dump data on C# like PHP

Question

In PHP you can dump a variable data like:

<?php

$foo  = new stdClass();
$foo->prop1 = "ABC";
$foo->prop2 = 2024;

var_dump($foo);

output:

object(stdClass)#1 (2) {
  ["prop1"]=>
  string(3) "ABC"
  ["prop2"]=>
  int(2024)
}

How can I get similar data output in C# objects/classes?

Answer 1

This can be achieved in 2 ways basisc:

Using Reflection: This approach leverages reflection to inspect the properties of an object and their values:

using System;
using System.Reflection;

public class Program
{
    public class MyClass
    {
        public string Prop1 { get; set; }
        public int Prop2 { get; set; }
    }

    public static void Main()
    {
        MyClass foo = new MyClass { Prop1 = "ABC", Prop2 = 2024 };
        var_dump(foo);
    }

    public static void var_dump(object obj)
    {
        Type type = obj.GetType();
        Console.WriteLine($"object({type.Name}) {{");
        
        foreach (PropertyInfo property in type.GetProperties())
        {
            var value = property.GetValue(obj);
            Console.WriteLine($"  [{property.Name}] => {value}");
        }
        
        Console.WriteLine("}");
    }
}

output:

object(MyClass) {
  [Prop1] => ABC
  [Prop2] => 2024
}

Using ToString Override: For more control, you can override the ToString method in your class to provide custom string representation:

using System;

public class Program
{
    public class MyClass
    {
        public string Prop1 { get; set; }
        public int Prop2 { get; set; }

        public override string ToString()
        {
            return $"object(MyClass) {{\n  [Prop1] => {Prop1}\n  [Prop2] => {Prop2}\n}}";
        }
    }

    public static void Main()
    {
        MyClass foo = new MyClass { Prop1 = "ABC", Prop2 = 2024 };
        Console.WriteLine(foo.ToString());
    }
}

output:

object(MyClass) {
  [Prop1] => ABC
  [Prop2] => 2024
}

I hope this is useful to the community, greetings.