interactiveCLI 1.1.1

InteractiveCLI is a component that helps building interactive console applications. It can be use 2 ways :

• as a source generator
• using class and method calls.

source generator

how to use :

<packagereference Include="interactiveCLI" version="1.1.0"/>

The source generator looks for POCO classes tagged with the [Form] attribute. Members of the Form class are tagged with attributes that declare them as inputs :

• [Input]
• [Select]
• [Password]
• [TextArea]

Each input can be given an index that defines the order they are prompted.

Then the form can be called using the generated Ask() method. For example a real simple login form could be

using interactiveCLI.forms;

namespace TestProject;

[Form]
public partial class LoginForm
{    
    
    [Input("Login : ")]    
    public string Login { get; set; }
    
    [Password("password : ")]    
    public string Password { get; set; }
}

validations and callbacks

Inputs can be attached to various behavioral attributes:

• [Condition("myCondition")] : defines a Predicate<string> to be used before asking for the input. myConditionmust be a method of the Formclass. Only 1 condition can be define for an input. ;
• [Callback("myCallback"] : defines a method to be called after the input has been entered. It's an Action<T> where T is the input type. myCallbackmuts be a method of the Formclass. many callback may be used for an input;
• [Validator("myValidator")] : defines a method to be called to validate the value. The method is a Func<string,(bool ok, string errorMessage)> that returns a (bool ok, string errorMessage) tuple where ok states if the value is ok and errorMessage is an error message to be displayed. myValidatormuts be a method of the Formclass. Only 1 validator can be defined for an input.

Keeping the LoginForm we can define the following behavioral changes :

using interactiveCLI.forms;

namespace TestProject;

[Form]
public partial class LoginForm
{    
    
    [Input("anonymous login ? ")]
public bool Anonymous {get; set;}

[Input("Login : ")]
[Condition(nameof(IsNotAnonymous))] // do not ask if login anonymously
[Callback(nameof(SayHello))] // say hello right after login is entered
public string Login { get; set; }

[Password("password : ")]
[Condition(nameof(IsNotAnonymous))]  // do not ask if login anonymously
[Callback(nameof(CompromisePassword))] // display a message stating that the password is compromised
[Validator(nameof(ValidatePassword))] // validate the password : password=login
public string Password { get; set; }

public bool IsNotAnonymous() =>  !this.Anonymous;

public (bool ok, string errorMessage) ValidatePassword(string password)
{
    if (password == Login)
    {
        return (true, string.Empty);
    }
    else
    {
        return (false, $"ERROR ! Invalid password: {password}");
    }
}


public void CompromisePassword(string password)
{
    Console.WriteLine($"your {password} password is now compromised");
}

public void SayHello(string login)
{
    Console.WriteLine($"Hello {login}!");
}
}

input types

basic inputs

char validators

You can limit possible character using a [Charvalidator]. This is a Predicate<(int position, char c)> that returns true if the char is allowed. the parameter is a tuple where first element is the char position in the currently entered value and the second is the entered character.

converters

Inputs accept any type as long as you provide a way to convert the input string to the desired type. A converter is a Func<string,T> where T is the inpuut type.

pattern a A pattern can be define to frorce input to a specific format. a format uses _ as place for any char. Other chars are constant. For instance we can define the date pattern ____-__-__ to enter the date 2025-01-01. Then the strig can be safely converted using a converter (see above)

Here is an example of a DateTime input :

 [Input("date :", "____-__-__", 3)]
 [CharValidator(nameof(IsCharValid))]  // limit chars to digits only
 [Validator(nameof(ValidateDate))] // validate the full date
 [Converter(nameof(ConvertDate))] // convert string to DateTime
 [Callback(nameof(DisplayDate))] // display the selected date
 DateTime BirthDay { get; set; }


 public bool IsCharValid((int position, char c) t)
 {
     var isDigit = char.IsDigit(t.c);
     return isDigit;
 }


 (bool ok, string errorMessage) ValidateDate(string s)
 {
     var ok = DateTime.TryParseExact(s, "yyyy-MM-dd", null, DateTimeStyles.None, out var d);
     return (ok, ok ? null : "this is not a valid date");
 }


 DateTime ConvertDate(string s)
 {
     if (DateTime.TryParseExact(s, "yyyy-MM-dd", null, DateTimeStyles.None, out var d))
     {
         return d;
     }
     return DateTime.Now;
 }

 void DisplayDate(DateTime date)     {
     Console.WriteLine($"you selected the date {date:f}");
 }

<img width="205" height="49" alt="{1B18A4C8-6470-468B-80E8-C3B1AD9BD7FD}" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/95e09b91-cd15-4393-9c02-1a498554e891" />

password

// hiddenChar parameter defines the character to be displayed as a mask. default is '*'
[Password("password : ", hiddenChar:'%',index:3)] 
[Callback(nameof(LeakPassword))] // display the password
public string Password { get; set; }

public void LeakPassword(string v)
{
    Console.WriteLine($"your password is {v}");
}

<img width="340" height="100" alt="{B41C1FD0-B07C-4944-BD43-EEBA81158E38}" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/ca8a2546-216f-4d9d-a1aa-98a426fb15ec" />

select

Will display a list where to select a value. Values can be navigated using up and down arrows. Selection is done with ENTER key

 [Input("select a fruit :", index: 10)]
 [DataSource(nameof(SelectMeDataSource))] // defines a datasource method
 public string SelectMe { get; set; }
 
 public string[] SelectMeDataSource() => ["Orange", "Apple", "Banana", "Apricot"];

<img width="287" height="116" alt="{7D99464C-657F-455D-9EE7-4BBCA484C2DC}" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/9332ea3f-d9f8-4643-a872-1d1c27363279" />

testarea