Re: LYNX-DEV scrollok and lynx_force_repaint

[Foteos Macrides]

"John E. Davis" <address@hidden> wrote:
>[...] I still do not understand how something got on the screen
>that slang did not put there.  Of course, if the lynx code contains
>lines such as
>
>    fprintf (stdout, "This text by passes the display library\n");
>    
>then it is broken and need to be fixed.

        I tried to explain that to you that last time this came up,
and don't know I can do it more effectively now.  Slang does not
have full control of the screen in all environments, and the assumption
that it does unless something as foolish as you suggest is done perhaps
is why slang has no highly efficient way to deal with such situations.
On VMS, for example, one can have "unsolicited broadcasts", e.g., from
the phone utility, or mail utility, etc., with alerts sent to the screen
as they arrive.  Such broadcasts can be disabled at a user's discretion,
but many leave them enabled and expect programs to have a "wipe" command
(typcally ^W, which is a synonmym for ^L in Lynx).

        There are also situations when the screen can get garbled due to
as yet imperfect code, not necessarily abject stupidity.  For example,
di-byte kanji characters might be split inappropriately.  Non-printing
utf-8 characters might be sent to the screen via a slang library function
which does not recognize them as non-printing, etc.

                                Fote

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