How do I lock the console across threads in C#.NET?

Question

I have a logger class that handles various information display with pretty colors (yay.). However, since it writes to the console in separated steps ( ie set color to red, write text, set color to gray, write text, for something that would render "[Error] Description..." with the error being in red ), but I have a multithreaded application, so the steps can get mixed up and print random stuff in random colors.

I am aware of the lock keyword, however it will not work with a static class such as the console.

Here is some example code if I was unclear:

using System;
using System.Text;

    namespace N.Utilities.IO
    {
        public static class Logger
        {
            private static void WriteColored(string value, ConsoleColor color)
            {
                if (Logger.UseColor)
                {
                    Console.ForegroundColor = color;
                    Console.Write(value);
                    Console.ForegroundColor = ConsoleColor.Gray;
                }
                else
                {
                    Console.Write(value);
                }
            }   

            private static void WriteLineColored(string value, ConsoleColor color)
            {
                if (Logger.UseColor)
                {
                    Console.ForegroundColor = color;
                    Console.WriteLine(value);
                    Console.ForegroundColor = ConsoleColor.Gray;
                }
                else
                {
                    Console.Write(value);
                }
            }

            private static bool useColor = true;

            public static bool UseColor
            {
                get
                {
                    return Logger.useColor;
                }
                set
                {
                    Logger.useColor = value;
                }
            }

            public static void Inform(string value)
            {
                Logger.WriteColored("    [Info] ", ConsoleColor.White);
                Console.WriteLine(value);
            }

            public static void Warn(string value)
            {
                Logger.WriteColored(" [Warning] ", ConsoleColor.Yellow);
                Console.WriteLine(value);
            }

            public static void Error(string value)
            {
                Logger.WriteColored("   [Error] ", ConsoleColor.Red);
                Console.WriteLine(value);
            }
    }

Answer 1

Your class needs:

private static readonly object ConsoleWriterLock = new object();

Then you can lock on this before writing to the console.

lock(ConsoleWriterLock)
{
     //Your code here
}

The lock keyword will work with a static class, you just need to provide a static readonly object to lock on.