NeatParser
A library for parsing files.
Parsing a delimited file
- Define the file layout using the layout class.
- Instantiate parser options (Optional).
- Instantiate parser and read values.
For Example, given a file in the below format:
HEADER
1COLUMN1,1COLUMN2,1COLUMN3,1COLUMN4,1COLUMN5,
2COLUMN1,2COLUMN2,2COLUMN3,2COLUMN4,2COLUMN5,
3COLUMN1,3COLUMN2,3COLUMN3,3COLUMN4,3COLUMN5,
To configure a layout that met the specification of this file, it would be:
internal static Layout CreateExampleLayout()
{
var layout = new Layout("ExampleLayout");
layout.SetDelimiter(",");
layout.AddColumn(new StringColumn("ColumnName1"), new FixedLengthSpace(8));
layout.AddColumn(new StringColumn("ColumnName2"), new FixedLengthSpace(8));
layout.AddColumn(new StringColumn("ColumnName3"), new FixedLengthSpace(8));
layout.AddColumn(new StringColumn("ColumnName4"), new FixedLengthSpace(8));
layout.AddColumn(new StringColumn("ColumnName5"), new FixedLengthSpace(8));
return layout;
}To then read each record from that file:
Instantiate an instance of NeatParserOptions if required.
var options = new NeatParserOptions()
{
// Default record seperator is Environment.NewLine.
// This can be changed by setting the RecordSeperator property on the options instance.
// SkipFirst = 1 is to let the parser know to the first record - being the header.
SkipFirst = 1
};Next create the NeatParser instance and pass the required parameters including the options and layout.
If you do not require custom options, use
new NeatParser(exampleFileReader, layout); constructor instead.
using(var exampleFileReader = new StreamReader("exampleFile.csv"))
{
var layout = CreateExampleLayout();
var parser = new NeatParser(exampleFileReader, layout, options);
while(parser.Next())
{
// Retrieve the values for the record by calling parser.Take();
var recordValueContainer = parser.Take();
// Access the values by column name defined in the layout or the RecordValues dictionary attached to the RecordValueContainer.
// Example 1 - No type casting is required using this method as the value is returned using the dynamic keyword.
string column1 = recordValueContainer["ColumnName1"];
string column1 = recordValueContainer["ColumnName2"];
// Example 2 - using this method you must pass the type as a type parameter.
string column1 = recordValueContainer.Get<string>("ColumnName1");
string column2 = recordValueContainer.Get<string>("ColumnName2");
}
}Using the NeatParser.Take() method, you can retrieve the values for each line.
If you wish not to use a loop with while(NeatParser.Next()), there is also the NeatParser.TakeNext() method which will take the values for the current line and advance the reader by one record.
