Selfdisplayable

Selfdisplayable is a design concept referring to objects, components, or data values that can generate a complete display representation of themselves without requiring external formatting utilities. A selfdisplayable entity encapsulates the logic needed to present its content in a human-readable form and can adapt the output for different targets (plain text, UI, logs).

Typically, a selfdisplayable type provides a standard method or protocol, such as a display or render function, a string conversion, or a humane string representation. The implementation aims to be deterministic, locale-aware, and safe to present in user interfaces. It may separate raw data from presentation, or merge both as needed. For example, in Python a class might implement __str__ or __repr__; in Java a toString method; in UI frameworks a render function on a component.

Benefits of selfdisplayable include consistent, portable representations, easier debugging, and reduced boilerplate when building UIs or logs. Drawbacks include potential leakage of sensitive data, increased coupling between data and presentation, and the risk of bloated representations.

Related concepts include self-describing data, printable representations, and presentational logic. Selfdisplayable is often used in libraries that aim to separate content from presentation by allowing objects to expose their own display form. It is not a formal standard; usage varies by ecosystem.