I am developing a console application in C#, and was wondering if there was a way to get the "copy-paste" or "mark-paste" functionality into my application, similar or identical to that of the standard Windows command prompt. Is this a wild goose chase or a simple application variable?
I've copied text from the Console window and pasted it into another source many times.
It's there as default in a Console application;
Right click the console border:
Select Edit > Mark:
Drag over the text you want using the mouse (Or use the arrow keys) to select the text you want:
Again, right click on the console border and select Edit > Copy:
From here you can paste it into another application as you would with any other text.
This was taken from a C# Console application and the only code entered was the command to write to the console, no settings were changed.
Hope this helps!
Thank you Sean for making me realize the complete idiocy of this question. Let me be an example to others to not jump on the conclusion train.
Sean pointed out that "copy-paste can be done using cmd.exe's built-in functionality", making me recognize that, yes, absolutely duh, when you run your command line application in Windows it already has this functionality available.
I erred by jumping to conclusions, for I was doing all my initial testing with the DEBUG execution through the IDE, and vshost does not give you that functionality.
A quick "Start Without Debugging" revealed my short-sightedness.
I don't know why this isn't included in any answer, but as Robert H. stated in a comment, this is absolutely useful information, in case you came here by searching for this problem in a VisualStudio environment:
Run a console app in the debugger (F5). You cannot copy or paste.
Run it outside the debugger (Control + F5). Now, you can copy and paste.
Worked like a charm for me. Thanks Robert H.!
To clarify, is the default command prompt behavior not working at all for you, or just not how you want it to?
From what I understand, it is the terminal implementation that supplies the copy/paste behavior, and what it provides doesn't match rest of Windows. To change this behavior, you'd have to switch the program that implements the terminal. Here are a couple programs that come up on a google search for "command prompt replacement":
http://www.powercmd.com/
http://sourceforge.net/projects/console/
Of those two, I think one of my friends at work tried "Console". It did enough of what he wanted that he didn't feel the need to keep looking.
If you just want your output for this specific program to work more like the rest of Windows, your other choice is to make it a Windows program.
Edit: Fixed the URL to Console. Was posting to someone's blog that linked to it, before :)
Maybe I am late but there is a shortcut for pasting text in Console Window in c#. Press Alt+Space then 'E' then 'P' and there you have your text pasted in the Console Window
I am trying to develope a windows application to display console window as output.
If i changed output type in properties to "console Application" both the console window and form showing. But i need to show only form window first, when i click a button then only the console window need to display the output value.
Please guide me...
Thanks in advance.
Each process can have only at most one console associated with it. There are several paths you can take: either you hide the console window immediately on startup and show it later (via ShowWindow), or you leave the project as a window application, and create the console manually using AllocConsole later.
In the case you wanted multiple consoles, you can e.g. create a dummy process (cmd) and attach your process to its console, using AttachConsole. The managed way would be to use remoting or other techniques to communicate with the dummy process (with your own implementation), and print texts through that.
Use NativeMethods.AllocConsole(); to allocate a console and I/O with it.
Use NativeMethods.FreeConsole(); to close and free this console.
You wanna output the Console.WriteLines of a Windows Forms app inside the form?
In that case just use Console.SetOut(Stream) and pass in something you're wrapping so you can also output it somewhere else.
Another option is to switch all your Console.WriteLines to Trace.WriteLine and add a TraceListener somewhere that does what you want.
I've made a console application and a windowsforms application. They both work together and i wonder if there's a way to log the console application output to a richtextbox in the other project?
Yes, there is a way. You run the console app from within the forms app and put the output into the text box.
The Process class has methods to start the console app and grab its output, then you stuff that output into the text box. There are plenty of details for you to look over but it's pretty straightforward.
More info here: Get Live output from Process
I have a test project in Visual Studio. I use Microsoft.VisualStudio.TestTools.UnitTesting.
I add this line in one of my unit tests:
Console.WriteLine("Some foo was very angry with boo");
Console.ReadLine();
When I run the test, the test passes, but the console window is not opened at all.
Is there a way to make the console window available to be interacted via a unit test?
Someone commented about this apparently new functionality in Visual Studio 2013. I wasn't sure what he meant at first, but now that I do, I think it deserves its own answer.
We can use Console.WriteLine normally and the output is displayed, just not in the Output window, but in a new window after we click "Output" in the test details.
NOTE: The original answer below should work for any version of Visual Studio up through Visual Studio 2012. Visual Studio 2013 does not appear to have a Test Results window any more. Instead, if you need test-specific output you can use #Stretch's suggestion of Trace.Write() to write output to the Output window.
The Console.Write method does not write to the "console" -- it writes to whatever is hooked up to the standard output handle for the running process. Similarly, Console.Read reads input from whatever is hooked up to the standard input.
When you run a unit test through Visual Studio 2010, standard output is redirected by the test harness and stored as part of the test output. You can see this by right-clicking the Test Results window and adding the column named "Output (StdOut)" to the display. This will show anything that was written to standard output.
You could manually open a console window, using P/Invoke as sinni800 says. From reading the AllocConsole documentation, it appears that the function will reset stdin and stdout handles to point to the new console window. (I'm not 100% sure about that; it seems kind of wrong to me if I've already redirected stdout for Windows to steal it from me, but I haven't tried.)
In general, though, I think it's a bad idea; if all you want to use the console for is to dump more information about your unit test, the output is there for you. Keep using Console.WriteLine the way you are, and check the output results in the Test Results window when it's done.
