diff --git a/form/fty_alpha.c b/form/fty_alpha.c
index bd49544..917a9e0 100644
--- a/form/fty_alpha.c
+++ b/form/fty_alpha.c
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 /****************************************************************************
- * Copyright (c) 1998-2006,2007 Free Software Foundation, Inc.              *
+ * Copyright (c) 1998-2009,2010 Free Software Foundation, Inc.              *
  *                                                                          *
  * Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a  *
  * copy of this software and associated documentation files (the            *
@@ -34,7 +34,7 @@
 
 #include "form.priv.h"
 
-MODULE_ID("$Id: fty_alpha.c,v 1.23 2007/10/13 19:32:09 tom Exp $")
+MODULE_ID("$Id: fty_alpha.c,v 1.26 2010/01/23 21:14:36 tom Exp $")
 
 #define thisARG alphaARG
 
@@ -46,6 +46,32 @@
 
 /*---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 |   Facility      :  libnform
+|   Function      :  static void *Generic_This_Type(va_list *ap)
+|
+|   Description   :  Allocate structure for alpha type argument.
+|
+|   Return Values :  Pointer to argument structure or NULL on error
++--------------------------------------------------------------------------*/
+static void *
+Generic_This_Type(void *arg)
+{
+  thisARG *argp = (thisARG *) 0;
+
+  if (arg)
+    {
+      argp = typeMalloc(thisARG, 1);
+
+      if (argp)
+	{
+	  T((T_CREATE("thisARG %p"), (void *)argp));
+	  argp->width = *((int *)arg);
+	}
+    }
+  return ((void *)argp);
+}
+
+/*---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+|   Facility      :  libnform
 |   Function      :  static void *Make_This_Type(va_list *ap)
 |
 |   Description   :  Allocate structure for alpha type argument.
@@ -55,15 +81,9 @@
 static void *
 Make_This_Type(va_list *ap)
 {
-  thisARG *argp = typeMalloc(thisARG, 1);
+  int w = va_arg(*ap, int);
 
-  if (argp)
-    {
-      T((T_CREATE("thisARG %p"), argp));
-      argp->width = va_arg(*ap, int);
-    }
-
-  return ((void *)argp);
+  return Generic_This_Type((void *)&w);
 }
 
 /*---------------------------------------------------------------------------
@@ -82,7 +102,7 @@
 
   if (result)
     {
-      T((T_CREATE("thisARG %p"), result));
+      T((T_CREATE("thisARG %p"), (void *)result));
       *result = *ap;
     }
 
@@ -156,12 +176,27 @@
   Make_This_Type,
   Copy_This_Type,
   Free_This_Type,
-  Check_This_Field,
-  Check_This_Character,
-  NULL,
-  NULL
+  INIT_FT_FUNC(Check_This_Field),
+  INIT_FT_FUNC(Check_This_Character),
+  INIT_FT_FUNC(NULL),
+  INIT_FT_FUNC(NULL),
+#if NCURSES_INTEROP_FUNCS
+  Generic_This_Type
+#endif
 };
 
 NCURSES_EXPORT_VAR(FIELDTYPE*) TYPE_ALPHA = &typeTHIS;
 
+#if NCURSES_INTEROP_FUNCS
+/* The next routines are to simplify the use of ncurses from
+   programming languages with restictions on interop with C level
+   constructs (e.g. variable access or va_list + ellipsis constructs)
+*/
+NCURSES_EXPORT(FIELDTYPE *)
+_nc_TYPE_ALPHA(void)
+{
+  return TYPE_ALPHA;
+}
+#endif
+
 /* fty_alpha.c ends here */