Need "dialog --column-separator" example

ncjeculver · 09-09-2012, 07:11 PM

I'm trying to create a multi-column menu using Dialog in a Bash script. The man page offers this syntax:

Code:

--column-separator <string>: split data for ... menus on  the occurrences of the given string

but leaves out the particulars or examples, nor have I been able to turn up any usage examples on the net. For example, is "string" wrapped in quotes? What characters are legal? And where exactly do I insert the string in my menu definitions?

Here's a menu that works:

Code:

#!/bin/bash

dialog --title " Welcome to My Menu! " \
       --menu "" 19 40 12              \
               "1" "Option One"        \
               "2" "Option Two"        \
               "3" "Option Three"      \
               "4" "Option Four"       \
2>temp
Cancelled=$?
Choice=`cat temp` ; rm temp
if [ $Cancelled -eq 0 ] 
  then echo "You selected: $Choice"
  else echo "You cancelled!"
fi

But when I try to add a column separator, for example this way:

Code:

#!/bin/bash

dialog --title " Welcome to My Menu! " \
       --column-separator "@"          \
       --menu "" 19 40 12              \
               "1" "Option One"        \
               "2" "Option Two"        \
"@"            "3" "Option Three"      \
               "4" "Option Four"       \
2>temp
Cancelled=$?
Choice=`cat temp` ; rm temp
if [ $Cancelled -eq 0 ] 
  then echo "You selected: $Choice"
  else echo "You cancelled!"
fi

It fails. The above, for example, just spits out "You cancelled!" and exits. Other attempts generally elicit syntax errors inside the --menu definition.

Can someone provide me with an example of the proper syntax for --column-separator? Thanks.

--Nathanael

Snark1994 · 09-10-2012, 07:40 AM

Just by experimentation:

Code:

dialog --title " Menu! " --column-separator "|" --menu "" 19 40 12 "1" "A long option|One" "2" "Option|Two" "3" "Option|Three" "4" "Option|Four"

ncjeculver · 09-10-2012, 09:53 AM

Thanks. I see my error now -- it doesn't do what I thought. I was looking for column breakss *between* items, not *within* items, something like this:

Code:

┌────────────── Menu! ─────────────────┐
│ ┌──────────────────────────────────┐ │
│ │1 Option One      5 Option Five   │ │
│ │2 Option Two      6 Option Six    │ │
│ │3 Option Three    7 Option Seven  │ │
│ │4 Option Four     8 Option Eight  │ │
│ └──────────────────────────────────┘ │
├──────────────────────────────────────┤
│       <  OK  >    <Cancel>           │
└──────────────────────────────────────┘

so I was trying to insert columns breaks betwen list items, not inside them.

I've actually got a menu wtih 48 items, and I was hoping to split it into four columns of twelve items each, rather than a single narrow column down the middle of the screen that needs to be scrolled.

I don't suppose there's any way to do that wth Dialog, then. Anybody?

Snark1994 · 09-11-2012, 04:38 AM

I don't think you can - I've see some truly monumental dialog menus (kernel config, locale selector, various Arch setup menus) and none of them have done what you describe. The man page also doesn't describe anything like that.

Of course, you could "roll your own" using ncurses and python/c, which shouldn't be too much hassle (I'd have thought)

mjolnir · 09-11-2012, 06:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Snark1994

Just by experimentation:

Code:

dialog --title " Menu! " --column-separator "|" --menu "" 19 40 12 "1" "A long option|One" "2" "Option|Two" "3" "Option|Three" "4" "Option|Four"

Nice. I was up way to early this morning, saw your post, installed "dialog" and it worked like a charm although I see it wasn't exactly what the OP needed. I really have no need for "dialog" but it's nice to know anyways. This also works inside of tmux.