What is the best way to dump entire objects to a log in C

Question

So for viewing a current object s state at runtime  I really like what the Visual Studio Immediate window gives me   Just doing a simple    objectname   Will give me a nicely formatted  dump  of the object     Is there an easy way to do this in code  so I can do something similar when logging

User · Accepted Answer

You could base something on the ObjectDumper code that ships with the Linq samples  Have also a look at the answer of this related question to get a sample

User · Answer

You could use Visual Studio Immediate Window Just paste this  change actual to your object name obviously   Newtonsoft Json JsonConvert SerializeObject actual    It should print object in JSON  You should be able to copy it over textmechanic text tool or notepad   and replace escaped quotes    quot   with  quot  and newlines   r n  with empty space  then remove double quotes   quot   from beginning and end and paste it to jsbeautifier to make it more readable  UPDATE to OP s comment public static class Dumper       public static void Dump this object obj                Console WriteLine Newtonsoft Json JsonConvert SerializeObject obj       your logger          this should allow you to dump any object  Hope this saves you some time

User · Answer

What I like doing is overriding ToString   so that I get more useful output beyond the type name   This is handy in the debugger  you can see the information you want about an object without needing to expand it

User · Answer

You could use reflection and loop through all the object properties  then get their values and save them to the log   The formatting is really trivial  you could use  t to indent an objects properties and its values    MyObject     Property1   value     Property2   value2     OtherObject        OtherProperty   value

User · Answer

You can write your own WriteLine method-  public static void WriteLine lt T gt  T obj                var t   typeof T           var props   t GetProperties            StringBuilder sb   new StringBuilder            foreach  var item in props                        sb Append    item Name   item GetValue obj null                          sb AppendLine            Console WriteLine sb ToString             Use it like-  WriteLine myObject     To write a collection we can use-   var ifaces   t GetInterfaces            if  ifaces Any o   gt  o Name StartsWith  ICollection                            dynamic lst   t GetMethod  GetEnumerator   Invoke obj  null               while  lst MoveNext                                  WriteLine lst Current                                The method may look like-   public static void WriteLine lt T gt  T obj                var t   typeof T           var ifaces   t GetInterfaces            if  ifaces Any o   gt  o Name StartsWith  ICollection                            dynamic lst   t GetMethod  GetEnumerator   Invoke obj  null               while  lst MoveNext                                  WriteLine lst Current                                               else if  t GetProperties   Any                          var props   t GetProperties                StringBuilder sb   new StringBuilder                foreach  var item in props                                sb Append    item Name   item GetValue obj  null                                  sb AppendLine                Console WriteLine sb ToString                       Using if  else if and checking interfaces  attributes  base type  etc  and recursion  as this is a recursive method  in this way we may achieve an object dumper  but it is tedious for sure  Using the object dumper from Microsoft s LINQ Sample would save your time

User · Answer

All of the paths above assume that your objects are serializable to XML or JSON  or you must implement your own solution   But in the end you still get to the point where you have to solve problems like   recursion in objects non-serializable objects exceptions       Plus log you want more information    when the event happened callstack which threead what was in the web session which ip address url       There is the best solution that solves all of this and much more  Use this Nuget package  Desharp  For all types of applications - both web and desktop applications  See it s Desharp Github documentation  It has many configuration options   Just call anywhere   Desharp Debug Log anyException   Desharp Debug Log anyCustomValueObject   Desharp Debug Log anyNonserializableObject   Desharp Debug Log anyFunc   Desharp Debug Log anyFunc  Desharp Level EMERGENCY      you can store into different files    it can save the log in nice HTML  or in TEXT format  configurable  it s possible to write optionally in background thread  configurable  it has options for max objects depth and max strings length  configurable  it uses loops for iteratable objects and backward reflection for everything else  indeed for anything you can find in  NET environment    I believe it will help

User · Answer

Here is a stupidly simple way to write a flat object  nicely formatted   using Newtonsoft Json Linq   Debug WriteLine  The object is     JObject FromObject theObjectToDump  ToString       What s going on is that the object is first converted to a JSON internal representation by JObject FromObject  and then converted to JSON string by ToString    And of course a JSON string is a very nice representation of a simple object  especially since ToString will include newlines and indents    The  ToString  is of course extraneous  as it s implied by using   to concat a string and an object   but I kinda like to specify it here

