[RELEASED] PIDI - INI Manager. The ultimate solution for INI files in Unity 5+

Community Showcases
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We are glad to introduce the second tool in the PIDI Game Development Framework :

PIDI - INI Manager

This tool allows you to create, write, read, encrypt, decrypt and manage INI files in the easiest way possible, no matter if you are a beginner on scripting or a seasoned developer. Our INI Manager utility is written in C# and comes with full source code access and extensive documentation in both PDF format and as comments throughout the code.

Create fully functional and correctly formatted INI files from inside the Unity Editor with our custom interface and export them to any location on your disk :

Include comments, sections, keys and values as you please. INI files can also be created from scratch through code with easy to understand and easy to implement functions, in just a few lines :

Automatic parsing for standard variable types and common Unity types such as int, float, bool, DateTime, Enum, Color, Vector, Quaternion etc. is provided through these functions. Full support for storing lists in the INI is also provided.

Use global settings to define a main writing directory in either the Application’s data path or the persistent data path. The writing function also handles the creation of any needed directories, to make the work easier on you.

Read and write encrypted INI Files using the DES algorithm and a custom password set by you, to keep the stored information safe from curious players. Use asynchronous versions of the functions to read and write huge files with a minimum performance impact.

Here is the full list of features :

  • Read / Write INI files with just one line of code.

  • Full support for sections, comments, keys and values.

  • Full support for lists of values

  • Asynchronous operations for long files.

  • Full and fast support for encrypted/decrypted files using the DES algorithm.

  • Full support for default files, for any missing files on the user’s device

  • Easy to use interface to create and edit default INI files.

  • Custom extensions supported

  • Automatic generation of relative paths for ease of use.

  • Static arrays used to cache the INI’s information for maximum performance

  • Full and in-depth documentation of all the functions and methods, including several examples.

You can get this new tool from PIDI - Game Development Framework™ directly on the Unity Asset Store

If you have any questions, suggestions or doubts, please comment them below and we will get back to you ASAP to solve them.

Thanks for reading, we hope our tools will help you keep making awesome games!

As an important note, if you bought a copy of our old tool called “INI Manager Utility” you can get in touch with us at support@irreverent-software.com with your invoice number for a special promotion for this heavily improved tool.

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As a small update on the thread, we want to expand slightly on the functionality of the tool.

Most games require ini files in one way or another. Be it a config file storing the game settings, be it a collection of items for a merchant store in a RPG game, the keybindings or any other collection of values that need to be stored in well defined sections to be read upon request by the game.

Our tool allows you to read and write these files to disk in a very easy way with just a few lines of code, but it also lets you create them from scratch either from code or with an easy to use interface for the Unity Editor. Files created with the interface can be stored as assets inside your project and referenced later as default files, in case the original file on the player’s disk gets corrupted or deleted by mistake.

The INI Files created with our tool can have any number of sections, keys and even comments. Each key can store values of type int, float, double, bool, string, Vector2, Vector3, Vector4, Quaternion, Color and DateTime. Additionally, the keys can also store full arrays of these kinds of values and parse them automatically.

The tool can also automatically arrange the paths to make them relative to the game’s folder or to the application’s persistent data path so they are easier to locate. Furthermore, each and every INI file can be encrypted / decrypted for additional security. The encryption and decryption functions are static and easy to use with any text input, not only with the INI files.

The information of these INI files is stored inside static arrays that are dynamically resized and re-arranged upon request thanks to a custom class to mimic the functionality of standard C# dictionaries while retaining the full speed of static arrays when the keys are not being changed.

Global settings for the tool are also provided and easy to modify by simply adding the settings manager component to any object in the scene. This will control the default password used for the encryption, default relative paths, file extensions, the list with references to default ini files, etc.

The tool comes with a simple example that showcases most of the functions of the tool as well as a 20+ pages manual that includes descriptions and usage examples for every single method and a basic collection of real-game application examples.

Full source code access is also provided and the code is fully commented to make any adjustments or support for additional parsers easy to add. While the tool’s code is complex the methods have been simplified to their most basic versions to make the tool easy to use, accessible for beginners and useful for all game developers.

Thanks for reading this more in-detail description of PIDI_INI Manager
We hope our tools help you keep making awesome games :slight_smile: