YetAnotherConsoleTables

Advanced library to output your POCO collections in a table view in a console (supports multi-line data, attributes settings, output customization).

Contents

• Getting Started
• Advanced Features
  • Attributes
    • TableMemberAttribute
    • TableIgnoreAttribute
    • TableMemberConverterAttribute
    • Combined Example
  • Multi-line Data
  • Output Customization

Getting started (basic)

Install the package:

PM> Install-Package YetAnotherConsoleTables

Write a code:

using YetAnotherConsoleTables;

class Something
{
  private static Random rnd = new Random();

  public int Property1 { get; set; } = rnd.Next(99, 10001);
  public string Field1 = "My String";
}

class Program
{
  var data = Enumerable.Range(0, 5).Select(x => new Something()).ToList();
  ConsoleTable.From(data).Write();
}

Output:

-------------------------
| Property1 | Field1    |
-------------------------
| 4299      | My String |
-------------------------
| 475       | My String |
-------------------------
| 4142      | My String |
-------------------------
| 239       | My String |
-------------------------
| 6547      | My String |
-------------------------

Advanced Features

Attributes

TableMemberAttribute

Sets properties of the table member, such as display name, default value, order, and min width.

TableIgnoreAttribute

Instructs the library to ignore marked public field or property.

TableMemberConverterAttribute

Instructs the library to use the specified TableMemberConverter when converting the member to string. You can create your own TableMemberConverter by inheriting TableMemberConverter or TableMemberConverter<T>.

For .NET 7 and upper, the generic version of the attribute is available - TableMemberConverterAttribute<TConverter>. The non-generic version is deprecated for these platforms and will be removed because the generic attribute provides more compile-time guarantees on the type parameter.

If you need to pass constructor arguments to your TableMemberConverter, you can specify them using the ConstructorArgs property of the TableMemberConverterAttribute. This allows you to create re-usable, configurable, common converters.

Combined Example

using YetAnotherConsoleTables.Attributes;

class MyConverter : TableMemberConverter<int>
{
  public override string Convert(int value) => $"MyConverter:{value}";
}

class MyConverterWithParam : TableMemberConverter<int>
{
  private readonly string _prefix;

  public MyConverterWithParam(string prefix) => _prefix = prefix;

  public override string Convert(int value) => $"{_prefix}{value}";
}

class Something
{
  private static Random rnd = new Random();

  [TableMember(DisplayName = "My Integer Property")]
  [TableMemberConverter(typeof(MyConverter))]
  public int Property1 { get; set; } = rnd.Next(99, 10001);

  [TableIgnore]
  public string Field1 = "My String";

  [TableMember(Order = 1, DefaultValue = "Null Value")]
  public string Property2 { get; set; } = null;

  [TableMember(MinWidth = 20)]
  [TableMemberConverter(typeof(MyConverterWithParam), ConstructorArgs = new[] { "MyConv1:" })]
  public int Property3 { get; set; } = rnd.Next(100, 999);
}

Output:

-----------------------------------------------------------
| Property2  | My Integer Property | Property3            |
-----------------------------------------------------------
| Null Value | MyConverter:4292    | MyConv1:512          |
-----------------------------------------------------------
| Null Value | MyConverter:4697    | MyConv1:696          |
-----------------------------------------------------------
| Null Value | MyConverter:1672    | MyConv1:234          |
-----------------------------------------------------------
| Null Value | MyConverter:6317    | MyConv1:754          |
-----------------------------------------------------------
| Null Value | MyConverter:4804    | MyConv1:562          |
-----------------------------------------------------------

Multi-line Data

The library supports multi-line strings in data and the TableDisplayName attribute.

class Something
{
  private static Random rnd = new Random();

  [TableDisplayName("My\r\nInteger\r\nProperty")]
  public int Property1 { get; set; } = rnd.Next(99, 10001);
  public string Field1;

  public Something()
  {
    Field1 = 
      string.Join(Environment.NewLine, Enumerable.Range(1, rnd.Next(0, 4)).Select(x => new string('A', rnd.Next(1, 5))));
  }
}

Output:

---------------------
| My       | Field1 |
| Integer  |        |
| Property |        |
---------------------
| 8542     | AAAA   |
---------------------
| 7476     | A      |
|          | AA     |
|          | AAAA   |
---------------------
| 5718     |        |
---------------------
| 9074     | A      |
|          | AA     |
|          | AA     |
---------------------
| 4717     | AAA    |
|          | AAAA   |
---------------------

Output Customization

You can customize the table view using the Write method overloads which accept the ConsoleTableFormat parameter. You can use one of four library-defined styles or create your own.

Default Style: Write() or Write(ConsoleTableFormat.Default)

-------------------------
| Property1 | Field1    |
-------------------------
| 2094      | My String |
-------------------------
| 5183      | My String |
-------------------------
| 5589      | My String |
-------------------------

Plus Style: Write(ConsoleTableFormat.Plus)

+-----------+-----------+
| Property1 | Field1    |
+-----------+-----------+
| 9748      | My String |
+-----------+-----------+
| 5487      | My String |
+-----------+-----------+
| 7850      | My String |
+-----------+-----------+

Header Style: Write(ConsoleTableFormat.Header)

|===========|===========|
| Property1 | Field1    |
|===========|===========|
| 4118      | My String |
|-----------|-----------|
| 5309      | My String |
|-----------|-----------|
| 4051      | My String |
|-----------|-----------|

Github Markdown: Write(ConsoleTableFormat.GithubMarkdown)

| Property1 | Property2 |
|-----------|-----------|
| AA        | 30        |
| AB        | 35        |
| BB        | 40        |

Defined Custom Style

class MyFormat : ConsoleTableFormat
{
  public MyFormat() : base(columnDelimiter: ':',
    intersection: '+', borders: ConsoleTableFormat.Borders.HeaderDelimiter | ConsoleTableFormat.Borders.RowDelimiter)
  {

  }
}

 Property1 : Field1    
-----------+-----------
 461       : My String 
-----------+-----------
 7180      : My String 
-----------+-----------
 6146      : My String