How to add a Timeout to Console.ReadLine()?

Question

I have a console app in which I want to give the user x seconds to respond to the prompt. If no input is made after a certain period of time, program logic should

Answer 1

Isn't this nice and short?

if (SpinWait.SpinUntil(() => Console.KeyAvailable, millisecondsTimeout))
{
    ConsoleKeyInfo keyInfo = Console.ReadKey();

    // Handle keyInfo value here...
}

Answer 2

I came to this answer and end up doing:

    /// <summary>
    /// Reads Line from console with timeout. 
    /// </summary>
    /// <exception cref="System.TimeoutException">If user does not enter line in the specified time.</exception>
    /// <param name="timeout">Time to wait in milliseconds. Negative value will wait forever.</param>        
    /// <returns></returns>        
    public static string ReadLine(int timeout = -1)
    {
        ConsoleKeyInfo cki = new ConsoleKeyInfo();
        StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder();

        // if user does not want to spesify a timeout
        if (timeout < 0)
            return Console.ReadLine();

        int counter = 0;

        while (true)
        {
            while (Console.KeyAvailable == false)
            {
                counter++;
                Thread.Sleep(1);
                if (counter > timeout)
                    throw new System.TimeoutException("Line was not entered in timeout specified");
            }

            cki = Console.ReadKey(false);

            if (cki.Key == ConsoleKey.Enter)
            {
                Console.WriteLine();
                return sb.ToString();
            }
            else
                sb.Append(cki.KeyChar);                
        }            
    }

Answer 3

Simple threading example to solve this

Thread readKeyThread = new Thread(ReadKeyMethod);
static ConsoleKeyInfo cki = null;

void Main()
{
    readKeyThread.Start();
    bool keyEntered = false;
    for(int ii = 0; ii < 10; ii++)
    {
        Thread.Sleep(1000);
        if(readKeyThread.ThreadState == ThreadState.Stopped)
            keyEntered = true;
    }
    if(keyEntered)
    { //do your stuff for a key entered
    }
}

void ReadKeyMethod()
{
    cki = Console.ReadKey();
}

or a static string up top for getting an entire line.

Answer 4

This worked for me.

ConsoleKeyInfo k = new ConsoleKeyInfo();
Console.WriteLine("Press any key in the next 5 seconds.");
for (int cnt = 5; cnt > 0; cnt--)
  {
    if (Console.KeyAvailable)
      {
        k = Console.ReadKey();
        break;
      }
    else
     {
       Console.WriteLine(cnt.ToString());
       System.Threading.Thread.Sleep(1000);
     }
 }
Console.WriteLine("The key pressed was " + k.Key);

Answer 5

.NET 4 makes this incredibly simple using Tasks.

First, build your helper:

   Private Function AskUser() As String
      Console.Write("Answer my question: ")
      Return Console.ReadLine()
   End Function

Second, execute with a task and wait:

      Dim askTask As Task(Of String) = New TaskFactory().StartNew(Function() AskUser())
      askTask.Wait(TimeSpan.FromSeconds(30))
      If Not askTask.IsCompleted Then
         Console.WriteLine("User failed to respond.")
      Else
         Console.WriteLine(String.Format("You responded, '{0}'.", askTask.Result))
      End If

There's no trying to recreate ReadLine functionality or performing other perilous hacks to get this working. Tasks let us solve the question in a very natural way.

Answer 6

Much more contemporary and Task based code would look something like this:

public string ReadLine(int timeOutMillisecs)
{
    var inputBuilder = new StringBuilder();

    var task = Task.Factory.StartNew(() =>
    {
        while (true)
        {
            var consoleKey = Console.ReadKey(true);
            if (consoleKey.Key == ConsoleKey.Enter)
            {
                return inputBuilder.ToString();
            }

            inputBuilder.Append(consoleKey.KeyChar);
        }
    });


    var success = task.Wait(timeOutMillisecs);
    if (!success)
    {
        throw new TimeoutException("User did not provide input within the timelimit.");
    }

    return inputBuilder.ToString();
}