https://github.com/crramirez/casciian

Text User Interface Library
https://github.com/crramirez/casciian

Last synced: 3 months ago
JSON representation

Text User Interface Library

• Host: GitHub
• URL: https://github.com/crramirez/casciian
• Owner: crramirez
• License: apache-2.0
• Created: 2025-12-07T14:13:07.000Z (6 months ago)
• Default Branch: main
• Last Pushed: 2026-01-05T10:23:13.000Z (5 months ago)
• Last Synced: 2026-01-07T13:26:08.260Z (5 months ago)
• Language: Java
• Size: 20.3 MB
• Stars: 21
• Watchers: 1
• Forks: 5
• Open Issues: 0
• Metadata Files:
  • Readme: README.md
  • License: COPYING

Awesome Lists containing this project

• awesome-tuis - casciian

README

          
Casciian - Java Text User Interface library

===========================================

This library implements a text-based windowing system loosely

reminiscent of Borland's [Turbo

Vision](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turbo_Vision) system for

Xterm-like terminals.

Casciian can be run inside its own terminal window, with support for

all of its features including mouse, and of course more terminals.

Casciian has seen inspiration from several other projects:

* Translucent windows were inspired by

  [notcurses](https://github.com/dankamongmen/notcurses).  Translucent

  windows and layered images generally look as one would expect in a

  modern graphical environment...but it's mostly text.

* Pulsing button text, window effects, and desktop effects were

  inspired by [vtm's](https://github.com/netxs-group/vtm) incredibly

  slick game-like aesthetic.



## Getting Started

If you want to start your own Casciian-based application, there is a

[project template](https://github.com/crramirez/casciian-app-template)

ready to use as a repository seed.

## License

This project is distributed under the Apache License, Version 2.0.

### Provenance

Casciian is derived from a codebase originally written by Autumn Lamonte

and dedicated to the public domain via CC0. https://codeberg.org/AutumnMeowMeow/casciian

The original public-domain dedication remains in effect for the

historical code. Subsequent modifications, maintenance, and releases

of this distribution are provided under the Apache License, Version 2.0.

Nothing in this license restricts the original public-domain status of

the upstream code.

Copyright Status

----------------

Copyright © 2013–2025 Autumn Lamonte  

Copyright © 2025 Carlos Rafael Ramirez

Maintained by Carlos Rafael Ramirez.

Running The Demo

----------------

src/demo contains official demos showing all of the stock UI controls.

The demos can be run as follows:

**Note for Windows users:** When running on Windows, you may need to add the 

`--enable-native-access=ALL-UNNAMED` flag to enable native terminal support.

For example: `java --enable-native-access=ALL-UNNAMED -jar casciian-demo.jar`

  * `java -jar casciian-demo.jar` .  This will use

    System.in/out with Xterm-like sequences.

  * `java -cp casciian-demo.jar demo.Demo2 PORT` (where PORT is a

    number to run the TCP daemon on).  This will use the Xterm backend

    on a telnet server that will update with screen size changes.

  * `java -cp casciian-demo.jar demo.Demo3` .  This will use

    System.in/out with Xterm-like sequences.  One can see in the code

    how to pass a different InputReader and OutputReader to

    TApplication, permitting a different encoding than UTF-8; in this

    case, code page 437.

  * `java -cp casciian-demo.jar demo.Demo4` .  This demonstrates

    hidden windows and a custom TDesktop.

  * `java -cp casciian-demo.jar demo.Demo7` .  This demonstrates the

    BoxLayoutManager, achieving a similar result as the

    javax.swing.BoxLayout apidocs example.

  * `java -cp casciian-demo.jar demo.Demo8 PORT` (where PORT is a

    number to run the TCP daemon on).  This will use the Xterm backend

    on a telnet server to share one screen to many terminals.

Editing the Wiki

----------------

The GitHub Wiki lives in a separate repository (`crramirez/casciian.wiki`).

Changes made in this source repository do **not** modify the wiki. To propose

wiki updates, clone the wiki repository directly:

```

git clone https://github.com/crramirez/casciian.wiki.git

```

Submit your changes there (or share patches with the maintainer) to update the

published wiki pages.