In character interfaces, ABL reserves color table locations 0 through 4 for the following foreground/background color pairs:

  • Color 0 holds colors used as the NORMAL color by ABL.
  • Color 1 holds the colors used as the INPUT color by ABL. As installed, this is underline mode.
  • Color 2 holds the colors used as the MESSAGE color by ABL. As installed, this is reverse video.
  • Color 3 holds the colors used for high-intensity mode. This mode is not available for all terminals.
  • Color 4 holds the colors used for blink mode. This mode is not available for all terminals.

By default, text-input widgets use the INPUT colors when in prompt-for mode. Note, however, that when displaying an editor widget with scroll bars to display read-only text, using NORMAL rather than INPUT for prompt-for mode might make more visual sense to the user.

In the PROTERMCAP file, you can specify additional application color pairs from color 5 to 127. For more information, see Manage ABL Applications.