ConsoleAsksFor 1.0.0-prerelease-20211003103006

ConsoleAsksFor

ConsoleAsksFor is library for asking for input in a console app easily.

Goal

The aim of ConsoleAsksFor removing hassle of retrieving input in a console app without manually having to parse or to retry when invalid.

Installation

You can download the latest release / pre-release NuGet packages from nuget:

• ConsoleAsksFor
• ConsoleAsksFor.Microsoft.DependencyInjection
• ConsoleAsksFor.NodaTime.ISO

Setup

Register Console with ConsoleAsksFor.Microsoft.DependencyInjection:

services.AddConsoleAsksFor();

Resolve a service which has dependency on IConsole of resolve service directly:

var console = serviceProvider.GetRequiredService<IConsole>();

Or create with factory:

ConsoleFactory.Create();

Start using

Some examples:

var isSure = await console.AskForBool("Are you sure?");
var age = await console.AskForInt("What is your age?", Between(0, 125));
var length = await console.AskForDecimal("What is your length (in meters)?", DecimalPrecision.Two, Between(0m, 2.5m));
var appointmentStart = await console.AskForDateTimeOffset("How late should we meet?", TimeZoneInfo.Local, AtLeast(DateTimeOffset.Now), defaultValue: DateTimeOffset.Now.AddHours(1));
var favoriteColor = await console.AskForEnum<ConsoleColor>("What is your favorite color?");
var preferredName = await console.AskForItem("Which name do you prefer?", new[] { "Jantje", "Pietje" });
var directory = await console.AskForExistingDirectory("Where to store file?", defaultValue: new DirectoryInfo(@"C:\Temp"));
var name = await console.AskForString("What is your name?");
var zipcode = await console.AskForString("What is your Dutch zipcode?", new Regex("^[1-9][0-9]{3}[A-Z]{2}$"), "Format: '5555AA' where first digit is not a 0");
var pw = await console.AskForPassword("What is the secret code?");

Demo

Features

• Default values
• History
  • ByQuestionTextAndType (default)
  • ByQuestionType
  • NotFiltered
• Basic Intellisense
• Colors
  • Visual feedback whether current answer is correct
  • Different colors for different line types
  • Customizable
• Basic multithreading support:
  • During asking questions other output to Console is suspended
  • When multiple treads are asking questions, questions are queued

Supported types

ConsoleAsksFor

• AskForBool
• AskForByte
• AskForSignedByte
• AskForShort
• AskForUnsignedShort
• AskForInt
• AskForUnsignedInt
• AskForLong
• AskForUnsignedLong
• AskForDecimal
• AskForDate
• AskForDateTime
• AskForDateTimeOffset
• AskForDirectory
• AskForExistingDirectory
• AskForNewDirectory
• AskForFileName
• AskForExistingFileName
• AskForNewFileName
• AskForEnum<T>
• AskForFlaggedEnum<T>
• AskForItem<T>
• AskForItems<T>
• AskForString
• AskForPassword

ConsoleAsksFor.NodaTime.ISO

• AskForInstant
• AskForLocalDate
• AskForLocalDateTime
• AskForLocalTime
• AskForZonedDateTime
• AskForAnnualDate
• AskForYearMonth

Release notes

See the Releases page ConsoleAsksFor for release history.

Versioning

ConsoleAsksFor follows Semantic Versioning 2.0.0 for the releases published to nuget.org.

Credits

• Sergey Shumov for his AsyncAutoResetEvent gist.
• Jerrie Pelser for showing how to enable ansi colors in windows.
• JSQuareD for showing how to cancel Console.ReadKey.
• Sergey for showing how to lock resource in combination with async/await.

Other

Another reason to make ConsoleAsksFor is because I have never worked with github and never created public nuget package. So this is a little brain exercise I guess 😃.