c# - Importing a multiline record with optional fields using filehelpers -

i'm in process of needing parse file who's records of following format:

mr sean r. farrow 4 crescent eastleake loughborough leicestershire le12 6qh 01509 59213 07525945447 sean.farrow@seanfarrow.co.uk 

each record delimited blank line finish. 2 phone numbers , email address optional.

what best way of parsing sort of record? write own parser, hoping don't have to!

filehelpers expects each record end new line, you'd have pre-parse input before passing engine. that's straightforward though - like:

var lines = file.readalllines(pathtoimportfile); var sb = new stringbuilder(); var separator = ","; // use comma field delimiter foreach (string line in lines) {     if (string.isnullorempty(line))         sb.appendline(""); // convert empty lines line feeds     else         sb.appendformat("\"{0}\"{1}", line, separator); // put quotes around field avoid problems nested separators } var engine = new filehelperengine<myclass>(); engine.readstring(sb.tostring()); 

and class like

[delimitedrecord(",")] class myclass {     [fieldquoted(quotemode.alwaysquoted)]     public string title;      [fieldquoted(quotemode.alwaysquoted)]     public string fullname;      [fieldquoted(quotemode.alwaysquoted)]     public string address1;      /// ... etc         }