Getting Started

Getting Started

Installation

Install the main package and the source generator from NuGet:

dotnet add package Dapplo.Ini
dotnet add package Dapplo.Ini.Generator

The generator package adds the Roslyn source generator that automatically creates a concrete implementation class for each [IniSection]-annotated interface in your project.

Targeting .NET Framework 4.8

Both packages target net48 and net10.0. No extra configuration is required for .NET Framework projects — add the same two NuGet references and the generator works identically.

---

Your first configuration section

Step 1 — Define the interface

using Dapplo.Ini;

[IniSection("App", Description = "Application settings")]
public interface IAppSettings : IIniSection
{
    [IniValue(DefaultValue = "MyApp")]
    string? AppName { get; set; }

    [IniValue(DefaultValue = "8080")]
    int Port { get; set; }
}

Step 2 — Load at startup

The source generator creates AppSettingsImpl automatically. Reference it when registering the section:

using var config = IniConfigRegistry
    .ForFile("appsettings.ini")
    .AddSearchPath(AppContext.BaseDirectory)
    .RegisterSection<IAppSettings>(new AppSettingsImpl())
    .Build();

Step 3 — Use the settings

var settings = config.GetSection<IAppSettings>();
Console.WriteLine($"{settings.AppName} listening on port {settings.Port}");

Step 4 — Save changes

settings.Port = 9090;
config.Save();

---

Generated class naming convention

The generator derives the concrete class name from the interface name:

Interface name	Generated class name
IAppSettings	AppSettingsImpl
IDbConfig	DbConfigImpl
IUserProfile	UserProfileImpl
ServerConfig (no leading I)	ServerConfigImpl

The rule is: strip a leading I (if present) and append Impl.

---

Next steps

• Ini-File-Format — full INI file syntax reference and examples
• Defining-Sections — full attribute reference
• Loading-Configuration — search paths, AppData, write target, constants files
• Loading-Life-Cycle — understand the exact resolution order