Custom text color in C# console application?

Question

I just finished my C# console application code for a project and would like to add some color to my font. I would love to be able to use a custom color - orange. Is there any way to do this?

This is the code I have been using to change colors in the past, but it doesn't offer orange:

Console.ForegroundColor = ConsoleColor.Magenta(and so on);

Is there a way to maybe insert a hex value for the color or something similar?

Answer 1

It does not orange because that color is not one of the supported color for console. I mean, you can not get it even using windows API. If you want to verify it, take a look at the following piece of code:

   public static class Win32
    {
        [DllImport("kernel32.dll", SetLastError = true)]
        public static extern bool SetConsoleTextAttribute(IntPtr hConsoleOutput, short attributes);

        [DllImport("kernel32.dll", SetLastError = true)]
        public static extern IntPtr GetStdHandle(int nStdHandle);
    }

    public class Program
    {
        static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            foreach(var i in Enumerable.Range(0, 100)) // why "100"? it is just any number
            {
                Win32.SetConsoleTextAttribute(Win32.GetStdHandle(-11), (short)i);
                Console.WriteLine("Hello");
            }
        }
    }

Answer 2

a bit late, i know. But one way to achieve colors that are normally not available in C# Console is to change the ColorCode of a color in the Registry. But be warned, this is propably the most unacceptable way to do it. Just open regedit (Win + R, then type "regedit"), go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER, open the key "Console" (At this point you should export the "Console" Key to restore it later). There you will see a list of values from ColorTable00 to ColoTable15. if you change, lets say, ColorTable10 from 0x0000ff00 to 0x0000a5ff (or 65280 to 42495) you will have an orange color when you use ConsoleColor.Green in the Console after restarting it. You can also change this value by code

using System;
using Microsoft.Win32;

namespace colorChanger
{
    class Program
    {
        static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            Console.ForegroundColor = ConsoleColor.Green;
            Console.WriteLine("Hello World");
            RegistryKey regKey = Registry.CurrentUser.CreateSubKey("Console");
            regKey.SetValue("ColorTable10", 42495, RegistryValueKind.DWord);
            Console.ReadKey();
        }
    }
}

Of course that works with all other ColorTable-Values and Colorcodes but it is changed only for your User on your PC.

Answer 3

The console API does not support custom colors.

You could do it via the UI (right-click the console titlebar, Settings, Colors)

Answer 4

Expanding on the answer of Alexei Shcherbakov Windows 10 ENABLE_VIRTUAL_TERMINAL_PROCESSING here is a complete color code mapping so you have all colors and their respective numbers in one place:

Answer 5

The list found at http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.console.backgroundcolor.aspx

I believe are the only supported colors in console. No hex allowed.

Black
DarkBlue
DarkGreen
DarkCyan
DarkRed
DarkMagenta
DarkYellow
Gray
DarkGray
Blue
Green
Cyan
Red
Magenta
Yellow
White

EDIT

Get the working project files off my public Repo

https://bitbucket.org/benskolnick/color-console/

But on further investigation you can do a lot of work to combine red and yellow to get orange. Follow the example here. Not going to re-post wall of code. http://support.microsoft.com/kb/319883 That Doesn't give you access to more colors but does lead in the correct direction. You will need to do some PINVOKE work but I was easily able to get orange, or any other RGB color into console. http://pinvoke.net/default.aspx/kernel32.SetConsoleScreenBufferInfoEx

// Copyright Alex Shvedov
// Modified by MercuryP with color specifications
// Use this code in any way you want

using System;
using System.Diagnostics;                // for Debug
using System.Drawing;                    // for Color (add reference to  System.Drawing.assembly)
using System.Runtime.InteropServices;    // for StructLayout

class SetScreenColorsApp
{
    [StructLayout(LayoutKind.Sequential)]
    internal struct COORD
    {
        internal short X;
        internal short Y;
    }

    [StructLayout(LayoutKind.Sequential)]
    internal struct SMALL_RECT
    {
        internal short Left;
        internal short Top;
        internal short Right;
        internal short Bottom;
    }

