ktsu.TUI

A modern, extensible Text User Interface (TUI) library for .NET applications built on top of Spectre.Console. This library provides a clean, object-oriented approach to building interactive terminal applications with rich visual features.

Overview

ktsu.TUI is designed with SOLID principles and provides a modular architecture for creating terminal-based user interfaces. It features:

• Modular Architecture: Clean separation of concerns with contracts, models, services, and UI elements
• Event-Driven Rendering: Efficient rendering system that only updates when needed
• Extensible Design: Easy to extend with custom UI elements and layouts
• Provider Abstraction: Pluggable console providers (currently supports Spectre.Console)
• Dependency Injection Ready: Built with DI in mind for easy integration

Features

✓ Rich Text Styling: Bold, italic, underline, colors, and background colors
✓ Border Elements: Multiple border styles (single, double, rounded, thick, ASCII, none)
✓ Layout System: Stack panels with horizontal/vertical orientation and spacing
✓ Input Handling: Keyboard input processing with ESC to exit
✓ Alignment Support: Horizontal and vertical text alignment
✓ Padding & Positioning: Flexible positioning and padding system
✓ Responsive Design: Automatic sizing based on content and container dimensions

Architecture

Contracts → Models → Services
    ↓         ↓         ↓
Elements → Layouts → Primitives
    ↓
Provider Abstraction

• Contracts: Interfaces defining the core abstractions
• Models: Data structures for styling, positioning, and input
• Services: Core application logic and console providers
• Elements: UI components (primitives like borders/text, layouts like stack panels)
• Extensions: Helper methods and utilities

Installation

Add the NuGet package:

dotnet add package ktsu.TUI

Quick Start

using ktsu.TUI.Core.Services;
using ktsu.TUI.Core.Elements.Primitives;
using ktsu.TUI.Core.Elements.Layouts;
using ktsu.TUI.Core.Models;

// Create console provider
var consoleProvider = new SpectreConsoleProvider();

// Create a simple UI
var ui = new BorderElement
{
    Title = "My TUI App",
    BorderStyle = BorderStyle.Double,
    Child = new TextElement
    {
        Text = "Hello, TUI World!",
        Style = new TextStyle { IsBold = true, Foreground = "green" }
    }
};

// Create and run application
var app = UIApplication.CreateBuilder(consoleProvider)
    .UseRootElement(ui)
    .Build();

await app.RunAsync();

Demo Applications

The library includes several demonstration applications:

• Sample App (default): Advanced demo showcasing architecture and features
• Interactive Demo: Interactive controls and real-time updates (--interactive)
• Showcase Demo: Visual demonstration of all styling features (--showcase)

Run demos:

dotnet run --project TUI.App                    # Sample app
dotnet run --project TUI.App -- --interactive   # Interactive demo
dotnet run --project TUI.App -- --showcase      # Showcase demo

Key Components

UI Elements

• TextElement: Styled text display
• BorderElement: Bordered containers with titles
• StackPanel: Horizontal/vertical layout container

Styling

• TextStyle: Font styling (bold, italic, underline, colors)
• BorderStyle: Border appearance (single, double, rounded, etc.)
• Padding: Space around content
• Position: Element positioning

Input System

• Keyboard input handling
• ESC key to exit applications
• Extensible input event system

Contributing

This project follows clean architecture principles and emphasizes:

• SOLID design principles
• DRY (Don't Repeat Yourself) implementation
• Comprehensive testing
• Clear separation of concerns

License

MIT License. Copyright (c) ktsu.dev