simple-term-menu not work on Windows

[jDan735]

System

Parameter	Info
OS	Win7 SP1 x86
Python	Python 3.8.3
Pip	Pip 20.1.1

Steps to reproduce

1. pip install simple-term-menu
2. run this code:

from simple_term_menu import TerminalMenu

terminal_menu = TerminalMenu(["entry 1", "entry 2", "entry 3"])
terminal_menu.show()

Output

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "<stdin>", line 1, in <module>
  File "H:\github\simple-term-menu\simple_term_menu.py", line 7, in <module>
    import termios
ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'termios'

[IngoMeyer441]

Thanks for trying simple-term-menu. Currently, only Linux and macos are supported. Windows needs completely different terminal handling code. That is also the reason why termios is not available on Windows (on Unix-like systems it is part of the Python standard library).

[IngoMeyer441]

Is using Cygwin maybe an option for you?

[jDan735]

Possible. simple-term-menu started in msys32, also this must work in wsl

[IngoMeyer441]

The next release will at least throw a more descriptive exception for non-supported platforms.

[buanzo]

Just to mention it works fine on wsl as @jDan735 indicated. Check this out (WSL2 Ubuntu LTS 18.04.5)

[tmkkcc]

Will this be fixed soon? Are there alternatives to this ?

[IngoMeyer441]

Windows terminals need completely different terminal handling code so quite a lot of work has to be done first. I think it would be best to split simple-term-menu in a platform dependent and a platform independent part so the right terminal backend code can be loaded if on Unix or Windows. However:

• I don't know if a Windows terminal supports all features simple-term-menu uses in Unix environments.
• I definitely need help here because I am not very familiar with Windows programming.

@tmkkcc Maybe bullet could be the right choice for you. There is a open PR for adding Windows support.

[buanzo]

I use it within Microsoft Terminal (the one from the app store), under wsl2 and it runs wonderfully. I wouldn't be so sure under legacy terminal, but I might be able to help you test, develop.

…

On Tue, Jun 22, 2021, 08:59 Ingo Meyer ***@***.***> wrote: Windows terminals need completely different terminal handling code so quite a lot of work has to be done first. I think it would be best to split simple-term-menu in a platform dependent and a platform independent part so the right terminal backend code can be loaded if on Unix or Windows. However: - I don't know if a Windows terminal supports all features simple-term-menu uses in Unix environments. - I definitely need help here because I am not very familiar with Windows programming. @tmkkcc <https://github.com/tmkkcc> Maybe bullet could be the right choice for you. There is a open PR for adding Windows support <bchao1/bullet#79>. — You are receiving this because you commented. Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub <#5 (comment)>, or unsubscribe <https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/AAEHBTYNB75KKM5YPQNJ6LLTUB3JNANCNFSM4N3T7M3Q> .

[wnhrt]

I have played around a bit in the last two days and got at least the basic basic functions in 'Windows Terminal' to work:

At first sight it looks like entry selection, colors, preview and search (just couldn't get <backspace> to work as expected) could work fine without too many changes.

I have close to no knowledge about Windows Terminal and CMD handling, but I figured following key points might be quiet challenging to implement:

• window resize event
• unicode / wcswidth (didn't find any easy alternative implemented in Windows) > https://github.com/jquast/wcwidth

and most likely some other things and edge cases, which I have not considered yet. Without external dependencies, the amount of code is likely to grow a lot. I have also used some shortcuts which could benefit from a proper implementation (e.g. use of sys.stdin/out, instat of a proper stream handle).

But perhaps I have overlooked some simpler solutions.

[IngoMeyer441]

@wnhrt This is great news! 👍 I really thought that handling a windows terminal would be much trickier. Could you share your code changes? I am very curious. 😊

[wnhrt]

Sure thing 😃
wnhrt@9f65d65
(Your recent commit about multiselect slipped with in)

I was able to get backspace to work (used the wrong key code) and enable VT100 mode in CMD.exe.

Variable length unicode symbols and resize of the window still cause problems and I didn't test key combinations, like Alt+X or Ctrl+X.

I reused most of your code. Design wise it might be sensible to create Windows-specific functions, e.g. for _query_terminfo_database. Also _tty_in/out and similar unix specific naming could be confusing for future contributors.

[IngoMeyer441]

If it is possible to display Unicode characters, the Unicode box characters should also work. Didn't know that the legacy terminal supports Unicode characters.

[wnhrt]

I guess it does not. It uses Windows-1252. But you are right, it luckily supports box characters :)

I made a pull request, which also includes a fix to use them.

[IngoMeyer441]

The wcwidth module could become an optional dependency for Windows (for example, by installing it with pip install simple-term-menu[wcwidth]). If it is not installed, simple-term-menu could fall back to the len function, so people (especially Unix users) are not forced to install any dependency.

[nitsuaustin11]

not sure if this helps. but i just installed the lynux terminal and it all works fine. couldnt run anything before.

just ran "wsl --install" in my terminal. i think as admin. and then restarted pc.

[cornradio]

is there any thing like simple-term-menu work on windows?
i just need some basic funcion like short cut and choosing item!

[cornradio]

since there is not any progress about supporting windows, i made this if any one need ! dumb_menu

[Abeautifulsnow]

python-inquirer is also a good choice(supports cross-platform and single/multiple selection, etc). Hope it will save your life. I use it in my project - pkgu.