how to find out all properties of an object in lua?

Question

Is there any way of getting all the non-nil parameters / properties of an object? I found this: getmetadata(self.xxxx) and i am looking for something like: ge

Answer 1

I wrote my own printObject code.. here it is

function printObj(obj, hierarchyLevel) 
  if (hierarchyLevel == nil) then
    hierarchyLevel = 0
  elseif (hierarchyLevel == 4) then
    return 0
  end

  local whitespace = ""
  for i=0,hierarchyLevel,1 do
    whitespace = whitespace .. "-"
  end
  io.write(whitespace)

  print(obj)
  if (type(obj) == "table") then
    for k,v in pairs(obj) do
      io.write(whitespace .. "-")
      if (type(v) == "table") then
        printObj(v, hierarchyLevel+1)
      else
        print(v)
      end           
    end
  else
    print(obj)
  end
end

This is the opposite approach then the post before used. Go through all key value pairs in the table. If the value of one index is a table, go through this table. This solution will not get the upwards metatables like the other post did