there is a tool deploying "ncurses" .
It is called
dialog and offers some widgets like Textbox, Progressbar, Date/Time selector and alike. It should already be installed.
List of widgets available:
Code:
--buildlist
--calendar
--checklist
--dselect
--editbox
--form
--fselect
--gauge
--infobox
--inputbox
--inputmenu
--menu
--mixedform
--mixedgauge
--msgbox
--passwordbox
--passwordform
--pause
--prgbox
--programbox
--progressbox
--radiolist
--rangebox
--tailbox
--tailboxbg
--textbox
--timebox
--treeview
--yesno
If you want to script the same for DesktopEnvironments then use
kdialog if on KDE.
zenity if it is GNOME
Via
dbus the InterProcessCommunication tool one can even send commands to other Windows. Use
qdbus for this. ( And
dbusviewer to learn it.)