ConsoleTablesPrinter 1.1.0

ConsoleTablesPrinter

A simple, flexible, and customizable table printer for .NET console applications.
Easily print objects and collections as styled console tables with minimal setup.

Features

• Print single objects or lists as formatted console tables
• Customizable table styles, borders, colors, padding, and "animations"
• Support for property-level formatting and visibility using attributes
• Multiple built-in border styles with UTF-8 or ASCII fallback
• Supports cell text alignment and custom foreground/background colors
• Easy to use extension methods for quick printing

Installation

Install via NuGet:

dotnet add package ConsoleTablePrinter --version 1.1.0

Or using the NuGet Package Manager:

Install-Package ConsoleTablePrinter -Version 1.1.0

Usage

Print a list of objects

using ConsoleTablesPrinter;
class Person
{
    public int Id { get; set; }
    public string? Name { get; set; }
    public string? Email { get; set; }
    public DateOnly? DoB { get; set; }  
    public string? City { get; set; } 
}
class Program
{
    static void Main(string[] args)
    {
        var people = new List<Person>
        {
            new() { Id=1, Name = "Alice Johnson", Email="Alice@example.com", DoB = new DateOnly(1962,4,13), City = "Seattle" },
            new() { Id=2, Name = "Bob Smith", Email="bob@example.com", DoB =  new DateOnly(1991,7,27), City = "Portland" },
            new() { Id=3, Name = "Charlie Potato", Email="charlie.potato@example.com", DoB=  new DateOnly(1962,4,13), City = "San Francisco" }
        };
        people.PrintAsTable();
    }
}

Print a single object

var person = new Person() { Id=1, Name = "Alice Johnson", Email="Alice@eample.com", DoB = new DateOnly(1962,4,13), City = "Seattle" };
person.PrintAsTable();

When printing a single object, the table pivots into a 2-column layout showing property names and values.

Customize Table Style

You can customize the look and feel of your tables using the TableStyle class. Below are the available styling properties:

Borders

Colors and Cell Styles

Both HeaderCellStyle and DataCellStyle are of type CellStyle

Padding & Spacing

Row Layout

"Animation"

Supported Border Styles

Example Usage

Styles can be applied either inline via a lambda or by passing a pre-configured TableStyle object to PrintAsTable().

people.PrintAsTable(style =>
{
    style.BorderStyle = BorderStyles.SingleBoldLine;
    style.CellHorizontalPadding = 2;
    style.BackgroundColor = ConsoleColor.DarkBlue;
    style.BorderColor = ConsoleColor.Cyan;
    style.HeaderCellStyle = new CellStyle()
    {
        BackgroundColor = ConsoleColor.Cyan,
        ForegroundColor = ConsoleColor.DarkBlue,
        TextAlignment = TextAlignments.Center
    };
});

Or

people.PrintAsTable(new TableStyle()
{
    BorderStyle = BorderStyles.SingleToDoubleLine,
    UseRowSeparator = true,
    RowSeparatorStyle = BorderStyles.SingleLine,
    BorderColor = ConsoleColor.Red,
    HorizontalPadding = 5,
    VerticalPadding = 1,
           
});

Attributes for column customization

Use [TablePrintCol] attribute on your model properties to control how columns display. These will override other styling defined on the table that affect the property.

class Person
{
    public int Id { get; set; }
    [TablePrintCol(DisplayName = "Full Name")]
    public string? Name { get; set; }

    [TablePrintCol(Format = "C", CellTextAlignment = TextAlignments.Right, HeaderTextColor = ConsoleColor.Red, CellBgColor = ConsoleColor.DarkGray)]    
    public double Salary { get; set; }

    [TablePrintCol(Hidden = true)]
    public string? SecretCode { get; set; }
    
    public string? Email { get; set; }

    [TablePrintCol(DisplayName ="Date of Birth",Format = "MMM dd, yyyy",CellTextColor =ConsoleColor.Magenta)]
    public DateOnly? DoB { get; set; }
    public string? City { get; set; }
}

When printing a list of Person:

people.PrintAsTable(new TableStyle()
        {
            BorderStyle = BorderStyles.SingleToDoubleLine,
            UseRowSeparator = true,
            RowSeparatorStyle = BorderStyles.SingleLine,
            BorderColor = ConsoleColor.Red,
            HorizontalPadding = 5,
            VerticalPadding = 1,
            HeaderCellStyle = new CellStyle()
            {
                BackgroundColor = ConsoleColor.Yellow,
                ForegroundColor = ConsoleColor.Black,
            }
        });

When printing a single Person object, styling is preserved and applied to the pivoted layout:

ConsoleTablePrinter.DefaultStyle = new TableStyle()
{
    BorderStyle = BorderStyles.SingleToDoubleLine,
    UseRowSeparator = true,
    RowSeparatorStyle = BorderStyles.SingleLine,
    BorderColor = ConsoleColor.Red,
    HorizontalPadding = 5,
    VerticalPadding = 1,
    HeaderCellStyle = new CellStyle()
    {
        BackgroundColor = ConsoleColor.Yellow,
        ForegroundColor = ConsoleColor.Black,
    }
};
var person = new Person() { Id = 1, Name = "Alice Johnson", Email = "Alice@eample.com", DoB = new DateOnly(1962, 4, 13), City = "Seattle" };
people.PrintAsTable();
person.PrintAsTable();

Supported attributes:

The following attributes can be used on the model properties

TableStyle default

You can set a default style globally:

ConsoleTablePrinter.DefaultStyle = new TableStyle()
{
    BorderStyle = BorderStyles.SingleBoldLine,
    CellHorizontalPadding = 1,
    BackgroundColor = ConsoleColor.Black,
    BorderColor = ConsoleColor.Green,
};

If no style is specified in PrintAsTable(), this default will be used.

Version History

License

MIT License © Sam Farah

Contact

Feel free to open issues or contribute on GitHub.
GitHub Repository

Enjoy nicely formatted tables in your console apps!