Ufex.Extensions.Core

A collection of C# plugin projects for Ufex (Universal File Explorer). Each project implements a FileType plugin that provides binary-level parsing, structure visualization, and metadata extraction for a specific file format or family of related formats.

Plugins

Project	Format(s)	Description
BMP	BMP, ICO, CUR	Windows Bitmap and Icon/Cursor files. Parses file headers, info headers (V3/V4/V5), color tables, and pixel data.
EXIF	N/A	Shared code for processing EXIF metadata.
GIF	GIF87a, GIF89a	GIF images and animations. Extracts frame data, global/local color tables, extension blocks (application, comment, NETSCAPE looping).
GZIP	GZIP	GZIP compressed archives. Parses member headers and compressed data blocks.
INI	INI	INI configuration files. Parses sections, properties, comments, and detects encoding/BOM.
ISOBMFF	ISOBMFF, MP4, MOV, HEIF, 3GP	ISO Base Media File Format (e.g., MP4, MOV). Parses box/atom hierarchy, headers, and metadata.
JPEG	JPEG, JFIF	JPEG/JFIF images. Parses marker segments (SOI, SOF, SOS, APP0, COM, etc.), JFIF metadata, chroma subsampling, and quantization tables.
OPC	OPC, docx, pptx, xlsx	Open Packaging Conventions (e.g., Office Open XML). Parses package structure, relationships, and part contents.
PDF	PDF	Portable Document Format. Parses headers, indirect objects, cross-reference tables/streams, trailers, and document metadata (title, author, etc.).
PNG	PNG	PNG images. Parses chunks (IHDR, IDAT, IEND, tEXt, pHYs, gAMA, tIME, etc.), extracts pixel format, gamma, and embedded text metadata.
RIFF	AVI, WAV, WebP	RIFF container format. Parses the chunk hierarchy including LIST and RIFF form types. Handles AVI video and WAV audio files.
ZIP	ZIP	ZIP archives. Parses local file headers, central directory records, end of central directory, and reports compression methods.

Project Structure

ext/Ufex.Extensions.Core/
├── Ufex.Extensions.Core.sln        # Solution file
├── config/
│   └── 001_file_types_core.xml     # File type registration config
└── src/
    ├── Directory.Build.props        # Shared build properties (target framework, output paths)
    └── <FORMAT>/                    # Plugin project directory

Each plugin project follows a consistent layout:

<FORMAT>/
├── <Format>FileType.cs              # FileType implementation (entry point)
├── <Format>StreamReader.cs           # Binary stream parser
├── <Format>.csproj                   # Project file
├── Data/                             # Data model classes (parsed structures)
├── Structure/                        # Tree node classes (UI structure view)
└── README.md                         # Format-specific references and notes

Architecture

Every plugin extends the Ufex.API.FileType base class and implements ProcessFile(), which drives three output pipelines:

• Quick Info — Key-value summary table (dimensions, version, metadata, etc.)
• Visuals — File map showing the byte-level layout as colored spans, plus format-specific visuals (e.g., raster image preview)
• Structure — Hierarchical tree view of parsed structures and their field values

Building

All plugin projects target .NET 10 and share common build configuration via src/Directory.Build.props. Built DLLs are automatically copied to the build/<Configuration>/<TFM>/plugins/ staging directory.

dotnet build Ufex.Extensions.Core.sln

Configuration

File type registrations are defined in config/001_file_types_core.xml. This XML maps each FileType class to the file format IDs it handles, allowing the Ufex host to discover and load plugins at runtime.