Linux "terminal" for 4GL
A user asked how to set up a Linux terminal so function keys work in Informix 4GL. Replies: older 4GL only reads termcap, newer products also support terminfo via INFORMIXTERM=terminfo; standard Linux termcap entries often fail because Informix uses its own non-standard entries (e.g. ZA/ZG for colour), so point TERMCAP at Informix's own termcap file (e.g. /usr/informix/etc/termcap). Another noted Informix's 1024-char termcap entry limit breaks RedHat's bloated xterm entry; the workaround is a stripped-down entry, and a sample SCO-derived xterm termcap was posted. Jonathan Leffler confirmed Informix uses its own archaic termcap handling. No confirmation from the original poster.
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Could someone kindly tell me how to setup a terminal on Linux, so that I can use "function keys" with 4GL. I have had no experience with this, and have not yet found a resource for this information. -- mkuhn@rhlab.com
What version of 4GL you'r using ? In old versions, informix support only termcap, in new - terminfo and termcap. In new can to set INFORMIXTERM=terminfo and all function keys will work. If you are using old version of 4GL you must to define or find for appropriate termcap for Linux ( Standard Linux termcap doesn't work because Informix is used same non-standard entry ) . Good luck. Sergey. In article <3A81AE05.25B05115@rhlab.com>, Mike Kuhn <mkuhn@rhlab.com> wrote: > Could someone kindly tell me how to setup a > terminal on Linux, so that I can use "function keys" > with 4GL. > > I have had no experience with this, and have not yet found a resource > for this information. > > -- > mkuhn@rhlab.com > Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/
We use TERMCAP=/usr/informix/etc/termcap with INFORMIXTERM undefined ie. termcap. Works fine for us. Who needs these new fangled toys like terminfo Yours -- Earle A Long (Senior DBA) SinglePoint Limited "Sergey E. Volkov" <sve@raiden.bancorp.ru> wrote in message news:95tias$42a$1@nnrp1.deja.com... > What version of 4GL you'r using ? > > In old versions, informix support only termcap, in new - terminfo and > termcap. > > In new can to set INFORMIXTERM=terminfo and all function keys will work. > > If you are using old version of 4GL you must to define or find for > appropriate termcap for Linux ( Standard Linux termcap doesn't work > because Informix is used same non-standard entry ) . > > Good luck. > > Sergey. > > In article <3A81AE05.25B05115@rhlab.com>, > Mike Kuhn <mkuhn@rhlab.com> wrote: > > Could someone kindly tell me how to setup a > > terminal on Linux, so that I can use "function keys" > > with 4GL. > > > > I have had no experience with this, and have not yet found a resource > > for this information. > > > > -- > > mkuhn@rhlab.com > > > > > Sent via Deja.com > http://www.deja.com/ >
"Earle A Long" <earle@btclick.com> writes: > We use TERMCAP=/usr/informix/etc/termcap with INFORMIXTERM undefined ie. > termcap. Works fine for us. Who needs these new fangled toys like terminfo People who need to get around the 1024-char termcap entry limit, that's who. IDS-7.30 didn't like RedHat >6.0's xterm termcap entry. -- Forte International, P.O. Box 1412, Ridgecrest, CA 93556-1412 Ronald Cole <ronald@forte-intl.com> Phone: (760) 499-9142 President, CEO Fax: (760) 499-9152 My GPG fingerprint: C3AF 4BE9 BEA6 F1C2 B084 4A88 8851 E6C8 69E3 B00B
Ronald Cole wrote in message ... > >People who need to get around the 1024-char termcap entry limit, >that's who. IDS-7.30 didn't like RedHat >6.0's xterm termcap entry. > Then make a copy and strip it down. Any termcap entry > 1024 is WAY beyond the power of little ole' Informix 4GL. There will be an outrageous number of bizarre and odd codes in there which are only of interest to the freaks 'n' geeks who but the extraordinary super-powers into xterm in the first place. I wonder if anything uses them? Read thru the termcap manual - many of the more esoteric codes are quite amusing.
