rubbs

A Ruby gem for building telnet BBS servers. Three interaction layers, from simplest to richest:

Layer	What it is	When to use
`BBS::Flow`	Line-oriented declarative dialogue DSL (ask / say / menu / persist)	Login, registration, simple wizards
`BBS::TUI`	Page-router with frame-buffer delta rendering	Single-purpose full-screen UIs
`BBS::Application`	Full widget framework: Menubar, Window, Button, TextInput, ListBox, …	Multi-window Synchronet-style BBSes

A single session can switch between layers — typically Flow for login then Application for the main shell.

Installation

# Gemfile
gem 'bbs', git: 'https://git.teletype.hu/tools/rubbs.git'

Quick start — Flow + Application

require 'bbs'

MAIN = BBS::Application.define do
  theme BBS::Theme.synchronet

  menubar do
    menu '&File' do
      item '&About' do BBS::Dialogs.message(self, 'Hello from rubbs!') end
      item 'E&xit'  do :halt end
    end
  end

  status_hint('F1', 'Help') { BBS::Dialogs.message(self, 'No help yet.') }
  status_hint('F10', 'Menu') { menubar.open(0) }
end

BBS.configure do |c|
  c.mouse        = true
  c.idle_seconds = 600
  c.flow = BBS::Flow.define do
    big_banner 'MY BBS', style: :success
    ask :username, prompt: 'Name'
    app MAIN
    say 'Goodbye!'
  end
end

BBS.start

Connect with telnet localhost 2323.

Configuration

BBS.configure yields a BBS::Config:

Option	Default	Description
`flow`	—	A `BBS::Flow` object (required)
`port`	`ENV["BBS_PORT"] \|\| 2323`	TCP port
`mouse`	`false`	Enable xterm SGR mouse reporting
`idle_seconds`	`nil`	Disconnect after N idle seconds (nil = never)
`theme`	—	Default theme for Applications (overridable per app)
`screens_dir`	`nil`	Directory for ERB screens used by `BBS::Flow#screen`
`on_session_end`	`nil`	Lambda called when a session ends

The Application layer

BBS::Application is a widget event loop with:

a root container drawn behind windows;
an optional Menubar with Alt-letter pulldown menus and F10 access;
an optional Statusbar with clickable hotkey hints;
a stack of modal Windows (the top one receives input first);
xterm SGR mouse events delivered to widgets;
a 1 Hz internal tick for chat polling, clocks, etc.

Built-in widgets (`BBS::Widgets`)

Widget	Purpose
`Label`	Static text, optionally aligned, themed via `style_key`
`Button`	`&Save`-style hotkey, fires `on_click(self)`; mouse-clickable
`TextInput`	Single-line input with cursor, scroll, `on_submit`/`on_change`
`TextArea`	Multi-line editor with arrow-key navigation
`Checkbox`	Toggle with `on_change(checked, self)`
`ListBox`	Scrolling list with mouse + keyboard, wheel scrolling
`ScrollView`	Read-only scrolling text view, with scrollbar
`ProgressBar`, `Spinner`	Progress feedback
`Panel`, `HBox`, `VBox`	Containers / layout
`Window`	Top-level modal container with title bar, close gadget, shadow

Built-in dialogs (`BBS::Dialogs`)

BBS::Dialogs.message(app, "Saved!", title: ' Done ')
BBS::Dialogs.confirm(app, "Delete?", on_yes: -> { ... })
BBS::Dialogs.input(app, prompt: 'Name?', on_submit: ->(value) { ... })

Menubar DSL

menubar do
  menu '&File' do
    item '&Open', shortcut: 'Ctrl-O' do … end
    separator
    item 'E&xit' do :halt end
  end
end

The block runs in the Application's context (so you can call open_window, close_window, cols, rows, etc.). Return :halt from any handler to end the session.

Theming

BBS::Theme.synchronet (default) is a yellow/cyan Synchronet-inspired palette. BBS::Theme.mono provides a colour-free fallback. Create your own with BBS::Theme.new(:my_theme, { window_border: "\e[1;36m", … }).

The Flow layer

The DSL for line-based dialogue. Available steps:

Step	Purpose
`screen :name`	Render an ERB screen from `screens/`
`banner`, `big_banner`	Box-drawing / FIGlet ASCII art header
`say`, `text`, `section`, `line`, `body`	Text output
`ask :field`, `set :field, value`, `persist :field, store:`	Input + persistence
`pause`, `wait_enter`, `gate`, `confirm`	Control flow
`menu`, `exit_menu`	Numbered option menus
`fetch`, `pick`	Data fetch + list selection
`rows`, `table`	Formatted output
`call { \|ctx, runner\| … }`	Arbitrary code; return `:halt` to end
`tui DEFINITION`	Hand off to a `BBS::TUI` page router
`app DEFINITION`	Hand off to a `BBS::Application` widget app

Input model

Session#readkey(timeout:) returns one of:

a single-character String (printable input)
a Symbol: :enter, :tab, :shift_tab, :backspace, :escape, :up, :down, :left, :right, :home, :end, :page_up, :page_down, :insert, :delete, :f1 … :f12, :ctrl_a … :ctrl_z, :alt_a … (any printable character preceded by ESC), :interrupt, :idle
a BBS::Telnet::MouseEvent with kind, button, x, y, mods — delivered when BBS.config.mouse = true

Stores

BBS::Store is a thread-safe upsert-by-session_id CSV file with an in-memory cache; appends are O(1), full rewrites only on update.

Architecture

File	Responsibility
`bbs/server.rb`	TCP accept loop, one thread per client
`bbs/session.rb`	Telnet negotiation, mouse enable/disable, idle timer
`bbs/telnet.rb`	Telnet protocol, full key parsing, xterm SGR mouse
`bbs/flow.rb`, `bbs/flow_runner.rb`	Flow DSL + interpreter
`bbs/tui.rb`, `bbs/tui_runner.rb`	Page-router with frame-buffer rendering
`bbs/frame_buffer.rb`	Double-buffer, delta diff, drawing helpers
`bbs/application.rb`	Widget event loop, window stack, ticking
`bbs/widget.rb`, `bbs/container.rb`	Widget tree base
`bbs/widgets.rb`	Built-in widgets
`bbs/window.rb`, `bbs/menu.rb`, `bbs/statusbar.rb`, `bbs/dialogs.rb`	Chrome
`bbs/focus_manager.rb`	Tab/Shift-Tab focus traversal
`bbs/theme.rb`	Style palette (synchronet / mono)
`bbs/event.rb`	Unified key + mouse event objects
`bbs/store.rb`	Thread-safe cached CSV upsert
`bbs/banner.rb`, `bbs/renderer.rb`	FIGlet + ERB
`bbs/color.rb`	Simple ANSI colour helper

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