Welcome to CLI-Box: Enhancing Your Command Line Interface

CLI-Box is a powerful Node.js library for creating and styling command line interface (CLI) boxes. It provides a simple yet flexible API to create various kinds of boxes to display messages, tables, and much more directly within your terminal. If you’re looking to add some flair to your CLI apps, this is the library for you!

Getting Started with CLI-Box

First, you need to install cli-box via npm:

  
  npm install cli-box
  

Creating Your First Box

Let’s dive in with a simple example to create a basic box:

  
  const box = require('cli-box');
  const myBox = box('20x5', { text: 'Hello, CLI Box!' });
  console.log(myBox.toString());
  

Advanced Box Customization

CLI-Box gives you full control over the appearance of your box. Here are some useful API functions:

Box with Custom Borders

  
  const customBox = box({w: 20, h: 5, marks: { nw: '+', n: '-', ne: '+', e: '|', se: '+', s: '-', sw: '+', w: '|' }}, 
  { text: 'Custom Borders' });
  console.log(customBox.toString());
  

Colorful Text

  
  const chalk = require('chalk');
  const coloredBox = box('20x5', { text: chalk.blue('Blue Text') });
  console.log(coloredBox.toString());
  

Content Alignment

You can also align content within the box:

  
  const alignedBox = box('20x5', { text: 'Center Aligned', hAlign: 'center', vAlign: 'middle' });
  console.log(alignedBox.toString());
  

Practical Example: A Simple To-Do App

Let’s see an example of a simple To-Do App that uses CLI-Box:

  
  const box = require('cli-box');

  const tasks = ['Buy milk', 'Walk the dog', 'Write blog post'];
  const taskBoxText = tasks.map(task => '- ' + task).join('\n');

  const taskBox = box('30x10', { text: taskBoxText, hAlign: 'left' });
  console.log(taskBox.toString());
  

With this example, you can see how easy it is to use CLI-Box to create visually appealing command line interfaces.

Conclusion

cli-box is a versatile tool that can significantly enhance how you present information within the terminal. From customizing borders and colors to creating practical applications like a To-Do App, the possibilities are endless. Start exploring the different options and make your CLI applications stand out!

Happy coding!

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