C#•15mo ago

✅ ConsoleApp method spacing issue

Hey, I've been working on this PromptChoice method to make a new useHorizontal parameter which would essentially place all options on the same row and I've kind of got it working, except for the spacing — I cannot for the life of me figure that part out. Here's a video of what my issue looks like: https://streamable.com/l6ix1s I've attached the code to this post. Also if there are any areas where I can improve the code, please let me know, as I'm still pretty new to C#.

Streamable

what happened to the spacing

PromptChoice.cs

108 Replies

JakenVeina•15mo ago

so, you're doing direct I/O with the console buffer? or you're doing cursor movement magic? and all your menu options are getting overwritten onto the same line? I mean seems pretty straightforward to me you're not properly advancing the cursor position to a new line for each item you're drawing

Danaew•15mo ago

I'm trying to keep them in the same line, it is pretty simple but I cannot get the spacing correctly for some reason though

JakenVeina•15mo ago

okay, so you're not calculating the column correctly then let's see that logic

Danaew•15mo ago

It's line 83 Console.Write(isSelected ? $" \x1B[4m{optionText}\x1B[0m" : $" {optionText}");

JakenVeina•15mo ago

I don't have line numbers and the loop for that?

Danaew•15mo ago

Ok it's in the if statement that I check for useHorizontal

JakenVeina•15mo ago

more importantly, the logic for actually manipulating the cursor

Danaew•15mo ago

Oh right My bad

JakenVeina•15mo ago

for (int i = 0; i < optionCount; i++)
{
    string optionText = options[i];
    int lastOptionLength = i == 0 ? 1 : options[i - 1].Length;
    bool isSelected = selectedOption == (i + 1);
    string padding = isSelected ? "> " : " ";

    if (useHorizontal)
        Console.SetCursorPosition(startingColumn + (lastOptionLength + 2), startingRow + ((startingRow != 0) ? 3 : 2)) ;
    else
        Console.SetCursorPosition(startingColumn, startingRow + i + ((startingRow != 0) ? 3 : 2));

    Console.ForegroundColor = isSelected ? highlightColor : Console.ForegroundColor;

    if (useHorizontal)
        Console.Write(isSelected ? $" \x1B[4m{optionText}\x1B[0m" : $" {optionText}");
    else
        Console.Write(padding + (useDynamicPadding ? optionText.PadRight(maxOptionLength) + " " : optionText));

    Console.ResetColor();
}

for (int i = 0; i < optionCount; i++)
{
    string optionText = options[i];
    int lastOptionLength = i == 0 ? 1 : options[i - 1].Length;
    bool isSelected = selectedOption == (i + 1);
    string padding = isSelected ? "> " : " ";

    if (useHorizontal)
        Console.SetCursorPosition(startingColumn + (lastOptionLength + 2), startingRow + ((startingRow != 0) ? 3 : 2)) ;
    else
        Console.SetCursorPosition(startingColumn, startingRow + i + ((startingRow != 0) ? 3 : 2));

    Console.ForegroundColor = isSelected ? highlightColor : Console.ForegroundColor;

    if (useHorizontal)
        Console.Write(isSelected ? $" \x1B[4m{optionText}\x1B[0m" : $" {optionText}");
    else
        Console.Write(padding + (useDynamicPadding ? optionText.PadRight(maxOptionLength) + " " : optionText));

    Console.ResetColor();
}

this bit?

Danaew•15mo ago

Yeah Specifically Console.SetCursorPosition(startingColumn + (lastOptionLength + 2), startingRow + ((startingRow != 0) ? 3 : 2)); Copied the wrong thing Idk how to calculate it correctly

JakenVeina•15mo ago

protip: don't make someone have to seek out the relevant code, that's just gonna make them less likely to care enough to help. If you can't identify a small portion of code relevant to the issue, you probably haven't thought through the issue enough for yourself

Danaew•15mo ago

I got it working with some other code but it still had an issue of them not having the same spacing

JakenVeina•15mo ago

so Console.SetCursorPosition()

Danaew•15mo ago

Well I didn't expect the method to get that long Was initially like 50 lines Mb tho

JakenVeina•15mo ago

the row part seems fine, so

Danaew•15mo ago

Yeah it's the column calculation

JakenVeina•15mo ago

what's useHorizontal?

Danaew•15mo ago

Basically the method has 2 modes One puts the options on separate rows The other puts them on the same row So horizontally

JakenVeina•15mo ago

no, I mean literally when this runs

Danaew•15mo ago

JakenVeina•15mo ago

for the output that is wrong what's the value?

Danaew•15mo ago

Puts options on the same row instead of writeline on each option True

JakenVeina•15mo ago

how do you know?

