# Drawing (Text and Color)

Terminal.Gui supports color on all platforms, including Windows, Mac, and Linux. The default colors are 24-bit RGB colors, but the library will gracefully degrade to 16-colors if the terminal does not support 24-bit color, and black and white if the terminal does not support 16-colors.

## Cell

The `Cell` class represents a single cell on the screen. It contains a character and an attribute. The character is of type `Rune` and the attribute is of type `Attribute`. 

Normally `Cell` is not exposed directly to the developer. Instead, the `ConsoleDriver` classes manage the `Cell` array that represents the screen.

To draw a `Cell` to the screen, first use `View.Move` to specify the row and column coordinates and then use the `View.AddRune` method to draw a single glyph. To draw a string, use `View.AddStr`. 

## Unicode

Terminal.Gui supports the full range of Unicode/wide characters. This includes emoji, CJK characters, and other wide characters. For Unicode characters that require more than one cell, `AddRune` and the `ConsoleDriver` automatically manage the cells. Extension methods to `Rune` are provided to determine if a `Rune` is a wide character and to get the width of a `Rune`.

See the Character Map sample app in the [UI Catalog](https://gui-cs.github.io/Terminal.GuiV2Docs/docs/overview.html#ui-catalog) for examples of Unicode characters.

## Attribute 

The `Attribute` class represents the formatting attributes of a `Cell`. It exposes properties for the foreground and background colors. The foreground and background colors are of type `Color`. In the future, it will expose properties for bold, underline, and other formatting attributes.

## Color

The `Color` class represents a color. It provides automatic mapping between the legacy 4-bit (16-color) system and 24-bit colors. It contains properties for the red, green, and blue components of the color. The red, green, and blue components are of type `byte`. The `Color` class also contains a static property for each of the 16 ANSI colors.

## Color Schemes

Terminal.Gui supports named collection of colors called `ColorScheme`s. Three built-in color schemes are provided: "Default", "Dark", and "Light". Additional color schemes can be defined via [Configuration Manager](). 

Color schemes support defining colors for various states of a view. The following states are supported:

* Normal - The color of normal text.
* HotNormal - The color of text indicating a [Hotkey]().
* Focus - The color of text that indicates the view has focus.
* HotFocus - The color of text indicating a hot key, when the view has focus.
* Disabled - The state of a view when it is disabled.

## Text Formatting

Terminal.Gui supports text formatting using the [TextFormatter]() class. The `TextFormatter` class provides methods for formatting text using the following formatting options:

* Horizontal Alignment - Left, Center, Right
* Vertical Alignment - Top, Middle, Bottom
* Word Wrap - Enabled or Disabled
* Formatting Hot Keys

## Glyphs

Terminal.Gui supports rendering glyphs using the `Glyph` class. The `Glyph` class represents a single glyph. It contains a character and an attribute. The character is of type `Rune` and the attribute is of type `Attribute`. A set of static properties are provided for the standard glyphs used for standard views (e.g. the default indicator for [Button](~/api/Terminal.Gui.Button.yml)) and line drawing (e.g. [LineCanvas](~/api/Terminal.Gui.LineCanvas.yml)).

## Line Drawing

Terminal.Gui supports drawing lines and shapes using box-drawing glyphs. The `LineCanvas` class provides *auto join*, a smart TUI drawing system that automatically selects the correct line/box drawing glyphs for intersections making drawing complex shapes easy. See [Line Canvas](https://gui-cs.github.io/Terminal.GuiV2Docs/docs/overview.html#line-canvas) for details. The `Snake` and `Line Drawing` Scenarios in the [UI Catalog](https://gui-cs.github.io/Terminal.GuiV2Docs/docs/overview.html#ui-catalog) sample app are both examples of the power of the `LineCanvas`.

## Thickness

Describes the thickness of a frame around a rectangle. The thickness is specified for each side of the rectangle using a `Thickness` object. The `Thickness` object contains properties for the left, top, right, and bottom thickness. The `Frame` class uses `Thickness` to support drawing the frame around a view. The `View` class contains three `Frame`-dervied properties: 

* `Margin` - The space between the view and its peers (other views at the same level in the view hierarchy).
* `Border` - The space between the view and its Padding. This is where the frame, title, and other "Adornments" are drawn.
* `Padding` - The space between the view and its content. This is where the text, images, and other content is drawn. The inner rectangle of `Padding` is the `Bounds` of a view. 

See [View](~/api/Terminal.Gui.View.yml) for details.