console interface

[Christopher Browne]

> Yes, it is _POSSIBLE_ to write an ncurses interface, but...
> 
>   a) it has not been done,
>   b) it would be a lot of work, and
>   c) there probably is not a lot of interest by developers to write it.
> 
> I think that (b) is probably the largest deterrent.
> 
> PS: Patches for an ncurses interface would certainly be accepted ;)

I'm not sure that ncurses would be the best choice for the "unsighted;"
that leaves the user interface captive to an "ncurses program."

It seems more likely to me that a scriptable command line user interface
akin to that of MH would be more useful.

Something like:
% qfolder +Chequing
Chequing+ has 273 transactions  (3-479);
% qpick -after 2002-09-01 -before 2003-02-01 -payee "My Landlord"
375 391 411 441 460
% qshow 411
Date: 2003-01-01
Payee: My Landlord
Amount: 1175.00 
Expense Account: Rent 
Currency: CAD
Cleared: No
ID: 879
% qrmm 411
1 Transaction deleted
% 

This could probably be implemented quite readily for the SQL data
storage scheme via a set of Perl/Python scripts, perhaps with some
central storage of information about what "folder" you're looking at.
The other reasonable approach would involve using the RPC-based access
schemes.

It would make /much/ more sense to do this as a set of commands ala MH
than as a captive user interface using ncurses; that allows people to
automate processes themselves...
--
(concatenate 'string "cbbrowne" "@cbbrowne.com")
http://www.ntlug.org/~cbbrowne/mail.html#MH
``What this means is that when  people say, "The X11 folks should have
done this, done that, or included this or that", they really should be
saying "Hey, the X11 people were smart enough to allow me to add this,
that and the other myself."''  -- David B. Lewis <dbl at motifzone.com>