code: protected static String cfdefToString(CfDef cfDef) throws IOException
      {
          assert cfDef != null;
          // this is so awful it's kind of cool!
          TSerializer serializer = new TSerializer(new TBinaryProtocol.Factory());
          try
          {
              return Hex.bytesToHex(serializer.serialize(cfDef));
          }
          catch (TException e)
          {
              throw new IOException(e);
          }
      }
docs: convert CfDef to string