C# Console app - How do I make an interactive menu?

Question

I'm trying to make a menu that looks similar to:

> Thing
  Another Thing
  Yet Another Thing
  Exit

Within a C# console app. I've looked all over but can't find a library/example code for this sort of menu.

Put simply, i want to...

1. Display a menu
2. Allow the user to make a selection using the arrow keys [UP/DOWN]
3. Do different things when different options are selected [Enter]

Answer 1

Main thing is to be able to capture inputs. Console can only "simulate" an interactive menu by clearing the console window and re-rendering it again.

using System.Collections.Generic;
using System;
using System.Linq;
using System.Threading;

namespace ConsoleApp
{
    class Program
    {
        public static List<Option> options;
        static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            // Create options that you want your menu to have
            options = new List<Option>
            {
                new Option("Thing", () => WriteTemporaryMessage("Hi")),
                new Option("Another Thing", () =>  WriteTemporaryMessage("How Are You")),
                new Option("Yet Another Thing", () =>  WriteTemporaryMessage("Today")),
                new Option("Exit", () => Environment.Exit(0)),
            };

            // Set the default index of the selected item to be the first
            int index = 0;

            // Write the menu out
            WriteMenu(options, options[index]);

            // Store key info in here
            ConsoleKeyInfo keyinfo;
            do
            {
                keyinfo = Console.ReadKey();

                // Handle each key input (down arrow will write the menu again with a different selected item)
                if (keyinfo.Key == ConsoleKey.DownArrow)
                {
                    if (index + 1 < options.Count)
                    {
                        index++;
                        WriteMenu(options, options[index]);
                    }
                }
                if (keyinfo.Key == ConsoleKey.UpArrow)
                {
                    if (index - 1 >= 0)
                    {
                        index--;
                        WriteMenu(options, options[index]);
                    }
                }
                // Handle different action for the option
                if (keyinfo.Key == ConsoleKey.Enter)
                {
                    options[index].Selected.Invoke();
                    index = 0;
                }
            }
            while (keyinfo.Key != ConsoleKey.X);

            Console.ReadKey();

        }
        // Default action of all the options. You can create more methods
        static void WriteTemporaryMessage(string message)
        {
            Console.Clear();
            Console.WriteLine(message);
            Thread.Sleep(3000);
            WriteMenu(options, options.First());
        }



        static void WriteMenu(List<Option> options, Option selectedOption)
        {
            Console.Clear();

            foreach (Option option in options)
            {
                if (option == selectedOption)
                {
                    Console.Write("> ");
                }
                else
                {
                    Console.Write(" ");
                }

                Console.WriteLine(option.Name);
            }
        }
    }

    public class Option
    {
        public string Name { get; }
        public Action Selected { get; }

        public Option(string name, Action selected)
        {
            Name = name;
            Selected = selected;
        }
    }

}

Answer 2

You could use the NuGet library called Spectre.Console.

Or one of the libraries mentioned in this post:

.Net library for console menu driven app