code: public synchronized String makeCompactString() {
      StringBuffer buffer = new StringBuffer();
      boolean first = true;
      for(Group group: this){   
        for(Counter counter: group) {
          if (first) {
            first = false;
          } else {
            buffer.append(',');
          }
          buffer.append(group.getDisplayName());
          buffer.append('.');
          buffer.append(counter.getDisplayName());
          buffer.append(':');
          buffer.append(counter.getCounter());
        }
      }
      return buffer.toString();
    }
docs: Convert a counters object into a single line that is easy to parse.
  @return the string with "name=value" for each counter and separated by ","