To get a simple string representation of the vertex, override ToString() to return a string of your choosing. Code: public override string ToString() { return string.Format(“({0}, {1}, {2})”, X, Y, Z); } The code Vertex3d v = new Vertex3d(1.0, 2.0, 3.0); Trace.WriteLine(v.ToString()); produces the following output: (1, 2, 3) Implement Custom Formatting for Fine Control Although the ToString()implementation gets the job done, and is especially handy for debugging (Visual Studio will automatically call ToString() on objects in the debugger windows), it is not very flexible. By implementing IFormattable on your type, you can create a version of ToString() that is as flexible as you need. Let’s create a simple format syntax that allows us to specify which of the three values to print. To do this, we’ll define the following format string: “X, Y” This tells Vertex3d to print out X and Y. The comma and space (and any other character) will be output as-is. The struct definition will now be as follows: Code: using System; using System.Collections.Generic; using System.Text; namespace VertexDemo { struct Vertex3d : IFormattable { ... public string ToString(string format, IFormatProvider formatProvider) { //”G” is .Net’s standard for general formatting--all //types should support it if (format == null) format = “G”; // is the user providing their own format provider? if (formatProvider != null) { ICustomFormatter formatter = formatProvider.GetFormat(this.GetType()) as ICustomFormatter; if (formatter != null) { return formatter.Format(format, this, formatProvider); } } //formatting is up to us, so let’s do it if (format == “G”) { return string.Format(“({0}, {1}, {2})”, X, Y, Z); } StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder(); int sourceIndex = 0; while (sourceIndex < format.Length) { switch (format[sourceIndex]) { case ‘X’: sb.Append(X.ToString()); break; case ‘Y’: sb.Append(Y.ToString()); break; case ‘Z’: sb.Append(Z.ToString()); break; default: sb.Append(format[sourceIndex]); break; } sourceIndex++; } return sb.ToString(); } } } Formatting with ICustomFormatter and StringBuilder Use ICustomFormatter and StringBuilder. This example prints out type information, as well as whatever the custom format string specifies for the given types. Code: class TypeFormatter : IFormatProvider, ICustomFormatter { public object GetFormat(Type formatType) { if (formatType == typeof(ICustomFormatter)) return this; return Thread.CurrentThread.CurrentCulture.GetFormat(formatType); } public string Format(string format, object arg, IFormatProvider formatProvider) { string value; IFormattable formattable = arg as IFormattable; if (formattable == null) { value = arg.ToString(); } else { value = formattable.ToString(format, formatProvider); } return string.Format(“Type: {0}, Value: {1}”, arg.GetType(), value); } } The class can be used like this: Code: Vertex3d v = new Vertex3d(1.0, 2.0, 3.0); Vertex3d v2 = new Vertex3d(4.0, 5.0, 6.0); TypeFormatter formatter = new TypeFormatter(); StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder(); sb.AppendFormat(formatter, “{0:(X Y)}; {1:[X, Y, Z]}”, v, v2); Console.WriteLine(sb.ToString()); The following output is produced: Code: Type: ch02.Vertex3d, Value: (1 2); Type: ch02.Vertex3d, Value: [4, 5, 6]