How to Resize a Console App in C# - Windows Terminal

Question

I am trying to create a Console game in C# with .net 6 framework.

My issue is in the formatting with, I believe, Windows Terminal- Currently, I am using Console.GetLargestConsoleWidth() to set the console to "full screen", and to help with centering my outputs in the console via a formula as below:

int PadSize = ((Console.LargestWindowWidth - 100) / 2);
public void Spacing()
{
	(_, int top) = Console.GetCursorPosition();  //<----The left value is not needed here because of PadSize
	Console.SetCursorPosition(PadSize, top);  //<-------Sets the cursor to a point calculated above on the screen
	Console.Write("||")  //<-------------------- -------This is to border the centered contents before every line
	Console.Write("Some line less than or equal to 100 characters here");
	Console.SetCursorPosition(PadSize + 100, top);  //<-Sets the cursor to the right side of the centered text
	Console.Write("||")  //<--------------------------- And this is the border on the right hand side
	top++;
}

//The output looks like below:(I will use a single '|' to simulate the edge of the window)

//|              ||Some line less than or equal to 100 characters here                         ||              |

//Where the blank space on the sides here is equal due to the formula based on the LargestWindowWidth

As I understand, using Console.LargestWindowWidth and its compatriots such as Console.GetLargestWindowWidth() are obsolete in Windows Terminal. When I have tried having my sister test the game on her PC (she has Windows 11, and Windows Terminal by default), the application throws an "Argument Out of Range" exception which confuses me considering I am attempting to use the Largest Console Width as determined by the program.

So, how do I accomplish the same thing as above in the Windows Terminal? So far it has run smoothly on computers that do not use Windows Terminal, but if the issue stems from something else entirely, I am all ears!

Thank you for reading!

Answer 1

Hi @Steph ,

This method can maximize the Console window in windows11.

It maximizes the console window and resizes it to fill the entire screen.

You can modify the method you need according to this code.

using System.Runtime.InteropServices;
internal class Program
{
    // Structure used by GetWindowRect
    struct Rect
    {
        public int Left;
        public int Top;
        public int Right;
        public int Bottom;
    }
    private static void Main(string[] args)
    {
        // Import the necessary functions from user32.dll
        [DllImport("user32.dll")]
        static extern IntPtr GetForegroundWindow();
        [DllImport("user32.dll")]
        static extern bool ShowWindow(IntPtr hWnd, int nCmdShow);
        [DllImport("user32.dll")]
        static extern bool GetWindowRect(IntPtr hWnd, out Rect lpRect);
        [DllImport("user32.dll")]
        static extern bool MoveWindow(IntPtr hWnd, int x, int y, int nWidth, int nHeight, bool bRepaint);
        // Constants for the ShowWindow function
        const int SW_MAXIMIZE = 3;
        // Get the handle of the console window
        IntPtr consoleWindowHandle = GetForegroundWindow();
        // Maximize the console window
        ShowWindow(consoleWindowHandle, SW_MAXIMIZE);
        // Get the screen size
        Rect screenRect;
        GetWindowRect(consoleWindowHandle, out screenRect);
        // Resize and reposition the console window to fill the screen
        int width = screenRect.Right - screenRect.Left;
        int height = screenRect.Bottom - screenRect.Top;
        MoveWindow(consoleWindowHandle, screenRect.Left, screenRect.Top, width, height, true);
        Console.ReadKey();
    }
}

Best Regards,

Jiale

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Answer 2

Your console app is hosted in the windows terminal so you need to find a way to resize the terminal which outside of code is wt -F. So this means there is not an exposed method to resize from your console app.

Answer 3

To resize a console app in C# running in Windows Terminal, you can use the following code:

using System;

namespace ConsoleApp
{
    class Program
    {
        static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            Console.SetWindowSize(100, 50); // set the size of the console window
            Console.SetBufferSize(100, 50); // set the size of the console buffer
            Console.WriteLine("Hello, world!"); // write some text to the console
            Console.ReadKey(); // wait for user input
        }
    }
}

In the above code, Console.SetWindowSize sets the size of the console window to 100 columns by 50 rows, and Console.SetBufferSize sets the size of the console buffer to the same dimensions.

You can adjust the values passed to these methods to resize the console app as needed. Note that if you set the window or buffer size to be larger than the current size of the Windows Terminal window, the window will automatically resize to fit the new dimensions.

Finally, the Console.WriteLine method writes some text to the console, and Console.ReadKey waits for the user to press a key before the program exits.
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