Does SharpConsoleUI have a control or feature similar to a Spinner?

[changlv]

Does SharpConsoleUI have a control or feature similar to a Spinner?
I'm trying to implement a Spinner‑like effect (for scenarios where the time can't be accurately calculated) to make the UI look nicer and keep users from getting bored. I checked the API documentation but didn't seem to find it — am I missing something?

[changlv]

My temporary solution is:

class Demo
{
    static void Run()
    {
        var window = new WindowBuilder(windowSystem)
            .WithAsyncWindowThread(RuninWindowThread)
            .Build();

        var statusBar = Controls.StatusBar()
            .StickyBottom()
            .Build();

        CurrentSpinner = new DefaultSpinner();
        CurrentSpinner.IsVisible = true;

        RefreshSpinner = (frame) =>
        {
            statusBar.LeftItems[0].Label = $"[yellow]{frame.EscapeMarkup()}[/]";
        };

        statusBar.AddLeft(new StatusBarItem() { Label = " ".PadLeft(CurrentSpinner.CharsWidth) });

        window.AddControl(statusBar);

        windowSystem.AddWindow(window);
        windowSystem.Run();
    }

    private static Action<string>? RefreshSpinner = null;
    private static Spinner? CurrentSpinner = null;

    private static async Task RuninWindowThread(Window window, CancellationToken ct)
    {
        while (!ct.IsCancellationRequested)
        {
            if(CurrentSpinner != null && CurrentSpinner.IsVisible)
            {
                await Task.Delay(CurrentSpinner.IntervalMs, ct);
                RefreshSpinner?.Invoke(CurrentSpinner.NextFrame);
            }
        }
    }
}


public class Spinner
{
    public bool IsVisible { get; set; }

    public virtual int IntervalMs => 100;

    public virtual bool IsUnicode => true;

    public virtual int CharsWidth => 1;

    public virtual IReadOnlyList<string> Frames =>
        [
        "⣷",
        "⣯",
        "⣟",
        "⡿",
        "⢿",
        "⣻",
        "⣽",
        "⣾",
        ];

    protected int CurrentFrameIndex = 0;

    public virtual string NextFrame 
    { 
        get
        {
            CurrentFrameIndex = (CurrentFrameIndex + 1) % Frames.Count;
            return Frames[CurrentFrameIndex];
        }
    }
}

public sealed class DotsBarSpinner : Spinner
{
    public override int IntervalMs => 360;

    public override bool IsUnicode => false;

    public override int CharsWidth => 3;

    public override IReadOnlyList<string> Frames =>
        [
        ".  ",
        ".. ",
        "...",
        ];
}

@nickprotop Hopefully the official will include a new Spinner control.

[nickprotop]

Hi @changlv — thanks for the detailed request and the reference implementation, it was a great starting point! Spinner support is now built into SharpConsoleUI as of v2.4.65 (on NuGet now), so you can drop the manual WithAsyncWindowThread + Task.Delay loop entirely. There are three ways to use it:

1. A standalone SpinnerControl

Place it anywhere; it auto-animates as soon as it's added to a window:

window.AddControl(
    Controls.Spinner()
        .WithStyle(SpinnerStyle.Braille)   // your braille set — it's the default!
        .WithColor(Color.Yellow)
        .Build());

Preset styles: Braille, Circle, Dots, Line, Arc, Bounce. Or supply your own frames (markup supported per-frame):

Controls.Spinner().WithFrames("[green]✔[/]", "[yellow]◐[/]", "[red]✗[/]").Build();

Control it with IsSpinning / Start() / Stop().

