Is terminal.buffer._core.viewport._activeBuffer.x the right way to access the current cursor x position

[ckkMicrosoft]

This is a wonderful library :) .. I love how easy it was for me to get up and running! I'd really appreciate some help here.

The examples on the net indicate that I should be able to use term.buffer.cursorX to get the current x position but it seems that the latest code has changed and its no longer supported. I was able to access the x position by trial and error but the underscores make me think that this may not be the right way.

Is there a right way to get the cursor position or has there been a regression?

[Tyriar]

As an embedder you should never reach into anything not specified in xterm.d.ts like _core, as that's getting into private API that can change at any time. The right way to access the cursor x is term.buffer.active.cursorX. The active is needed because there is a "normal" and an "alt" buffer (eg. when in vim).

[Tyriar]

@alanhg term.buffer.active.getLine(y)?.getCell(x)?.getWidth()

[alanhe421]

This is the width of a single cell. Is there a way for me to obtain the relative position of the cursor in the terminal, that is, the relative width and height?

[Tyriar]

If you want by pixels, I don't think there's an easy way to get that. You could use the DOM renderer and get the cursor element's bounding box, you would lose the perf benefits though.

[alanhe421]

So here, for my needs, I can only calculate the width and height of each cell and sum them up for use. Indeed, the performance would be poor.

[jerch]

Well you can try to get somewhere with the private API here:

xterm.js/src/browser/services/RenderService.ts

Line 53 in 823258e

public get dimensions(): IRenderDimensions { return this._renderer!.dimensions; }

It holds more information, but ofc might change from version to version, so creates a much higher maintenance burden on your side.

Edit:
It still would need you to calc offsets for individual cell access/positioning, as the terminal does not maintain any data structure containing that precalced.