TUI for Tokei

[Embers-of-the-Fire]

TUI for Tokei

Inspired by Issue #969, I am considering creating a TUI feature for Tokei. Therefore, I created this discussion to talk about whether it is necessary and what it should look like.

Why do we need a TUI?

Sometimes we need to browse through code statistics for multiple projects and files. However, running Tokei for each project or file can be cumbersome and pointless. That's why I'm considering creating a TUI feature to serve this purpose.

Some initial ideas

Main goals of the service

I believe that this TUI should be designed as a simplified version of Tokei. Therefore, my main goals for its functionality are:

1. Display current code statistics statically while browsing files.
2. Dynamically recognize configuration files such as .tokeignore in folders or projects.

Input parameters

As a TUI, I don't think there should be a lot of preset parameters entered within the interface itself. My idea is to add a flag on top of the existing command-line interface for Tokei to launch the TUI so that only one parameter needs to be entered.

Interface design

I currently have a draft layout for the interface that looks something like this:

┌─────────────────────────────Tokei TUI─────────────────────────────┐
│┌Files───────────────────┐┌Statistics─────────────────────────────┐│
││.git                    ││ Language      L...  Code  C...  B...  ││
││.gitignore              ││ File: .\.gitignore                    ││
││Cargo.lock              ││ Language 0       0     0     0     0  ││
││Cargo.toml              ││ Language 1       1     1     1     1  ││
││log.txt                 ││ Language 2       2     2     2     2  ││
││scrollable list.md      ││ Language 3       3     3     3     3  ││
││src                     ││ Language 4       4     4     4     4  ││
││target                  ││ Language 5       5     5     5     5  ││
││tests                   ││ Language 6       6     6     6     6  ││
││tokei tui.md            ││ Language 7       7     7     7     7  ││
││                        ││ Language 8       8     8     8     8  ││
││                        ││ Language 9       9     9     9     9  ││
││                        ││ Language 10     10    10    10    10  ││
││                        ││ Language 11     11    11    11    11  ││
││                        ││ Language 12     12    12    12    12  ││
││                        ││ Language 13     13    13    13    13  ││
││                        ││ Language 14     14    14    14    14  ││
││                        ││ Language 15     15    15    15    15  ││
││                        ││                                       ││
│└────────────────────────┘└───────────────────────────────────────┘│
└───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Here, I intentionally reduced the terminal width, so the headers may be too short.

Conclusion

Tokei is a great tool and it deserves a great community. If you have any feedback on this proposal, please feel free to suggest it. I will try to implement all functions as much as possible, but it may also require the help of others.