ArgumentString 1.0.2

ArgumentString

What is an argument string, you might ask? The idea is borrowed from connection strings.
So an argument string literal looks like this: "foo=bar;version=1". The library allows you to access these arguments easily by key or by index.

By providing options you can customize this library to your needs, e. g.

• setting mandatory fields that are checked on object instantiation
• change argument and key-value separators (like the "foo->bar|version->1" syntax more?)
• accessing faulty keys will not throw an exception by default, but you can throw one if you like to
• accessing faulty keys will always return an empty string by default, but you can return null if you like to

This is a tiny but fully tested and stable library.

Installation

• Install via NuGet: PM> Install-Package ArgumentString
• Build from your own

Object creation

Simplest examples:

var example = new ArgumentString("foo=bar");
var example = new ArgumentString("foo=bar;version=1");

Examples with options:

var example = new ArgumentString("foo=bar", new ParseOptions("foo"));

var example = new ArgumentString("foo=bar;version=1", 
    new ParseOptions("foo") { /* ... */ });

var example = new ArgumentString("foo=bar;version=1", options => { 
    options.MandatoryKeys = new List<string> { "foo" };
});

var example = new ArgumentString("foo->bar|version->1", options => { 
    options.ArgumentSeparator = "|";
    options.KeyValueSeparator = "->";
    options.ThrowOnAccessIfKeyNotFound = true;
});

Getting values

• Get(string key) and Get(int index) methods behave the same way
• See Big O notation (complexity) in the methods description

Accessing values is the most fun part:

string foo = example.Get("foo"); // -> bar
string foo = example["foo"]; // -> bar
string foo = example.Get(0); // -> bar
string foo = example[0]; // -> bar

Dealing with faulty values:

string foo = example.Get("missing"); // -> string.Empty if `ThrowOnAccessIfKeyNotFound` is false (default)
string foo = example.Get("missing"); // -> MissingArgumentException if `ThrowOnAccessIfKeyNotFound` is true
string foo = example["missing"]; // -> same as above

string foo = example.Get(2); // -> string.Empty if `ThrowOnAccessIfKeyNotFound` is false (default)
string foo = example.Get(2); // -> MissingArgumentException if `ThrowOnAccessIfKeyNotFound` is true
string foo = example[2]; // -> same as above

Need to work with a specific format?
You should pay attention to pass correct values for the conversion to work. For that reason there are some more exceptions that will be thrown.

float version = example.Get<float>("version"); // -> (float)1 
float version = example.Get<float>(1); // -> (float)1