toxy

Toxy 2.6 Skill

Toxy is a .NET data/text extraction framework (similar to Apache Tika for Java). It supports cross-platform text and data extraction from many popular file formats. Always use Toxy 2.6.0 (NuGet package Toxy, targeting netstandard2.0 or netstandard2.1).

Key Changes in 2.6

• Upgraded to .NET Standard 2.1 support (in addition to 2.0)
• Added stream-based parsing (ParserContext now accepts Stream directly)
• Added EPUB parser (implements IDocumentParser)
• Removed unused StreamReader references (cleaner API)
• All parsers now live in Toxy namespace

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Installation

<!-- .csproj -->
<PackageReference Include="Toxy" Version="2.6.0" />

Or via CLI:

dotnet add package Toxy --version 2.6.0

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Core Concepts

ParserContext

The entry point for all parsing. Accepts either a file path or a Stream (new in 2.6):

// From file path
var context = new ParserContext("path/to/file.docx");

// From stream (new in 2.6)
using var stream = File.OpenRead("path/to/file.docx");
var context = new ParserContext(stream, "docx"); // must supply format hint

Parser Factory

Use ParserFactory to auto-detect format and return the correct parser:

var parser = ParserFactory.CreateDocument(context);    // for document types
var parser = ParserFactory.CreateSpreadsheet(context); // for spreadsheet types
var parser = ParserFactory.CreateEmail(context);       // for email/contact types

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Toxy Object Types

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Usage Patterns

Extract Text from a Word Document

using Toxy;

var context = new ParserContext("report.docx");
var parser = ParserFactory.CreateDocument(context);
ToxyDocument doc = parser.Parse();

foreach (var paragraph in doc.Paragraphs)
{
    Console.WriteLine(paragraph.Text);
}

Extract Data from Excel

using Toxy;

var context = new ParserContext("data.xlsx");
var parser = ParserFactory.CreateSpreadsheet(context);
ToxySpreadsheet sheet = parser.Parse();

foreach (var table in sheet.Tables)
{
    Console.WriteLine($"Sheet: {table.Name}");
    foreach (var row in table.Rows)
    {
        foreach (var cell in row.Cells)
        {
            Console.Write($"{cell.Value}\t");
        }
        Console.WriteLine();
    }
}

Parse from a Stream (New in 2.6)

using Toxy;

// Works with any stream source (MemoryStream, HttpResponseStream, etc.)
using var stream = File.OpenRead("document.pdf");
var context = new ParserContext(stream, "pdf");
var parser = ParserFactory.CreateDocument(context);
ToxyDocument doc = parser.Parse();
Console.WriteLine(doc.Paragraphs[0].Text);

Parse PDF

using Toxy;

var context = new ParserContext("file.pdf");
var parser = ParserFactory.CreateDocument(context);
ToxyDocument doc = parser.Parse();

foreach (var para in doc.Paragraphs)
    Console.WriteLine(para.Text);

Parse EPUB (New in 2.6)

using Toxy;

var context = new ParserContext("book.epub");
var parser = ParserFactory.CreateDocument(context);
ToxyDocument doc = parser.Parse();

foreach (var para in doc.Paragraphs)
    Console.WriteLine(para.Text);

Parse Email

using Toxy;

var context = new ParserContext("message.eml");
var parser = ParserFactory.CreateEmail(context);
ToxyEmail email = parser.Parse();

Console.WriteLine($"From: {email.From}");
Console.WriteLine($"Subject: {email.Subject}");
Console.WriteLine($"Body: {email.Body}");

Parse Business Card (VCF)

using Toxy;

var context = new ParserContext("contact.vcf");
var parser = ParserFactory.CreateEmail(context); // VCF uses email parser factory
ToxyBusinessCard card = (ToxyBusinessCard)parser.Parse();

Console.WriteLine(card.FullName);
Console.WriteLine(card.Email);

Extract Metadata

using Toxy;

var context = new ParserContext("file.pdf");
var parser = ParserFactory.CreateMetadata(context);
ToxyMetadata meta = parser.Parse();

foreach (var key in meta.Keys)
    Console.WriteLine($"{key}: {meta[key]}");

Parse HTML as DOM

using Toxy;

var context = new ParserContext("page.html");
var parser = ParserFactory.CreateDom(context);
ToxyDom dom = parser.Parse();

// Access DOM nodes
Console.WriteLine(dom.Root.InnerText);

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Supported Formats Summary

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Tips & Best Practices

• Auto-detection: When using a file path, Toxy detects format from the extension automatically. When using a stream, always provide the format hint string (e.g., "pdf", "docx").
• Error handling: Wrap parse calls in try/catch — unsupported formats throw NotSupportedException.
• Large files: Use stream-based parsing to avoid loading entire files into memory.
• Cross-platform: Toxy targets netstandard2.0/2.1, so it works on Windows, Linux, and macOS.
• No IFilter dependency: Unlike old Windows-based approaches, Toxy does not require IFilter COM components.

For deeper reference on specific parsers and the class hierarchy, see references/api.md.