ASCII user interface in C++ w/ Unix PuTTY terminal using escape sequences

I'm trying to make a simple ASCII user interface for a simple internet chat program. I'm planning it to look like this:

(name): message

(name): message

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

(you): message |(cursor)

I was going to use ASCII (ANSI?) control characters to accomplish this.

Whenever the chat client receives a message from the server, it should update so that the message appears as the first message above the dash-line, then return the开发者_运维问答 cursor to its previous position so the user can continue typing where they left off.

My initial plan was:

1. save the current cursor position (\e7)

2. move the cursor up 1 line (to the dash-line) and to the beginning of that line (\e[1F])

3. move the dash line down (\n)

4. move the cursor up one line again (to the now empty line) (\e[1A)

5. print the message from the server

6. restore previous cursor position (\e8)

all together: "\e7\e[1F\n\e[1A" << message << "\e8";

Where I'm having trouble is that the newline character seems only to move the cursor to the next line, and not actually insert a blank line. How can I accomplish this behavior?

This is for a homework assignment, but this is just an extra bit of flair i wanted to add on for myself. The actual assignment is already completed.

note: algorithm for handling user's input on their own screen is handled correctly already.

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Look into something like pdcurses. It's cross platform. That will make all of those manipulations a lot easier. You can also check into curses on *nix and the ancient conio library on Windows if you don't mind your code not being portable.

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If you are using bash, you can do it with special commands using characters escapes. See http://tldp.org/HOWTO/Bash-Prompt-HOWTO/x361.html

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Seriously consider using a curses library (see Wikipedia for more information).