[java] Printing all variables value from a class

I have a class with information about a Person that looks something like this:

public class Contact {
    private String name;
    private String location;
    private String address;
    private String email;
    private String phone;
    private String fax;

    public String toString() {
        // Something here
    }
    // Getters and setters.
}

I want toString() to return this.name +" - "+ this.locations + ... for all variables. I was trying to implement it using reflection as shown from this question but I can't manage to print instance variables.

What is the correct way to solve this?

Another simple approach is to let Lombok generate the toString method for you.

For this:

1. Simply add Lombok to your project
2. Add the annotation @ToString to the definition of your class
3. Compile your class/project, and it is done

So for example in your case, your class would look like this:

@ToString
public class Contact {
    private String name;
    private String location;
    private String address;
    private String email;
    private String phone;
    private String fax;

    // Getters and setters.
}

Example of output in this case:

Contact(name=John, location=USA, address=SF, [email protected], phone=99999, fax=88888)

More details about how to use the annotation @ToString.

NB: You can also let Lombok generate the getters and setters for you, here is the full feature list.

If you are using Eclipse, this should be easy:

1.Press Alt+Shift+S

2.Choose "Generate toString()..."

Enjoy! You can have any template of toString()s.

This also works with getter/setters.

Addition with @cletus answer, You have to fetch all model fields(upper hierarchy) and set field.setAccessible(true) to access private members. Here is the full snippet:

@Override
public String toString() {
    StringBuilder result = new StringBuilder();
    String newLine = System.getProperty("line.separator");

    result.append(getClass().getSimpleName());
    result.append( " {" );
    result.append(newLine);

    List<Field> fields = getAllModelFields(getClass());

    for (Field field : fields) {
        result.append("  ");
        try {
            result.append(field.getName());
            result.append(": ");
            field.setAccessible(true);
            result.append(field.get(this));

        } catch ( IllegalAccessException ex ) {
//                System.err.println(ex);
        }
        result.append(newLine);
    }
    result.append("}");
    result.append(newLine);

    return result.toString();
}

private List<Field> getAllModelFields(Class aClass) {
    List<Field> fields = new ArrayList<>();
    do {
        Collections.addAll(fields, aClass.getDeclaredFields());
        aClass = aClass.getSuperclass();
    } while (aClass != null);
    return fields;
}

If the output from ReflectionToStringBuilder.toString() is not enough readable for you, here is code that:
1) sorts field names alphabetically
2) flags non-null fields with asterisks in the beginning of the line

public static Collection<Field> getAllFields(Class<?> type) {
    TreeSet<Field> fields = new TreeSet<Field>(
            new Comparator<Field>() {
        @Override
        public int compare(Field o1, Field o2) {
            int res = o1.getName().compareTo(o2.getName());
            if (0 != res) {
                return res;
            }
            res = o1.getDeclaringClass().getSimpleName().compareTo(o2.getDeclaringClass().getSimpleName());
            if (0 != res) {
                return res;
            }
            res = o1.getDeclaringClass().getName().compareTo(o2.getDeclaringClass().getName());
            return res;
        }
    });
    for (Class<?> c = type; c != null; c = c.getSuperclass()) {
        fields.addAll(Arrays.asList(c.getDeclaredFields()));
    }
    return fields;
}
public static void printAllFields(Object obj) {
    for (Field field : getAllFields(obj.getClass())) {
        field.setAccessible(true);
        String name = field.getName();
        Object value = null;
        try {
            value = field.get(obj);
        } catch (IllegalArgumentException | IllegalAccessException e) {
            e.printStackTrace();
        }
        System.out.printf("%s %s.%s = %s;\n", value==null?" ":"*", field.getDeclaringClass().getSimpleName(), name, value);
    }
}

test harness:

public static void main(String[] args) {
    A a = new A();
    a.x = 1;
    B b = new B();
    b.x=10;
    b.y=20;
    System.out.println("=======");
    printAllFields(a);
    System.out.println("=======");
    printAllFields(b);
    System.out.println("=======");
}

class A {
    int x;
    String z = "z";
    Integer b; 
}
class B extends A {
    int y;
    private double z = 12345.6;
    public int a = 55;
}

Why do you want to reinvent the wheel when there are opensource that are already doing the job pretty nicely.

Both apache common-langs and spring support some very flexible builder pattern

For apache, here is how you do it reflectively

@Override
public String toString()
{
  return ToStringBuilder.reflectionToString(this);
}

Here is how you do it if you only want to print fields that you care about.

@Override
public String toString() 
{
    return new ToStringBuilder(this)
      .append("name", name)
      .append("location", location)
      .append("address", address)
      .toString(); 
}

You can go as far as "styling" your print output with non-default ToStringStyle or even customizing it with your own style.

I didn't personally try spring ToStringCreator api, but it looks very similar.

When accessing the field value, pass the instance rather than null.

Why not use code generation here? Eclipse, for example, will generate a reasoble toString implementation for you.

