Subwindows with ncurses

Question

I'm trying to put a smaller window within the main window using the ncurses library. I'm wanting it to look sort of like the final fantasy battle screen where your main map and character will be on the main window and a subwindow will be at the bottom showing your options for battle.

I'm attempting to do it using "WINDOW * subWin = newwin(nlines, ncols, y0, x0);" but when I run it I don't see any secondary window or subwindow. Would anyone know if what I'm using is incorrect or why I'm not able to actually see the subwindow?

Thanks!

Maybe you should show a minimal version of your code. Did you refresh the window? — Jonathan Leffler, Dec 23 '14 at 06:10
Look into the Panels library that is part of ncurses. It handles multiple windows including overlaping and stacked windows easier than the core ncurses library. — Craig, Dec 23 '14 at 16:48
thats because ncurses subwindows are not subwindows they are 'regions' of the said window and reference the same memory — osirisgothra, Apr 16 '15 at 17:59

score 2 · Accepted Answer · answered Dec 23 '14 at 14:32

2

Here is an example showing the main window with a subwindow:

#include <curses.h>

int main(int argc, char** argv)
{
  initscr();

  printw("Main window");

  WINDOW* subwindow = newwin(10,20,5,15);

  refresh();

  box(subwindow,0,0);
  mvwprintw(subwindow, 1, 1, "subwindow");


  refresh();
  wrefresh(subwindow);

  getch();
  delwin(subwindow);

  endwin();
  return 0;
}

answered Dec 23 '14 at 14:32

parkydr

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No problem - and I got a hat :) – parkydr Dec 25 '14 at 10:05
7

This isn't a subwindow. You have just the one window in stdscr. – Oct 18 '19 at 04:40
@OS2 Yes..and the OP mentioned *`newwin`* not *`subwin`*. In some implementations the man page says 'The subwindow functions (subwin, derwin, mvderwin, wsyncup, wsyncdown, wcursyncup, syncok) are flaky, incompletely implemented, and not well tested.' under BUGS. It creates a region however in the answer here and that's the idea unless I'm much mistaken (and since it was accepted as the answer...). – Pryftan Jan 28 '20 at 19:13
The OP is talking about making a sub-window (window in a window) not the subwindow functions – parkydr Mar 08 '20 at 08:24

Subwindows with ncurses

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