive numbers, they set the absolute size of the whole
199 .IR width " are negative numbers, the size of the"
202 selected automatically.
204 sets the height of the tree subwindow inside the
210 box above the tree subwindow and can contain newline characters
212 to split lines. One can navigate in the tree by pressing
213 .IR UP/DOWN " or " \'+\'/\'-\' ", " PG_UP/PG_DOWN " or " \'b\'/SPACE
214 .RI "and " HOME/END " or " \'g\'/\'G\' "."
215 A leaf of the tree is selected by pressing
216 .IR TAB " or " LEFT/RIGHT
221 The selected leaf (to be more
222 exact, the full path to it from the root of the tree) is printed to
228 is pressed, nothing is printed to
231 may contain data like find(1)
232 output, as well as like the output of find(1) with
234 option. Some of the transient paths to the leaves of the tree may be
235 absent. Such data is corrected when fed from file.
236 .IP "\fB\-\-tree \fIFS text height width menu-height \fR[ \fIitem \fR] \fI..."
240 box with some exceptions. First, the data is not
241 entered from a file, but from the command line as
243 Second, the data thus entered is not corrected in any way.
244 Thus, the data like the output of find(1) with
246 option will look incorrectly.
247 .SH "RUN-TIME CONFIGURATION"
250 Create a sample configuration file by typing:
253 "dialog --create-rc <file>"
258 determines the settings to use as follows:
262 if environment variable
264 is set, its value determines the name of the configuration file.
267 if the file in (a) can't be found, use the file
269 as the configuration file.
272 if the file in (b) can't be found, use compiled in defaults.
276 Edit the sample configuration file and copy it to some place that
278 can find, as stated in step 2 above.
282 Define this variable if you want to specify the name of the configuration file
287 default configuration file
290 .BR dialog " is exited by pressing the " Yes " or " OK
293 button is pressed. Otherwise, if errors occur inside
297 is exited by pressing the
299 key, the exit status is -1.
303 Text files containing
305 characters may cause problems with
309 characters in text files must first be expanded to spaces before being
310 .RB "displayed by " text " box."
312 Screen update is too slow.
318 boxes do not allow the tree to be moved to the left or to
319 the right. Thus, if there are many levels of data, some of the leaves can be
320 rendered invisible. A standard display with 80 characters allows for 17
321 levels to be visible. Deeper levels are invisible. However, the navigation
322 in the tree and selection of leaves do work.
324 Savio Lam (lam836@cs.cuhk.hk)
326 Changes by Anatoly A. Orehovsky (tolik@mpeks.tomsk.su) (ftree and tree boxes)