[c#] Exception.Message vs Exception.ToString()

Converting the WHOLE Exception To a String

Calling Exception.ToString() gives you more information than just using the Exception.Message property. However, even this still leaves out lots of information, including:

1. The Data collection property found on all exceptions.
2. Any other custom properties added to the exception.

There are times when you want to capture this extra information. The code below handles the above scenarios. It also writes out the properties of the exceptions in a nice order. It's using C# 7 but should be very easy for you to convert to older versions if necessary. See also this related answer.

public static class ExceptionExtensions
{
    public static string ToDetailedString(this Exception exception) =>
        ToDetailedString(exception, ExceptionOptions.Default);

    public static string ToDetailedString(this Exception exception, ExceptionOptions options)
    {
        if (exception == null)
        {
            throw new ArgumentNullException(nameof(exception));
        } 

        var stringBuilder = new StringBuilder();

        AppendValue(stringBuilder, "Type", exception.GetType().FullName, options);

        foreach (PropertyInfo property in exception
            .GetType()
            .GetProperties()
            .OrderByDescending(x => string.Equals(x.Name, nameof(exception.Message), StringComparison.Ordinal))
            .ThenByDescending(x => string.Equals(x.Name, nameof(exception.Source), StringComparison.Ordinal))
            .ThenBy(x => string.Equals(x.Name, nameof(exception.InnerException), StringComparison.Ordinal))
            .ThenBy(x => string.Equals(x.Name, nameof(AggregateException.InnerExceptions), StringComparison.Ordinal)))
        {
            var value = property.GetValue(exception, null);
            if (value == null && options.OmitNullProperties)
            {
                if (options.OmitNullProperties)
                {
                    continue;
                }
                else
                {
                    value = string.Empty;
                }
            }

            AppendValue(stringBuilder, property.Name, value, options);
        }

        return stringBuilder.ToString().TrimEnd('\r', '\n');
    }

    private static void AppendCollection(
        StringBuilder stringBuilder,
        string propertyName,
        IEnumerable collection,
        ExceptionOptions options)
        {
            stringBuilder.AppendLine($"{options.Indent}{propertyName} =");

            var innerOptions = new ExceptionOptions(options, options.CurrentIndentLevel + 1);

            var i = 0;
            foreach (var item in collection)
            {
                var innerPropertyName = $"[{i}]";

                if (item is Exception)
                {
                    var innerException = (Exception)item;
                    AppendException(
                        stringBuilder,
                        innerPropertyName,
                        innerException,
                        innerOptions);
                }
                else
                {
                    AppendValue(
                        stringBuilder,
                        innerPropertyName,
                        item,
                        innerOptions);
                }

                ++i;
            }
        }

    private static void AppendException(
        StringBuilder stringBuilder,
        string propertyName,
        Exception exception,
        ExceptionOptions options)
    {
        var innerExceptionString = ToDetailedString(
            exception, 
            new ExceptionOptions(options, options.CurrentIndentLevel + 1));

        stringBuilder.AppendLine($"{options.Indent}{propertyName} =");
        stringBuilder.AppendLine(innerExceptionString);
    }

    private static string IndentString(string value, ExceptionOptions options)
    {
        return value.Replace(Environment.NewLine, Environment.NewLine + options.Indent);
    }

    private static void AppendValue(
        StringBuilder stringBuilder,
        string propertyName,
        object value,
        ExceptionOptions options)
    {
        if (value is DictionaryEntry)
        {
            DictionaryEntry dictionaryEntry = (DictionaryEntry)value;
            stringBuilder.AppendLine($"{options.Indent}{propertyName} = {dictionaryEntry.Key} : {dictionaryEntry.Value}");
        }
        else if (value is Exception)
        {
            var innerException = (Exception)value;
            AppendException(
                stringBuilder,
                propertyName,
                innerException,
                options);
        }
        else if (value is IEnumerable && !(value is string))
        {
            var collection = (IEnumerable)value;
            if (collection.GetEnumerator().MoveNext())
            {
                AppendCollection(
                    stringBuilder,
                    propertyName,
                    collection,
                    options);
            }
        }
        else
        {
            stringBuilder.AppendLine($"{options.Indent}{propertyName} = {value}");
        }
    }
}

public struct ExceptionOptions
{
    public static readonly ExceptionOptions Default = new ExceptionOptions()
    {
        CurrentIndentLevel = 0,
        IndentSpaces = 4,
        OmitNullProperties = true
    };

    internal ExceptionOptions(ExceptionOptions options, int currentIndent)
    {
        this.CurrentIndentLevel = currentIndent;
        this.IndentSpaces = options.IndentSpaces;
        this.OmitNullProperties = options.OmitNullProperties;
    }

    internal string Indent { get { return new string(' ', this.IndentSpaces * this.CurrentIndentLevel); } }

    internal int CurrentIndentLevel { get; set; }

    public int IndentSpaces { get; set; }

    public bool OmitNullProperties { get; set; }
}

Top Tip - Logging Exceptions

Most people will be using this code for logging. Consider using Serilog with my Serilog.Exceptions NuGet package which also logs all properties of an exception but does it faster and without reflection in the majority of cases. Serilog is a very advanced logging framework which is all the rage at the time of writing.

Top Tip - Human Readable Stack Traces

You can use the Ben.Demystifier NuGet package to get human readable stack traces for your exceptions or the serilog-enrichers-demystify NuGet package if you are using Serilog.