    [StructLayout(LayoutKind.Sequential)]
    internal struct COLORREF
    {
        internal uint ColorDWORD;

        internal COLORREF(Color color)
        {
            ColorDWORD = (uint) color.R + (((uint) color.G) << 8) + (((uint) color.B) << 16);
        }

        internal COLORREF(uint r, uint g, uint b)
        {
            ColorDWORD = r + (g << 8) + (b << 16);
        }

        internal Color GetColor()
        {
            return Color.FromArgb((int) (0x000000FFU & ColorDWORD),
                                  (int) (0x0000FF00U & ColorDWORD) >> 8, (int) (0x00FF0000U & ColorDWORD) >> 16);
        }

        internal void SetColor(Color color)
        {
            ColorDWORD = (uint) color.R + (((uint) color.G) << 8) + (((uint) color.B) << 16);
        }
    }

    [StructLayout(LayoutKind.Sequential)]
    internal struct CONSOLE_SCREEN_BUFFER_INFO_EX
    {
        internal int cbSize;
        internal COORD dwSize;
        internal COORD dwCursorPosition;
        internal ushort wAttributes;
        internal SMALL_RECT srWindow;
        internal COORD dwMaximumWindowSize;
        internal ushort wPopupAttributes;
        internal bool bFullscreenSupported;
        internal COLORREF black;
        internal COLORREF darkBlue;
        internal COLORREF darkGreen;
        internal COLORREF darkCyan;
        internal COLORREF darkRed;
        internal COLORREF darkMagenta;
        internal COLORREF darkYellow;
        internal COLORREF gray;
        internal COLORREF darkGray;
        internal COLORREF blue;
        internal COLORREF green;
        internal COLORREF cyan;
        internal COLORREF red;
        internal COLORREF magenta;
        internal COLORREF yellow;
        internal COLORREF white;
    }

    const int STD_OUTPUT_HANDLE = -11;                                        // per WinBase.h
    internal static readonly IntPtr INVALID_HANDLE_VALUE = new IntPtr(-1);    // per WinBase.h

    [DllImport("kernel32.dll", SetLastError = true)]
    private static extern IntPtr GetStdHandle(int nStdHandle);

    [DllImport("kernel32.dll", SetLastError = true)]
    private static extern bool GetConsoleScreenBufferInfoEx(IntPtr hConsoleOutput, ref CONSOLE_SCREEN_BUFFER_INFO_EX csbe);

    [DllImport("kernel32.dll", SetLastError = true)]
    private static extern bool SetConsoleScreenBufferInfoEx(IntPtr hConsoleOutput, ref CONSOLE_SCREEN_BUFFER_INFO_EX csbe);

    // Set a specific console color to an RGB color
    // The default console colors used are gray (foreground) and black (background)
    public static int SetColor(ConsoleColor consoleColor, Color targetColor)
    {
        return SetColor(consoleColor, targetColor.R, targetColor.G, targetColor.B);
    }

    public static int SetColor(ConsoleColor color, uint r, uint g, uint b)
    {
        CONSOLE_SCREEN_BUFFER_INFO_EX csbe = new CONSOLE_SCREEN_BUFFER_INFO_EX();
        csbe.cbSize = (int)Marshal.SizeOf(csbe);                    // 96 = 0x60
        IntPtr hConsoleOutput = GetStdHandle(STD_OUTPUT_HANDLE);    // 7
        if (hConsoleOutput == INVALID_HANDLE_VALUE)
        {
            return Marshal.GetLastWin32Error();
        }
        bool brc = GetConsoleScreenBufferInfoEx(hConsoleOutput, ref csbe);
        if (!brc)
        {
            return Marshal.GetLastWin32Error();
        }

