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.
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.
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 (\"
) with "
and newlines (\r\n
) with empty space, then remove double quotes ("
) 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.
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.
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
}
}
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