2. SpinnerTextAnimator — the direct replacement for your status-bar approach

This drives any text setter, so your exact use case becomes a one-liner:

var animator = new SpinnerTextAnimator(windowSystem, SpinnerStyle.Braille,
    frame => statusBar.LeftItems[0].Label = $"[yellow]{frame}[/]");
animator.Start();   // Stop() / Dispose() to end

Importantly, this is built on SharpConsoleUI's animation infrastructure rather than a hand-rolled loop. It registers a looping IAnimation with the window system's AnimationManager, which the render loop advances once per frame on the UI thread. That means: no extra background thread, no Task.Delay, no manual frame-index bookkeeping, and no thread-marshaling concerns — and it automatically respects the global animations-enabled setting (so it pauses cleanly when animations are turned off). Your original version worked, but it ran its own async loop poking the label; this hooks into the same engine the rest of the library's animations use.

3. An inline [spinner] markup tag

If you just want a spinner inside text, there's now a markup tag — no separate control at all:

statusBar.LeftItems[0].Label = "[yellow]Loading [spinner] please wait[/]";
// pick a style: [spinner circle], [spinner dots], …

It animates anywhere markup is rendered (labels, titles, table cells, tree nodes, status-bar items), inherits the surrounding color scope, and reserves a fixed width so the surrounding text never reflows.

Docs & demo

• Markup Syntax → Spinner
• SpinnerControl reference
• Live demo: run the DemoApp → Controls → Spinner (shows all preset styles, custom markup frames, and inline-tag examples).

Thanks again for the nudge — it turned into a genuinely nice feature. Let me know how it works for you!

[changlv]

@nickprotop Awesome! That's exactly what I need!

I've given you all sorts of Spinner variants that I've already implemented – hoping they can serve as a reference for you. If you think they're suitable, you can just build them in.

public class Spinner
{
    public bool IsVisible { get; set; }

    public virtual int IntervalMs => 100;

    public virtual bool IsUnicode => true;

    public virtual int CharsWidth => 1;

    public virtual IReadOnlyList<string> Frames =>
        [
        "⣷",
        "⣯",
        "⣟",
        "⡿",
        "⢿",
        "⣻",
        "⣽",
        "⣾",
        ];

    protected int CurrentFrameIndex = 0;

    public virtual string NextFrame 
    { 
        get
        {
            CurrentFrameIndex = (CurrentFrameIndex + 1) % Frames.Count;
            return Frames[CurrentFrameIndex];
        }
    }
}

public sealed class DefaultSpinner : Spinner { }

public sealed class DotsSpinner : Spinner
{
    public override int IntervalMs => 80;

    public override bool IsUnicode => true;

    public override int CharsWidth => 1;

    public override IReadOnlyList<string> Frames =>
        [
        "⠋",
        "⠙",
        "⠹",
        "⠸",
        "⠼",
        "⠴",
        "⠦",
        "⠧",
        "⠇",
        "⠏",
        ];
}

public sealed class LineSpinner : Spinner
{
    public override int IntervalMs => 120;

    public override bool IsUnicode => false;

    public override int CharsWidth => 1;

    public override IReadOnlyList<string> Frames =>
        [
        "-",
        "\\",
        "|",
        "/",
        ];
}

public sealed class DotsBarSpinner : Spinner
{
    public override int IntervalMs => 360;

    public override bool IsUnicode => false;

    public override int CharsWidth => 3;

    public override IReadOnlyList<string> Frames =>
        [
        ".  ",
        ".. ",
        "...",
        ];
}

public sealed class DotsBar2Spinner : Spinner
{
    public override int IntervalMs => 200;

    public override bool IsUnicode => false;

    public override int CharsWidth => 3;

    public override IReadOnlyList<string> Frames =>
        [
        ".  ",
        ".. ",
        "...",
        " ..",
        "  .",
        "   ",
        ];
}

public sealed class StarSpinner : Spinner
{
    public override int IntervalMs => 70;

    public override bool IsUnicode => true;

    public override int CharsWidth => 1;

    public override IReadOnlyList<string> Frames =>
        [
        "✶",
        "✸",
        "✹",
        "✺",
        "✹",
        "✷",
        ];
}

public sealed class GrowVerticalSpinner : Spinner
{
    public override int IntervalMs => 120;

    public override bool IsUnicode => true;