"Andrew Hamm" <ahamm@sanderson.net.au> writes: > Then make a copy and strip it down. Any termcap entry > 1024 is WAY beyond > the power of little ole' Informix 4GL. Trouble is, it shouldn't be. > There will be an outrageous number of bizarre and odd codes in there > which are only of interest to the freaks 'n' geeks who but the > extraordinary super-powers into xterm in the first place. I wonder > if anything uses them? It's a lot of research to figure out what does and doesn't use them on any given system. Why is it desirable to cripple features provided by my Vendor just to placate Informix? Informix already uses a lot of System V features; why, it can even support terminfo (if the porting engineer chooses, I imagine)! However, Linux IDS-7.30 doesn't support terminfo. I can only figure that the porting engineer wasn't too familiar with RedHat at all. -- Forte International, P.O. Box 1412, Ridgecrest, CA 93556-1412 Ronald Cole <ronald@forte-intl.com> Phone: (760) 499-9142 President, CEO Fax: (760) 499-9152 My GPG fingerprint: C3AF 4BE9 BEA6 F1C2 B084 4A88 8851 E6C8 69E3 B00B
Ronald Cole wrote in message ... >"Andrew Hamm" <ahamm@sanderson.net.au> writes: >> Then make a copy and strip it down. Any termcap entry > 1024 is WAY beyond >> the power of little ole' Informix 4GL. > >Trouble is, it shouldn't be. Well, it is! To placate u somehat, what I mean is, 4GL's needs from a termcap are quite plain vanilla. It has no need for 1/2 line backward scrolls and other more exciting termcap capabilities. What I'm saying is, if a termcap is > 1024 then it contains heaps of features that are useless to RDS. >It's a lot of research to figure out what does and doesn't use them on >any given system. Why is it desirable to cripple features provided by >my Vendor just to placate Informix? > Well, i doubt you've got any programs that use the full poo in the termcap either. Probably vi or emacs etc use terminfo anyway. I agree with you, surfing termcaps is a punishment worthy of hell - preferably imposed on software engineers who can't stop fiddling and adding just one more feature. I count myself in that class. Damn. >Informix already uses a lot of System V features; why, it can even >support terminfo (if the porting engineer chooses, I imagine)! > >However, Linux IDS-7.30 doesn't support terminfo. I can only figure >that the porting engineer wasn't too familiar with RedHat at all. > Definitely (does on some platforms) and perhaps - who knows? The real problem is that for too many years, mad bastards have been adding all sorts of obscene useless capabilities to terminals and bloating the definitions of the termcap entries. I'm not surprised that Linux termcaps have suffered terrible code bloat. It seems par for the course on Linux. Creeping Featurism. Have you had a look at man ls on Linux lately? PLEASE tell me you can use all of those options. 15 years ago I saw a lecture called something like: "cat -v, or, is UNIX suffering from excessive growth?" I had to goto, sorry do while a terminal to discover that cat had actually achieved the status of having options. "Where will it end?" was thought at the time. Anyway, practicalities. Try this mess: it's a dump of the SCO definition of xterm. It should be functional. Store it in a file and export TERMCAP shell variable to point to it. If it doesn't work, say so and I'll pass on another alternative. # Reconstructed via infocmp from file: /usr/lib/terminfo/x/xterm xterm|xterm terminal emulator:\\ :am:km:mi:ms:xn:xo:pt:\\ :co#80:li#24:kn#2:\\ :AL=\\E[%dL:DC=\\E[%dP:DL=\\E[%dM:DO=\\E[%dB:IC=\\E[%d@:\\ :LE=\\E[%dD:RI=\\E[%dC:UP=\\E[%dA:ae=\\E(B:al=\\E[L:\\ :as=\\E(0:cd=\\E[J:ce=\\E[K:cl=\\E[H\\E[2J:cm=\\E[%i%d;%dH:\\ :cs=\\E[%i%d;%dr:ct=\\E[3g:dc=\\E[P:dl=\\E[M:ho=\\E[H:\\ :ic=\\E[@:is=\\E7\\E[r\\E[m\\E[?7h\\E[?1;3;4;6l\\E[4l\\E8\\E>:\\ :k0=\\E[21':k1=\\E[11':k2=\\E[12':k3=\\E[13':k4=\\E[14':\\ :k5=\\E[15':k6=\\E[17':k7=\\E[18':k8=\\E[19':k9=\\E[20':\\ :kb=\\b:kd=\\E[B:kh=\\E[8':kl=\\E[D:kr=\\E[C:ku=\\E[A:\\ :nd=\\E[C:r1=\\E>\\E[1;3;4;5;6l\\E[?7h\\E[m\\E[r\\E[2J\\E[H:\\ :r2=\\E>\\E[?3l\\E[?4l\\E[?5l\\E[?7h\\E[?8h:rc=\\E8:sc=\\E7:\\ :se=\\E[m:so=\\E[7m:sr=\\EM:st=\\EH:te=\\E[2J\\E[?47l\\E8:\\ :ti=\\E7\\E[?47h:ue=\\E[m:up=\\E[A:us=\\E[4m:bc@:ko=nd,up: Good luck on your mission.
Dumb theory time (maybe Jonathan can confirm or deny this) I think Informix use their own copy of the termcap source, so they can know it works everywhere. Why? Because Informix supported colour codes in the termcaps when normal termcap didn't - and still doesn't AFAIK. Perhaps they only use terminfo on platforms where it is not broken, or stick with their own termcap code when the terminfo is defective.
