ToStringFormatProperties ToStringFormatProperties are used to tell the Serializer ToString method how to format the string. This includes what string to use to separate each property, what string to use to separate the name of the property from the value of the property and how things should be indented. ToStringFormatProperties essentially consists of three sets of ToStringDecorationProperties, one each for: Fields, ListItemHeaders and ListItems. There are also a couple of additional properties related to how lists will be treated. Fields Fields should be set to a ToStringDecorationProperties object that indicates how each field should be treated. Fields defaults to the default ToStringDecorationProperties. ListItemHeaders When there is a list of items (e.g. List) there can be a header for each item in the list such as `Item 0`, `Item 1`, etc. To have each item in a list have a header, `NumberListItems` should be set to `true` and `ListItemHeaders` should be set to a ToStringDecorationProperties object that indicates how the `ListItemHeaders` should be formatted. ListItemHeaders defaults to the default ToStringDecorationProperties except for Separator is set to an empty string (i.e. “”). See the note below about why you don’t want a Separator for ListItems but for ListItemHeaders you don’t really want a separator either because it will actually go at the end of the previous list item. ListItems ListItems are treated much the same as Fields but the ToStringDecorationProperties for ListItems are intended to indicate how to handle each list item. ListItems defaults to the default ToStringDecorationProperties except for Separator is set to an empty string (i.e. “”). When there is a ListItemHeader you don’t really want a ListItems separator because you will get something like: Index 0: Value0 Index 1: , Value1 That comma at the end of the Index 1 line is actually the separator for Value1 since it’s not the 1st item NumberListItems NumberListItems is a bool value used to indicate whether or not each item is a list should have a ‘header’ that shows which item in the list is being shown. Defaults to true. ListItemName If NumberListItems is true then ListItemName is the string that should be used in the list item header. The header will take the form of “ListItemName x” where ‘x’ is the number of the list item. Defaults to Index. UseOneBasedListIndex Normally, the index used in the list item header will start with 0 but if you want them to start with 1, set UseOneBasedListIndex to true. Defaults to false. Default There is a static Default property on ToStringFormatProperties. The Default is what is used when the Serializer ToString method is called without a ToStringFormatProperties. Default is initially set to a new ToStringFormatProperties with the defaults for each property as mentioned above. If you want to use different defaults you can just set Default to a different ToStringFormatProperties object. Extra notes First item indentation As a general rule the first field of the ToString will not be indented so that you can have something like: Console.WriteLine($"My property = {Serializer.Instance.ToString(myProperty)}"); and the output will look like: My property = Field1: Value1, Field2: Value2, Field3: Value3 instead of My property = Field1: Value1, Field2: Value2, Field3: Value3 Indenting lists When you have a list in your class that is define as something like: List<int> ListPropertyName you will end up with something like: ListPropertyName: Item 0: 10 Item 1: 14 The indents for Lists can get a little weird because the Fields and ListItems properties can have an effect when the type of the list is a serializable class. In this scenario there are a few considerations. To make things cleaner it was decided that when the fields are going on a separate line all of the fields should be on the same indent level whereas normally the first field would not be indented and subsequent fields would. So you would have something like: ListPropertyName: Item 0: Field1: 23 Field2: 32 Item 1: Field1: 44 Field2: 45 instead of: Item 0: Field1: 23 Field2: 32 Item 1: Field1: 44 Field2: 45 or: Item 0: Field1: 23 Field2: 32 Item 1: Field1: 44 Field2: 45 Also, there is a question of what if ListItems.Indent = true and Fields.Indent = true In that scenario you could make an argument that there should then be two indents. However, things will be limited to one indent and you end up with this matrix: ListItems.Indent Fields.Indent ToString Indented true true yes false true yes true false yes false false no By “ToString Indented” being yes means it will look like this: Item 0: Field1: 23 Field2: 32 Item 1: Field1: 44 Field2: 45 “ToString Indented” being no will look like this: Item 0: Field1: 23 Field2: 32 Item 1: Field1: 44 Field2: 45