ToPyString

ToPyString is a .NET System.Collections extension for converting collections to a string in Python format. Actually you can use the extension to turn any .NET type into a Python format!

The reason this small project exists is because it’s a shame that C# doesn’t have an in-built way of stringifying collections (like many other languages do). Although creating a ToString method for your collections isn’t difficult, you shouldn’t be wasting time implementing rudimentary things on every project… especially on projects you’re using to just quickly try something out and Console.WriteLine the output.

The extension is covered with unit tests, so you can be sure it will perform acceptably in 99.9% of cases. If you stumble upon the 0.1% of cases when it behaves strangely, please let me know either directly or by creating an issue.

Getting Started

Follow these instructions to see how simple it is to use ToPyString.

Prerequisites

This package supports the .NET Standard 2.0, so you will need any of the .NET Core or .NET Framework versions that support the standard.

You can find the .NET download page here.

Installing

You can get ToPyString by installing the Collections.Extensions.ToPyString NuGet package:

Install-Package Collections.Extensions.ToPyString

Or via the .NET Core command line interface:

dotnet add package Collections.Extensions.ToPyString

Using ToPyString

ToPyString is an extension method that can be used on all .NET types.

List:

var list = new List<object> { 11, "john", "doe" };

Console.WriteLine(list.ToPyString()); // Output: [11, 'john', 'doe']

Self-containing List:

var list = new List<object> { 11 };
list.Add(list);

Console.WriteLine(list.ToPyString()); // Output: [11, [...]]

Dictionary:

var dictionary = new Dictionary<object, object> { [1] = "key1", ["key2"] = 2, [new object()] = null };

Console.WriteLine(dictionary.ToPyString()); // Output: {1: 'key1', 'key2': 2, System.Object: null}

Self-containing Dictionary:

var dictionary = new Dictionary<object, object> { [1] = "key1" };
dictionary.Add("self", dictionary);

Console.WriteLine(dictionary.ToPyString()); // Output: {1: 'key1', 'self': {...}}

String and primitive types:

var str = "some string";
var intNum = 11;
var doubleNum = 1.012d;

Console.WriteLine(str.ToPyString()); // Output: some string
Console.WriteLine(intNum.ToPyString()); // Output: 11
Console.WriteLine(doubleNum.ToPyString()); // Output: 1.012

Be careful when using ToPyString with dynamic type

Because of the way dynamic type is implemented the CLR will throw a RuntimeBinderException if you try to call the ToPyString extension method directly on a dynamic object. To get around this issue simply use ToPyString as a regular static method.

Wrong use with _dynamic:_

dynamic dynObject = new { SomeField = 1 };

Console.WriteLine(dynObject.ToPyString()); // --> will throw a RuntimeBinderException

Correct use:

dynamic dynObject = new { SomeField = 1 };

Console.WriteLine(CollectionExtensions.ToPyString(dynObject)); // Output: { SomeField = 1 }

If you have a collection that contains a dynamic object, you can use the ToPyString as usual:

dynamic dynObject = new { SomeField = 1 };
var list = new List<object> { dynObject };

Console.WriteLine(list.ToPyString()); // Output: [{ SomeField = 1 }]

Running the tests

To run the tests using the command line use:

dotnet test

Alternatively, if you’re using Visual Studio you have a button that runs the tests for you, so you can also use that.

Break down of unit tests

The tests are mainly testing whether both C# Collections and non-collection types are converted to string in the expected Python format

[Fact]
public void Prints_List_Of_Ints()
{
    var list = new List<int> { 1, 2, -3, 100 };
    var expectedResult = "[1, 2, -3, 100]";

    var result = list.ToPyString();

    Assert.Equal(expectedResult, result);
}

Contact

Have a question or an issue about ToPyString? Create an issue!

Contributing

Please read CONTRIBUTING.md for details on our code of conduct, and the process for submitting pull requests to the project.

Authors

Nenad Misic - misicnenad

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE.md file for details

Final thoughts

If you found this extension helpfull then please give it a star 🌟 and share it with others, help them so they also NOT waste time on stringifying collections.

Finally, if you have any suggestions on refactoring the codebase to make it simpler, more extensible, more elegant - please let me know, I LOVE refactoring!