User · Answer

You could use reflection and loop through all the object properties  then get their values and save them to the log   The formatting is really trivial  you could use  t to indent an objects properties and its values    MyObject     Property1   value     Property2   value2     OtherObject        OtherProperty   value

User · Answer

I m certain there are better ways of doing this  but I have in the past used a method something like the following to serialize an object into a string that I can log     private string ObjectToXml object output           string objectAsXmlString        System Xml Serialization XmlSerializer xs   new System Xml Serialization XmlSerializer output GetType          using  System IO StringWriter sw   new System IO StringWriter                   try                      xs Serialize sw  output              objectAsXmlString   sw ToString                      catch  Exception ex                       objectAsXmlString   ex ToString                           return objectAsXmlString        You ll see that the method might also return the exception rather than the serialized object  so you ll want to ensure that the objects you want to log are serializable

User · Answer

For a larger object graph  I second the use of Json but with a slightly different strategy  First I have a static class that is easy to call and with a static method that wraps the Json conversion  note  could make this an extension method    using Newtonsoft Json   public static class F       public static string Dump object obj                return JsonConvert SerializeObject obj             Then in your Immediate Window    var lookHere   F Dump myobj     lookHere will auto-show up in the Locals window prepended with a   or you can add a watch to it  On the right hand side of the Value column in the inspector  there is a magnifying glass with a dropdown caret beside it  Choose the dropdown caret and choose Json visualizer      I am using Visual Studio 2013

User · Answer

Here is a stupidly simple way to write a flat object  nicely formatted   using Newtonsoft Json Linq   Debug WriteLine  The object is     JObject FromObject theObjectToDump  ToString       What s going on is that the object is first converted to a JSON internal representation by JObject FromObject  and then converted to JSON string by ToString    And of course a JSON string is a very nice representation of a simple object  especially since ToString will include newlines and indents    The  ToString  is of course extraneous  as it s implied by using   to concat a string and an object   but I kinda like to specify it here

User · Answer

You could use reflection and loop through all the object properties  then get their values and save them to the log   The formatting is really trivial  you could use  t to indent an objects properties and its values    MyObject     Property1   value     Property2   value2     OtherObject        OtherProperty   value

User · Answer

Following is another version that does the same thing  and handle nested properties   which I think is simpler  no dependencies on external libraries and can be modified easily to do things other than logging    public class ObjectDumper       public static string Dump object obj                return new ObjectDumper   DumpObject obj              StringBuilder  dumpBuilder   new StringBuilder         string DumpObject object obj                DumpObject obj  0           return  dumpBuilder ToString               void DumpObject object obj  int nestingLevel   0                var nestingSpaces      PadLeft nestingLevel   4            if  obj    null                         dumpBuilder AppendFormat   0 null n   nestingSpaces                     else if  obj is string    obj GetType   IsPrimitive                         dumpBuilder AppendFormat   0  1  n   nestingSpaces  obj                     else if  ImplementsDictionary obj GetType                           using  var e     dynamic obj  GetEnumerator                                  var enumerator    IEnumerator e                  while  enumerator MoveNext                                          dynamic p   enumerator Current                       var key   p Key                      var value   p Value                       dumpBuilder AppendFormat   0  1    2   n   nestingSpaces  key  value    null   value GetType   ToString       lt null gt                         DumpObject value  nestingLevel   1                                                     else if  obj is IEnumerable                        foreach  dynamic p in obj as IEnumerable                                DumpObject p  nestingLevel                                   else                       foreach  PropertyDescriptor descriptor in TypeDescriptor GetProperties obj                                 string name   descriptor Name                  object value   descriptor GetValue obj                     dumpBuilder AppendFormat   0  1    2   n   nestingSpaces  name  value    null   value GetType   ToString       lt null gt                     DumpObject value  nestingLevel   1                                      bool ImplementsDictionary Type t                return t GetInterfaces   Any i   gt  i Name Contains  IDictionary

