c# - How to deserialize string to object (string in format in similar to object notation) -

i have string looks this. it's not json , not xml.

{foo={name=my foo value, active=true, date=20170630}, bar={name=my bar value}, key space={name=foo bar, active=false}} 

here assumptions:

1. objects enclosed {}
2. keys can have space in name
3. keys separated space , comma (,)
4. values assigned keys equal sign
5. keys can have multiple values , values enclosed {}, values inside value separated space , comma (,). example, single key 3 values: {my foo key={one=true, two=true, third value=false}}

my strategy deserialize dictionary<string, object @ first, worry recursion later. suggestions (existing library?) appreciated!

here have

var stringcontenttrimmed = stringcontent.substring(1, stringcontent.length - 2); var objects = stringcontenttrimmed.split(',')     .select(x => x.trim())     .where(x => !string.isnullorwhitespace(x)); 

tldr. split function splitting values, isn't want.

i created method getobjects below returns dictionary<string, string> of top-level objects , raw content inside. method, merge returns nested dictionary calling getvalues extract key-value pairs object content.

using example string, merge method returns this:

class program {     static void main(string[] args)     {         var str = "{foo={name=foo value, active=true, date=20170630}, bar={name#=my bar value}, key space={name=foo bar, active=false}}";          var values = getobjects(str);          dictionary<string, dictionary<string, string>> objects = merge(values);     }      public static dictionary<string, dictionary<string, string>> merge(dictionary<string, string> input)     {         var output = new dictionary<string, dictionary<string, string>>();          foreach (var key in input.keys)         {             var value = input[key];             var subvalues = getvalues(value);              output.add(key, subvalues);         }          return output;     }      public static dictionary<string, string> getobjects(string input)     {         var objects = new dictionary<string, string>();         var objectnames = new queue<string>();         var objectbuffer = string.empty;          foreach (var c in input)         {             if (char.equals('{', c))             {                 if (!string.isnullorempty(objectbuffer))                 {                     var b = objectbuffer.trim('{', '}', ',', ' ', '=');                     objectnames.enqueue(b);                 }                  objectbuffer = string.empty;             }              if (char.equals('}', c))             {                 if (objectnames.count > 0)                 {                     var b = objectbuffer.trim('{');                     var key = objectnames.dequeue();                      objects.add(key, b);                 }                  objectbuffer = string.empty;             }              objectbuffer += c;         }          return objects;     }      private static dictionary<string, string> getvalues(string input)     {         var output = new dictionary<string, string>();         var values = input.split(new string[] { ", " }, system.stringsplitoptions.none);          foreach (var val in values)         {             var parts = val.split('=');             if (parts.length == 2)             {                 var key = parts[0].trim(' ');                 var value = parts[1].trim(' ');                 output.add(key, value);             }         }          return output;     } }