Strings in an ECS component

ecs-string.cs

// Allocation singleton class
public static class StringProvider 
{
    private static readonly Dictionary<uint, string> Storage = new  Dictionary<uint, string>();

    private static uint nextHandle = 0;

    public static uint Allocate(string value = default(string))
    {
        var handle = GetNextHandle()
        Storage.Add(handle, value);
        return handle;
    }

    public static string Get(uint handle)
    {
        if (!Storage.TryGetValue(handle, out var value))
        {
            throw new ArgumentException($"StringProvider does not contain handle {handle}");
        }

        return value;
    }

    public static void Set(uint handle, string value)
    {
        if (!Storage.ContainsKey(handle))
        {
            throw new ArgumentException($"StringProvider does not contain handle {handle}");
        }

        Storage[handle] = value;
    }

    public static void Free(uint handle)
    {
        Storage.Remove(handle);
    }

    private static uint GetNextHandle() 
    {
        while (Storage.ContainsKey(++nextHandle))
        {
        }

        return nextHandle;
    }
}

// You can then write a component like the following:

public struct MyComponent : IComponentData 
{
    public uint Handle;
}
// You can then write a component like the following:

public struct MyComponent : IComponentData 
{
    public uint Handle;
}

// And then create it like the following:
var component = new MyComponent();
component.handle = StringProvider.Allocate("my-string");
entityManager.AddComponentData(entity, component)

// And use it:
var component = entityManager.GetComponentData<MyComponent>(entity);
var s = StringProvider.Get(component.Handle);
s = "new-string";
StringProvider.Set(component.Handle, s);

// Just make sure to free it!
var component = entityManager.GetComponentData<MyComponent>(entity);
StringProvider.Free(component.Handle);
entityManager.RemoveComponent<MyComponent>(entity);