Simplest possible key/value pair file parsing in .NET

Question

My project requires a file where I will store key/value pair data that should be able to be read and modified by the user. I want the program to just expect the keys to be t

Answer 1

If you're looking for a quick easy function and don't want to use .Net app\user config setting files or worry about serialization issues that sometimes occur of time.

The following static function can load a file formatted like KEY=VALUE.

public static Dictionary LoadConfig(string settingfile)
{
    var dic = new Dictionary();

    if (File.Exists(settingfile))
    {
        var settingdata = File.ReadAllLines(settingfile);
        for (var i = 0; i < settingdata.Length; i++)
        {
            var setting = settingdata[i];
            var sidx = setting.IndexOf("=");
            if (sidx >= 0)
            {
                var skey = setting.Substring(0, sidx);
                var svalue = setting.Substring(sidx+1);
                if (!dic.ContainsKey(skey))
                {
                    dic.Add(skey, svalue);
                }
            }
        }
    }

    return dic;
}

Note: I'm using a Dictionary so keys must be unique, which is usually that case with setting.

USAGE:

var settingfile = AssemblyDirectory + "\\mycustom.setting";
var settingdata = LoadConfig(settingfile);
if (settingdata.ContainsKey("lastrundate"))
{
    DateTime lout;
    string svalue;
    if (settingdata.TryGetValue("lastrundate", out svalue))
    {
        DateTime.TryParse(svalue, out lout);
        lastrun = lout;
    }
}