        switch (color)
        {
            case ConsoleColor.Black:
                csbe.black = new COLORREF(r, g, b);
                break;
            case ConsoleColor.DarkBlue:
                csbe.darkBlue = new COLORREF(r, g, b);
                break;
            case ConsoleColor.DarkGreen:
                csbe.darkGreen = new COLORREF(r, g, b);
                break;
            case ConsoleColor.DarkCyan:
                csbe.darkCyan = new COLORREF(r, g, b);
                break;
            case ConsoleColor.DarkRed:
                csbe.darkRed = new COLORREF(r, g, b);
                break;
            case ConsoleColor.DarkMagenta:
                csbe.darkMagenta = new COLORREF(r, g, b);
                break;
            case ConsoleColor.DarkYellow:
                csbe.darkYellow = new COLORREF(r, g, b);
                break;
            case ConsoleColor.Gray:
                csbe.gray = new COLORREF(r, g, b);
                break;
            case ConsoleColor.DarkGray:
                csbe.darkGray = new COLORREF(r, g, b);
                break;
            case ConsoleColor.Blue:
                csbe.blue = new COLORREF(r, g, b);
                break;
            case ConsoleColor.Green:
                csbe.green = new COLORREF(r, g, b);
                break;
            case ConsoleColor.Cyan:
                csbe.cyan = new COLORREF(r, g, b);
                break;
            case ConsoleColor.Red:
                csbe.red = new COLORREF(r, g, b);
                break;
            case ConsoleColor.Magenta:
                csbe.magenta = new COLORREF(r, g, b);
                break;
            case ConsoleColor.Yellow:
                csbe.yellow = new COLORREF(r, g, b);
                break;
            case ConsoleColor.White:
                csbe.white = new COLORREF(r, g, b);
                break;
        }
        ++csbe.srWindow.Bottom;
        ++csbe.srWindow.Right;
        brc = SetConsoleScreenBufferInfoEx(hConsoleOutput, ref csbe);
        if (!brc)
        {
            return Marshal.GetLastWin32Error();
        }
        return 0;
    }

    public static int SetScreenColors(Color foregroundColor, Color backgroundColor)
    {
        int irc;
        irc = SetColor(ConsoleColor.Gray, foregroundColor);
        if (irc != 0) return irc;
        irc = SetColor(ConsoleColor.Black, backgroundColor);
        if (irc != 0) return irc;

        return 0;
    }
}

And then if you want to use Orange or any other color you can do a simple call to SetScreenColor

static void Main(string[] args)
    {

        Color screenTextColor = Color.Orange;
        Color screenBackgroundColor = Color.Black;
        int irc = SetScreenColorsApp.SetScreenColors(screenTextColor, screenBackgroundColor);
        Debug.Assert(irc == 0, "SetScreenColors failed, Win32Error code = " + irc + " = 0x" + irc.ToString("x"));

        Debug.WriteLine("LargestWindowHeight=" + Console.LargestWindowHeight + " LargestWindowWidth=" + Console.LargestWindowWidth);
        Debug.WriteLine("BufferHeight=" + Console.BufferHeight + " WindowHeight=" + Console.WindowHeight + " BufferWidth=" + Console.BufferWidth + " WindowWidth=" + Console.WindowWidth);
        //// these are relative to the buffer, not the screen:
        //Debug.WriteLine("WindowTop=" + Console.WindowTop + " WindowLeft=" + Console.WindowLeft);
        Debug.WriteLine("ForegroundColor=" + Console.ForegroundColor + " BackgroundColor=" + Console.BackgroundColor);
        Console.WriteLine("Some text in a console window");
        Console.BackgroundColor = ConsoleColor.Cyan;
        Console.ForegroundColor = ConsoleColor.Yellow;
        Debug.WriteLine("ForegroundColor=" + Console.ForegroundColor + " BackgroundColor=" + Console.BackgroundColor);
        Console.Write("Press ENTER to exit...");
        Console.ReadLine();

        // Note: If you use SetScreenColors, the RGB values of gray and black are changed permanently for the console window.
        // Using i.e. Console.ForegroundColor = ConsoleColor.Gray afterwards will switch the color to whatever you changed gray to

        // It's best to use SetColor for the purpose of choosing the 16 colors you want the console to be able to display, then use
        // Console.BackgroundColor and Console.ForegrondColor to choose among them.
    }

Answer 6

[Shameless self-promotion]

I'm working on a project that allows you to style console output in any System.Drawing.Color, including orange. Here's how you'd do it:

Console.WriteLine("writing to the console in orange", Color.Orange);

Project: http://colorfulconsole.com/