Terminal Screen

Overview

The Terminal Screen Project simulates rendering operations on a terminal-based screen using a custom binary protocol. This project involves a server-client setup where the server listens for commands related to screen rendering, and the client sends commands to the server to manipulate the terminal screen.

The communication between the client and the server is based on a byte-stream protocol, with each command being formatted as a sequence of bytes. The system supports various operations, such as setting up the screen, drawing characters, lines, rendering text, moving the cursor, and more.

Features

• Screen Setup (0x1): Configure screen dimensions and color modes.
• Draw Character (0x2): Place characters at specific coordinates.
• Draw Line (0x3): Draw lines between two coordinates using a specified character.
• Render Text (0x4): Render a string at a specified position.
• Cursor Movement (0x5): Move the cursor to a specific location.
• Draw at Cursor (0x6): Draw a character at the current cursor position.
• Clear Screen (0x7): Clear the screen.
• End of File (0xFF): Marks the end of the binary stream.

Communication Format

The communication between the client and server is based on a binary format with the following structure: +--------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+----···---+----------------+ | Command Byte | Length Byte | Data Byte 0 | Data Byte 1 | ··· | Data Byte n-1 | +--------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+----···---+----------------+

The data format for each command is as follows:

Command Definitions

1. 0x1 - Screen Setup

   • Data Format:
     • Byte 0: Screen Width (in characters)
     • Byte 1: Screen Height (in characters)
     • Byte 2: Color Mode (0x00 for monochrome, 0x01 for 16 colors, 0x02 for 256 colors)

2. 0x2 - Draw Character

   • Data Format:
     • Byte 0: x-coordinate
     • Byte 1: y-coordinate
     • Byte 2: Color index
     • Byte 3: Character to display (ASCII)

3. 0x3 - Draw Line

   • Data Format:
     • Byte 0: x1 (starting x-coordinate)
     • Byte 1: y1 (starting y-coordinate)
     • Byte 2: x2 (ending x-coordinate)
     • Byte 3: y2 (ending y-coordinate)
     • Byte 4: Color index
     • Byte 5: Character to use (ASCII)

4. 0x4 - Render Text

   • Data Format:
     • Byte 0: x-coordinate
     • Byte 1: y-coordinate
     • Byte 2: Color index
     • Byte 3-n: Text data (ASCII characters)

5. 0x5 - Cursor Movement

   • Data Format:
     • Byte 0: x-coordinate
     • Byte 1: y-coordinate

6. 0x6 - Draw at Cursor

   • Data Format:
     • Byte 0: Character to draw (ASCII)
     • Byte 1: Color index

7. 0x7 - Clear Screen

   • Data Format: No additional data.

8. 0xFF - End of File

   • Data Format: No additional data.

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How to Run the Application

Follow these steps to clone, build, and run the application.

Prerequisites

• Java 8 or above installed on your system.
• A terminal or command prompt.

Step 1: Clone the Repository

Start by cloning the repository to your local machine:

git clone https://github.com/JamesWainaina/Terminal-Screen.git

Step 2: Change directory to src folder

cd src

Step 3: Compile the code

javac Main.java

Step 4: Run the server

java Main Server

Step 5: Run the client

java Main client localhost 8000

Step 5: Send the commands

0x1:10,10,0

What I love most about computing

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