NAME
TUI::Manual::01 - Introduction to TUI::Vision
INTRODUCTION
TUI::Vision is a Perl implementation of the classic Turbo Vision application framework.
After two earlier attempts, the project eventually matured into a complete and publicly available implementation that was released in 2025. What originally began as a Windows-focused experiment has since evolved into a cross-platform framework capable of supporting modern terminal environments while remaining faithful to the programming model introduced by Turbo Vision.
The goal of TUI::Vision is not simply to reproduce the original framework. Instead, it aims to provide a practical and modern foundation for developing text user interface applications in Perl while preserving the architectural principles that made Turbo Vision successful.
From the beginning, TUI::Vision was designed as a native Perl project rather than a wrapper around an existing implementation. While technologies such as XS and FFI provide excellent solutions for integrating external libraries, they solve a different problem.
The objective of TUI::Vision is to bring the Turbo Vision architecture, programming model and development experience into the Perl ecosystem itself. Developers can therefore study, extend and adapt the framework using ordinary Perl code and familiar Perl development tools.
Historical Background
Turbo Vision was introduced by Borland as a framework for building text-based user interfaces. At a time when graphical user interfaces were becoming increasingly important, Turbo Vision demonstrated that many of the same concepts could be implemented successfully within a character-based environment.
Desktop management, overlapping windows, dialogs, menu bars, status lines, command processing and persistent object streaming were all provided within a consistent programming framework.
Many of these ideas remain relevant today. While modern applications often target graphical environments, terminal-based applications continue to play an important role in system administration, development tools, remote access solutions and embedded systems.
TUI::Vision continues this tradition by bringing the Turbo Vision design philosophy to modern Perl development.
What is TUI::Vision?
TUI::Vision is a framework for building text user interface applications in Perl.
Applications are typically organized around a desktop that hosts windows, dialogs, menus and other user interface components. These components cooperate through a common view hierarchy and an event driven architecture.
A minimal application can be created as follows:
use TUI::App;
my $app = TApplication->new();
$app->run();Although simple, this example already demonstrates one of the most important ideas behind TUI::Vision applications are constructed from reusable framework components rather than from direct terminal operations.
A deliberate design goal of TUI::Vision is to keep dependencies low and avoid compiled components wherever practical. This makes it easier to study the implementation, understand the framework and adapt it to specific application requirements.
Turbo Vision Heritage
TUI::Vision preserves many of the concepts that defined the original Turbo Vision framework.
Among the most important are:
The desktop-oriented application model
Windows and dialogs
Menus and status lines
The event-driven programming model
The view hierarchy
Stream-based persistence
Developers familiar with Turbo Vision will recognize these concepts immediately, while new users can learn them through the chapters that follow.
Although the framework has been adapted to Perl and modern terminal environments, the overall design philosophy remains closely aligned with the original system.
The Structure of This Manual
This manual introduces the framework progressively.
The following chapter provides a practical starting point and shows how to create and run a basic TUI::Vision application.
Subsequent chapters explore the architecture of the framework, including the view hierarchy, event processing and the composition of user interfaces from reusable components.
Windows, dialogs, menu bars and status lines are then examined in detail, followed by discussions of collections, streams and advanced framework topics.
While the chapters are intended to be read sequentially, individual topics can also be consulted independently when working on a specific area of an application.
Conclusion
TUI::Vision brings the architecture and programming model of Turbo Vision into the Perl ecosystem while embracing modern development practices and contemporary terminal environments.
The framework combines a familiar object-oriented design with the flexibility of Perl, allowing applications to be built from reusable views, dialogs, windows and other specialized components.
The next chapter introduces the basic steps required to create and run a TUI::Vision application and provides the foundation for the more detailed discussions that follow throughout this manual.
next chapter.