Generic toString() one-liner, using reflection and style customization:

import org.apache.commons.lang3.builder.ReflectionToStringBuilder;
import org.apache.commons.lang3.builder.ToStringStyle;
...
public String toString()
{
  return ReflectionToStringBuilder.toString(this, ToStringStyle.SHORT_PREFIX_STYLE);
}

i will get my answer as follow:

import java.io.IOException;
import java.io.Writer;
import java.lang.reflect.Array;
import java.lang.reflect.Field;
import java.util.HashMap;
import java.util.Map;

public class findclass {
    public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception, IllegalAccessException {
        new findclass().findclass(new Object(), "objectName");
        new findclass().findclass(1213, "int");
        new findclass().findclass("ssdfs", "String");
    }


    public Map<String, String>map=new HashMap<String, String>();

    public void findclass(Object c,String name) throws IllegalArgumentException, IllegalAccessException {
        if(map.containsKey(c.getClass().getName() + "@" + Integer.toHexString(c.hashCode()))){
            System.out.println(c.getClass().getSimpleName()+" "+name+" = "+map.get(c.getClass().getName() + "@" + Integer.toHexString(c.hashCode()))+" = "+c);          
            return;}
        map.put(c.getClass().getName() + "@" + Integer.toHexString(c.hashCode()), name);
        Class te=c.getClass();
        if(te.equals(Integer.class)||te.equals(Double.class)||te.equals(Float.class)||te.equals(Boolean.class)||te.equals(Byte.class)||te.equals(Long.class)||te.equals(String.class)||te.equals(Character.class)){
            System.out.println(c.getClass().getSimpleName()+" "+name+" = "+c);
            return; 
        }


        if(te.isArray()){
            if(te==int[].class||te==char[].class||te==double[].class||te==float[].class||te==byte[].class||te==long[].class||te==boolean[].class){
                boolean dotflag=true;
                for (int i = 0; i < Array.getLength(c); i++) {
                    System.out.println(Array.get(c, i).getClass().getSimpleName()+" "+name+"["+i+"] = "+Array.get(c, i));
                }
                return; 
            }
            Object[]arr=(Object[])c;
            for (Object object : arr) {
                if(object==null)    
                    System.out.println(c.getClass().getSimpleName()+" "+name+" = null");
                else {
                    findclass(object, name+"."+object.getClass().getSimpleName());
                }
            }


        }   

        Field[] fields=c.getClass().getDeclaredFields();
        for (Field field : fields) {
            field.setAccessible(true);

            if(field.get(c)==null){
                System.out.println(field.getType().getSimpleName()+" "+name+"."+field.getName()+" = null");
                continue;
            }

            findclass(field.get(c),name+"."+field.getName());
        }
        if(te.getSuperclass()==Number.class||te.getSuperclass()==Object.class||te.getSuperclass()==null)
            return;
        Field[]faFields=c.getClass().getSuperclass().getDeclaredFields();

        for (Field field : faFields) {
            field.setAccessible(true);
                if(field.get(c)==null){
                    System.out.println(field.getType().getSimpleName()+" "+name+"<"+c.getClass().getSuperclass().getSimpleName()+"."+field.getName()+" = null");
                    continue;
                }
                Object check=field.get(c);
                findclass(field.get(c),name+"<"+c.getClass().getSuperclass().getSimpleName()+"."+field.getName());

        }

    }

    public void findclass(Object c,String name,Writer writer) throws IllegalArgumentException, IllegalAccessException, IOException {
        if(map.containsKey(c.getClass().getName() + "@" + Integer.toHexString(c.hashCode()))){
            writer.append(c.getClass().getSimpleName()+" "+name+" = "+map.get(c.getClass().getName() + "@" + Integer.toHexString(c.hashCode()))+" = "+c+"\n");          
            return;}
        map.put(c.getClass().getName() + "@" + Integer.toHexString(c.hashCode()), name);
        Class te=c.getClass();
        if(te.equals(Integer.class)||te.equals(Double.class)||te.equals(Float.class)||te.equals(Boolean.class)||te.equals(Byte.class)||te.equals(Long.class)||te.equals(String.class)||te.equals(Character.class)){
            writer.append(c.getClass().getSimpleName()+" "+name+" = "+c+"\n");
            return; 
        }


        if(te.isArray()){
            if(te==int[].class||te==char[].class||te==double[].class||te==float[].class||te==byte[].class||te==long[].class||te==boolean[].class){
                boolean dotflag=true;
                for (int i = 0; i < Array.getLength(c); i++) {
                    writer.append(Array.get(c, i).getClass().getSimpleName()+" "+name+"["+i+"] = "+Array.get(c, i)+"\n");
                }
                return; 
            }
            Object[]arr=(Object[])c;
            for (Object object : arr) {
                if(object==null){   
                    writer.append(c.getClass().getSimpleName()+" "+name+" = null"+"\n");
                }else {
                    findclass(object, name+"."+object.getClass().getSimpleName(),writer);
                }
            }


        }   

        Field[] fields=c.getClass().getDeclaredFields();
        for (Field field : fields) {
            field.setAccessible(true);

            if(field.get(c)==null){
                writer.append(field.getType().getSimpleName()+" "+name+"."+field.getName()+" = null"+"\n");
                continue;
            }

            findclass(field.get(c),name+"."+field.getName(),writer);
        }
        if(te.getSuperclass()==Number.class||te.getSuperclass()==Object.class||te.getSuperclass()==null)
            return;
        Field[]faFields=c.getClass().getSuperclass().getDeclaredFields();

        for (Field field : faFields) {
            field.setAccessible(true);
                if(field.get(c)==null){
                    writer.append(field.getType().getSimpleName()+" "+name+"<"+c.getClass().getSuperclass().getSimpleName()+"."+field.getName()+" = null"+"\n");
                    continue;
                }
                Object check=field.get(c);
                findclass(field.get(c),name+"<"+c.getClass().getSuperclass().getSimpleName()+"."+field.getName(),writer);

        }
    }

}