protected function formatValue($value)
    {
        $formatted_value = '<unknown parameter type>';

        if (is_object($value)) {
            $formatted_value = '<' . get_class($value) . ' object>';
        } elseif ($value === null) {
            $formatted_value = '<null>';
        } elseif (is_string($value)) {
            if (SwatString::validateUtf8($value)) {
                $formatted_value = "'" . $value . "'";
            } else {
                $formatted_value = '"' . SwatString::escapeBinary($value) . '"';
            }
        } elseif (is_int($value) || is_float($value)) {
            $formatted_value = strval($value);
        } elseif (is_bool($value)) {
            $formatted_value = $value ? 'true' : 'false';
        } elseif (is_resource($value)) {
            $formatted_value = '<resource>';
        } elseif (is_array($value)) {
            // check whether or not array is associative
            $keys = array_keys($value);
            $associative = false;
            $count = 0;
            foreach ($keys as $key) {
                if ($key !== $count) {
                    $associative = true;
                    break;
                }
                $count++;
            }

            $formatted_value = 'array(';

            $count = 0;
            foreach ($value as $key => $the_value) {
                if ($count > 0) {
                    $formatted_value .= ', ';
                }

                if ($associative) {
                    $formatted_value .= $this->formatValue($key);
                    $formatted_value .= ' => ';
                }
                $formatted_value .= $this->formatValue($the_value);
                $count++;
            }
            $formatted_value .= ')';
        }

        return $formatted_value;
    }