Console write Color Encoder

 

Sometimes I use a console logger, for simple apps.and it’s more important to see the data than the text for a programmer.

I have written a simple Console encoding app that spits color encoded console lines to the console.

I may some day write a log4net logger that does this, but for now:

public static string EncodeConsole(string message
          , params object[] args)
      {

         

          string content = message;
          string pattern = @"{(.*?)}";
          MatchCollection mc = Regex.Matches(content, pattern
              ,RegexOptions.Compiled); //compiled is faster
          
          #region make better Exception that string.format
          if (mc.Count > args.Length)
          {
              string format1 = "you supplied {0} params, but require {1} in the template";
              ///erro message
              string err = string.Format(format1, args.Length, mc.Count); 
              throw new FormatException( err );
          }
          #endregion

          string encoded = message;
          foreach (Match item in mc)
           encoded = encoded.Replace(item.Value, ",#,").Replace(",,", ",");

          var arr = encoded.Split(',');
          string out_ = "";
          int matchnum = 0;

          for (int i = 0; i < arr.Length; i++)
          {
              if (arr[i][0] == '#')
              {
                  Console.ForegroundColor = ConsoleColor.White;
                  Console.BackgroundColor = ConsoleColor.Blue;
                  var oldmatch = mc[matchnum].Value;
                  var g = oldmatch.Split(':');

                  //will always be 0 for data
                  string match = "{0}";
                  if (g.Length > 1) 
                      match = "{0:" + g[1];
                  
                  var data = string.Format(match, args[matchnum]);
                  arr[i] = data;
                  matchnum++;
              }
              else
                  Console.ResetColor();


              Console.Write(arr[i]);
              out_ += arr[i];

          }
          Console.WriteLine("");

          return out_;
      }