Text-based User Interface (TUI) in C++

[SabbeRubbish]

Hi all,

I'm working on a project (due in 3 months) and need to design some software for a local fire departement. They need a non Graphical (!!) User Interface application to manage their records and data.

My question to you all-knowing out-there: is there any way to do this portable? They want it to compile just as easy under Windows as under Linux or say Mac...

Is this:
1) possible?
2) in any way possible with a ready-made library (knowing that this is not the only full-time project on my mind, so time is critical...)
3) portable....

Which options/alternatives do I have?

Many thanks in advance!

[Danny]

it's certainly possible.
You have two options: either use menus that direct the user:
1) Select
2) Update

...
1.1) Seletc one record


and so on. However, it's probably easier to define a mirco language, that is a command line interface that recongnizes a few keywords and options seperated by / or any other delimiter:

retrieve record/single/unique/id="1234"/printer=g289

This should be rather easy to implement and easy to port.

[SabbeRubbish]

Thanks for the quick reply, but it's not just record access, it's also Staff Administration, Vehicle Maintenance and more complicated stuff, not only record retrieval and update...

And I would like (wishful thinking maybe) a library or whatever ;-) that enables me to compile on all systems (or at least Win/*NIX/Mac) without any code change...

I am asking a lot probably ;-)

[Danny]

I'm not aware of such a library especially if it has to be tailored to Staff Admin and Maintenance. Anyway, the same guidelines still apply: either use a menu driven interface or define a command language. I can't think of any other text based interface....

[SabbeRubbish]

I'm not aware of such a library especially if it has to be tailored to Staff Admin and Maintenance. Anyway, the same guidelines still apply: either use a menu driven interface or define a command language. I can't think of any other text based interface....

Many thanks for the considerations, they were definitely helpful!

Greetings