VarDump

VarDump turns runtime .NET objects into readable C# or Visual Basic source code.

Use it when you want copyable object initializers for tests, diagnostics, documentation, samples, or debugging workflows where plain text dumps are not enough.

dotnet add package VarDump

Quick Start

C# Source Output

This is the smallest useful VarDump example: create a dumper, pass any object, and print the generated source.

Run .NET fiddle

using System;
using VarDump;

var person = new
{
    Name = "Nick",
    Age = 23,
    Tags = new[] { "admin", "active" }
};

var source = new CSharpDumper().Dump(person);

Console.WriteLine(source);

Visual Basic Source Output

Use VisualBasicDumper when the output needs to be Visual Basic source.

using System;
using VarDump;

var person = new { Name = "Nick", Age = 23 };
var source = new VisualBasicDumper().Dump(person);

Console.WriteLine(source);

Core Features

VarDump is built for source-code output.

Feature	Notes
C# and Visual Basic output	Use CSharpDumper or VisualBasicDumper.
Complex collection support	Anonymous collections, groups, lookups, read-only, immutable, frozen, and queryable collections.
Extended array support	Includes multi-dimensional arrays and layout handling.
Date and time support	Handles common .NET date/time types with configurable output style.
Numeric formatting	Supports decimal, binary, hexadecimal, padding, and digit separators for integral values.
Output limits	Cap collection size and traversal depth for large graphs.
Type name policy	Choose short, nested-qualified, or fully qualified type names.
TextWriter output	Stream output when you do not want to allocate one large string.

For behavior examples, see the unit tests.

Configure Output

Member Sorting And Skipped Values

Pass DumpOptions to either dumper to control member selection, sorting, formatting, collection layout, string literal style, and more.

Run .NET fiddle

using System;
using System.ComponentModel;
using VarDump;
using VarDump.Visitor;

var options = new DumpOptions
{
    SortDirection = ListSortDirection.Ascending,
    IgnoreNullValues = false,
    IgnoreDefaultValues = false
};

var person = new { Name = "Nick", Age = 23, MiddleName = (string?)null };
var source = new CSharpDumper(options).Dump(person);

Console.WriteLine(source);

Full reference: DumpOptions API Guide.

Modern C# Literal Styles

Use literal style options when generated C# should target newer language features.

using VarDump;
using VarDump.Visitor;

var options = new DumpOptions
{
    StringLiteralStyle = StringLiteralStyle.Raw,
    CollectionLiteralStyle = CollectionLiteralStyle.Expression
};

var source = new CSharpDumper(options).Dump(new[] { "one", "two" });

Raw string literals require modern C# language support. Expression collection literals require C# 12 support.

Extension Methods

Install the separate extension package when you want DumpText(), DumpConsole(), DumpDebug(), or DumpTrace() on any object.

dotnet add package VarDump.Extensions

Object Extension Methods

Run .NET fiddle

using System;
using System.Linq;

var dictionary = new[]
{
    new { Name = "Name1", Surname = "Surname1" }
}.ToDictionary(x => x.Name, x => x);

Console.WriteLine(dictionary.DumpText());
dictionary.DumpConsole();
dictionary.DumpDebug();
dictionary.DumpTrace();

Visual Basic Extension Output

Run .NET fiddle

using System;
using System.Linq;

VarDumpExtensions.VarDumpFactory = VarDumpFactories.VisualBasic;

var dictionary = new[]
{
    new { Name = "Name1", Surname = "Surname1" }
}.ToDictionary(x => x.Name, x => x);

Console.WriteLine(dictionary.DumpText());

Advanced And Extensibility

Use the advanced APIs when you need to transform object descriptions before output or teach VarDump how to serialize a specific type.

Need	Start here
Mask or rewrite member values before output	Extensibility Guide: descriptor middleware
Add support for a known object type	Extensibility Guide: known object visitors
Tune every output option	DumpOptions API Guide
Compare behavior with ObjectDumper.NET	Comparison fiddle

Comparison

VarDump grew out of work on Object Dumper Visual Studio, Visual Studio Code, and Rider extensions. It focuses on richer source-code generation options than ObjectDumper.NET.

Feature	VarDump	ObjectDumper
Console-style dump	N/A	Yes
Collections: anonymous, groups, lookups, read-only, immutable, frozen, queryable	Yes	No
Extended array support	Yes	No
Extended Date-Time support	Yes	No
Hex/Binary formatting and digit separator	Yes	No
Max collection size	Yes	N/A
Nested types	Yes	No
Output to TextWriter	Yes	No

Powered By

Repository	License
Heavily customized version of System.CodeDom

Privacy Notice: No personal data is collected.

This tool has been working well for my personal needs, but outside that its future depends on your feedback. Please open an issue with problems, ideas, or examples that should work better.

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