ByteAid.Extensions.Serialization

A flexible, dependency injection-friendly serialization library for .NET that simplifies the process of implementing custom serialization rules for different data formats. Currently supports CSV, TSV, and PSV (pipe-separated values) with configurable headers and separators.

Features

• Strong typing support
• Configurable through dependency injection
• Support for headers and custom column names
• Multiple separator types (comma, tab, pipe)
• Built with nullable reference types
• Support for both .NET Standard 2.1 and .NET 8.0
• Clean separation of abstractions and implementations

Installation

You can install the package via NuGet:

# Core package
dotnet add package ByteAid.Extensions.Serialization

# Abstractions only
dotnet add package ByteAid.Extensions.Serialization.Abstractions

# Separated text (CSV, TSV, PSV) support
dotnet add package ByteAid.Extensions.Serialization.SeparatedText

Quick Start

1. Define your model

public class Person
{
    public string Name { get; set; } = default!;
    public int Age { get; set; }
    public string Email { get; set; } = default!;
}

2. Configure services

services.AddSerialization(builder =>
{
    builder.ConfigureSeparatedText<Person>(rules =>
    {
        rules.HasHeaders();
        rules.Property(p => p.Name, 0, "Full Name");
        rules.Property(p => p.Age, 1, "Years");
        rules.Property(p => p.Email, 2, "Email Address");
    }, ValueSeparator.Comma);
});

3. Use the serialization helper

public class PersonService
{
    private readonly ISerializationHelper _serializationHelper;

    public PersonService(ISerializationHelper serializationHelper)
    {
        _serializationHelper = serializationHelper;
    }

    public string SerializePeople(IEnumerable<Person> people)
    {
        return _serializationHelper.SerializeAsSeparatedText(people);
    }

    public Person DeserializePerson(string input)
    {
        return _serializationHelper.DeserializeFromSeparatedText<Person>(input);
    }
}

Advanced Usage

Different Separator Types

The library supports three types of separators:

// CSV (Comma-Separated Values)
builder.ConfigureSeparatedText<Person>(rules => { ... }, ValueSeparator.Comma);

// TSV (Tab-Separated Values)
builder.ConfigureSeparatedText<Order>(rules => { ... }, ValueSeparator.Tab);

// PSV (Pipe-Separated Values)
builder.ConfigureSeparatedText<Address>(rules => { ... }, ValueSeparator.Pipe);

Custom Header Names

You can specify custom header names for your properties:

builder.ConfigureSeparatedText<Person>(rules =>
{
    rules.HasHeaders();
    rules.Property(p => p.Name, 0, "Full Name");
    rules.Property(p => p.BirthDate, 1, "Date of Birth");
    rules.Property(p => p.Email, 2, "Contact Email");
}, ValueSeparator.Comma);

Working with Headers

You can get header information programmatically:

// Get header line with separator
string headerLine = _serializationHelper.GetHeaderLine<Person>();

// Get headers as array
string[] headers = _serializationHelper.GetHeadersArray<Person>();

Type Support

The library supports a wide range of .NET types for serialization/deserialization:

• Basic types (string, int, long, decimal, etc.)
• DateTime and DateTimeOffset
• TimeSpan
• Guid
• Enums
• Nullable value types
• Boolean (with support for various formats)
• Uri
• Version
• IPAddress
• Base64-encoded byte arrays

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit a Pull Request.

Development Prerequisites

• .NET SDK 8.0 or later
• An IDE that supports .NET (Visual Studio, VS Code, Rider)

Building the Project

dotnet build

Running Tests

dotnet test

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.

Support

If you encounter any problems or have suggestions, please open an issue on GitHub.