TinyString 0.3.0

TinyString

Turn any .NET object into a readable string. Zero config for simple cases, a clean fluent API when you want more.

dotnet add package TinyString

Zero config

Call .Stringify() on anything:

using TinyString;

var book = new Book { Title = "1984", Author = "George Orwell", Pages = 328 };
book.Stringify();
// → "Book. Title: 1984, Author: George Orwell, Pages: 328"

All public properties, declaration order, class name as header, floats at 2 decimal places. No setup required.

Fluent API

Pass a configuration action when you need more control. Everything lives at the call site — your classes stay clean:

zoo.Stringify(o => o
    .MultiLine()
    .Label("🦁 Zoo")
    .For(x => x.EntrancePrice).Prefix("$").Decimals(0));

🦁 Zoo
Name: Woodland Zoo
EntrancePrice: $15
Animals:
|_ Animal. Name: Mittens, Species: Cat, Weight: 4.50
|_ Animal. Name: Tony, Species: Tiger, Weight: 120.30

In multi-line mode, collections are automatically rendered with |_ per item. In single-line mode they're joined with ", ". No extra configuration needed.

Options

Global

Collection items are rendered based on the active style: joined with ", " in single-line, or on their own line prefixed with |_ in multi-line. Multi-line items are indented to align under the prefix, so nested structures stay readable at any depth.

Available naming formats: PascalCase, CamelCase, SnakeCase, KebabCase, HumanCase.

Per property

Chain .For(x => x.Prop) to configure a specific property, then keep chaining .For() to move to the next one:

animal.Stringify(o => o
    .NoLabel()
    .Separator(" ")
    .For(x => x.Name).NoKey()
    .For(x => x.Species).Prefix("(").Suffix(")").NoKey()
    .For(x => x.Weight).NoKey().Suffix("kg").Decimals(2)
    .For(x => x.Age).NoKey().Suffix("yrs")
    .For(x => x.IsRare).Ignore());
// → "Mittens (Cat) 4.50kg 5yrs"

.Only() is the shorthand for whitelisting a few properties without chaining multiple .Ignore() calls:

animal.Stringify(o => o.Only(x => x.Name, x => x.Species));
// → "Animal. Name: Mittens, Species: Cat"

Value formatting

ReplaceValues — swap specific values for labels or emoji

Map known values to display strings. Works with any type — strings, ints, enums, etc. Values not in the dictionary render normally.

Matching is done against the rendered string representation, so for complex types (classes), the replacement matches against ToString().

task.Stringify(o => o
    .For(x => x.Source).ReplaceValues(new() {
        { "area", "🗺️" },
        { "inbox", "📥" }
    })
    .For(x => x.Priority).ReplaceValues(new() {
        { 1, "🔴 Critical" },
        { 2, "🟡 Medium" },
        { 3, "🟢 Low" }
    }));
// → "Task. Title: Fix bug, Source: 📥, Priority: 🔴 Critical"

For nested objects with ToString() overrides:

// Given: AnimalWithToString.ToString() → "Mittens (Cat)"
task.Stringify(o => o
    .For(x => x.Owner).ReplaceValues(new() {
        { new Animal { Name = "Mittens", Species = "Cat" }, "🐱 Mittens" }
    }));
// → "Task. Title: Fix bug, Owner: 🐱 Mittens"

DateFormat — format dates and times

Apply a .NET format string to DateTime or DateTimeOffset properties.

event.Stringify(o => o
    .For(x => x.StartsAt).DateFormat("yyyy-MM-dd")
    .For(x => x.CreatedAt).DateFormat("dd MMM yyyy HH:mm"));
// → "Event. Name: Launch, StartsAt: 2026-03-15, CreatedAt: 01 Jun 2026 09:00"

BoolAs — friendly true/false labels

Replace True / False with any pair of strings.

animal.Stringify(o => o
    .For(x => x.IsRare).BoolAs("✅", "❌"));
// → "Animal. Name: Mittens, ..., IsRare: ❌"

user.Stringify(o => o
    .For(x => x.IsActive).BoolAs("Yes", "No"));
// → "User. Name: Alice, IsActive: Yes"

Truncate — cap long strings

Cut values longer than n characters and append ….

article.Stringify(o => o
    .For(x => x.Body).Truncate(50));
// → "Article. Title: Hello, Body: Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisci…"

Transform / UpperCase / LowerCase

Transform the value before it goes through normal rendering. The result is then converted to a string using the standard rules.

animal.Stringify(o => o
    .For(x => x.Name).UpperCase()
    .For(x => x.Species).LowerCase());
// → "Animal. Name: MITTENS, Species: cat, ..."

