ToString by reflection

Question

Hi,
I'm trying to create an abstract VO where toString metlhod would be able to get all public fields and write their names and values.
I'ts quite easy, but when the VO has a reference to itself, toString method start an infinite looping.
How cold I solve it?
Best Regards,
Rodrigo Souza
Sao Paulo - Brazil
PS: toString implementation
     public String toString() {
          String mask = "[{0}] {1} ";
          String values = "";
          Class cls = getClass();
          Field[] fields = cls.getDeclaredFields();
          for (int i = 0; i < fields.length; i++) {
               String fieldName = fields.getName().substring(0, 1)
                         .toUpperCase()
                         + fields[i].getName().substring(1,
                                   fields[i].getName().length());
               String get = "get";
               try {
                    Method method = cls.getMethod(get + fieldName, new Class[] {});
                    Object obj = method.invoke(this, new Object[] {});
                    values += MessageFormat.format(mask, new String[] {
                              fields[i].getName(), String.valueOf(obj) });
               } catch (Exception e) {
          return values;

Answer 1

Note to OP: If you have classes containing circular references, you might not be able to use ToStringBuilder - it may have the same problem you are experiencing in your reinvention of it. You'll need to experiment. If it's still a problem, obviously you need to custom-write specific toString() implementations for those kinds of classes to account for the circular references - it's not going to magically write itself of course.