Danaew•15mo ago

Cause I set it to true? 😭

JakenVeina•15mo ago

so, you're assuming

Danaew•15mo ago

It also defaults to true

JakenVeina•15mo ago

no it doesn't

Danaew•15mo ago

Ok it defaults to false My bad

JakenVeina•15mo ago

if you KNEW everything about how this method was running, there'd be no issue set a breakpoint and prove it

Danaew•15mo ago

What do you mean by that

JakenVeina•15mo ago

I mean if you think the value of useHorizontal is true set a breakpoint and prove it

Danaew•15mo ago

I don't get the breakpoint but I call it with useHorizontal true int selectedOption = await PromptChoice(options, highlightColor: ConsoleColor.Blue, useHorizontal: true); otherwise it defaults to false

JakenVeina•15mo ago

you don't know what a breakpoint is?

Danaew•15mo ago

well I thought u meant something else but if you're being literal then I would know it's true by the layout being different

JakenVeina•15mo ago

that's an assumption

Danaew•15mo ago

JakenVeina•15mo ago

it assumes the layout is working the way you expect/intend set a breakpoint

Danaew•15mo ago

this is useHorizontal being false

JakenVeina•15mo ago

alternatively you could set a breakpoint

Danaew•15mo ago

Ok I don't think I understand how to set a breakpoint Would u tell me what I need to do?

JakenVeina•15mo ago

okay what IDE are you using?

Danaew•15mo ago

Visual Studio 2022

JakenVeina•15mo ago

the easiest way to set a breakpoint is by clicking in the gutter on the left-hand side of a source file there will be a little grey circle that pops up under your mouse

Danaew•15mo ago

ahh

JakenVeina•15mo ago

click that and it'll turn red, along with the whole line that is a breakpoint

Danaew•15mo ago

should I do that on the if statement?

JakenVeina•15mo ago

that is where Visual Studio will pause execution of your program, when that line of code is reached do it on any line where you want to inspect what's going on in the code generally, where you want to inspect variable values when the application is paused on a breakpoint (or exception) Visual Studio lets you examine the values of any variables or object fields in scope you can also begin stepping line-by-line through the code, as it executes with the buttons up at the top

Danaew•15mo ago

ok this is helpful for debugging

JakenVeina•15mo ago

indeed

Danaew•15mo ago

but I already know the issue lies in how I format the options unless I'm doing something else incorrectly which I don't think I am

Danaew•15mo ago

this is what I get when I pause on this line

Danaew•15mo ago

I know useHorizontal is truthy now..

JakenVeina•15mo ago

lol you JavaScript dev, you

Danaew•15mo ago

no sir I've only been learning some Lua and I recently decided to dabble in C# lol

JakenVeina•15mo ago

really? where are you getting the term "truthy" from?

Danaew•15mo ago

and or statements from Lua

JakenVeina•15mo ago

does Lua do "truthiness"? it's been a long time, I suppose it probably does for the record, C# doesn't values are true or false and any values that aren't true or false aren't bool and can't be directly related to bool so, at a glance, everything looks fine to me

Danaew•15mo ago

yeah, it's all fine expect for that one line which is supposed to format the options I really don't know what went wrong, I tried several things

JakenVeina•15mo ago

at this point, you are empowered with the debugger take those calculations and break them apart and start walking through them, step by step you should be able to spot the issue well I can at least say that I get the exact same result

for(var i = 0; i < options.Count; ++i)
{
    var lastOptionLength = (i == 0) ? 1 : options[i - 1].Length;
    var isSelected = (selectedOptionIndex == i);

    Console.SetCursorPosition(startingColumn + (lastOptionLength + 2), startingRow);
    if (isSelected)
        Console.ForegroundColor = ConsoleColor.White;
    Console.Write(isSelected ? $" \x1B[4m{options[i]}\x1B[0m" : $" {options[i]}");
    Console.ResetColor();
}

for(var i = 0; i < options.Count; ++i)
{
    var lastOptionLength = (i == 0) ? 1 : options[i - 1].Length;
    var isSelected = (selectedOptionIndex == i);

    Console.SetCursorPosition(startingColumn + (lastOptionLength + 2), startingRow);
    if (isSelected)
        Console.ForegroundColor = ConsoleColor.White;
    Console.Write(isSelected ? $" \x1B[4m{options[i]}\x1B[0m" : $" {options[i]}");
    Console.ResetColor();
}

logically, this seems fine to me oh lol nevermind the logic is flawed

Danaew•15mo ago

ok honestly I've tinkered with it for a few days I even asked ChatGPT I still don't know how to fix it so

JakenVeina•15mo ago

loool yeah if anything, ChatGPT would be likely to make things worse just think it through for yourself how do you figure out what column a particular option should go on?