User · Answer

Following is another version that does the same thing  and handle nested properties   which I think is simpler  no dependencies on external libraries and can be modified easily to do things other than logging    public class ObjectDumper       public static string Dump object obj                return new ObjectDumper   DumpObject obj              StringBuilder  dumpBuilder   new StringBuilder         string DumpObject object obj                DumpObject obj  0           return  dumpBuilder ToString               void DumpObject object obj  int nestingLevel   0                var nestingSpaces      PadLeft nestingLevel   4            if  obj    null                         dumpBuilder AppendFormat   0 null n   nestingSpaces                     else if  obj is string    obj GetType   IsPrimitive                         dumpBuilder AppendFormat   0  1  n   nestingSpaces  obj                     else if  ImplementsDictionary obj GetType                           using  var e     dynamic obj  GetEnumerator                                  var enumerator    IEnumerator e                  while  enumerator MoveNext                                          dynamic p   enumerator Current                       var key   p Key                      var value   p Value                       dumpBuilder AppendFormat   0  1    2   n   nestingSpaces  key  value    null   value GetType   ToString       lt null gt                         DumpObject value  nestingLevel   1                                                     else if  obj is IEnumerable                        foreach  dynamic p in obj as IEnumerable                                DumpObject p  nestingLevel                                   else                       foreach  PropertyDescriptor descriptor in TypeDescriptor GetProperties obj                                 string name   descriptor Name                  object value   descriptor GetValue obj                     dumpBuilder AppendFormat   0  1    2   n   nestingSpaces  name  value    null   value GetType   ToString       lt null gt                     DumpObject value  nestingLevel   1                                      bool ImplementsDictionary Type t                return t GetInterfaces   Any i   gt  i Name Contains  IDictionary

User · Answer

I m certain there are better ways of doing this  but I have in the past used a method something like the following to serialize an object into a string that I can log     private string ObjectToXml object output           string objectAsXmlString        System Xml Serialization XmlSerializer xs   new System Xml Serialization XmlSerializer output GetType          using  System IO StringWriter sw   new System IO StringWriter                   try                      xs Serialize sw  output              objectAsXmlString   sw ToString                      catch  Exception ex                       objectAsXmlString   ex ToString                           return objectAsXmlString        You ll see that the method might also return the exception rather than the serialized object  so you ll want to ensure that the objects you want to log are serializable

User · Answer

ServiceStack Text has a T Dump   extension method that does exactly this  recursively dumps all properties of any type in a nice readable format   Example usage   var model   new TestModel    Console WriteLine model Dump       and output         Int  1      String  One      DateTime  2010-04-11      Guid  c050437f6fcd46be9b2d0806a0860b3e      EmptyIntList          IntList                1          2          3            StringList                one          two          three            StringIntMap                a  1          b  2          c  3

User · Answer

ServiceStack Text has a T Dump   extension method that does exactly this  recursively dumps all properties of any type in a nice readable format   Example usage   var model   new TestModel    Console WriteLine model Dump       and output         Int  1      String  One      DateTime  2010-04-11      Guid  c050437f6fcd46be9b2d0806a0860b3e      EmptyIntList          IntList                1          2          3            StringList                one          two          three            StringIntMap                a  1          b  2          c  3

User · Answer

For a larger object graph  I second the use of Json but with a slightly different strategy  First I have a static class that is easy to call and with a static method that wraps the Json conversion  note  could make this an extension method    using Newtonsoft Json   public static class F       public static string Dump object obj                return JsonConvert SerializeObject obj             Then in your Immediate Window    var lookHere   F Dump myobj     lookHere will auto-show up in the Locals window prepended with a   or you can add a watch to it  On the right hand side of the Value column in the inspector  there is a magnifying glass with a dropdown caret beside it  Choose the dropdown caret and choose Json visualizer      I am using Visual Studio 2013

User · Answer

You could use Visual Studio Immediate Window Just paste this  change actual to your object name obviously   Newtonsoft Json JsonConvert SerializeObject actual    It should print object in JSON  You should be able to copy it over textmechanic text tool or notepad   and replace escaped quotes    quot   with  quot  and newlines   r n  with empty space  then remove double quotes   quot   from beginning and end and paste it to jsbeautifier to make it more readable  UPDATE to OP s comment public static class Dumper       public static void Dump this object obj                Console WriteLine Newtonsoft Json JsonConvert SerializeObject obj       your logger          this should allow you to dump any object  Hope this saves you some time

User · Answer

What I like doing is overriding ToString   so that I get more useful output beyond the type name   This is handy in the debugger  you can see the information you want about an object without needing to expand it

User · Answer

I found a library called ObjectPrinter which allows to easily dump objects and collections to strings  and more   It does exactly what I needed

User · Answer

What I like doing is overriding ToString   so that I get more useful output beyond the type name   This is handy in the debugger  you can see the information you want about an object without needing to expand it