You could use this line to write to Output Window of the Visual Studio:
System.Diagnostics.Debug.WriteLine("Matrix has you...");
Must run in Debug mode.
As stated, unit tests are designed to run without interaction.
However, you can debug unit tests, just like any other code. The easiest way is to use the Debug button in the Test Results tab.
Being able to debug means being able to use breakpoints. Being able to use breakpoints, then, means being able to use Tracepoints, which I find extremely useful in every day debugging.
Essentially, Tracepoints allow you to write to the Output window (or, more accurately, to standard output). Optionally, you can continue to run, or you can stop like a regular breakpoint. This gives you the "functionality" you are asking for, without the need to rebuild your code, or fill it up with debug information.
Simply add a breakpoint, and then right-click on that breakpoint. Select the "When Hit..." option:
Which brings up the dialog:
A few things to note:
Notice that the breakpoint is now shown as a diamond, instead of a sphere, indicating a trace point
You can output the value of a variable by enclosing it like {this}.
Uncheck the "Continue Execution" checkbox to have the code break on this line, like any regular breakpoint
You have the option of running a macro. Please be careful - you may cause harmful side effects.
See the documentation for more details.
There are several ways to write output from a Visual Studio unit test in C#:
Console.Write - The Visual Studio test harness will capture this and show it when you select the test in the Test Explorer and click the Output link. Does not show up in the Visual Studio Output Window when either running or debugging a unit test (arguably this is a bug).
Debug.Write - The Visual Studio test harness will capture this and show it in the test output. Does appear in the Visual Studio Output Window when debugging a unit test, unless Visual Studio Debugging options are configured to redirect Output to the Immediate Window. Nothing will appear in the Output (or Immediate) Window if you simply run the test without debugging. By default only available in a Debug build (that is, when DEBUG constant is defined).
Trace.Write - The Visual Studio test harness will capture this and show it in the test output. Does appear in the Visual Studio Output (or Immediate) Window when debugging a unit test (but not when simply running the test without debugging). By default available in both Debug and Release builds (that is, when TRACE constant is defined).
Confirmed in Visual Studio 2013 Professional.
You can use
Trace.WriteLine()
to write to the Output window when debugging a unit test.
In Visual Studio 2017, "TestContext" doesn't show the Output link into Test Explorer.
However, Trace.Writeline() shows the Output link.
First of all unit tests are, by design, supposed to run completely without interaction.
With that aside, I don't think there's a possibility that was thought of.
You could try hacking with the AllocConsole P/Invoke which will open a console even when your current application is a GUI application. The Console class will then post to the now opened console.
Debug.WriteLine() can be used as well.
IMHO, output messages are relevant only for failed test cases in most cases. I made up the below format, and you can make your own too. This is displayed in the Visual Studio Test Explorer Window itself.
How can we throw this message in the Visual Studio Test Explorer Window?
Sample code like this should work:
if(test_condition_fails)
Assert.Fail(#"Test Type: Positive/Negative.
Mock Properties: someclass.propertyOne: True
someclass.propertyTwo: True
Test Properties: someclass.testPropertyOne: True
someclass.testPropertyOne: False
Reason for Failure: The Mail was not sent on Success Task completion.");
You can have a separate class dedicated to this for you.
I have an easier solution (that I used myself recently, for a host of lazy reasons). Add this method to the class you are working in:
public static void DumbDebug(string message)
{
File.WriteAllText(#"C:\AdHocConsole\" + message + ".txt", "this is really dumb. I wish Microsoft had more obvious solutions to its solutions problems.");
}
Then...open up the directory AdHocConsole, and order by created time. Make sure when you add your 'print statements'. They are distinct though, else there will be juggling.
Visual Studio For Mac
None of the other solutions worked on Visual Studio for Mac
If you are using NUnit, you can add a small .NET Console Project to your solution, and then reference the project you wish to test in the References of that new Console Project.
Whatever you were doing in your [Test()] methods can be done in the Main of the console application in this fashion:
class MainClass
{
public static void Main(string[] args)
{
Console.WriteLine("Console");
// Reproduce the unit test
var classToTest = new ClassToTest();
var expected = 42;
var actual = classToTest.MeaningOfLife();
Console.WriteLine($"Pass: {expected.Equals(actual)}, expected={expected}, actual={actual}");
}
}
You are free to use Console.Write and Console.WriteLine in your code under these circumstances.
i have a very simple winforms application.
i do not use the forms object at all. i would like to know what i need to delete or change in order to convert this app to a console. i mainly just need to get rid of all the unneeded references and such
please let me know what steps i should take to do this?
It really depends on how did you code it at first and what pattern are you using. If you have made clear distinctions of what is the back-end and what's not, then you would only have to create a new class to act as the program's Main and change the project's Application Typeand the Startup Object in the project's properties.
If you have all the back-end code intertwined with the winforms then you first need to separate them and then proceed to with the above steps.
You can change the project settings to create a Console Application instead of a Windows Application (just hit Ctrl+Enter on the project in the Solution Window, and make that change).
That will compile the application as a Console Application, and you'll get a console. However, you'll still get your forms. If you want to not have Windows Forms, you'll need to remove the forms, and replace their functionality with command line arguments or configuration. You can then remove the Windows Forms references, and it'll be converted.
Create console app and move the simple code over