We have a lot of objects for which we like to implement a simple toString to output attributes of the object. Some of these attributes may be complex objects themselves.
Is there any standard, or simply just a best practice for a style? I’m thinking something like:
[SimpleClassName] { prop1:value, prop2:value }
In which case a nested value would look like:
[SimpleClassName] { prop1:value, prop2:[NestedObject] { prop3:value}}
We are using Java but I find myself asking the same question in most languages!
Advertisement
Answer
Personally, I find the mix of [] and {} not so easy to get an immediate view of the hierarchy.
I like this format (and I’ve seen it being used in a number of places):
SimpleClassName[prop1=value, prop2=value] SimpleClassName[prop1=value, prop2=NestedObject[prop3=value]]
There’s also the possibility to add an identifier with @, for example the default style for the commons-lang ToStringBuilder does that (using its own example):
Person@182f0db[name=John Doe,age=33,smoker=false]