Blocklet

A cross-platform CLI tool that generates ASCII art using Unicode block characters, similar to figlet but with beautiful solid Unicode blocks instead of outlines or hash symbols.

✨ Features

• 🎨 Unicode Block Characters: Uses solid Unicode blocks (█) and box-drawing characters for beautiful text art
• 🌟 Drop-Shadow Effect: Beautiful drop-shadows enabled by default using Unicode box-drawing
• 📝 Multi-Line Support: Pass multiple arguments to create multiple lines of output
• ⬇️ Proper Descenders: Characters like Q, comma, and question mark extend below the baseline
• 📏 Text Wrapping: Automatic word wrapping with configurable width limits
• 🔀 Cross-Platform: Works on Windows, macOS, and Linux
• ⚡ Fast Performance: Optimized rendering engine with comprehensive benchmarks
• 🧪 Well Tested: Extensive unit tests ensuring reliability
• 📦 Zero Runtime Dependencies: Single binary with everything built-in

🚀 Quick Start

Installation

Install from crates.io:

cargo install blocklet

Or build from source:

git clone https://github.com/tanav-malhotra/blocklet.git
cd blocklet
cargo install --path .

Basic Usage

# Simple text rendering (with drop-shadow by default)
blocklet "Hello World"

# Multiple arguments = multiple lines
blocklet "Hello" "World"

# Mix quoted and unquoted arguments
blocklet "Hello World" Goodbye

# Disable drop-shadow for solid characters
blocklet "Clean Text" --no-shadow

# Short form to disable shadow
blocklet "Clean Text" -n

# With width limiting (word wrapping)
blocklet "This is a long text that will wrap" --width 40

# Choose different fonts
blocklet "Stylish" --font standard_solid

🔧 Command Line Options

blocklet [OPTIONS] <TEXT>...

ARGUMENTS:
    <TEXT>...    The text to convert to ASCII art (multiple arguments = multiple lines)

OPTIONS:
    -w, --width <WIDTH>      Maximum width for output (0 = no limit) [default: 0]
    -f, --font <FONT>        Font to use (standard, standard_shadow, standard_solid) [default: standard_shadow]
    -n, --no-shadow          Use solid font without shadow (same as --font standard_solid)
    -h, --help               Print help information
    -V, --version            Print version information

🎨 Fonts

Blocklet includes three font variants:

• standard_shadow (default): Beautiful box-drawing characters with built-in shadows and descenders (7 lines tall)
• standard_solid: Clean solid blocks without shadows (5 lines tall)
• standard: Alias for standard_shadow

The shadow font features proper typographic descenders for characters like Q, comma, and question mark!

🏗️ Architecture

Core Components

1. Font System (src/font.rs)

   • Font character definitions using Unicode blocks
   • Single, readable Unicode block font (standard)
   • Character fallback system

2. Rendering Engine (src/renderer.rs)

   • Text-to-blocks conversion
   • Word wrapping functionality
   • Multi-line text support

3. CLI Interface (src/main.rs)

   • Command-line argument parsing
   • Font selection and options
   • Error handling

🧪 Testing

Run the test suite:

# Unit tests
cargo test

# Performance benchmarks
cargo bench

# Check test coverage
cargo tarpaulin --out Html

Test Categories

• Unit Tests: Individual component testing
• Integration Tests: End-to-end functionality
• Performance Benchmarks: Rendering speed optimization
• Cross-platform Tests: Windows, macOS, Linux compatibility

📊 Performance

Benchmarks on modern hardware show excellent performance:

• Short text (2 chars): ~51ns
• Medium text (11 chars): ~79ns
• Long text (43 chars): ~80ns
• Very long text (144 chars): ~107ns

Run your own benchmarks with:

cargo bench --bench rendering

🤝 Contributing

We welcome contributions! Please see CONTRIBUTING.md for guidelines.

Development Setup

1. Prerequisites:

   • Rust 1.70+ (2021 edition)
   • Git

2. Clone and build:

   git clone https://github.com/tanav-malhotra/blocklet.git
   cd blocklet
   cargo install --path .
   

3. Run tests:

   cargo test
   cargo bench
   

4. Code style:

   cargo fmt
   cargo clippy
   

Adding New Fonts

1. Create character definitions in src/font.rs
2. Add the font to the FONTS HashMap
3. Add tests for the new font
4. Update documentation

📜 License

This project is licensed under the GNU General Public License v3.0.

See LICENSE or https://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-3.0.html for details.

at your option.

🙋 FAQ

Q: How is this different from figlet?

A: While figlet uses ASCII characters to create outlined text, Blocklet uses solid Unicode block characters (█) for a more modern, filled appearance. It's designed to look better in modern terminals with Unicode support.

Q: Does it work on all terminals?

A: Yes, Blocklet works on any terminal that supports Unicode (UTF-8). This includes most modern terminals on Windows, macOS, and Linux.

Q: Can I create custom fonts?

A: Currently, fonts are built into the binary. Custom font support is planned for a future release.

Q: What about colored output?

A: Colored output is planned for a future release. Currently, the tool outputs monochrome Unicode blocks.

Q: How do I report bugs or request features?

A: Please open an issue on our GitHub repository.

🔗 Related Projects

• figlet - Original ASCII art text generator
• toilet - Another ASCII art text generator
• banner - Classic UNIX text banner utility

📝 Changelog

See CHANGELOG.md for a detailed history of changes.

Made with ❤️ in Rust 🦀