org.josef.util

Class ObjectToStringUtil

java.lang.Object

org.josef.util.ObjectToStringUtil

@Status(stage=DEVELOPMENT,
        unitTests=COMPLETE)
public final class ObjectToStringUtil
extends Object

Utility class that creates a generic String representation of an Object.
Note: Always prefer to implement your own toString() method! This class however can be useful when "others" did not write a toString() method and you want a quick and dirty implementation.

Version:

1.0 $Revision: 5772 $

Author:

Pieter Smit, Kees Schotanus

Method Summary

Modifier and Type	Method and Description
static String	objectToString(Object object) Creates a String representation of the supplied object where the different fields of the supplied object are ordered from super-class to sub-class and within a class, they are ordered by name.

Methods inherited from class java.lang.Object

clone, equals, finalize, getClass, hashCode, notify, notifyAll, toString, wait, wait, wait

Method Detail

objectToString

public static String objectToString(Object object)

Creates a String representation of the supplied object where the different fields of the supplied object are ordered from super-class to sub-class and within a class, they are ordered by name.
Note: The returned String will not contain the values of static members, only their names.

Parameters:

object - The object to create a String representation of.

Returns:

A String representation of the supplied object.
In general, the format of the returned String is: QualifiedClassname:field_name=value, field_name=value, ...
When a field is of type Array or Collection then this field will be formatted like this: field_name=[value, value...]
Maps will be formatted like this: field name={key1=value1, key2=value2}.
To avoid a stack overflow due to self-reference for example, "[...]" will be used for a field that already has been added to the String result. Static members that do not have an overridden toString() method will have a value of "...". This avoids problems with loggers for example that can be quite large when represented as a String but without any additional value.