TTB2 — Terminal Table Builder 2.0

TTB2 is the new and improved 2.0 version of the terminal table builder. It features a clean ncurses UI that displays table data live, list-based menus, an integrated SQLite database manager, autosave, paging for wide and tall tables, an inline search mode, interactive row/column deletion, and a simple JSON-backed settings system. CSV and XLSX import/export support is built in.

All of the features you're used to, just improved.

Build

Dependencies (Debian/Ubuntu packages):

• GCC/Clang (build-essential) sudo apt install build-essential
• ncurses (wide-char) (libncursesw5-dev) sudo apt install libncursesw5-dev
• SQLite3 (libsqlite3-dev) sudo apt install libsqlite3-dev
• JSON-C (libjson-c-dev) sudo apt install libjson-c-dev
• zlib (zlib1g-dev) sudo apt install zlib1g-dev

Build the native binary:

make

This produces ./build/ttb2.

Clean:

make clean

Run locally:

./build/ttb2

Highlights

• Interactive table editing (add columns/rows; rename columns; change types; edit cells)
• Fast load and render times; smooth scrolling even on large tables
• Low‑RAM seek paging (SQLite-backed, streaming windows; no OFFSET) — toggle in Settings
• Row‑number gutter (centered, toggle in Settings)
• Data types: int, float, str, bool (color‑coded)
• Column paging with ←/→ and footer hints
• Row paging with ↑/↓
• Search mode: press F to search; navigate matches with ←/→/↑/↓; Esc exits; exact substring highlight inside the selected cell
• Edit mode tools: [x] Delete Row, [Shift+X] Delete Column (guarded), [Backspace] Clear Cell
• DB Manager: Connect/Create/Delete DB, Load Table, Delete Table, Close
• Smart sync prompts when connecting/creating DB or loading CSV with a conflicting table name
• Workspace auto-save to .ttbx projects (toggle via Settings, manual save with S)
• Settings modal (saved to settings/settings.json; includes type inference, Low‑RAM seek paging, row gutter)
• Exports: native CSV and XLSX save options (no external runtime required)

Screenshots

Main UI

Table Menu

Database Manager

Searching Data

Keybindings

• c Add column
• r Add row
• e Edit mode (arrows to navigate, Enter to edit, Esc to exit)
• f Search mode (arrows to jump matches, Esc to exit)
• S Save workspace project
• Ctrl+H Jump to top‑left (Home)
• m Table menu (Rename, Save, Load, New Table, DB Manager, Settings)
• In Edit mode:
  • x Delete row (interactive; Enter confirms)
  • Shift+X Delete column (interactive; Enter confirms)
  • Backspace Clear cell (with confirmation)
  • Ctrl+H Jump to top‑left (Home)
• q Quit

Notes:

• Terminals often report Home as Ctrl+H; both are shown as “Home” in the footer.

Performance / Low‑RAM Mode

• Enable “Low‑RAM seek paging” in Settings to browse large datasets without loading everything into memory.
• Rows are fetched in small windows and rendered incrementally to keep memory and latency stable.
• On Windows terminals, flicker is minimized by double‑buffered updates and scanning only visible rows for column widths.

Workspace & Exports

• A project workspace lives in workspace/session.ttbx by default. The file is created automatically and updated whenever autosave triggers or you press S.
• Use the Export menu to write the current data as:
  • .ttbl – a single-table snapshot
  • .ttbx – a project/workbook bundle
  • .csv or .xlsx

CI

GitHub Actions installs build deps and runs a simple make; build logs are visible in the job output.

Author

Luke Canada (canadaluke888@gmail.com)