// Custom transform — any function that returns a new value:
order.Stringify(o => o
    .For(x => x.Tags).Transform(tags => string.Join(", ", tags.Select(t => $"#{t}"))));

Per-property NullAs

Override the global null token for a single property.

sparse.Stringify(o => o
    .NullAs("—")                       // global default
    .For(x => x.Name).NullAs("N/A")); // just for Name
// → "Sparse. Name: N/A, Description: —, Count: 3"

NumberFormat — .NET numeric format strings

Use any standard or custom .NET numeric format: "N0" for thousands separators, "P1" for percentage, "C" for currency, "D6" for zero-padded integers, etc.

invoice.Stringify(o => o
    .For(x => x.Amount).NumberFormat("N2")
    .For(x => x.TaxRate).NumberFormat("P0")
    .For(x => x.Id).NumberFormat("D6"));
// → "Invoice. Id: 001234, Amount: 12,345.68, TaxRate: 21 %"

Highlight — conditional formatting

Apply a custom formatter only when a condition is met. Values that don't match the predicate render normally.

invoice.Stringify(o => o
    .For(x => x.Amount).Highlight(
        v => v > 100,
        v => $"⚠️ {v:F0}"));
// amount = 150 → "Amount: ⚠️ 150"
// amount = 50  → "Amount: 50.00"

Combining features

All per-property features compose naturally:

task.Stringify(o => o
    .For(x => x.Source)
        .ReplaceValues(new() { { "inbox", "Inbox" } })
        .Prefix("[").Suffix("]"))
    .For(x => x.Title).UpperCase().Truncate(20));
// → "Task. Title: FIX THE CRITICAL BU…, Source: [Inbox], Priority: 1"

Nested objects

Nested objects are rendered using the first match in this priority order:

1. A ForNested<T>() configuration registered on the parent
2. An overridden ToString() on the nested type
3. Reflection over public properties (same defaults as zero-config)

var order = new Order { Product = new Product { Name = "Book", Price = 12.99 }, Qty = 2 };
order.Stringify();
// → "Order. Product: Product. Name: Book, Price: 12.99, Qty: 2"

ForNested

Configure a nested type directly from the root call. The configuration applies wherever that type appears — as a property or inside a collection:

zoo.Stringify(o => o
    .MultiLine()
    .ForNested<Animal>(a => a
        .NoLabel()
        .Separator(" ")
        .For(x => x.Name).NoKey()
        .For(x => x.Species).Prefix("(").Suffix(")").NoKey()
        .For(x => x.Weight).NoKey().Suffix("kg"))
    .For(x => x.EntrancePrice).Prefix("$").Decimals(0));

Zoo
EntrancePrice: $15
Animals:
|_ Mittens (Cat) 4.50kg
|_ Tony (Tiger) 120.30kg

ToString()

If a nested type overrides ToString(), that is used automatically. If ToString() calls Stringify(), it recurses:

public class Animal
{
    public string Name { get; set; }
    public string Species { get; set; }

    public override string ToString() => this.Stringify(o => o
        .NoLabel()
        .For(x => x.Name).NoKey()
        .For(x => x.Species).Prefix("(").Suffix(")").NoKey());
    // → "Mittens (Cat)"
}

Migrating from the attribute API

Previous versions configured stringification via [Stringify], [StringifyProperty], and [StringifyIgnore] attributes. These still work but are deprecated and will be removed in a future major version. Move the configuration to the .Stringify() call site instead.

MIT License