Does anyone know of any simple .NET windowing systems for the console?
I'm looking for something that manages areas of the console such that they are automatically scrolled independently of other areas. For example, I could create a status strip down the bottom and a main content area above it. It would also be useful if it handled colors for me.
Thanks,
Kent
A while back I took a look at MonoCurses and Curses#. I don't think MonoCurses supports independent scrollable areas, but I feel like Curses# should.
I wanted this style interface so I could have one interface for windows and linux. In the end I just went with a normal command line interface.
Related
With Windows 8 and Windows 10 out, the original set of WPF controls is beginning to look a little... dated. I'm looking for something else, something that fits a little better in the more modern UI designs.
I've looked at mahapps.metro and Modern UI, and those seem a little drastic to me. The TabControl is a perfect example -- I'm not fond of the unbounded blocks of text that both of those seem to use for tabs. I prefer a bounded box. On the other hand, in Windows 10 the default focused WPF window has a white background, while the unaltered WPF menu is has a gray background, which looks a little weird:
Does anyone know of any good toolkits for pre-styled WPF controls aside from the two I mentioned earlier? Or am I more likely to get what I'm looking for by mixing and matching -- a little mahapps.metro, a little default WPF, a little custom styling?
I'm not looking to reinvent the wheel here. I don't want to find myself endlessly writing new styles, templates, etc, and micromanaging the XAML. There's a lot of interesting code in my project, and writing hundreds of lines of XAML is not my idea of a good time. :)
If it matters (I don't think it will, but you never know), I'm using Caliburn.Micro for my MVVM framework.
Or am I more likely to get what I'm looking for by mixing and matching -- a little mahapps.metro, a little default WPF, a little custom styling?
Yes, probably. You won't likely find a toolkit that just make all built-in controls look exactly like you want :).
Another option may to be look into the Universal Windows Platform (UWP): https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/uwp/get-started/whats-a-uwp.
These are the new kind of apps that can run on any Windows 10 device including PC, tablet, phone, Xbox, HoloLens, Surface Hub and more. The controls have better support for touch and pen input and probably look more what you refer to as "modern".
WPF is still a great choice for developing traditional Windows desktop applications. And if you compare the look of the built-in controls to a classic desktop application like Visual Studio, they don't look that "out-dated". Different kind of applications serve different kind of needs and sometimes you want controls that are tailored for a user that always uses a keyboard and a mouse and sometimes you don't.
So I'm writing an accesibility app that needs to know the location of the text entry caret. I tried GUIThreadInfo, but while that works in basic apps like Notepad, it fails in more complex ones like Chrome, iTunes, etc. that handle their own UI.
Is there even a way to get the caret position from apps like this?
Yes, doesn't work. The caret is an implementation detail of user32, associated with a window. Applications like browsers don't use window controls, far too expensive. And they don't have to, there's a separate API to allow such programs to provide an interface to accessibility apps like screen readers. Start reading here. Not easy to use from a C# app, this project can lessen the pain. No endorsement, never actually used it myself.
What's the best way to convert a simple console application to a WPF? and I am a COMPLETE newb so be gentle!!
The console app displays information according to user choices.. real simple stuff, but I'd like to create a GUI for it in WPF.. and am looking for initial steps on how to go about it.
This, and this (video) might be worth checking out. They will get you started with building a WPF app, you'll need to figure out how to port your existing interface to WPF though, which might not be very straight forward because there is a large shift in building a console app (Console.WriteLine/Console.Read) and a GUI app with GUI objects with events and display properties.
I recommend jumping in with the links above and positing additional questions here when you get stuck.
First you need to think how the new interface will behave. A gui is different from console interaction.
Draw on paper the gui you want, buttons, text areas, etc.
Think about the logic and it should behave, i.e. wizard like, button interaction, etc.
Only then approach the implementation in WPF, for that look for some beginner tutorial, like ths
I'm still learning C#, and I know don't know about WinForms yet but I will very soon. However I want to know how I would create an application which shows a customized notifier, like Growl on a Mac. Here's a mock up:
http://img25.imageshack.us/img25/3793/41151387.jpg http://img25.imageshack.us/img25/3793/41151387.jpg
Could anyone point me in the right direction? And I know I should learn more about C# before trying this, but I've always liked to peek on complicated stuff.
Take a look at this third-party WPF NotifyIcon control, I think it does what you want out of the box, hopefully something like this will be part of WPF in the future. I have used this one before for the exact same reason, and it is really good: you can use standard tooltips or "toast" popups, or create your own which could be just like the one in the example you posted if you wanted.
WPF would be a great place to start. you can make UIs in pure XAML without even touching C#
Here is an example of an "notification" implementation using WPF
Here are some reference links:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Presentation_Foundation
http://windowsclient.net/wpf/
You should probably look into WPF (Windows Presentation Foundation) to design some of the nonstandard UI stuff.
However, I would recommend becoming familiar with UI design in general before diving into nonstandard stuff.
Since you are starting from scratch, I would consider learning WPF rather than Winforms.
Here are two examples are a pop-up notifier in WPF:
WPF Taskbar Notifier - A WPF Taskbar Notification Window
PopUp window on a specific time in WPF?
WPF is Definitely what you are looking for if you want something like the image you provided. My project uses notification popups similar to that in the screenshot. Its really simple to get the wanted results after looking at a few samples of others who have done it. If you would like some help, you can send a message my way.
my main language is vb/c#.net and I'd like to make a console program but with a menu system.
If any of you have worked with "dos" like programs or iSeries from IBM then thats the style I am going for.
so, was wondering if anyone knows of a "winforms" library that will make my form look like this. I dont mind a "fake winforms look" or a console application but thats how I'd like.
I've used iSeries extensively and I remember exactly what you're talking about. To simulate this look and feel in a C# app, you'll want to create a console project and write text to different areas of the screen with the help of the Console.CursorTop and Console.CursorLeft properties, then calling Console.Write or Console.WriteLine to write out the text in the previously set position. To change colors, before calling WriteLine you'll want to use the Console.ForegroundColor and Console.BackgroundColor properties.
You'll need to listen for input and upon finding a tab character, your program can use its own internal logic to determine where the cursor should appear next (on the next line in the same column, for instance, to simulate those left columns of input fields in your screenshot).
Doing this with a Windows Forms app will be a little trickier and you'd definitely want to write your own control for it (possibly sub-classed from one of the many types of standard multi-line text controls already available).
It's a good question. For many Use Cases the standard Windows (or other windowing) paradigm can be overkill, intimidating, and confusing.
Back in DOS days there were a number of "Windowing" libraries that created various abstractions for doing this.
[After Googling]
Here's a site that lists various libraries including a several that appear to be of interest.
A resource like this would also be handy for Mobile apps, where mouse-driven window apps tend to be not the best fit, especially for workflow-type processes. The Console is a pretty universal lowest-common-denominator abstraction available in most every environment.
You are looking for a curses like library but for windows. And usable from VB & C#.
Curses provides for a even richer text based UI than even iSeries. All sorts of widgetry!
Windows is not really supportive of text interfaces whether on purpose or not so are out of luck.
But ...
Well, how about MonoCurses? I don't know if it will work though. Also look at PDCurses.
And if you don't mind using Python for just the front-end see this.
There are a couple of webifiers or screen scraping programs for iSeries that will create a web or windows user interface on top of your iSeries application. I have never used any of those so there is not a particular one that I can recommend, but you might want to look their for inspiration or reuse.