Console-like interface

1

I’m trying to have a console-like interface in a program I’m writing, but I can’t wrap my head around how to do this most efficiently.
What I had in mind first was to just use spriteBatch.DrawString, but I have a feeling that will get very clunky.

I saw a ingame console-thing like the one in shooters, but I’m after something more like an actual Console-terminal.

What would be the best way to go about doing this?
Edit: Don’t want you to solve it for me obviously, but I’d like to be pointed in the right direction.

2

I have done smaller versions of this in some of my games. I have done a dot matrix display, that you could load any text into, and type into…

You predesign every valid character in 2d arrays (like 5*6), and when a key is pressed, the screen-cursor activates the character corrisponding dots within its rectangle, and moves one letter width plus spacing to the left on the display. If that takes it outside the bounds of the screen, it moves down a letter height plus line spacing, and sets x to zero.

You could of coarse replace the dot-matrix system with just a FONT, and draw your text from strings like normal. This doesnt give you the option for cool effects, like a dot matrix, but its already practically set up…

You would probably use strings to represent console entries, and each enter-key stroke parses the current string, and starts a new empty one…

So what you are drawing would be:
the current string, which is being edited in real time,
and, above that,
the list of previous and parsed commands and responses…
…You would probably use a cls command to wipe the the string list…

You could use white sprites for text, that way you can draw it any color…

3

Unless you are talking about an ACTUAL windows terminal from within your program. Which is something else.

4

Yes. What you describe in the first answer is what I’m wanting to do?

5

I don’t see the problem with SpriteBatch.DrawString… What do you think would be an issue?

6

Not necessarily a problem.
Just figuring it could be something easier than having to manage 25 DrawStrings. :stuck_out_tongue:

7

There’s no shortcuts there :stuck_out_tongue: Though it’s not too hard if you just have a collection of the last N lines entered. Just be careful with wrapping!

8

I think the shortcut is to just open a actual console window in vs its.
debug -> properties -> application -> output [dropdown] select console.
run your app you get your window and a console window.
but i know what you mean.

9

Its really not so much work if you put all your elements in lists…
Then you just use a for-loop in Draw() to iterate through, and draw each element.
You could also iterate through the list in Update() to set their Y coords if you allow scrolling.
Or simply update an int with the scroll amount, and add that to the position coords at draw…

So, each parsed line is stored as a string in a list of strings…
and then you have your current string, which you attach new characters to, as they are entered, or remove characters from if the user presses backspace…
When you press return, you run the string through your parsing switch, or whatever, add it to the old string list, and the active string is reset to “”;