Question

If I have a predefined object in C#, how can I loop through the object’s structure using reflection to print so it looks like the following:

Class PurchaseOrder
------------------
Property: ID     | Type: Int32
Property: Client | Type: Some.Namespace.Client
+----   Property: FirstName | Type: String
+----   Property: LastName  | Type: String
+----   Property: Address   | Type: Some.Namespace.Address
+----   +----    Property: Line1 | Type: String
Property: Date   | Type: DateTime

I want to recurse through the structure of the object (not caring about the actual data inside, but only the name of the property and a type). Additionally, if it’s not a base type, keep recursing down the tree (i.e. an object or a list).

NOTE: Only public members…

I can’t seem to picture this for some reason.

Here’s what the C# classes would look like for the above printed tree:

class PurchaseOrder {
    public Int32 Id {get;set;}
    public Client Client {get;set;}
    public DateTime Date {get;set;}
}

class Client {
    public string FirstName {get;set;}
    public string LastName  {get;set;}
    public Address Address {get;set}
}

class Address {
    public string Line1 {get;set;}
    ....
}

However, ideally this would work for any type.

Thanks in advance for your help 🙂

Answer 1

It would be very easy to do it using ObjectDumper.

It’s an opensource tool written by Microsoft that seem to do exactly what you want : write a textual/readable representation of an object properties. It’s a simple class that is very easy to modify if you want to adapt the outpout format.

Simplest usage example:

ObjectDumper.Write(purchaseOrder)

Check this page for usage samples.