    public override int CharsWidth => 1;

    public override IReadOnlyList<string> Frames =>
        [
        "▁",
        "▃",
        "▄",
        "▅",
        "▆",
        "▇",
        "▆",
        "▅",
        "▄",
        "▃",
        ];
}

public sealed class GrowHorizontalSpinner : Spinner
{
    public override int IntervalMs => 120;

    public override bool IsUnicode => true;

    public override int CharsWidth => 1;

    public override IReadOnlyList<string> Frames =>
        [
        "▏",
        "▎",
        "▍",
        "▌",
        "▋",
        "▊",
        "▉",
        "▊",
        "▋",
        "▌",
        "▍",
        "▎",
        ];
}

public sealed class ToggleSpinner : Spinner
{
    public override int IntervalMs => 240;

    public override bool IsUnicode => true;

    public override int CharsWidth => 1;

    public override IReadOnlyList<string> Frames =>
        [
        "□",
        "■",
        ];
}

public sealed class ArrowSpinner : Spinner
{
    public override int IntervalMs => 120;

    public override bool IsUnicode => true;

    public override int CharsWidth => 1;

    public override IReadOnlyList<string> Frames =>
        [
        "←",
        "↖",
        "↑",
        "↗",
        "→",
        "↘",
        "↓",
        "↙",
        ];
}

public sealed class BouncingBarSpinner : Spinner
{
    public override int IntervalMs => 80;

    public override bool IsUnicode => false;

    public override int CharsWidth => 6;

    public override IReadOnlyList<string> Frames =>
        [        
        "[    ]",
        "[=   ]",
        "[==  ]",
        "[=== ]",
        "[====]",
        "[ ===]",
        "[  ==]",
        "[   =]",
        "[    ]",
        "[   =]",
        "[  ==]",
        "[ ===]",
        "[====]",
        "[=== ]",
        "[==  ]",
        "[=   ]",
        ];
}

public sealed class AestheticBarSpinner : Spinner
{
    public override int IntervalMs => 80;

    public override bool IsUnicode => true;

    public override int CharsWidth => 6;

    public override IReadOnlyList<string> Frames =>
        [
        "▰▱▱▱▱▱",
        "▰▰▱▱▱▱",
        "▰▰▰▱▱▱",
        "▰▰▰▰▱▱",
        "▰▰▰▰▰▱",
        "▰▰▰▰▰▰",
        "▰▱▱▱▱▱",
        ];
}

[nickprotop]

@changlv — these are great, thank you! I've added the distinct ones as built-in presets. As of v2.4.67 (on NuGet now) the full set of new SpinnerStyle values is:

Star, GrowVertical, GrowHorizontal, Toggle, Arrow, BouncingBar, AestheticBar, BrailleDots, DotsBounce

BrailleDots is your DotsSpinner — the classic npm/CLI braille throbber (⠋⠙⠹⠸⠼⠴⠦⠧⠇⠏). I almost skipped it as a duplicate of the existing Braille, but checking codepoints showed zero glyph overlap — it's a genuinely distinct (and very recognizable) animation, so in it went. It's named BrailleDots to avoid colliding with the existing ASCII Dots preset. DotsBounce is your DotsBar2. Both landed in v2.4.67.

They work three ways, same as the original presets:

// 1. Standalone control
Controls.Spinner().WithStyle(SpinnerStyle.Arrow).Build();

// 2. Drive a label (your original status-bar use case)
new SpinnerTextAnimator(ws, SpinnerStyle.AestheticBar,
    frame => statusBar.LeftItems[0].Label = frame).Start();

// 3. Inline markup tag — anywhere markup renders
"Working [spinner star] / [spinner brailledots] / [spinner aestheticbar]"

On your original status-bar question specifically: StatusBarControl isn't a control container — it doesn't host child controls. But it doesn't need to, because every StatusBarItem.Label is rendered as markup, and the inline [spinner] tag is purely time-driven (no per-control registration). So a spinner animates inside a status-bar label for free — that's actually the cleanest replacement for your WithAsyncWindowThread + Task.Delay loop:

statusBar.AddLeft(null, "[green]Building [spinner][/]");
statusBar.AddCenterText("Connecting [cyan1][spinner circle][/]");
// any style: [spinner arrow], [spinner aestheticbar], …

No background thread, no manual frame index, and it respects the global animations-enabled setting. SpinnerTextAnimator (above) is there too when you'd rather drive the label setter yourself.

