FSharp.Data Documentation

FSharp.Data is a library designed to simplify data access in F# applications and scripts. It provides two primary ways to interact with structured data:

1. Type Providers: These infer types from a sample document (CSV, HTML, JSON, or XML) to provide type-safe, structured access to documents following that same schema.
2. Data Access Tools: These provide dynamic, non-type-provider alternatives for parsing data and performing web operations.

Key features include:

• Type Providers for CSV, HTML, JSON, XML, and the WorldBank API.
• HTTP Utilities for sending web requests.
• Parsers for CSV, HTML, and JSON that offer a simple dynamic API without requiring a schema-based type provider.

Type providers allow you to work with structured data formats by inferring types from a sample document. This provides type-safe access to data that follows the same structure as your sample.

Available Type Providers:

• CsvProvider<..>: For structured CSV files.
• HtmlProvider<...>: For HTML documents.
• JsonProvider<..>: For JSON data.
• XmlProvider<..>: For XML documents.
• WorldBank: For accessing data from the WorldBank API.

To use a type provider, you typically provide a sample URL or a local file path to the provider constructor to define the schema.

If you do not want to use a type provider (which requires a known schema), you can use the library's dynamic parsing tools and HTTP utilities:

• HTTP Utilities: Use the Http type to send HTTP web requests.
• CSV Parser: Use CsvFile for parsing CSV files without a type provider.
• HTML Parser: Use the HTML parser for dynamic HTML traversal.
• JSON Parser: Use JsonValue for parsing JSON data with a simple dynamic API.

You can add FSharp.Data to your F# project using the NuGet package manager.

dotnet add package FSharp.Data