window.delch() for virtual screen

Question

When I use window.delch(y, x) in curses, python, the delete will happen on the screen, rather than the virtual screen, that is, the character will be deleted even if I don't call window.refresh(). Why is that, and how would I delete the character only on the virtual screen?

Answer 1

If you could provide some sample code that reproduces your issue, that would be helpful. The behavior of windows, as far as I can reproduce, is that delch() will not update the screen until refresh() has been called. See my sample code which demonstrates this:

import curses
import time

stdscr = curses.initscr()
curses.noecho()
curses.cbreak()
stdscr.keypad(True)

stdscr.addch(1, 1, ord('a'))
time.sleep(1)
stdscr.refresh()
stdscr.delch(1, 1)
time.sleep(3)
stdscr.refresh()
time.sleep(1)

curses.echo()
curses.nocbreak()
stdscr.keypad(False)
curses.endwin()