Creating console based applications in Java

Writing a console based app might sound strange to some Java programmers but for some specific purposes writing a console based application is a necessity. For example let’s say I have write an application which needs to be monitored via SSH. In that either we have to come up with some elaborate command line arguments or special purpose log files. However another approach is write the application and give it a text based GUI which is accessible via textual console like putty, konsole, xterm, gnome-terminal etc. The closes thing that comes to mind is ncurses coming from the C world. We have something similar for Java also available and based on some reports I feel that they are stable enough to be used in any production environment which have need for a light weight, low bandwidth textual client.

  1. Lanterna – 100% Java solution. Very interesting.
  2. Blacken – Not a curses library an has it’s own renderer. The API is however curses-like.
  3. Java Curses Library – It’s built upon the Unix curses windowing system.
  4. Charva – A reliable tool that allows rapid building of UI using OOP approach. Existing UI programmers will definitely like it. It however uses JNI.

 

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