Quick Start: Your First Table

This guide will walk you through creating a new console application, installing ConsoleTables, and displaying your first table.

Step 1: Create a New Console App

First, open your terminal or command prompt and create a new .NET console application.

dotnet new console -o MyFirstTableApp
cd MyFirstTableApp

Step 2: Install ConsoleTables

Next, add the ConsoleTables NuGet package to your new project.

dotnet add package ConsoleTables

Step 3: Write the Code

Now, open the Program.cs file in your favorite editor and replace its contents with the following code:

using System;
using ConsoleTables;

namespace MyFirstTableApp
{
    class Program
    {
        static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            // 1. Create a new ConsoleTable with column headers
            var table = new ConsoleTable("Name", "Role", "Years of Service");

            // 2. Add rows to the table
            table.AddRow("Alice", "Developer", 5)
                 .AddRow("Bob", "Project Manager", 8)
                 .AddRow("Charlie", "UX Designer", 3);

            // 3. Write the table to the console
            table.Write();

            Console.WriteLine("\nPress any key to exit...");
            Console.ReadKey();
        }
    }
}

Code Breakdown:

1. new ConsoleTable(...): We instantiate a ConsoleTable object, passing the column headers as string arguments to the constructor.
2. .AddRow(...): We use the fluent AddRow method to add data. Each argument corresponds to a column in the order they were defined. You can chain AddRow calls together.
3. .Write(): This method formats and prints the entire table to the standard console output.

Step 4: Run Your Application

Save the file and run your application from the terminal:

dotnet run

You should see the following output:

 -------------------------------------------------------- 
 | Name    | Role            | Years of Service |
 -------------------------------------------------------- 
 | Alice   | Developer       | 5                |
 -------------------------------------------------------- 
 | Bob     | Project Manager | 8                |
 -------------------------------------------------------- 
 | Charlie | UX Designer     | 3                |
 -------------------------------------------------------- 

 Count: 3

Press any key to exit...

Congratulations! You've created and displayed your first table with ConsoleTables. Explore the Core Concepts section to learn about more advanced features.