Converting Color to ConsoleColor?

Question

What is the best way to convert a System.Drawing.Color to a similar System.ConsoleColor?

Answer 1

A simple and effective approach can be implemented by using the GetHue, GetBrightness and GetSaturation methods of the Color class.

public static ConsoleColor GetConsoleColor(this Color color) {
    if (color.GetSaturation() < 0.5) {
        // we have a grayish color
        switch ((int)(color.GetBrightness()*3.5)) {
        case 0:  return ConsoleColor.Black;
        case 1:  return ConsoleColor.DarkGray;
        case 2:  return ConsoleColor.Gray;
        default: return ConsoleColor.White;
        }
    }
    int hue = (int)Math.Round(color.GetHue()/60, MidpointRounding.AwayFromZero);
    if (color.GetBrightness() < 0.4) {
        // dark color
        switch (hue) {
        case 1:  return ConsoleColor.DarkYellow;
        case 2:  return ConsoleColor.DarkGreen;
        case 3:  return ConsoleColor.DarkCyan;
        case 4:  return ConsoleColor.DarkBlue;
        case 5:  return ConsoleColor.DarkMagenta;
        default: return ConsoleColor.DarkRed;
        }
    }
    // bright color
    switch (hue) {
    case 1:  return ConsoleColor.Yellow;
    case 2:  return ConsoleColor.Green;
    case 3:  return ConsoleColor.Cyan;
    case 4:  return ConsoleColor.Blue;
    case 5:  return ConsoleColor.Magenta;
    default: return ConsoleColor.Red;
    }
}

Note that the color names of the console do not match the well known colors. So if you test a color mapping scheme, you have to keep in mind that (for instance) in the well known colors, Gray is dark gray, Light Gray is gray, Green is dark green, Lime is pure green, and Olive is dark yellow.