diff --git a/libretroshare/src/serialiser/rsserial.h b/libretroshare/src/serialiser/rsserial.h
index 2b4aa304d..0abc63af6 100644
--- a/libretroshare/src/serialiser/rsserial.h
+++ b/libretroshare/src/serialiser/rsserial.h
@@ -120,7 +120,7 @@ class RsItem: public RsMemoryManagement::SmallObject
 		 *        after where this RsSerializable has been serialized.
 		 * @return true if serialization successed, false otherwise
 		 */
-		typedef enum { SIZE_ESTIMATE = 0x01, SERIALIZE = 0x02, DESERIALIZE  = 0x03} SerializeJob ;
+		typedef enum { SIZE_ESTIMATE = 0x01, SERIALIZE = 0x02, DESERIALIZE  = 0x03, PRINT=0x04 } SerializeJob ;
 
 		virtual void serial_process(SerializeJob j,SerializeContext& ctx) 
 		{
diff --git a/libretroshare/src/serialization/rsserializer.cc b/libretroshare/src/serialization/rsserializer.cc
index e12878b1d..f7926f8e2 100644
--- a/libretroshare/src/serialization/rsserializer.cc
+++ b/libretroshare/src/serialization/rsserializer.cc
@@ -65,5 +65,13 @@ uint32_t RsSerializer::size(RsItem *item)
 	return ctx.mSize ;
 }
 
+void RsSerializer::print(RsItem *item)
+{
+	SerializeContext ctx(NULL,0);
+
+    std::cerr << "***** RsItem class: \"" << typeid(*item).name() << "\" *****" << std::endl;
+	item->serial_process(RsItem::PRINT, ctx) ;
+    std::cerr << "******************************" << std::endl;
+}
 
 
diff --git a/libretroshare/src/serialization/rstypeserializer.h b/libretroshare/src/serialization/rstypeserializer.h
index 25c4d45b2..37c1f9dc7 100644
--- a/libretroshare/src/serialization/rstypeserializer.h
+++ b/libretroshare/src/serialization/rstypeserializer.h
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ class RsTypeSerializer
 		typedef std::pair<std::string&,uint16_t> TlvString;
 
 		template<typename T>
-		static void serial_process(RsItem::SerializeJob j,SerializeContext& ctx,T& member)
+		static void serial_process(RsItem::SerializeJob j,SerializeContext& ctx,T& member,const std::string& member_name)
 		{
 			switch(j)
 			{
@@ -22,6 +22,9 @@ class RsTypeSerializer
 				case RsItem::SERIALIZE:     ctx.mOk = ctx.mOk && serialize(ctx.mData,ctx.mSize,ctx.mOffset,member) ;
 																break ;
 
+				case RsItem::PRINT:
+                							print_data(member_name,member);
+                break;
 				default:
 																ctx.mOk = false ;
 																throw std::runtime_error("Unknown serial job") ;
@@ -32,6 +35,7 @@ class RsTypeSerializer
 		template<typename T> static bool     serialize  (uint8_t data[], uint32_t size, uint32_t &offset, const T& member);
 		template<typename T> static bool     deserialize(const uint8_t data[], uint32_t size, uint32_t &offset, T& member);
 		template<typename T> static uint32_t serial_size(const T& /* member */);
+		template<typename T> static void     print_data(const std::string& name,const T& /* member */);
 };
 
 
diff --git a/libretroshare/src/serialization/serial_test.cc b/libretroshare/src/serialization/serial_test.cc
index 24822284e..786fd1d88 100644
--- a/libretroshare/src/serialization/serial_test.cc
+++ b/libretroshare/src/serialization/serial_test.cc
@@ -11,6 +11,8 @@
 #include "rsserializer.h"
 #include "rstypeserializer.h"
 
+#define GET_VARIABLE_NAME(str) #str
+
 static const uint16_t RS_SERVICE_TYPE_TEST  = 0xffff;
 static const uint8_t  RS_ITEM_SUBTYPE_TEST1 = 0x01 ;
 
@@ -71,6 +73,11 @@ template<> bool RsTypeSerializer::deserialize(const uint8_t data[], uint32_t siz
 	return ok;
 }
 
+template<> void RsTypeSerializer::print_data(const std::string& s,const std::set<uint32_t>& set)
+{
+	std::cerr << "  [set<uint32_t>] " << s << " : set of size " << set.size() << std::endl;
+}
+
 // New item class. This class needs to define:
 // - a serial_process method that tells which members to serialize
 // - overload the clear() and print() methods of RsItem
@@ -94,15 +101,15 @@ class RsTestItem: public RsItem
 		{
 			RsTypeSerializer::TlvString tt(str,TLV_TYPE_STR_DESCR) ;
 
-			RsTypeSerializer::serial_process(j,ctx,ts ) ;
-			RsTypeSerializer::serial_process(j,ctx,tt ) ;
-			RsTypeSerializer::serial_process(j,ctx,int_set ) ;
+			RsTypeSerializer::serial_process(j,ctx,ts     ,GET_VARIABLE_NAME(ts)      ) ;
+			RsTypeSerializer::serial_process(j,ctx,tt     ,GET_VARIABLE_NAME(str)     ) ;
+			RsTypeSerializer::serial_process(j,ctx,int_set,GET_VARIABLE_NAME(int_set) ) ;
 		}
 
-		// Derived from RsItem
+		// Derived from RsItem, because they are pure virtuals. Normally print() should disappear soon.
 		//
 		virtual void clear() {}
-		virtual std::ostream& print(std::ostream&,uint16_t indent) {}
+		virtual std::ostream& print(std::ostream&,uint16_t) {}
 
 	private:
 		std::string str ;
@@ -156,6 +163,9 @@ int main(int argc,char *argv[])
 		//
 		RsTemporaryMemory mem1(size);
 
+		std::cerr << "Item to be serialized:" << std::endl;
+
+		RsTestSerializer().print(&t1) ;
 		RsTestSerializer().serialise(&t1,mem1,mem1.size()) ;
 
 		std::cerr << "Serialized t1: " << RsUtil::BinToHex(mem1,mem1.size()) << std::endl;