This example demonstrates how to use the low-level APIs with the IPropertyBagVisitor and IPropertyVisitor interfaces to create a property visitor. This example is equivalent to the example that uses the PropertyVisitor base class to create a property visitor.
This example includes step-by-step instructions to create a property visitor that prints the current state of an object to the console.
Assume you have the following type:
public class Data
{
public string Name = "Henry";
public Vector2 Vec2 = Vector2.one;
public List<Color> Colors = new List<Color> { Color.green, Color.red };
public Dictionary<int, string> Dict = new Dictionary<int, string> {{5, "zero"}};
}
Create a utility method DebugUtilities like this:
public static class DebugUtilities
{
public static void PrintObjectDump<T>(T value)
{
// Magic goes here.
}
}
Call the PrintObjectDump method with the Data object like this:
DebugUtilities.PrintObjectDump(new Data());
Would print the following to the console:
- Name {string} = Henry
- Vec2 {Vector2} = (1.00, 1.00)
- Colors {List<Color>}
- [0] = {Color} RGBA(0.000, 1.000, 0.000, 1.000)
- [1] = {Color} RGBA(1.000, 0.000, 0.000, 1.000)
- Dict {Dictionary<int, string>}
- [5] {KeyValuePair<int, string>}
- Key {int} = 5
- Value {string} = five
First, create a DumpObjectVisitor class that implements the IPropertyBagVisitor. Inside the class, use a StringBuilder to build a string that represents the current state of an object.
Create a DumpObjectVisitor class that implements the IPropertyBagVisitor interfaces.
Add a StringBuilder field to the class.
Add a Reset method that clears the StringBuilder and resets the indent level.
Add a GetDump method that returns the string representation of the current state of an object.
Your DumpObjectVisitor class looks like this:
public class DumpObjectVisitor
: IPropertyBagVisitor
, IPropertyVisitor
{
private const int k_InitialIndent = 0;
private readonly StringBuilder m_Builder = new StringBuilder();
private int m_IndentLevel = k_InitialIndent;
public void Reset()
{
m_Builder.Clear();
m_IndentLevel = k_InitialIndent;
}
public string GetDump()
{
return m_Builder.ToString();
}
}
Inside the DumpObjectVisitor class, override the IPropertyBagVisitor.Visit method to loop through the properties of the container object. In the object dump visitor, display the values and delegate the visitation to the properties.
To call the Accept method on the property using this, implement the IPropertyVisitor interface. This interface allows you to specify the visitation behavior when visiting a property, similar to the VisitProperty method of the PropertyVisitor class.
Inside the DumpObjectVisitor class, add override the IPropertyBagVisitor.Visit and IPropertyVisitor.Visit methods.
void IPropertyBagVisitor.Visit<TContainer>(IPropertyBag<TContainer> propertyBag, ref TContainer container)
{
foreach (var property in propertyBag.GetProperties(ref container))
{
property.Accept(this, ref container);
}
}
void IPropertyVisitor.Visit<TContainer, TValue>(Property<TContainer, TValue> property, ref TContainer container)
{
var value = property.GetValue(ref container);
// Code goes here.
}
The IVisitPropertyAdapter adapters used with the PropertyVisitor base class require access to the internal state of the visitor, so they can’t be used outside of that class. However, you can define domain-specific adapters that have the necessary information. Inside the DumpObjectVisito class, update the implementation of the IPropertyVisitor to use the adapter first:
// Create the following methods to encapsulate the formatting of the message and display the value.
public readonly struct PrintContext
{
private StringBuilder Builder { get; }
private string Prefix { get; }
public string PropertyName { get; }
public void Print<T>(T value)
{
Builder.AppendLine($"{Prefix}- {PropertyName} = {{{TypeUtility.GetTypeDisplayName(value?.GetType() ?? typeof(T))}}} {value}");
}
public void Print(Type type, string value)
{
Builder.AppendLine($"{Prefix}- {PropertyName} = {{{TypeUtility.GetTypeDisplayName(type)}}} {value}");
}
public PrintContext(StringBuilder builder, string prefix, string propertyName)
{
Builder = builder;
Prefix = prefix;
PropertyName = propertyName;
}
}
public interface IPrintValue
{
}
public interface IPrintValue<in T> : IPrintValue
{
void PrintValue(in PrintContext context, T value);
}
public class DumpObjectVisitor
: IPropertyBagVisitor
, IPropertyVisitor
, IPrintValue<Vector2>
, IPrintValue<Color>
{
public IPrintValue Adapter { get; set; }
public DumpObjectVisitor()
{
// For simplicity
Adapter = this;
}
void IPropertyVisitor.Visit<TContainer, TValue>(Property<TContainer, TValue> property, ref TContainer container)
{
// Here, we need to manually extract the value.
var value = property.GetValue(ref container);
var propertyName = GetPropertyName(property);
// We can still use adapters, but we must manually dispatch the calls.
