IniCore 1.0.0

IniCore

A .NET library for parsing and generating INI configuration files with support for nested sections and JSON conversion.

Features

• Parse and generate INI-formatted content
• Support nested sections using dot notation (e.g., [parent.child])
• Handle relative section nesting (e.g., [.child] for relative hierarchy)
• Convert between INI structure and JSON objects
• Preserve entry order and section hierarchy
• Handle entries before any section declarations

	TargetFramework(s)	Package
IniCore

Installation

dotnet add package IniCore

Usage

Parsing INI Content

string iniContent = @"
[server.database]
host = localhost
port = 1433";

IniConfig config = IniParser.Parse(iniContent);

// Get database host value
string host = config.Sections
    .First(s => s.Name == "server")
    .SubSections.First(s => s.Name == "database")
    .Entries.First(e => e.Key == "host").Value;

Creating Configurations Programmatically

var config = new IniConfig
{
    Entries =
    [
        new IniEntry("debug", "true"),
    ],
    Sections =
    [
        new IniSection("server")
        {
            SubSections =
            [
                new IniSection("database")
                {
                    Entries =
                    [
                        new IniEntry("host", "localhost"),
                        new IniEntry("port", "1433")
                    ],
                },
            ],
        },
    ],
};

// Generate INI configuration string
string outputConfig = config.ToString();
Console.WriteLine(outputConfig);

Deserialize UCI Configuration to custom config type using json

username = admin

[server]
timeout = 30

[server.database]
host = localhost
port = 1433

[.cache]
enabled = true

// custom config type
public class CustomConfig
{
    [JsonPropertyName("username")]
    public string? UserName { get; set; }

    [JsonPropertyName("server")]
    public Server? Server { get; set; }
}

public class Server
{
    [JsonPropertyName("timeout")]
    public int Timeout { get; set; }

    [JsonPropertyName("database")]
    public ServerDatabase? Database { get; set; }
}

public class ServerDatabase
{
    [JsonPropertyName("host")]
    public string? Host { get; set; }
    [JsonPropertyName("port")]
    public int Port { get; set; }

    [JsonPropertyName("cache")]
    public ServerDatabaseCache? Cache { get; set; }
}

public class ServerDatabaseCache
{
    [JsonConverter(typeof(BooleanJsonConverter))] // use custom json converter
    [JsonPropertyName("enabled")]
    public bool Enabled { get; set; }
}

IniConfig config = IniParser.Parse(iniContent);
// convert UciConfig to JsonObject that is able to deserialize to custom type.
JsonObject jsonObject = config.ToSerializableJsonObject();
JsonSerializerOptions serializerOptions = new() { NumberHandling = JsonNumberHandling.AllowReadingFromString };
CustomConfig? customConfig = jsonObject.Deserialize<CustomConfig>(serializerOptions);

TODO

• Add support for reading and writing comments
• Implement escaped quote handling in string values
• Enhance error handling for malformed sections
• Add support for comment preservation during serialization

Notes

• Nested Sections: Use dot notation for hierarchical sections (e.g., [parent.child])
• Relative Nesting: Start section name with dot to nest under previous section
• Current Limitations: Comments are currently ignored during parsing/serialization

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please open an issue or submit a pull request for any improvements or bug fixes.