Console Prompts

A small .NET library to take user input in a console with some exception handling and fluent syntax.

Features

• User input queries with fluent syntax
• Input restrictions (e.g. numeric range, string length, path to an existing file)
• Invalid input handling
• Prompt styling
• Support for IParsable

Usage

Use the Prompt class to create a query with one of the For methods. Add limits to the query with fluent syntax and Display the query to the user.

int userAge = Prompt.For<int>("Your age").NoLessThan(1).Display();
const int drinkingAge = 21;

if (userAge >= drinkingAge)
{
	Console.WriteLine("You are of drinking age!");
}
else
{
	Console.WriteLine("Sorry, you can't have a drink.");
}

Styling

The way prompts are displayed can be changed with PromptStyler class.

PromptStyler.PromptFormat = "[{1}] {0} = ";
PromptStyler.InvalidInputFormat = "I can't accept that: {0}";
PromptStyler.HintLevel = PromptHintLevel.Verbose;

Console.WriteLine("f(x) = 60 + 10x");

float x = Prompt
	.For<float>("x")
	.ForceFinite()
	.OfRange(0, 1)
	.AddHint("real", PromptHintLevel.Verbose)
	.Display();

Console.WriteLine($"f(x) = 60 + 10 * {x} = {60 + 10 * x}");

See Demo Project for some other examples.

Installation

NuGet

The best way to add the library to your project is via NuGet package manager. Use the .NET CLI command:

dotnet add package Rephidock.ConsolePrompts

or the package browser in the IDE of your choice.

Manual download

Alternatively you can download the library files manually.

1. Open the Releases page.

2. Download the .dll.

3. (Optional, Recommended) Also download the .xml file of the same release.

   The .xml file contains documentation and should be placed in the same directory as the .dll for hints to appear in an IDE.

4. Add the dependency in your .csproj file:

   <ItemGroup>
     <Reference Include="Rephidock.ConsolePrompts">
       <HintPath>Relative\Or\Absolute\Path\To\Rephidock.ConsolePrompts.dll</HintPath>
     </Reference>
   </ItemGroup>