Setting Console.CursorVisible property does not change visibility in Linux

[bry-guy]

Hello! I've been using the Console cursor APIs for .NET Core 3.0 in WSL 2. I've noticed that the Console.CursorVisible property has non-intuitive behavior (to me) in Linux (Ubuntu). When getting the property, a PlatformNotSupportedException is thrown. When setting the property, no exception is thrown, but nothing appears to happen - the cursor is still visible.

Is there any intention to support setting the visibility of the cursor across all platforms? Thanks!

Additional Investigation Notes

Looking through the source, it appears ConsolePal.Unix is responsible for handling this API. Upon the set, it appears we try to write some standard string to the console:

        public static bool CursorVisible
        {
            get { throw new PlatformNotSupportedException(); }
            set
            {
                if (!Console.IsOutputRedirected)
                {
                    WriteStdoutAnsiString(value ?
                        TerminalFormatStrings.Instance.CursorVisible :
                        TerminalFormatStrings.Instance.CursorInvisible);
                }
            }
        }

It appears that TerminalFormatStrings.CursorInvisible refers to CursorInvisible = db.GetString(TermInfo.WellKnownStrings.CursorInvisible); wherein TermInfo is an enum stored in a database. I've ended my investigation at this point - I'm guessing this is designed behavior.

[khellang]

@bryansmi What is your TERM? What does infocmp give you?

[adamsitnik]

@bry-guy could you please respond to the quesiton asked by @khellang ? Thank you!

[lastunicorn]

Hi,

I have the same problem. I need to get/set the cursor's visibility and I receive an exception on get.

The result of infocmp on my machine (Ubuntu 20.04.1):

