Copy struct with nested maps [duplicate] - pointers

Question

This question already has answers here:
How to deep copy a map and then clear the original?
(6 answers)
Closed 4 years ago.
What am I trying to do?
Copy a "default" struct into a new one when needed, keeping all it's values.
Details
I am trying to copy a Chat struct:
type ChatData struct {
User map[string]map[string]string `json:"user"`
Chat map[string]string `json:"chat"`
}
type Chat struct {
Settings map[string]map[string]interface{} `json:"settings"`
Data ChatData `json:"data"`
}
I only need to do this when a new chat is introduced, and I check for membership in a map[string]Chat.
//data is a map[string]Chat
if _, exists := data[event.Chat]; !exists {
data[event.Chat] = data["default"]
}
The full default struct is:
{
"default": {
"settings": {
"eightball": {
"messages": [
"yes",
"no",
"maybe"
]
},
"main": {
"blacklistedCommands": [],
"blacklistedUsers": [],
"error": "there was an error - ",
"maxConsecutive": 5,
"permissions": "You don't have permissions for that command.",
"success": "The command was successful.",
"whitelistedCommands": [],
"whitelistedUsers": []
}
},
"data": {
"user": {
"default": {
"admin": "false",
"consecutiveCommands": "0",
"nickname": "",
"sentMessages": "0"
},
"total": {
"admin": "false",
"consecutiveCommands": "0",
"nickname": "",
"sentMessages": "0"
}
},
"chat": {
"commandSender": "",
"lastMessage": "",
"lastSender": "",
"lastTimestamp": "",
"wasCommand":""
}
}
}
}
What have I tried
data[event.Chat] = data["default"]
// causes a reference
data[event.Chat] = &data["default"]
// cannot use &data["default"] (type *Chat) as type Chat in assignment
data[event.Chat] = *data["default"]
// invalid indirect of data["default"] (type Chat)
Do I need to change my use of map[string]Chat to map[string]*Chat and go with the second option? Pointers and references are not my specialty, so help would be appreciated.
Edit
whoever thought I was copying a map, what are you smoking?

Answer 1

I have found in previous cases, that an easy (though not the most efficient) way to copy a complex structure is to Marshal it, and then Unmarshal it into a new variable. This can be done with a variety of encodings. Two easy ones (included in the stdlib) would be json and gob.
There are also plenty of libraries using reflection to achieve a similar goal: https://github.com/jinzhu/copier
But like I said, though not as efficient, this is easy to reason about and takes just a single, simple function to achieve. If performance matters you should prefer gob over json. If performance REALLY matters, then you should prefer another solution altogether.

Answer 2

If you know the data structure it is best for you to fully define your structs. It will be much easier to manage than complex maps and interfaces with reflection to cast data types. Here is a tool to help you convert JSON to Go structs. It isn't perfect and you have to confirm the data types. You may even want to rip out the internal structs and create types for them for readability and maintenance, but it will save you some time.
https://mholt.github.io/json-to-go/
package main
import (
"encoding/json"
"fmt"
"log"
)
var rawDataExample = []byte(`{
"default": {
"settings": {
"eightball": {
"messages": [
"yes",
"no",
"maybe"
]
},
"main": {
"blacklistedCommands": [],
"blacklistedUsers": [],
"error": "there was an error - ",
"maxConsecutive": 5,
"permissions": "You don't have permissions for that command.",
"success": "The command was successful.",
"whitelistedCommands": [],
"whitelistedUsers": []
}
},
"data": {
"user": {
"default": {
"admin": "false",
"consecutiveCommands": "0",
"nickname": "",
"sentMessages": "0"
},
"total": {
"admin": "false",
"consecutiveCommands": "0",
"nickname": "",
"sentMessages": "0"
}
},
"chat": {
"commandSender": "",
"lastMessage": "",
"lastSender": "",
"lastTimestamp": "",
"wasCommand":""
}
}
}
}
`)
type Settings struct {
Default struct {
Settings struct {
Eightball struct {
Messages []string `json:"messages"`
} `json:"eightball"`
Main struct {
BlacklistedCommands []string `json:"blacklistedCommands"`
BlacklistedUsers []string `json:"blacklistedUsers"`
Error string `json:"error"`
MaxConsecutive int `json:"maxConsecutive"`
Permissions string `json:"permissions"`
Success string `json:"success"`
WhitelistedCommands []string `json:"whitelistedCommands"`
WhitelistedUsers []string `json:"whitelistedUsers"`
} `json:"main"`
} `json:"settings"`
Data struct {
User struct {
Default struct {
Admin string `json:"admin"`
ConsecutiveCommands string `json:"consecutiveCommands"`
Nickname string `json:"nickname"`
SentMessages string `json:"sentMessages"`
} `json:"default"`
Total struct {
Admin string `json:"admin"`
ConsecutiveCommands string `json:"consecutiveCommands"`
Nickname string `json:"nickname"`
SentMessages string `json:"sentMessages"`
} `json:"total"`
} `json:"user"`
Chat struct {
CommandSender string `json:"commandSender"`
LastMessage string `json:"lastMessage"`
LastSender string `json:"lastSender"`
LastTimestamp string `json:"lastTimestamp"`
WasCommand string `json:"wasCommand"`
} `json:"chat"`
} `json:"data"`
} `json:"default"`
}
type Data struct {
Events map[string]Settings
}
func main() {
var settings Settings
err := json.Unmarshal(rawDataExample, &settings)
if err != nil {
log.Fatal(err)
}
event := "foo"
d := Data{
Events: make(map[string]Settings),
}
if _, ok := d.Events[event]; !ok {
// event doesn't exist
// add it
d.Events[event] = settings
fmt.Println("event added")
}
if _, ok := d.Events[event]; !ok {
// event exist, this will never be happen
// sanity check
fmt.Println("this will never be printed")
}
fmt.Printf("%+v\n", d)
}

Answer 3

Super simple fix, just wanted to get some input before I did it. Changed the map[string]Chat > map[string]*Chat and made a new *Chat, then copied the data.
data[event.Chat] = &Chat{}
*data[event.Chat] = *data["default"]