Console animations

Question

I just want to know how to create simple animations like blinking, moving stuffs on C# console applications. Is there any special method for this?

Answer 1

I took the anwser from @ThisGuy and modified it a bit, but I noticed, that sometimes the row is not cleared as it should.

    static void Main(string[] args)
    {
        Console.WriteLine("1");
        var tddf = XConsole.BusyIndicator("test 0 trtg fdfdfvdgd 4343", () =>
        {
            return "";
        });
        Console.WriteLine("2");
        var tdd = XConsole.BusyIndicator("test 0 trtg fdfdfvdgd", () =>
        {
            Thread.Sleep(1);
            return "";
        });
        Console.WriteLine("3");
        var t = XConsole.BusyIndicator("test 1 trtg vdgd", () =>
        {
            Thread.Sleep(1000);
            return "";
        });
        Console.WriteLine("4");
        var xt = XConsole.BusyIndicator("test 2", () =>
        {
            Thread.Sleep(2000);
            return "";
        });
        var xtx = XConsole.BusyIndicator("test 2 csds fsd fdsf ds s", () =>
        {
            Thread.Sleep(2000);
            return "";
        });

        Console.WriteLine("5");
        Thread.Sleep(4000);
    }

Spinner class:

    public class Spinner : IDisposable
    {
        private const string Sequence1 = @"/-\|";
        private const string Sequence3 = @".o0o";
        private const string Sequence2 = @"<^>v";
        private const string Sequence4 = @"#■.";
        private const string Sequence5 = @"▄▀";
        private const string Sequence = @"└┘┐┌";
        private string BusyMessage = "";
        private int counter = 0;
        private readonly int delay;
        private bool active;
        private readonly Thread thread;

        public Spinner(int delay = 200)
        {
            this.delay = delay;
            thread = new Thread(Spin);
        }

        public void Start()
        {
            active = true;
            Console.CursorVisible = false;
            if (!thread.IsAlive)
            {
                thread.Start();
            }
        }

        public void Start(string busyMessage)
        {
            BusyMessage = busyMessage;
            Start();
        }

        public void Stop()
        {          
            active = false;
            Console.CursorVisible = true;
            ClearCurrentConsoleLine();
            BusyMessage = "";
        }

private static void ClearCurrentConsoleLine()
{
    int currentLineCursor = Console.CursorTop;
    Console.SetCursorPosition(0, Console.CursorTop);
    Console.Write(new string(' ', Console.WindowWidth));
    Console.SetCursorPosition(0, currentLineCursor);
}

        private void Spin()
        {
            while (active)
            {
                Turn();
                Thread.Sleep(delay);
            }
        }

        /// 

        /// Draws the busy indicator
        /// 
        /// if empty char, then clear screen
    private void Draw(char c)
    {
        int left = Console.CursorLeft;
        int top = Console.CursorTop;

        Console.Write('[');
        Console.ForegroundColor = ConsoleColor.Green;
        Console.Write(c);
        Console.ForegroundColor = ConsoleColor.Gray;
        Console.Write(']');
        if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(BusyMessage))
        {
            Console.Write(" " + BusyMessage);
        }

        //reset cursor position
        Console.SetCursorPosition(left, top);
    }

        private void Turn()
        {
            Draw(Sequence[++counter % Sequence.Length]);
        }

        public void Dispose()
        {
            Stop();
        }
    }

My console class:

public static class XConsole {
    public static T BusyIndicator(Func action)
    {
        T result;

        using (var spinner = new Spinner())
        {
            spinner.Start();

            result = action();

            spinner.Stop();
        }

        return result;
    }

    public static T BusyIndicator(string content, Func action)
    {
        T result;

        using (var spinner = new Spinner())
        {
            spinner.Start(content);

            result = action();

            spinner.Stop();
        }

        return result;
    }
}

Why do I see this result sometimes?

1
2
3   st 0 trtg fdfdfvdgd    ]
4
[└] test 2 csds fsd fdsf ds s

Looks like the Dispose didn't trigger? Or a new Task alredy started?

It should look like this:

1
2
3
4
[└] test 2 csds fsd fdsf ds s

UPDATE:

I added ClearCurrentConsoleLine(); and changed the Draw method, this fixed the issue.