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Curses Settings Widget

The curses UI provides an interactive settings widget for viewing and modifying MBASIC settings.

Opening the Settings Widget

Keyboard shortcut: Ctrl+,

Or navigate to the settings menu item if available in your version.

Settings Widget Interface

The settings widget displays:

┌─ Settings ──────────────────────────────────────┐
│                                                  │
│  EDITOR                                          │
│  ────────────────────────────────────────────   │
│  Auto Number:                                    │
│    [✓]                                           │
│  Auto Number Step:                               │
│    [10    ]                                      │
│  Tab Size:                                       │
│    [4     ]                                      │
│  Show Line Numbers:                              │
│    [✓]                                           │
│                                                  │
│  KEYWORDS                                        │
│  ────────────────────────────────────────────   │
│  Case Style:                                     │
│    ( ) force_lower                               │
│    (•) force_upper                               │
│    ( ) force_capitalize                          │
│                                                  │
│  [  OK  ] [ Cancel ] [ Apply ] [  Reset  ]      │
└──────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Keyboard Controls

Key Action
↑ / ↓ Navigate between settings
Tab Move to next widget
Shift+Tab Move to previous widget
Space Toggle checkbox / select radio button
Enter Activate focused button
ESC Close settings (cancel)

Mouse Controls

If mouse support is enabled: - Click on checkboxes to toggle - Click on radio buttons to select - Click on input fields to edit - Click buttons to activate

Setting Types

Boolean Settings (Checkboxes)

Example: Auto Number

  • [ ] - Unchecked (false)
  • [✓] - Checked (true)

How to change: 1. Navigate to checkbox with arrow keys 2. Press Space to toggle

Integer Settings (Input Fields)

Example: Auto Number Step

How to change: 1. Navigate to input field 2. Press Enter or start typing 3. Enter new number 4. Press Enter to confirm

Validation: - Only numeric values accepted - Must be within valid range (displayed in help text) - Invalid values show error and revert

Enum Settings (Radio Buttons)

Example: Case Style

( ) force_lower
(•) force_upper
( ) force_capitalize

How to change: 1. Navigate to radio button group 2. Use arrow keys to move between options 3. Press Space to select

Only one option can be selected at a time.

Button Actions

OK

  • Apply all changes
  • Save to disk
  • Close settings widget

Cancel

  • Discard all changes
  • Restore previous values
  • Close settings widget

Apply

  • Apply all changes
  • Save to disk
  • Keep widget open (for further editing)

Reset

  • Reset all settings to default values
  • Does not save automatically
  • Click OK or Apply to confirm reset

Settings Categories

Settings are organized into categories:

EDITOR

  • Auto Number (checkbox)
  • Auto Number Step (integer, 1-1000)
  • Tab Size (integer, 1-16)
  • Show Line Numbers (checkbox)

KEYWORDS

  • Case Style (radio buttons)
  • force_lower
  • force_upper
  • force_capitalize

VARIABLES

  • Case Conflict (radio buttons)
  • first_wins
  • error
  • prefer_upper
  • prefer_lower
  • prefer_mixed
  • Show Types In Window (checkbox)

INTERPRETER

  • Strict Mode (checkbox)
  • Max Execution Time (integer, 1-3600 seconds)
  • Debug Mode (checkbox)

UI

  • Theme (radio buttons)
  • default
  • dark
  • light
  • classic
  • Font Size (integer, 8-32 points)

Common Tasks

Change Auto-Numbering Increment

  1. Press Ctrl+, to open settings
  2. Navigate to EDITOR section
  3. Find "Auto Number Step" field
  4. Enter new value (e.g., 100)
  5. Click Apply or OK

Result: New lines will increment by 100 instead of 10

Force Uppercase Keywords

  1. Open settings (Ctrl+,)
  2. Navigate to KEYWORDS section
  3. Select "force_upper" radio button
  4. Click Apply

Result: When you LIST your program, keywords show in UPPERCASE

Enable Error Checking for Variable Typos

  1. Open settings
  2. Navigate to VARIABLES section
  3. Select "error" under Case Conflict
  4. Click Apply

Result: Mistyped variable names trigger errors

Switch to Dark Theme

  1. Open settings
  2. Navigate to UI section
  3. Select "dark" theme
  4. Click Apply

Result: UI switches to dark color scheme

Tips

  1. Use Apply for experiments - Click Apply to test settings without closing the widget. If you don't like the result, change it back and Apply again.

  2. Cancel to undo - If you make unwanted changes, press ESC or click Cancel to revert.

  3. Reset when confused - If settings get misconfigured, use Reset to return to safe defaults.

  4. Check help text - Each setting shows brief help text below the input widget.

  5. Scroll for more - If you have many settings, use arrow keys to scroll through the list.

Settings Persistence

Settings changed via the widget are saved to: - Linux/Mac: ~/.mbasic/settings.json - Windows: %APPDATA%\mbasic\settings.json

Changes persist across sessions automatically.

Troubleshooting

Settings widget won't open

  • Check keyboard shortcut in your keybindings
  • Try from command line: add --settings flag (if supported)

Changes don't take effect

  • Make sure you clicked Apply or OK (not Cancel)
  • Check that value is within valid range
  • Restart MBASIC if needed

Invalid value error

  • Check the valid range shown in help text
  • For enums, only predefined choices are allowed
  • Booleans must be toggled via checkbox

Settings reset on restart

  • Check file permissions on ~/.mbasic/settings.json
  • Make sure disk is not full
  • Look for error messages when exiting

See Also

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