Import CSV file to strongly typed data structure in .Net [closed]

Microsoft's TextFieldParser is stable and follows RFC 4180 for CSV files. Don't be put off by the Microsoft.VisualBasic namespace; it's a standard component in the .NET Framework, just add a reference to the global Microsoft.VisualBasic assembly.

If you're compiling for Windows (as opposed to Mono) and don't anticipate having to parse "broken" (non-RFC-compliant) CSV files, then this would be the obvious choice, as it's free, unrestricted, stable, and actively supported, most of which cannot be said for FileHelpers.

See also: How to: Read From Comma-Delimited Text Files in Visual Basic for a VB code example.

Use an OleDB connection.

String sConnectionString = "Provider=Microsoft.Jet.OLEDB.4.0;Data Source=C:\\InputDirectory\\;Extended Properties='text;HDR=Yes;FMT=Delimited'";
OleDbConnection objConn = new OleDbConnection(sConnectionString);
objConn.Open();
DataTable dt = new DataTable();
OleDbCommand objCmdSelect = new OleDbCommand("SELECT * FROM file.csv", objConn);
OleDbDataAdapter objAdapter1 = new OleDbDataAdapter();
objAdapter1.SelectCommand = objCmdSelect;
objAdapter1.Fill(dt);
objConn.Close();

If you're expecting fairly complex scenarios for CSV parsing, don't even think up of rolling our own parser. There are a lot of excellent tools out there, like FileHelpers, or even ones from CodeProject.

The point is this is a fairly common problem and you could bet that a lot of software developers have already thought about and solved this problem.