There was time when console was everywhere and no graphic user interface for any operating system at all. Nowadays some computer users even does not know what is command prompt for Windows or terminal for Macintosh OSX.
Command line user interface (CLI) is preferred console interface. To display computer graphic in text console so called text-base user interface (TUI) is used. DOS tetris and command prompt editor were implemented using TUI.
Below you may find 2 simple example of TUI implementation, which draw, rotate and move red rectangular composed by symbols. The first application is for Windows command prompt and second one for Linux and OSX operating systems.
Windows Command Prompt
Source Code
using System;
namespace ConsoleRect
{
class Program
{
static void Main(string[] args)
{
// disable ctrl/c
Console.CancelKeyPress += new ConsoleCancelEventHandler(HandleCancelKeys);
// clear console and reset console
Console.Clear();
Console.ResetColor();
// old console size
int windowHeightOld = Console.WindowHeight;
int windowWidthOld = Console.WindowWidth;
string tt="Use Up,Down,Left,Right Arrow Keys to move rectangular. Q to exit";
Console.Write(tt);
Console.ForegroundColor = ConsoleColor.Red;
// new console size
Console.WindowHeight = windowHeightOld * 3 / 2;
Console.WindowWidth = windowWidthOld * 3 / 2;
int consoleWindowLeft = Console.WindowLeft;
int consoleWindowTop = Console.WindowTop;
int consoleWindowWidth = Console.WindowWidth;
int consoleWindowHeight = Console.WindowHeight;
int xStartH = consoleWindowLeft + consoleWindowWidth / 3;
int xEndH = consoleWindowLeft + (consoleWindowWidth / 3) * 2;
int yStartH = consoleWindowTop + consoleWindowHeight / 3;
int yEndH = consoleWindowTop + (consoleWindowHeight / 3) * 2;
int xStartV = consoleWindowLeft + (consoleWindowWidth / 5) * 2;
int xEndV = xStartV + consoleWindowHeight / 3; // (consoleWindowWidth / 5) * 4;
int yStartV = consoleWindowTop + consoleWindowHeight / 5;
int yEndV = consoleWindowTop + (consoleWindowHeight / 5) * 4;
Draw(xStartH, xEndH, yStartH, yEndH, Convert.ToChar(2));
bool bHor = true;
while (true)
{
ConsoleKeyInfo cki = Console.ReadKey(true);
if (cki.Key == ConsoleKey.Q)
{
// quit application and restore old console
Console.Clear();
Console.ResetColor();
Console.SetWindowSize(windowWidthOld, windowHeightOld);
Console.WriteLine("Thank you for using");
return;
}
if (cki.Key == ConsoleKey.UpArrow)
{
// draw veritical rect
if (bHor)
Draw(xStartH, xEndH, yStartH, yEndH, ' ');
Draw(xStartV, xEndV, yStartV, yEndV, Convert.ToChar(2));
bHor = false;
}
if (cki.Key == ConsoleKey.DownArrow)
{
// draw horizontal rect
if (!bHor)
Draw(xStartV, xEndV, yStartV, yEndV, ' ');
Draw(xStartH, xEndH, yStartH, yEndH, Convert.ToChar(2));
bHor = true;
}
if (cki.Key == ConsoleKey.LeftArrow)
{
// move rect left
if (xStartH > 0)
{
if (!bHor)
Draw(xEndV - 1, xEndV, yStartV, yEndV, ' ');
else
Draw(xEndH - 1, xEndH, yStartH, yEndH, ' ');
xStartH--;
xEndH--;
xStartV--;
xEndV--;
if (!bHor)
Draw(xStartV, xStartV + 1, yStartV, yEndV, Convert.ToChar(2));
else
Draw(xStartH, xStartH + 1, yStartH, yEndH, Convert.ToChar(2));
}
}
if (cki.Key == ConsoleKey.RightArrow)
{
// move rect right
if (xEndH < consoleWindowWidth)
{
if (!bHor)
Draw(xStartV, xStartV + 1, yStartV, yEndV, ' ');
else
Draw(xStartH, xStartH + 1, yStartH, yEndH, ' ');
xStartH++;
xEndH++;
xStartV++;
xEndV++;
if (!bHor)
Draw(xEndV - 1, xEndV, yStartV, yEndV, Convert.ToChar(2));
else
Draw(xEndH - 1, xEndH, yStartH, yEndH, Convert.ToChar(2));
}
}
}
}
static void Draw(int xStart, int xEnd, int yStart, int yEnd, char chr)
{
for (int x = xStart; x < xEnd; x++)
{
for (int y = yStart; y < yEnd; y++)
{
Console.SetCursorPosition(x, y);
Console.Write(chr);
}
}
}
private static void HandleCancelKeys(object sender,
ConsoleCancelEventArgs consoleCancelEventArgs)
{
// handle and disable ctrl/c
consoleCancelEventArgs.Cancel = true;
}
}
}
Linux/Mac OS X Terminal
Source Code
#include#include #include #include int xrectstart; int yrectstart; int rectwidth = 20; int rectheight = 5; bool isvertical = false; void moveleft(); void moveright(); void vertical(); void horizontal(); void drawrect(int xstart, int ystart, int height, int width, bool clean); int main(int argc, char * argv[]) { printf("\033[?25l"); // cursor off printf("\033[2J\033[1;1H" \ "Use Up,Down,Left and Right Arrow Keys to move rectangular or Q to exit"); int ch = 0; struct termios told; tcgetattr(STDIN_FILENO, &told); struct termios tnew = told; tnew.c_iflag |= IGNBRK; tnew.c_iflag &= ~(INLCR | ICRNL | IXON | IXOFF); tnew.c_lflag &= ~(ICANON | ECHO | ECHOK | ECHOE | ECHONL | ISIG | IEXTEN); // tnew.c_lflag &= ~(ICANON | ECHO | IGNBRK); tcsetattr(STDIN_FILENO, TCSANOW, &tnew); // get terminal windows size struct winsize size; ioctl(STDOUT_FILENO,TIOCGWINSZ,&size); yrectstart = size.ws_row/3; xrectstart = size.ws_col/3; drawrect(xrectstart, yrectstart, rectwidth, rectheight, false); while((ch & 0xdf) != 'Q') { ch = getchar(); if (ch == '\033') { // if the first value is esc getchar(); // skip the [ switch(getchar()) { // the real value case 'A': // arrow up vertical(); break; case 'B': // arrow down horizontal(); break; case 'C': // arrow right moveright(); break; case 'D': // arrow left moveleft(); break; } } } printf("\033[2J\033[1;1H"); // clear screen printf("\033[?25h"); // cursor on // printf("\033[1;37m"); // no color printf("\033[39mDefault"); tcsetattr(STDIN_FILENO, TCSANOW, &told); return 0; }
// Rotate Functions
void vertical()
{
if(!isvertical)
{
isvertical = true;
drawrect(xrectstart, yrectstart, rectwidth, rectheight, true);
int tmp = rectwidth;
rectwidth = rectheight;
rectheight = tmp;
drawrect(xrectstart, yrectstart, rectwidth, rectheight, false);
}
}
void horizontal()
{
if(isvertical)
{
isvertical = false;
drawrect(xrectstart, yrectstart, rectwidth, rectheight, true);
int tmp = rectwidth;
rectwidth = rectheight;
rectheight = tmp;
drawrect(xrectstart, yrectstart, rectwidth, rectheight, false);;
}
}
// Move Functions
// Draw function
