MightyMentorConsole.Template 1.0.0

MightyMentorConsole.Template

A simple .Net Console App template tailored for better workshops, live coding sessions, and knowledge-sharing experiences. Can be useful to mentors/trainers for showcasing not only basic C# syntax and features but also more advanced concepts, like Dependency Injection, application settings, asynchronous and parallel execution, and so on. Offers a set of useful built-in utilities, making working with the console easier and more visually precise. The utilities and project structure are kept simple so that they are easy to understand for beginner developers.

Utilities

ColorConsole

Offers a set of methods that allow for writing to console in color for better visibility (wraps around System.Console and implements all the most often used methods).

ColorConsole.WriteLine(); // line terminator

ColorConsole.WriteSuccess("Success !"); // writes in green
ColorConsole.WriteError("Error =("); // writes in red
ColorConsole.WriteWarning("Warning !"); // writes in dark yellow

ColorConsole.WriteLine(
    text: "Write text in a specific color",
    color: ConsoleColor.DarkYellow);

// writes '*****Header*****'
ColorConsole.WriteSeparationLine(
    header: "Header",
    paddingSize: 5,
    paddingChar: '*',
    color: ConsoleColor.DarkGreen);

ConsoleHelper

Offers a set of methods that allow for simpler and cleaner console input parsing.

// reads user input form the console.
// if invalid, prompts to repeat; else, converts to the specified type.
var number = ConsoleHelper.GetInput<int>(
    prompt: $"Please enter your number: ",
    errorMessage: "Invalid input! Please try again: ");

Parameters

Visual Studio:

• IncludeAppsettings: Includes appsettings.json and appsettings.Development.json (defaults to true).
• IncludeUtils: Includes template specific utility classes (defaults to true).

.Net CLI:

dotnet new mentor-console -h

Configurations

Dependency Injection:

private static IHostBuilder CreateHostBuilder(string[] args) =>
    Host.CreateDefaultBuilder(args)
        .ConfigureServices((context, services) =>
        {
            // configure DI services here
            services.AddTransient<AppRunner>();
        });

Console configurations and access to appsettings.json via IConfiguration:

private static void Configure(IHost host)
{
    // integrate appsettings.json configs, environment variables, etc.
    var configuration = host.Services.GetService<IConfiguration>();

    // configure the console
    Console.Title = "MightyConsole.Template";
    Console.BackgroundColor = ConsoleColor.Black;
    Console.ForegroundColor = ConsoleColor.Gray;
    Console.SetWindowSize(120, 30);
}

Install

The template is available in the Nuget.org package source.

Install via .Net CLI:

dotnet new install MightyMentorConsole.Template

Usage

.Net CLI:

dotnet new mentor-console

Visual Studio:

• Go to 'Create a new project'.
• Search for MightyMentor Console App.

Uninstall

dotnet new uninstall MightyMentorConsole.Template

Notes

• The template targets .Net8 and was tested with Visual Studio 2022 on Windows and VS Code + C# Dev Kit extensions on Linux. It might not work or require adjustments for other configurations.
• When using the template with Visual Studio 2022 consider ticking the 'Place solution and project in the same directory' checkbox, if you prefer reducing folder nesting. To do the same when using .Net CLI specify the output folder parameter as -o ..
• Please reach out or open an issue in case of feature suggestions, errors found, or any other form of feedback! Thanks!