Is there any class in the .NET framework that can read/write standard .ini files:
[Section]
<keyname>=<value>
...
Delphi has the TIniFile
component and I want to know if there is anything similar for C#?
The creators of the .NET framework want you to use XML-based config files, rather than INI files. So no, there is no built-in mechanism for reading them.
There are third party solutions available, though.
Firstly, read this MSDN blog post on the limitations of INI files. If it suits your needs, read on.
This is a concise implementation I wrote, utilising the original Windows P/Invoke, so it is supported by all versions of Windows with .NET installed, (i.e. Windows 98 - Windows 10). I hereby release it into the public domain - you're free to use it commercially without attribution.
Add a new class called IniFile.cs
to your project:
using System.IO;
using System.Reflection;
using System.Runtime.InteropServices;
using System.Text;
// Change this to match your program's normal namespace
namespace MyProg
{
class IniFile // revision 11
{
string Path;
string EXE = Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly().GetName().Name;
[DllImport("kernel32", CharSet = CharSet.Unicode)]
static extern long WritePrivateProfileString(string Section, string Key, string Value, string FilePath);
[DllImport("kernel32", CharSet = CharSet.Unicode)]
static extern int GetPrivateProfileString(string Section, string Key, string Default, StringBuilder RetVal, int Size, string FilePath);
public IniFile(string IniPath = null)
{
Path = new FileInfo(IniPath ?? EXE + ".ini").FullName.ToString();
}
public string Read(string Key, string Section = null)
{
var RetVal = new StringBuilder(255);
GetPrivateProfileString(Section ?? EXE, Key, "", RetVal, 255, Path);
return RetVal.ToString();
}
public void Write(string Key, string Value, string Section = null)
{
WritePrivateProfileString(Section ?? EXE, Key, Value, Path);
}
public void DeleteKey(string Key, string Section = null)
{
Write(Key, null, Section ?? EXE);
}
public void DeleteSection(string Section = null)
{
Write(null, null, Section ?? EXE);
}
public bool KeyExists(string Key, string Section = null)
{
return Read(Key, Section).Length > 0;
}
}
}
Open the INI file in one of the 3 following ways:
// Creates or loads an INI file in the same directory as your executable
// named EXE.ini (where EXE is the name of your executable)
var MyIni = new IniFile();
// Or specify a specific name in the current dir
var MyIni = new IniFile("Settings.ini");
// Or specify a specific name in a specific dir
var MyIni = new IniFile(@"C:\Settings.ini");
You can write some values like so:
MyIni.Write("DefaultVolume", "100");
MyIni.Write("HomePage", "http://www.google.com");
To create a file like this:
[MyProg]
DefaultVolume=100
HomePage=http://www.google.com
To read the values out of the INI file:
var DefaultVolume = IniFile.Read("DefaultVolume");
var HomePage = IniFile.Read("HomePage");
Optionally, you can set [Section]
's:
MyIni.Write("DefaultVolume", "100", "Audio");
MyIni.Write("HomePage", "http://www.google.com", "Web");
To create a file like this:
[Audio]
DefaultVolume=100
[Web]
HomePage=http://www.google.com
You can also check for the existence of a key like so:
if(!MyIni.KeyExists("DefaultVolume", "Audio"))
{
MyIni.Write("DefaultVolume", "100", "Audio");
}
You can delete a key like so:
MyIni.DeleteKey("DefaultVolume", "Audio");
You can also delete a whole section (including all keys) like so:
MyIni.DeleteSection("Web");
Please feel free to comment with any improvements!