if (Adapter is IPrintValue<TValue> adapter)
{
var context = new PrintContext(m_Builder, Indent, propertyName);
adapter.PrintValue(context, value);
return;
}
// Fallback behaviour here
}
void IPrintValue<Vector2>.PrintValue(in PrintContext context, Vector2 value)
{
context.Print(value);
}
void IPrintValue<Color>.PrintValue(in PrintContext context, Color value)
{
const string format = "F3";
var formatProvider = CultureInfo.InvariantCulture.NumberFormat;
context.Print(typeof(Color), $"RGBA({value.r.ToString(format, formatProvider)}, {value.g.ToString(format, formatProvider)}, {value.b.ToString(format, formatProvider)}, {value.a.ToString(format, formatProvider)})");
}
}
The completed code looks like this:
public readonly struct PrintContext
{
// A context struct to hold information about how to print the property
private StringBuilder Builder { get; }
private string Prefix { get; }
public string PropertyName { get; }
// Method to print the value of type T with its associated property name
public void Print<T>(T value)
{
Builder.AppendLine($"{Prefix}- {PropertyName} = {{{TypeUtility.GetTypeDisplayName(value?.GetType() ?? typeof(T))}}} {value}");
}
// Method to print the value with a specified type and its associated property name
public void Print(Type type, string value)
{
Builder.AppendLine($"{Prefix}- {PropertyName} = {{{TypeUtility.GetTypeDisplayName(type)}}} {value}");
}
// Constructor to initialize the PrintContext
public PrintContext(StringBuilder builder, string prefix, string propertyName)
{
Builder = builder;
Prefix = prefix;
PropertyName = propertyName;
}
}
// Generic interface IPrintValue that acts as a marker interface for all print value adapters
public interface IPrintValue
{
}
// Generic interface IPrintValue<T> to define how to print values of type T
// This interface is used as an adapter for specific types (Vector2 and Color in this case)
public interface IPrintValue<in T> : IPrintValue
{
void PrintValue(in PrintContext context, T value);
}
// DumpObjectVisitor class that implements various interfaces for property visiting and value printing
private class DumpObjectVisitor : IPropertyBagVisitor, IPropertyVisitor, IPrintValue<Vector2>, IPrintValue<Color>
{
// (Other members are omitted for brevity)
public IPrintValue Adapter { get; set; }
public DumpObjectVisitor()
{
// The Adapter property is set to this instance of DumpObjectVisitor
// This means the current DumpObjectVisitor can be used as a print value adapter for Vector2 and Color.
Adapter = this;
}
// This method is called when visiting a property bag (a collection of properties)
void IPropertyBagVisitor.Visit<TContainer>(IPropertyBag<TContainer> propertyBag, ref TContainer container)
{
foreach (var property in propertyBag.GetProperties(ref container))
{
// Call the Visit method of IPropertyVisitor to handle individual properties
property.Accept(this, ref container);
}
}
// This method is called when visiting each individual property of an object.
// It tries to find a suitable adapter (IPrintValue<T>) for the property value type (TValue) and uses it to print the value.
// If no suitable adapter is found, it falls back to displaying the value using its type name.
void IPropertyVisitor.Visit<TContainer, TValue>(Property<TContainer, TValue> property, ref TContainer container)
{
// Here, we need to manually extract the value.
var value = property.GetValue(ref container);
var propertyName = GetPropertyName(property);
// We can still use adapters, but we must manually dispatch the calls.
// Try to find an adapter for the current property value type (TValue).
if (Adapter is IPrintValue<TValue> adapter)
{
// If an adapter is found, create a print context and call the PrintValue method of the adapter.
var context = new PrintContext(m_Builder, Indent, propertyName);
adapter.PrintValue(context, value);
return;
}
// Fallback behavior here - if no adapter is found, handle printing based on type information.
var type = value?.GetType() ?? property.DeclaredValueType();
var typeName = TypeUtility.GetTypeDisplayName(type);
if (TypeTraits.IsContainer(type))
m_Builder.AppendLine($"{Indent}- {propertyName} {{{typeName}}}");
else
m_Builder.AppendLine($"{Indent}- {propertyName} = {{{typeName}}} {value}");
// Recursively visit child properties (if any).
++m_IndentLevel;
if (null != value)
PropertyContainer.Accept(this, ref value);
--m_IndentLevel;
}
// Method from IPrintValue<Vector2> used to print Vector2 values
void IPrintValue<Vector2>.PrintValue(in PrintContext context, Vector2 value)
{
// Simply use the Print method of PrintContext to print the Vector2 value.
context.Print(value);
}
// Method from IPrintValue<Color> used to print Color values
void IPrintValue<Color>.PrintValue(in PrintContext context, Color value)
{
const string format = "F3";
var formatProvider = CultureInfo.InvariantCulture.NumberFormat;
// Format and print the Color value in RGBA format.
context.Print(typeof(Color), $"RGBA({value.r.ToString(format, formatProvider)}, {value.g.ToString(format, formatProvider)}, {value.b.ToString(format, formatProvider)}, {value.a.ToString(format, formatProvider)})");
}
}
When you run a visitor on data, by default, it starts the visitation on the given object directly. For any property visitor, to start the visitation on sub-properties of an object, pass a PropertyPath to the PropertyContainer.Accept method.
Update the DebugUtilities method to take an optional PropertyPath:
public static class DebugUtilities
{
private static readonly DumpObjectVisitor s_Visitor = new();
public static void PrintObjectDump<T>(T value, PropertyPath path = default)
{
s_Visitor.Reset();
if (path.IsEmpty)
PropertyContainer.Accept(s_Visitor, ref value);
else
PropertyContainer.Accept(s_Visitor, ref value, path);
Debug.Log(s_Visitor.GetDump());
}
}
Call the PrintObjectDump method with the Data object. This gets the desired output.