Golang create struct in different way - reflection

Question

guys! I am a beginner in Go. I have some doubts When I learning reflect package ,here's the code:
package main
import (
"encoding/json"
"fmt"
"reflect"
)
func checkError(err error) {
if err != nil {
panic(err)
}
}
type Test struct {
X int
Y string
}
func main() {
fmt.Println("hello world!")
test1()
test2()
}
func test1() {
a := Test{}
fmt.Printf("a: %v %T \n", a, a)
fmt.Println(a)
err := json.Unmarshal([]byte(`{"X":1,"Y":"x"}`), &a)
checkError(err)
fmt.Printf("a: %v %T \n", a, a)
}
func test2() {
fmt.Println("===========================")
m := make(map[string]reflect.Type)
m["test"] = reflect.TypeOf(Test{})
a := reflect.New(m["test"]).Elem().Interface()
fmt.Printf("a: %v %T \n", a, a)
fmt.Println(a)
err := json.Unmarshal([]byte(`{"X":1,"Y":"x"}`), &a)
checkError(err)
fmt.Printf("a: %v %T \n", a, a)
}
and the result :
a: {0 } main.Test
{0 }
a: {1 x} main.Test
===========================
a: {0 } main.Test
{0 }
a: map[X:1 Y:x] map[string]interface {}
Why these two way make different result, Could anyone tell me why, many thanks.

Answer 1

In test2 you're passing in the address of the interface{} containing a Test value. When the value is dereferenced by the json package it only sees an interface{}, and therefor it unmarshals into the default types.
What you need is an interface{} containing a pointer to a Test value.
// reflect.New is creating a *Test{} value.
// You don't want to dereference that with Elem()
a := reflect.New(m["test"]).Interface()
// 'a' contains a *Test value. You already have a pointer, and you
// don't want the address of the interface value.
err := json.Unmarshal([]byte(`{"X":1,"Y":"x"}`), a)