#	Reconstructed via infocmp from file: /lib/terminfo/x/xterm-256color
xterm-256color|xterm with 256 colors,
	am, bce, ccc, km, mc5i, mir, msgr, npc, xenl,
	colors#0x100, cols#80, it#8, lines#24, pairs#0x10000,
	acsc=``aaffggiijjkkllmmnnooppqqrrssttuuvvwwxxyyzz{{||}}~~,
	bel=^G, blink=\E[5m, bold=\E[1m, cbt=\E[Z, civis=\E[?25l,
	clear=\E[H\E[2J, cnorm=\E[?12l\E[?25h, cr=\r,
	csr=\E[%i%p1%d;%p2%dr, cub=\E[%p1%dD, cub1=^H,
	cud=\E[%p1%dB, cud1=\n, cuf=\E[%p1%dC, cuf1=\E[C,
	cup=\E[%i%p1%d;%p2%dH, cuu=\E[%p1%dA, cuu1=\E[A,
	cvvis=\E[?12;25h, dch=\E[%p1%dP, dch1=\E[P, dim=\E[2m,
	dl=\E[%p1%dM, dl1=\E[M, ech=\E[%p1%dX, ed=\E[J, el=\E[K,
	el1=\E[1K, flash=\E[?5h$<100/>\E[?5l, home=\E[H,
	hpa=\E[%i%p1%dG, ht=^I, hts=\EH, ich=\E[%p1%d@,
	il=\E[%p1%dL, il1=\E[L, ind=\n, indn=\E[%p1%dS,
	initc=\E]4;%p1%d;rgb\:%p2%{255}%*%{1000}%/%2.2X/%p3%{255}%*%{1000}%/%2.2X/%p4%{255}%*%{1000}%/%2.2X\E\\,
	invis=\E[8m, is2=\E[!p\E[?3;4l\E[4l\E>, kDC=\E[3;2~,
	kEND=\E[1;2F, kHOM=\E[1;2H, kIC=\E[2;2~, kLFT=\E[1;2D,
	kNXT=\E[6;2~, kPRV=\E[5;2~, kRIT=\E[1;2C, kb2=\EOE, kbs=^?,
	kcbt=\E[Z, kcub1=\EOD, kcud1=\EOB, kcuf1=\EOC, kcuu1=\EOA,
	kdch1=\E[3~, kend=\EOF, kent=\EOM, kf1=\EOP, kf10=\E[21~,
	kf11=\E[23~, kf12=\E[24~, kf13=\E[1;2P, kf14=\E[1;2Q,
	kf15=\E[1;2R, kf16=\E[1;2S, kf17=\E[15;2~, kf18=\E[17;2~,
	kf19=\E[18;2~, kf2=\EOQ, kf20=\E[19;2~, kf21=\E[20;2~,
	kf22=\E[21;2~, kf23=\E[23;2~, kf24=\E[24;2~,
	kf25=\E[1;5P, kf26=\E[1;5Q, kf27=\E[1;5R, kf28=\E[1;5S,
	kf29=\E[15;5~, kf3=\EOR, kf30=\E[17;5~, kf31=\E[18;5~,
	kf32=\E[19;5~, kf33=\E[20;5~, kf34=\E[21;5~,
	kf35=\E[23;5~, kf36=\E[24;5~, kf37=\E[1;6P, kf38=\E[1;6Q,
	kf39=\E[1;6R, kf4=\EOS, kf40=\E[1;6S, kf41=\E[15;6~,
	kf42=\E[17;6~, kf43=\E[18;6~, kf44=\E[19;6~,
	kf45=\E[20;6~, kf46=\E[21;6~, kf47=\E[23;6~,
	kf48=\E[24;6~, kf49=\E[1;3P, kf5=\E[15~, kf50=\E[1;3Q,
	kf51=\E[1;3R, kf52=\E[1;3S, kf53=\E[15;3~, kf54=\E[17;3~,
	kf55=\E[18;3~, kf56=\E[19;3~, kf57=\E[20;3~,
	kf58=\E[21;3~, kf59=\E[23;3~, kf6=\E[17~, kf60=\E[24;3~,
	kf61=\E[1;4P, kf62=\E[1;4Q, kf63=\E[1;4R, kf7=\E[18~,
	kf8=\E[19~, kf9=\E[20~, khome=\EOH, kich1=\E[2~,
	kind=\E[1;2B, kmous=\E[M, knp=\E[6~, kpp=\E[5~,
	kri=\E[1;2A, mc0=\E[i, mc4=\E[4i, mc5=\E[5i, meml=\El,
	memu=\Em, oc=\E]104\007, op=\E[39;49m, rc=\E8, rev=\E[7m,
	ri=\EM, rin=\E[%p1%dT, ritm=\E[23m, rmacs=\E(B,
	rmam=\E[?7l, rmcup=\E[?1049l\E[23;0;0t, rmir=\E[4l,
	rmkx=\E[?1l\E>, rmm=\E[?1034l, rmso=\E[27m, rmul=\E[24m,
	rs1=\Ec\E]104\007, rs2=\E[!p\E[?3;4l\E[4l\E>, sc=\E7,
	setab=\E[%?%p1%{8}%<%t4%p1%d%e%p1%{16}%<%t10%p1%{8}%-%d%e48;5;%p1%d%;m,
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	sgr=%?%p9%t\E(0%e\E(B%;\E[0%?%p6%t;1%;%?%p5%t;2%;%?%p2%t;4%;%?%p1%p3%|%t;7%;%?%p4%t;5%;%?%p7%t;8%;m,
	sgr0=\E(B\E[m, sitm=\E[3m, smacs=\E(0, smam=\E[?7h,
	smcup=\E[?1049h\E[22;0;0t, smir=\E[4h, smkx=\E[?1h\E=,
	smm=\E[?1034h, smso=\E[7m, smul=\E[4m, tbc=\E[3g,
	u6=\E[%i%d;%dR, u7=\E[6n, u8=\E[?%[;0123456789]c,
	u9=\E[c, vpa=\E[%i%p1%dd,

[stephentoub]

I need to get/set the cursor's visibility and I receive an exception on get.

There's no good way to get the cursor's visibility, so it throws PlatformNotSupportedException. That's by design.

Are you also having issues setting the cursor's visibility?

[lastunicorn]

I was able to hide it, but, for some reason, it could not display it back.
I may need to test again. Maybe I did something wrong.

(On Windows it was displayed back, but not on Ubuntu.)

[adamsitnik]

I may need to test again. Maybe I did something wrong.

No updates for 3 years, closing.