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The #<panel>
object is a window that is implicitly treated as
part of a deck including all other panel objects. The deck is treated
as a stack with the top panel being completely visible and the other
panels may or may not be obscured according to their positions. So the
basic idea is to create a stack of overlapping panels and use panels
library to display them correctly. There is a function similar to
refresh
which, when called , displays panels in the correct
order. Functions are provided to hide or show panels, move panels,
change its size etc.. The overlapping problem is managed by the panels
library during all the calls to these functions.
The general flow of a panel program goes like this:
newwin
) to be attached to the panels.
new-panel
is
used to create panels.
update-panels
to write the panels to the virtual screen in
correct visibility order. Do a doupdate
to show it on the
screen.
show-panel
, hide-panel
,
move-panel
etc. Make use of helper functions like
panel-hidden
and panel-window
.
del-panel
to delete the
panel.
Let’s make the concepts clear, with some programs. The following is a simple program which creates 3 overlapping panels and shows them on the screen.