On 1 Jun 2006, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > I'm writing a command-line program to manage student grading for a > course, which will run on the school's Unix boxes (it can't be put on the > web for security reasons), and was debating what the best choice is to > handle the user interface. Has anyone got some experience with Curses.PM > and/or could point me toward any examples or documentation (in addition to > CPAN)? Or is there something better to do command-line interfaces? The > user will need to be able to select tasks from a menu and then perform > them.
It's very hard to automate curses-based applications (and, in my experience, they are just not easy to write), so I would suggest at least that the options sufficient to run the program without interaction should be available. In other words, if the menu has three modes for example, 1) exams 2) quizzes 3) homeworks then I would also provide a -mode [e|exams|q|quizzes|h|homeworks] switch. That way, when this application needs to be integrated with others, you can keep it instead of redesigning it. Also, you can run a web browser like links, lynx, or w3m from the command line and fill out forms, follow menu links, etc. The web server can be limited to only accept local connections if security is a concern. You get a text-mode application with ready-made widgets, menus, etc. so you can concentrate on the content and backend. When, inevitably, someone demands a web interface, you'll have one ready :) At the moment, it's also easier to find support and expertise for web-based than curses-based interfaces. This will probably remain the case in the near future. So from a business standpoint, it may make sense to try to use a web-based solution. Ted _______________________________________________ Boston-pm mailing list Boston-pm@mail.pm.org http://mail.pm.org/mailman/listinfo/boston-pm