User · Answer

You could use reflection and loop through all the object properties  then get their values and save them to the log   The formatting is really trivial  you could use  t to indent an objects properties and its values    MyObject     Property1   value     Property2   value2     OtherObject        OtherProperty   value

User · Answer

Based on  engineforce answer  I made this class that I m using in a PCL project of a Xamarin Solution        lt summary gt      Based on  https   stackoverflow com a 42264037 6155481      lt  summary gt  public class ObjectDumper       public static string Dump object obj                return new ObjectDumper   DumpObject obj              StringBuilder  dumpBuilder   new StringBuilder         string DumpObject object obj                DumpObject obj  0           return  dumpBuilder ToString               void DumpObject object obj  int nestingLevel                var nestingSpaces      PadLeft nestingLevel   4            if  obj    null                         dumpBuilder AppendFormat   0 null n   nestingSpaces                     else if  obj is string    obj GetType   GetTypeInfo   IsPrimitive    obj GetType   GetTypeInfo   IsEnum                         dumpBuilder AppendFormat   0  1  n   nestingSpaces  obj                     else if  ImplementsDictionary obj GetType                           using  var e     dynamic obj  GetEnumerator                                  var enumerator    IEnumerator e                  while  enumerator MoveNext                                          dynamic p   enumerator Current                       var key   p Key                      var value   p Value                       dumpBuilder AppendFormat   0  1    2   n   nestingSpaces  key  value    null   value GetType   ToString       lt null gt                         DumpObject value  nestingLevel   1                                                     else if  obj is IEnumerable                        foreach  dynamic p in obj as IEnumerable                                DumpObject p  nestingLevel                                   else                       foreach  PropertyInfo descriptor in obj GetType   GetRuntimeProperties                                  string name   descriptor Name                  object value   descriptor GetValue obj                     dumpBuilder AppendFormat   0  1    2   n   nestingSpaces  name  value    null   value GetType   ToString       lt null gt                         TODO  Prevent recursion due to circular reference                 if  name     Self   amp  amp  HasBaseType obj GetType     NSObject                                             In ObjC I need to break the recursion when I find the Self property                        otherwise it will be an infinite recursion                     Console WriteLine   Found Self   obj GetType                                         else                                       DumpObject value  nestingLevel   1                                                        bool HasBaseType Type type  string baseTypeName                if  type    null  return false           string typeName   type Name           if  baseTypeName    typeName  return true           return HasBaseType type GetTypeInfo   BaseType  baseTypeName              bool ImplementsDictionary Type t                return t is IDictionary

User · Answer

I m certain there are better ways of doing this  but I have in the past used a method something like the following to serialize an object into a string that I can log     private string ObjectToXml object output           string objectAsXmlString        System Xml Serialization XmlSerializer xs   new System Xml Serialization XmlSerializer output GetType          using  System IO StringWriter sw   new System IO StringWriter                   try                      xs Serialize sw  output              objectAsXmlString   sw ToString                      catch  Exception ex                       objectAsXmlString   ex ToString                           return objectAsXmlString        You ll see that the method might also return the exception rather than the serialized object  so you ll want to ensure that the objects you want to log are serializable

User · Answer

You can write your own WriteLine method-  public static void WriteLine lt T gt  T obj                var t   typeof T           var props   t GetProperties            StringBuilder sb   new StringBuilder            foreach  var item in props                        sb Append    item Name   item GetValue obj null                          sb AppendLine            Console WriteLine sb ToString             Use it like-  WriteLine myObject     To write a collection we can use-   var ifaces   t GetInterfaces            if  ifaces Any o   gt  o Name StartsWith  ICollection                            dynamic lst   t GetMethod  GetEnumerator   Invoke obj  null               while  lst MoveNext                                  WriteLine lst Current                                The method may look like-   public static void WriteLine lt T gt  T obj                var t   typeof T           var ifaces   t GetInterfaces            if  ifaces Any o   gt  o Name StartsWith  ICollection                            dynamic lst   t GetMethod  GetEnumerator   Invoke obj  null               while  lst MoveNext                                  WriteLine lst Current                                               else if  t GetProperties   Any                          var props   t GetProperties                StringBuilder sb   new StringBuilder                foreach  var item in props                                sb Append    item Name   item GetValue obj  null                                  sb AppendLine                Console WriteLine sb ToString                       Using if  else if and checking interfaces  attributes  base type  etc  and recursion  as this is a recursive method  in this way we may achieve an object dumper  but it is tedious for sure  Using the object dumper from Microsoft s LINQ Sample would save your time

