Display an Image in a console application

Though showing an image in a console is not the intended usage of the console, you can surely hack the things, as the console window is just a window, like any other windows.

Actually, once I have started to develop a text controls library for console applications with graphics support. I have never finished that, though I have a working proof-of-concept demo:

And if you obtain the console font size, you can place the image very precisely.

This is how you can do it:

static void Main(string[] args)
{
    Console.WriteLine("Graphics in console window!");

    Point location = new Point(10, 10);
    Size imageSize = new Size(20, 10); // desired image size in characters

    // draw some placeholders
    Console.SetCursorPosition(location.X - 1, location.Y);
    Console.Write(">");
    Console.SetCursorPosition(location.X + imageSize.Width, location.Y);
    Console.Write("<");
    Console.SetCursorPosition(location.X - 1, location.Y + imageSize.Height - 1);
    Console.Write(">");
    Console.SetCursorPosition(location.X + imageSize.Width, location.Y + imageSize.Height - 1);
    Console.WriteLine("<");

    string path = Path.Combine(Environment.GetFolderPath(Environment.SpecialFolder.CommonPictures), @"Sample Pictures\tulips.jpg");
    using (Graphics g = Graphics.FromHwnd(GetConsoleWindow()))
    {
        using (Image image = Image.FromFile(path))
        {
            Size fontSize = GetConsoleFontSize();

            // translating the character positions to pixels
            Rectangle imageRect = new Rectangle(
                location.X * fontSize.Width,
                location.Y * fontSize.Height,
                imageSize.Width * fontSize.Width,
                imageSize.Height * fontSize.Height);
            g.DrawImage(image, imageRect);
        }
    }
}

Here is how you can obtain the current console font size:

private static Size GetConsoleFontSize()
{
    // getting the console out buffer handle
    IntPtr outHandle = CreateFile("CONOUT$", GENERIC_READ | GENERIC_WRITE, 
        FILE_SHARE_READ | FILE_SHARE_WRITE,
        IntPtr.Zero,
        OPEN_EXISTING,
        0,
        IntPtr.Zero);
    int errorCode = Marshal.GetLastWin32Error();
    if (outHandle.ToInt32() == INVALID_HANDLE_VALUE)
    {
        throw new IOException("Unable to open CONOUT$", errorCode);
    }

    ConsoleFontInfo cfi = new ConsoleFontInfo();
    if (!GetCurrentConsoleFont(outHandle, false, cfi))
    {
        throw new InvalidOperationException("Unable to get font information.");
    }

    return new Size(cfi.dwFontSize.X, cfi.dwFontSize.Y);            
}

And the required additional WinApi calls, constants and types:

[DllImport("kernel32.dll", SetLastError = true)]
private static extern IntPtr GetConsoleWindow();

[DllImport("kernel32.dll", SetLastError = true)]
private static extern IntPtr CreateFile(
    string lpFileName,
    int dwDesiredAccess,
    int dwShareMode,
    IntPtr lpSecurityAttributes,
    int dwCreationDisposition,
    int dwFlagsAndAttributes,
    IntPtr hTemplateFile);

[DllImport("kernel32.dll", SetLastError = true)]
private static extern bool GetCurrentConsoleFont(
    IntPtr hConsoleOutput,
    bool bMaximumWindow,
    [Out][MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.LPStruct)]ConsoleFontInfo lpConsoleCurrentFont);

[StructLayout(LayoutKind.Sequential)]
internal class ConsoleFontInfo
{
    internal int nFont;
    internal Coord dwFontSize;
}

[StructLayout(LayoutKind.Explicit)]
internal struct Coord
{
    [FieldOffset(0)]
    internal short X;
    [FieldOffset(2)]
    internal short Y;
}

private const int GENERIC_READ = unchecked((int)0x80000000);
private const int GENERIC_WRITE = 0x40000000;
private const int FILE_SHARE_READ = 1;
private const int FILE_SHARE_WRITE = 2;
private const int INVALID_HANDLE_VALUE = -1;
private const int OPEN_EXISTING = 3;

And the result:

[