Debugging Grimoire

🧾 Chapter 6: Reading User Input in Pure C (No C++ Sorcery Allowed)

Concepts introduced:

• getstr() for reading strings from the user
• Centered text with mvprintw() and screen dimensions via getmaxyx()
• Classic C-style string handling (char[] and strlen())

// Working with user input
#include <ncurses.h>
#include <string.h>

int main() {
  char msg[] = "Enter a string";
  char str[80];  // fixed-size buffer (because this is C, not a luxury resort)

  int row, col;
  initscr();
  getmaxyx(stdscr, row, col);

  mvprintw(row / 2, (col - strlen(msg)) / 2, "%s", msg);
  getstr(str);  // reads a line of text

  mvprintw(LINES - 2, 0, "You entered: %s", str);
  getch();
  endwin();

  return 0;
}

⚠️ Reminder: getstr() is a bit raw and assumes you won’t type more than 79 characters. If you do, chaos. Handle with care or replace with wgetnstr() for actual safety.

🎮 Chapter 7: Building a Menu with Arrow Keys (Real Game Dev Vibes)

Concepts introduced:

• Menu system with const char* and keypad()
• Highlighting selections with A_REVERSE
• User selection handling with KEY_UP, KEY_DOWN, and Enter (10)
• Fixed buffer index handling to prevent out-of-bounds disasters

#include <ncurses.h>

int main(int argc, char **argv) {
  initscr();
  noecho();
  cbreak();

  int yMax, xMax;
  getmaxyx(stdscr, yMax, xMax);

  WINDOW *menuwin = newwin(6, xMax - 12, yMax - 8, 5);
  box(menuwin, 0, 0);
  refresh();
  wrefresh(menuwin);

  keypad(menuwin, true);

  const char *choices[3] = {"Walk", "Jog", "Run"};
  int choice;
  int highlight = 0;

  while (1) {
    for (int i = 0; i < 3; ++i) {
      if (i == highlight)
        wattron(menuwin, A_REVERSE);

      mvwprintw(menuwin, i + 1, 1, "%s", choices[i]);

      wattroff(menuwin, A_REVERSE);
    }

    choice = wgetch(menuwin);

    switch (choice) {
      case KEY_UP:
        highlight--;
        if (highlight < 0)
          highlight = 0;
        break;
      case KEY_DOWN:
        highlight++;
        if (highlight > 2)
          highlight = 2;
        break;
      default:
        break;
    }

    if (choice == 10)  // Enter key
      break;
  }

  clear();
  mvprintw(0, 0, "Your choice: %s", choices[highlight]);
  refresh();

  getch();
  endwin();
  return 0;
}