User · Answer

What I like doing is overriding ToString   so that I get more useful output beyond the type name   This is handy in the debugger  you can see the information you want about an object without needing to expand it

User · Answer

I m certain there are better ways of doing this  but I have in the past used a method something like the following to serialize an object into a string that I can log     private string ObjectToXml object output           string objectAsXmlString        System Xml Serialization XmlSerializer xs   new System Xml Serialization XmlSerializer output GetType          using  System IO StringWriter sw   new System IO StringWriter                   try                      xs Serialize sw  output              objectAsXmlString   sw ToString                      catch  Exception ex                       objectAsXmlString   ex ToString                           return objectAsXmlString        You ll see that the method might also return the exception rather than the serialized object  so you ll want to ensure that the objects you want to log are serializable

User · Answer

Based on  engineforce answer  I made this class that I m using in a PCL project of a Xamarin Solution        lt summary gt      Based on  https   stackoverflow com a 42264037 6155481      lt  summary gt  public class ObjectDumper       public static string Dump object obj                return new ObjectDumper   DumpObject obj              StringBuilder  dumpBuilder   new StringBuilder         string DumpObject object obj                DumpObject obj  0           return  dumpBuilder ToString               void DumpObject object obj  int nestingLevel                var nestingSpaces      PadLeft nestingLevel   4            if  obj    null                         dumpBuilder AppendFormat   0 null n   nestingSpaces                     else if  obj is string    obj GetType   GetTypeInfo   IsPrimitive    obj GetType   GetTypeInfo   IsEnum                         dumpBuilder AppendFormat   0  1  n   nestingSpaces  obj                     else if  ImplementsDictionary obj GetType                           using  var e     dynamic obj  GetEnumerator                                  var enumerator    IEnumerator e                  while  enumerator MoveNext                                          dynamic p   enumerator Current                       var key   p Key                      var value   p Value                       dumpBuilder AppendFormat   0  1    2   n   nestingSpaces  key  value    null   value GetType   ToString       lt null gt                         DumpObject value  nestingLevel   1                                                     else if  obj is IEnumerable                        foreach  dynamic p in obj as IEnumerable                                DumpObject p  nestingLevel                                   else                       foreach  PropertyInfo descriptor in obj GetType   GetRuntimeProperties                                  string name   descriptor Name                  object value   descriptor GetValue obj                     dumpBuilder AppendFormat   0  1    2   n   nestingSpaces  name  value    null   value GetType   ToString       lt null gt                         TODO  Prevent recursion due to circular reference                 if  name     Self   amp  amp  HasBaseType obj GetType     NSObject                                             In ObjC I need to break the recursion when I find the Self property                        otherwise it will be an infinite recursion                     Console WriteLine   Found Self   obj GetType                                         else                                       DumpObject value  nestingLevel   1                                                        bool HasBaseType Type type  string baseTypeName                if  type    null  return false           string typeName   type Name           if  baseTypeName    typeName  return true           return HasBaseType type GetTypeInfo   BaseType  baseTypeName              bool ImplementsDictionary Type t                return t is IDictionary

User · Answer

I found a library called ObjectPrinter which allows to easily dump objects and collections to strings  and more   It does exactly what I needed

User · Answer

All of the paths above assume that your objects are serializable to XML or JSON  or you must implement your own solution   But in the end you still get to the point where you have to solve problems like   recursion in objects non-serializable objects exceptions       Plus log you want more information    when the event happened callstack which threead what was in the web session which ip address url       There is the best solution that solves all of this and much more  Use this Nuget package  Desharp  For all types of applications - both web and desktop applications  See it s Desharp Github documentation  It has many configuration options   Just call anywhere   Desharp Debug Log anyException   Desharp Debug Log anyCustomValueObject   Desharp Debug Log anyNonserializableObject   Desharp Debug Log anyFunc   Desharp Debug Log anyFunc  Desharp Level EMERGENCY      you can store into different files    it can save the log in nice HTML  or in TEXT format  configurable  it s possible to write optionally in background thread  configurable  it has options for max objects depth and max strings length  configurable  it uses loops for iteratable objects and backward reflection for everything else  indeed for anything you can find in  NET environment    I believe it will help

[c#] What is the best way to dump entire objects to a log in C#?

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