PromptPlus

# PromptPlus ## **MaskEdit — Styles** [](https://www.nuget.org/packages/PromptPlus) [](https://opensource.org/licenses/MIT) [](https://dotnet.microsoft.com/)

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Every MaskEdit control paints its output in named regions. Each region is a MaskEditStyles value you can recolor per control instance with the fluent Styles method. All four interfaces (string, number, currency, date/time) share the same enum.

ℹ️ Styling is per control — there is no global “style all MaskEdits” API. Set styles on each control (or through a small helper you reuse). The only style-related global setting is PromptPlus.Config.ContrastRatio.

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The MaskEditStyles regions

Region	What it paints
Prompt	The prompt text
Answer	The value the user is typing / the confirmed answer
Description	The description line under the prompt
Error	The validation error line
TaggedInfo	Extra-info text (affixed with the prefix/suffix from config)
Tooltips	The keyboard-hint line
NegativeValue	The answer when it is a negative number
PositiveValue	The answer when it is a positive number

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Positive / negative value coloring

PositiveValue and NegativeValue matter on the number and currency controls when a sign is allowed (NumberFormat(..., withsignal: true)). The value is painted with PositiveValue while it is zero or positive and with NegativeValue once it goes negative — a natural fit for balances and accounting fields. When the value is unsigned, Answer applies.

using ConsolePlusLibrary;   // Color, Style live here
using PromptPlusLibrary;

PromptPlus.Controls.MaskDecimal("Balance")
    .NumberFormat(6, 2, withsignal: true)
    .Styles(MaskEditStyles.PositiveValue, new Style(Color.Green, Color.Black))
    .Styles(MaskEditStyles.NegativeValue, new Style(Color.Red, Color.Black))
    .Run();

For the string and date/time controls there is no signed value, so the answer uses the Answer region; PositiveValue / NegativeValue are effectively unused there.

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Recoloring a region

A Style is a foreground color, a background color, and an Overflow strategy — there is no bold/italic/underline Decoration. Construct one with new Style(foreground, background); a bare Color is accepted as a foreground-only shorthand.

using ConsolePlusLibrary;
using PromptPlusLibrary;

PromptPlus.Controls.MaskEdit("Styled")
    .Mask("AAAA-9999")
    .Styles(MaskEditStyles.Prompt,     new Style(Color.Yellow, Color.Black))
    .Styles(MaskEditStyles.Answer,     new Style(Color.Green, Color.Black))
    .Styles(MaskEditStyles.TaggedInfo, new Style(Color.Cyan, Color.Black))
    .Run();

To reuse a theme across controls, wrap the styling in a helper you call for each control — the library does not broadcast styles for you. See Global Styles for the pattern.

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Contrast enforcement

PromptPlus nudges foreground colors that fall below the configured contrast ratio so text stays readable on any terminal theme. Tune or disable with:

PromptPlus.Config.ContrastRatio = 0;     // disable
PromptPlus.Config.ContrastRatio = 4.5;   // WCAG AA target

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See also

• Global Styles — the Style type, per-control styling, contrast
• ConsolePlus → Styles & Overflow — full Style API and Overflow
• Methods → Styles

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