Let System.ConsoleKeyInfo able to represent keypress in the Unicode world

[WenceyWang]

Background and Motivation

The design of keyboard key code and key char is dated back to IBM PC and we have code pages to make things work.

Currently, we have much more complicated keyboards, some of them can type in script languages, some of them can directly input emoji.

But System.ConsoleKeyInfo uses a char to store key char. Which caused a lot of long hanging serious issue:

#27828 is only one of the examples.

These problems can be easily fixed by adding a new property.

Proposed API

namespace System
{
  public struct ConsoleKeyInfo {
+    public ReadOnlySpan<System.Text.Rune> KeyCharacters { get; }
}

Usage Examples

StringBuilder inputText = new StringBuilder ( );

while ( true )
{
	ConsoleKeyInfo key = Console . ReadKey ( true );

	switch ( key.Key )
	{
		case ConsoleKey.Escape:
		case ConsoleKey.Enter:
			// Some Logic
			break;
		default:
			foreach ( Rune rune in key.KeyCharacters )
			{
				inputText.Append ( rune );
			}
			break;
	}
	
}

Alternative Designs

The property type can also be ReadOnlySpan<char> or even string. The name can also be different.

Risks

ConsoleKeyInfo is [Serializable].

[ghost]

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Issue Details

---

Background and Motivation

The design of keyboard key code and key char is dated back to IBM PC and we have code pages to make things work.

Currently, we have much more complicated keyboards, some of them can type in script languages, some of them can directly input emoji.

But System.ConsoleKeyInfo uses a char to store key char. Which caused a lot of long hanging serious issue:

#27828 is only one of the examples.

This problem can be easily fixed by adding a new property.

Proposed API

namespace System
{
  public struct ConsoleKeyInfo {
+    public ReadOnlySpan<System.Text.Rune> KeyCharacters { get; }
}

Usage Examples

StringBuilder inputText = new StringBuilder ( );

while ( true )
{
	ConsoleKeyInfo key = Console . ReadKey ( true );

	switch ( key.Key )
	{
		case ConsoleKey.Escape:
		case ConsoleKey.Enter:
			// Some Logic
			break;
		default:
			foreach ( Rune rune in key.KeyCharacters )
			{
				inputText.Append ( rune );
			}
			break;
	}
	
}

Alternative Designs

The property type can also be ReadOnlySpan<char> or even string. The name can also be different.

Risks

ConsoleKeyInfo is [Serializable].

Author:	WenceyWang
Assignees:	-
Labels:	api-suggestion, area-System.Console, untriaged
Milestone:	-

[GrabYourPitchforks]

For reference, there's a discussion going on at #27828 on whether a string-returning API needs to be added, or whether callers can keep querying the KeyChar property over and over in a loop, stitching together the key presses and building up the input string.

[adamsitnik]

Closing as a duplicate of #27828