Danaew•15mo ago

usually I'd calculate the length of the last option and add a space or 2 for the next option doesn't work here though

JakenVeina•15mo ago

right think that through

Danaew•15mo ago

I got it to look like this with Console.SetCursorPosition(startingColumn + (maxOptionLength + 4) * i, startingRow + ((startingRow != 0) ? 3 : 2));

JakenVeina•15mo ago

that's wrong

Danaew•15mo ago

how

JakenVeina•15mo ago

okay look at that formula you just posted how is that different from what your current non-working version does?

Danaew•15mo ago

well it uses the maxOptionLength which in this case is 9 and adds 4 then multiplies it by the iteration of the loop

JakenVeina•15mo ago

right that's what it does

Danaew•15mo ago

vs. using lastOptionLength + 2

JakenVeina•15mo ago

right how are those different? logically?

Danaew•15mo ago

how should I answer that

JakenVeina•15mo ago

maxOptionLength which in this case is 9 and adds 4 then multiplies it by the iteration of the loop

describe this to me, in words what is this doing, functionally why is this the correct calculation

Danaew•15mo ago

I actually wouldn't know since ChatGPT wrote that

JakenVeina•15mo ago

and there's your problem

Danaew•15mo ago

it still isn't correct cause there's varying amount of spaces though

JakenVeina•15mo ago

it's not correct for what you're trying to do, sure with dynamic column sizing it IS correct for static column sizing

Danaew•15mo ago

true I rlly can't figure this out tho I wouldn't have made this post otherwise lol

JakenVeina•15mo ago

if you were going to do this on pencil and paper what do you need to know to write the first column

Danaew•15mo ago

nothing much I guess just add a space and write the option there's nothing to watch out for since it's the first one

JakenVeina•15mo ago

well, you need to know where to start, right?

Danaew•15mo ago

uh yea

JakenVeina•15mo ago

that's a piece of info you need to know the option that you want to write that's a piece of info second column what do you need to know?

Danaew•15mo ago

the way I'm thinking of it, I need the length of the first option and then I should simply setcursorposition 2 spaces forward and write it

JakenVeina•15mo ago

and that works for the second option you need to know where the first option ended which is where it started, plus its length now third column

Danaew•15mo ago

that should be the same thing

JakenVeina•15mo ago

should it?

Danaew•15mo ago

oh I see it now

JakenVeina•15mo ago

😉

Danaew•15mo ago

ok well that's tricky lol

JakenVeina•15mo ago

the ChatGPT version incorporates this by MULTIPLYING the width of each column, by the number it's calculating the length of ALL previous columns, not just one you can do that, or you can just keep a running total

Danaew•15mo ago

damn ok I need to get the length of the options before the third one

JakenVeina•15mo ago

better option running total

Danaew•15mo ago

as in?

JakenVeina•15mo ago

var currentColumn = startingColumn;
for(var i = 0; i < options.Count; ++i)
{
    var isSelected = (selectedOptionIndex == i);

    Console.SetCursorPosition(
        left:   currentColumn,
        top:    startingRow);
    currentColumn += options[i].Length + 2;

    if (isSelected)
        Console.ForegroundColor = ConsoleColor.White;
    Console.Write(isSelected ? $" \x1B[4m{options[i]}\x1B[0m" : $" {options[i]}");
    Console.ResetColor();
}

var currentColumn = startingColumn;
for(var i = 0; i < options.Count; ++i)
{
    var isSelected = (selectedOptionIndex == i);

    Console.SetCursorPosition(
        left:   currentColumn,
        top:    startingRow);
    currentColumn += options[i].Length + 2;

    if (isSelected)
        Console.ForegroundColor = ConsoleColor.White;
    Console.Write(isSelected ? $" \x1B[4m{options[i]}\x1B[0m" : $" {options[i]}");
    Console.ResetColor();
}

Danaew•15mo ago

have a variable which is incremented by the option's length each iteration?

JakenVeina•15mo ago

yes more efficient than trying to loop over all the previous options, each time

Danaew•15mo ago

true

JakenVeina•15mo ago

cause you can't just multiply cause the widths are variable

Danaew•15mo ago

bro u a genius ngl

JakenVeina•15mo ago

no just experienced

Danaew•15mo ago

nah u fixed my issue

JakenVeina•15mo ago

doesn't make me a genius plus you fixed your issue I just guided you

Danaew•15mo ago

held my hand the whole way tbh I appreciate it I guess I should close this now

JakenVeina•15mo ago

that's what I'm here for

Danaew•15mo ago

yeah, thank you if I have any other issues imma open another post

JakenVeina•15mo ago

please do

Accord•9mo ago

Was this issue resolved? If so, run /close - otherwise I will mark this as stale and this post will be archived until there is new activity.

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✅ ConsoleApp method spacing issue