ConsoleTree

A tool to write a tree structure to the console standard output stream, with colors support and a lot of customization options.

Getting started

To add ConsoleTree to your project, you can use the following NuGet Package Manager command:

Install-Package ConsoleTree

More options are available on the ConsoleTree page of the NuGet Gallery website.

Usage

Implement the ITreeNode interface to obtain the node of a tree structure. Optionally override the ToString method to provide a custom text for the node. To write a tree structure to the console standard output stream, call the Tree.Write method specifying its root node as parameter.

class TaxonomicRank : ITreeNode
{
	public string Name { get; set; }

	public List<TaxonomicRank> Members { get; set; }

	public IEnumerable<ITreeNode> GetNodes() => Members;

	public override string ToString() => Name;
}

var taxonomy = new TaxonomicRank
{
	Name = "Felidae",
	Members =
	[
		new TaxonomicRank { Name = "Felinae" },
		new TaxonomicRank { Name = "Pantherinae" }
	]
};

Tree.Write(taxonomy, new DisplaySettings { IndentSize = 2 });

// Output:
//
// Felidae
// ├──Felinae
// └──Pantherinae

If it is not possible or not desired to implement the ITreeNode interface, then use the Tree.Write<T> method overloads.

class TaxonomicRank
{
	public string Name { get; set; }

	public List<TaxonomicRank> Members { get; set; }
}

var taxonomy = new TaxonomicRank
{
	Name = "Felidae",
	Members =
	[
		new TaxonomicRank { Name = "Felinae" },
		new TaxonomicRank { Name = "Pantherinae" }
	]
};

Tree.Write(taxonomy, (node, _) => Console.Write(node.Name), (node, _) => node.Members, new DisplaySettings { IndentSize = 2 });

// Output:
//
// Felidae
// ├──Felinae
// └──Pantherinae

If there are multiple types of nodes in the tree structure, then use the fluent interface methods.

class Family
{
	public string Name { get; set; }

	public List<Subfamily> Members { get; set; }
}

class Subfamily
{
	public string Name { get; set; }
}

var taxonomy = new Family
{
	Name = "Felidae",
	Members =
	[
		new Subfamily { Name = "Felinae" },
		new Subfamily { Name = "Pantherinae" }
	]
};

new Tree(new DisplaySettings { IndentSize = 2 })
	.WriteNode<Family>((node, _) => Console.Write(node.Name))
	.EnumNodes<Family, Subfamily>((node, _) => node.Members)
	.WriteNode<Subfamily>((node, _) => Console.Write(node.Name))
	.Write(taxonomy);

// Output:
//
// Felidae
// ├──Felinae
// └──Pantherinae

Resources

See the API reference and the ConsoleTree.Demo application to learn how to customize indentation, maximum depth, type of connectors and colors.