Andrew Hamm wrote: > Dumb theory time (maybe Jonathan can confirm or deny this) Confirm. > I think Informix use their own copy of the termcap source, so they can know > it works everywhere. I think the term you were looking for is "archaic", as in circa 1985, maybe a bit older. > Why? Because Informix supported colour codes in the termcaps when normal > termcap didn't - and still doesn't AFAIK. Colour has been supported for a while by standard curses libraries, but it bears no resemblance to the way Informix handles it. > Perhaps they only use terminfo on platforms where it is not broken, or stick > with their own termcap code when the terminfo is defective. We can use terminfo pretty much anywhere it exists. The basic issue is ensuring you know which attribute retrieving code to call (termcap vs terminfo). The core curses code is the same regardless. -- Yours, Jonathan Leffler (Jonathan.Leffler@Informix.com) #include <disclaimer.h> Guardian of DBD::Informix v1.00.PC1 -- http://www.perl.com/CPAN "I don't suffer from insanity; I enjoy every minute of it!"
Jonathan Leffler wrote in message <3A89BEC9.5B28917B@informix.com>... >Andrew Hamm wrote: >> Dumb theory time (maybe Jonathan can confirm or deny this) > >Confirm. smart-something... >Colour has been supported for a while by standard curses libraries, but >it bears no resemblance to the way Informix handles it. > Emm, so informix is still using special code to handle colour? I don't understand what you are trying to say here. >We can use terminfo pretty much anywhere it exists. The basic issue is >ensuring you know which attribute retrieving code to call (termcap vs >terminfo). The core curses code is the same regardless. > Ok, fair enough, so why is termcap still used in some places, and terminfo in others? Or have I missed noting that terminfo has now crept into use across all contemporary platforms? Please replace my dumb theory with some understanding. Thanks.
In the year of Our Lord Wed, 14 Feb 2001 10:20:42 +1100, "Andrew Hamm" <ahamm@sanderson.net.au> spake, saying: >Please replace my dumb theory with some understanding. Thanks. Some things are beyond even Jonathan. :->
Obnoxio The Clown wrote in message <3a8abaaa.101655613@130.133.1.4>... >In the year of Our Lord Wed, 14 Feb 2001 10:20:42 +1100, "Andrew Hamm" ><ahamm@sanderson.net.au> spake, saying: > >>Please replace my dumb theory with some understanding. Thanks. > >Some things are beyond even Jonathan. :-> > Rrrrreeooowwwrrrrrr!!!!! Fitttzzz Fitttzzzz!
In the year of Our Lord Thu, 15 Feb 2001 09:49:24 +1100, "Andrew Hamm" <ahamm@sanderson.net.au> spake, saying: >Obnoxio The Clown wrote in message <3a8abaaa.101655613@130.133.1.4>... >>In the year of Our Lord Wed, 14 Feb 2001 10:20:42 +1100, "Andrew Hamm" >><ahamm@sanderson.net.au> spake, saying: >> >>>Please replace my dumb theory with some understanding. Thanks. >> >>Some things are beyond even Jonathan. :-> > >Rrrrreeooowwwrrrrrr!!!!! Fitttzzz Fitttzzzz! "Saucer of milk to table 15, please, Gaston!"
Andrew Hamm wrote: > Jonathan Leffler wrote in message <3A89BEC9.5B28917B@informix.com>... > >Andrew Hamm wrote: > >> Dumb theory time (maybe Jonathan can confirm or deny this) > > > >Confirm. > smart-something... > > >Colour has been supported for a while by standard curses libraries, but > >it bears no resemblance to the way Informix handles it. > > Emm, so informix is still using special code to handle colour? I don't > understand what you are trying to say here. Informix doesn't use the same attribute encodings to describe the colour handling properties as the standard colour curses libraries do -- Informix uses ZA and ZG but colour curses uses things like Sf, Sp, Sb, AF, AB, op, oc, IC, Ip. > >We can use terminfo pretty much anywhere it exists. The basic issue is > >ensuring you know which attribute retrieving code to call (termcap vs > >terminfo). The core curses code is the same regardless. > > Ok, fair enough, so why is termcap still used in some places, and terminfo > in others? Or have I missed noting that terminfo has now crept into use > across all contemporary platforms? Because of inertia, probably. > Please replace my dumb theory with some understanding. Thanks. Which theory? -- Yours, Jonathan Leffler (Jonathan.Leffler@Informix.com) #include <disclaimer.h> Guardian of DBD::Informix v1.00.PC1 -- http://www.perl.com/CPAN "I don't suffer from insanity; I enjoy every minute of it!"
Jonathan Leffler wrote in message <3A8B2FAE.93B40561@informix.com>... > >Which theory? > Most of them? No, don't worry - that's enough. Curiosity is satisfied.