Armat Utilities

Armat.Utils is a comprehensive .NET 8.0 library providing reusable utilities for building robust .NET applications. It includes thread-safe counters, specialized collections, serialization helpers, and useful extension methods.

Installation

dotnet add package armat.utils

Or via NuGet Package Manager:

Install-Package armat.utils

Features

🔢 Counters (Armat.Utils)

Thread-safe counter implementations for synchronization and control flow:

• Counter - A thread-safe 64-bit counter with atomic increment/decrement operations. Fires pre and post modification events when the counter value changes.

• LockCounter - A thread-safe reentrant lock counter. Blocks operations while locked (value > 0) and fires events on lock/unlock. Includes CreateLocker() method to automatically manage lock scope with IDisposable pattern.

• ControlledActionInvoker - Extends LockCounter to control method invocations. Blocks action execution while locked and optionally triggers deferred execution upon unlock.

📚 Collections (Armat.Collections)

High-performance specialized collection types:

• ConcurrentList<T> - Thread-safe list implementation using ReaderWriterLockSlim for efficient concurrent access. Implements IList<T>, IReadOnlyList<T>, and IDisposable.

• IndigentList<T> - Memory-efficient list optimized for collections with fewer than 2 elements. Avoids array allocation when possible, reducing memory overhead for small collections.

• ListDictionary<TKey, TValue> - Ordered dictionary implementing both IDictionary<TKey, TValue> and IList<TValue> interfaces. Maintains insertion order while providing O(1) key-based lookups.

• IndexedList<T> - A list that can be indexed by multiple fields of the items simultaneously. Supports various indexing strategies:

  • DictionaryIndex - Hash-based single field indexing
  • MultiDictionaryIndex - Hash-based multi-field indexing
  • Additional index types available for different access patterns

• SegmentedStringDictionary - Dictionary with hierarchical segment-based keys. Keys are grouped by segments (e.g., Key@Segment1|Segment2), useful for storing categorized properties and settings. Implements ISegmentedStringDictionary interface for segment-based access patterns.

💾 Serialization (Armat.Serialization)

Simplified serialization utilities:

• IPackable / IPackage - Interfaces for custom serialization. Types implement IPackable.Pack() to return serializable packages, and IPackage.Unpack() to reconstruct objects. Includes extension methods for batch packing / unpacking collections.

• ITypeLocator - Interface for type resolution during deserialization based on assembly and type names. Useful for deserializing polymorphic types across assemblies.

• JsonSerializer - Static helper class for JSON serialization / deserialization. Supports serialization to string, file and stream, and deserialization from appropriate constructs.

• XmlSerializer - Static helper class for XML serialization / deserialization. Supports serialization to string, file, stream, XmlDocument and XmlElement, and deserialization from appropriate constructs.

• XmlFileElementReference - Utility for reading / writing specific XML elements within a file at a given XPath. Useful for targeted XML element manipulation without loading entire documents.

🔧 Extensions (Armat.Utils.Extensions)

Convenient extension methods:

• ByteArray - Extensions for byte[]:

  • ContentsEquals() - Compare byte array contents with optimized 8-byte chunk processing
  • Copy and bitwise operations

• ContentComparer - Compare collection contents for equality:

  • ContentsEquals() for IDictionary<TKey, TValue>, IReadOnlyDictionary<TKey, TValue>, IReadOnlyCollection<T>, and IEnumerable<T>
  • Supports custom IEqualityComparer<T> for value comparison

• ExceptionHelpers - Navigate exception hierarchies:

  • As<T>() and Is<T>() for Exception and AggregateException
  • Configurable lookup modes: TheOnlyOne, AnyMatch, First, Last, FirstIfAllSameType, LastIfAllSameType

• RWLockers - Simplified ReaderWriterLockSlim usage with IDisposable lock objects:

  • CreateRLocker() - Read lock
  • CreateURLocker() - Upgradeable read lock
  • CreateWLocker() - Write lock
  • Automatic lock release on dispose

Usage Examples

Counter Example

using Armat.Utils; var counter = new Counter(); long value = counter.Increment(); // Thread-safe increment

LockCounter Example

using Armat.Utils; var lockCounter = new LockCounter(); lockCounter.Lock(); try { // Critical section } finally { lockCounter.Unlock(); } // Or use disposable pattern: using (lockCounter.CreateLocker()) { // Automatically locked } // Automatically unlocked

IndexedList Example

using Armat.Collections; var list = new IndexedList<Person>(); var nameIndex = list.CreateHashIndex("NameIndex", p => p.Name, StringComparer.OrdinalIgnoreCase); list.Add(new Person { Name = "John", Age = 30 }); var john = nameIndex["John"]; // O(1) lookup

ReaderWriterLockSlim Extensions

using Armat.Utils.Extensions; var rwLock = new ReaderWriterLockSlim(); // Read lock using (rwLock.CreateRLocker()) { // Read operations } // Write lock using (rwLock.CreateWLocker()) { // Write operations }

Requirements

• .NET 8.0 or later

License

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

Links

• Project Website
• GitHub Repository
• NuGet Package

Version History

Version 2.0.1

Current release targeting .NET 8.0

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More utilities will come later...