ckitem(1)
NAME
ckitem, erritem, helpitem - build a menu; prompt for and
return a menu item
SYNOPSIS
ckitem [-Q] [-W width] [-uno] [-f filename] [-l label] [ [-
i invis] [,...]] [-m max] [-d default] [-h help] [-e error]
[-p prompt] [ -k pid [-s signal]] [ choice [...]]
/usr/sadm/bin/erritem [-W width] [-e error] [ choice [..]]
/usr/sadm/bin/helpitem [-W width] [-h help] [ choice [..]]
DESCRIPTION
The ckitem utility builds a menu and prompts the user to
choose one item from a menu of items. It then verifies the
response. Options for this command define, among other
things, a prompt message whose response will be a menu item,
text for help and error messages, and a default value (which
will be returned if the user responds with a carriage
return).
By default, the menu is formatted so that each item is
prepended by a number and is printed in columns across the
terminal. Column length is determined by the longest choice.
Items are alphabetized.
All messages are limited in length to 70 characters and are
formatted automatically. Any white space used in the defini-
tion (including newline) is stripped. The -W option cancels
the automatic formatting. When a tilde is placed at the
beginning or end of a message definition, the default text
will be inserted at that point, allowing both custom text
and the default text to be displayed.
If the prompt, help or error message is not defined, the
default message (as defined under NOTES) will be displayed.
Two visual tool modules are linked to the ckitem command.
They are erritem (which formats and displays an error mes-
sage) and helpitem (which formats and displays a help mes-
sage). These modules should be used in conjunction with FML
objects. In this instance, the FML object defines the
prompt. When choice is defined in these modules, the mes-
sages will describe the available menu choice (or choices).
OPTIONS
The following options are supported:
-d default
Define the default value as default. The default is
not validated and so does not have to meet any
criteria.
-e error
Define the error message as error.
-f filename
Define a file, filename, which contains a list of menu
items to be displayed. (The format of this file is:
token<tab>description. Lines beginning with a pound
sign (#) are designated as comments and ignored.)
-h help
Define the help messages as help.
-i invis
Define invisible menu choices (those which will not be
printed in the menu). (For example, ``all'' used as an
invisible choice would mean it is a legal option but
does not appear in the menu. Any number of invisible
choices may be defined.) Invisible choices should be
made known to a user either in the prompt or in a help
message.
-k pid
Specify that the process ID pid is to be sent a signal
if the user chooses to abort.
-l label
Define a label, label, to print above the menu.
-m max
Define the maximum number of menu choices that the
user can choose. The default is 1.
-n Specify that menu items should not be displayed in
alphabetical order.
-o Specify that only one menu token will be returned.
-p prompt
Define the prompt message as prompt.
-Q Specify that quit will not be allowed as a valid
response.
-s signal
Specify that process ID pid defined with the -k option
is to be sent signal signal when quit is chosen. If
no signal is specified, SIGTERM is used.
-u Specify that menu items should be displayed as an
unnumbered list.
-W width
Specify that prompt, help and error messages will be
formatted to a line length of width.
OPERANDS
The following operand is supported:
choice
Define menu items. Items should be separated by white
space or newline.
EXIT STATUS
The following exit values are returned:
0 Successful execution.
1 EOF on input, or negative width on -W option, or ina-
bility to open file on -f option, or usage error.
3 User termination (quit).
4 No choices from which to choose.
ATTRIBUTES
See attributes(5) for descriptions of the following attri-
butes:
____________________________________________________________
| ATTRIBUTE TYPE | ATTRIBUTE VALUE |
|_____________________________|_____________________________|
| Availability | SUNWcsu |
|_____________________________|_____________________________|
SEE ALSO
attributes(5)
NOTES
The user may input the number of the menu item if choices
are numbered or as much of the string required for a unique
identification of the item. Long menus are paged with 10
items per page.
When menu entries are defined both in a file (by using the
-f option) and also on the command line, they are usually
combined alphabetically. However, if the -n option is used
to suppress alphabetical ordering, then the entries defined
in the file are shown first, followed by the options defined
on the command line.
The default prompt for ckitem is:
Enter selection [?,??,q]:
One question mark will give a help message and then
redisplay the prompt. Two question marks will give a help
message and then redisplay the menu label, the menu and the
prompt.
The default error message if you typed a number is:
ERROR: Bad numeric choice specification
The default error message if you typed a string is:
ERROR: Entry does not match available menu selection. Enter the number
of the menu item you wish to select, the token which is associated
with the menu item, or a partial string which uniquely identifies the
token for the menu item. Enter ?? to reprint the menu.
The default help message is:
Enter the number of the menu item you wish to select, the token
which is associated with the menu item, or a partial string which
uniquely identifies the token for the menu item. Enter ? to
reprint the menu.
When the quit option is chosen (and allowed), q is returned
along with the return code 3.
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