See it live: the DemoApp's Spinner window (Controls → Spinner) now shows every preset, the inline-tag examples, and a status bar pinned to the bottom that uses both an inline [spinner] label and a SpinnerTextAnimator toggle.

A couple of implementation notes in case they're useful for your own copies:

• Star, Toggle, Arrow use glyphs that are East Asian Ambiguous width — the width tables report 1 column, but many terminals draw them 2-wide, which corrupts inline layout. I pad those frames with a trailing space so they reserve a stable 2 columns regardless of how the terminal renders them.
• BouncingBar needed its brackets escaped ([[====]]) because spinner frames render through the markup parser, where a bare [====] gets misread as a (broken) tag.

You're credited in the source and docs. Thanks again for the catalog — genuinely nice additions!

[changlv]

@nickprotop Wow, you're really efficient!
My pleasure! And thank you for the great work on this library — it's been a joy to contribute a little bit.
One tiny suggestion: the default interval value for SpinnerStyle.Dots is a bit too short — maybe 300 ms would work better?

[nickprotop]

Good call on the timing — fixed in v2.4.68. Two things landed:

1. Per-style default speeds. Each style now has a sensible default interval instead of the flat 100 ms, so Dots reads better out of the box (it's 360 ms now — your DotsBarSpinner value). Star is 70 ms, Toggle 240 ms, etc. — drawn from the intervals in your original catalog. This applies everywhere: the SpinnerControl, SpinnerTextAnimator, and the inline [spinner] tag all pick up the per-style default when you don't set an explicit interval. IntervalMs stays an int and overrides still win, so nothing breaks — it's just that the default is now per-style.

To override on a control, use the fluent .WithInterval(ms) (or set IntervalMs directly):

Controls.Spinner().WithStyle(SpinnerStyle.Dots).Build();                  // 360ms default
Controls.Spinner().WithStyle(SpinnerStyle.Dots).WithInterval(80).Build(); // explicit 80ms

2. Inline interval override. You can also set the speed right in the markup tag:

Default [spinner dots]      ← 360ms (style default)
Faster  [spinner dots 80]   ← explicit 80ms
Slower  [spinner dots 600]  ← explicit 600ms

A trailing millisecond value wins; an invalid/missing one falls back to the style default, and the interval never affects the reserved width (so no reflow). The DemoApp's Spinner window shows all three side by side.

Precedence everywhere is explicit → per-style default → 100 ms. Thanks again — the library's spinners are in much better shape thanks to your input!

[changlv]

@nickprotop The Spinner control is working well now.

Just a small suggestion: perhaps the default interval value could be a bit larger (too fast might make users feel anxious).

Below are some values that I found to work well after testing, for your reference：

SpinnerStyle.Star interval: 180
SpinnerStyle.BouncingBar interval: 210
SpinnerStyle.AestheticBar interval: 360

[nickprotop]

Thanks @changlv — applied your tested values in v2.4.71 (on NuGet now). The unset per-style defaults are now:

• Star: 70 → 180 ms
• BouncingBar: 80 → 210 ms
• AestheticBar: 80 → 360 ms

They read much calmer — agreed the old speeds felt a bit anxious. BouncingBar and AestheticBar had been sharing one constant; they each have their own now since your numbers differ. Explicit intervals (.WithInterval(ms), IntervalMs, or the inline [spinner dots 80] form) still win — only the default moved. Thanks again for taking the time to tune these!

[changlv]

@nickprotop Thank you for adopting it! Fast work! Awesome!