how to make array with given name(string) in golang with reflect - reflection

I want to make array with name in golang, but I got some error
here is my code
package main
import (
"fmt"
"reflect"
)
type My struct{
Name string
Id int
}
func main() {
my := &My{}
myType := reflect.TypeOf(my)
fmt.Println(myType)
//v := reflect.New(myType).Elem().Interface()
// I want to make array with My
//a := make([](myType.(type),0) //can compile
//a := make([]v.(type),0) ////can compile
fmt.Println(a)
}

I believe this is what you're looking for:
slice := reflect.MakeSlice(reflect.SliceOf(myType), 0, 0).Interface()
Working example:
http://play.golang.org/p/jiYluu52ae
As a side note, in most cases a nil slice is more suitable than one with capacity zero. If you want a nil slice, this would do instead:
slice := reflect.Zero(reflect.SliceOf(myType)).Interface()

Note: if you want to create an actual array (and not a slice), you will have in Go 1.5 (August 2015) reflect.ArrayOf.
See review 4111 and commit 918fdae by Sebastien Binet (sbinet), fixing a 2013 issue 5996.
reflect: implement ArrayOf
This change exposes reflect.ArrayOf to create new reflect.Type array
types at runtime, when given a reflect.Type element.
reflect: implement ArrayOf
reflect: tests for ArrayOf
runtime: document that typeAlg is used by reflect and must be kept in
synchronized
That allows for test like:
at1 := ArrayOf(5, TypeOf(string("")))
at := ArrayOf(6, at1)
v1 := New(at).Elem()
v2 := New(at).Elem()
v1.Index(0).Index(0).Set(ValueOf("abc"))
v2.Index(0).Index(0).Set(ValueOf("efg"))
if i1, i2 := v1.Interface(), v2.Interface(); i1 == i2 {
t.Errorf("constructed arrays %v and %v should not be equal", i1, i2)
}

Related

How to use struct keys in a map?

I am implementing some DB logic without using an ORM.
Can I somehow create a mapping between struct keys and db enums?
type Message struct {
SomeKey string
SomeOtherKey string
}
MessageToDBEnum: = map[ ? MessageKey] string {
SomeKey: "some_key",
SomeOtherKey: "some_other_key"
}
can I later dynamically use the map key (eg when iterating throgh the map) to set/get struct values?
also can I somehow assure that MessageToDBEnum is exhaustive (all public keys of Message are included)?
You essentially want to convert a struct to map and vice versa. There are 3rd party libs to do that, e.g. github.com/mitchellh/mapstructure.
But we can do it ourselves too, it's not that hard. We may use reflection to do it. Without checking errors, here's the essence of the struct to map conversion:
func struct2Map(x interface{}) map[string]interface{} {
m := map[string]interface{}{}
v := reflect.ValueOf(x)
t := reflect.TypeOf(x)
for i := 0; i < v.NumField(); i++ {
m[t.Field(i).Name] = v.Field(i).Interface()
}
return m
}
You may use it like this:
msg := Message{
SomeKey: "v1",
SomeOtherKey: "v2",
}
m := struct2Map(msg)
fmt.Println(m)
Which outputs:
map[SomeKey:v1 SomeOtherKey:v2]
The backward conversion is even simpler, but know that for a function to modify a struct, you must pass a pointer to it. Again, without checking for possible errors, the essence of it is:
func map2Struct(m map[string]interface{}, d interface{}) {
s := reflect.ValueOf(d).Elem()
for k, v := range m {
s.FieldByName(k).Set(reflect.ValueOf(v))
}
}
Using it:
var msg2 Message
map2Struct(m, &msg2)
fmt.Printf("%+v\n", msg2)
Which outputs:
{SomeKey:v1 SomeOtherKey:v2}
Try the examples on the Go Playground.
You may build the validation into these conversion functions, and return an error or use default / zero values when an invalid value is found.

How to convert interface to struct

Here is the simplified code of a cache. Suppose Container placed in a package, so it don't know about Member.
While I wanna store instances of Member in Container, So I store an empty instance of Member in Container as outerType.
In the Container->GetMysql, I fill a new variable by test values (but, in real world, It fill by data of database, dynamically).
then in the function Put, I store data in items as Cache for next uses. In the Get I get the data stored in the items.
Before this every thing is fine. My problem is where i want to convert result of Get to type of Member m = res.(Member) . How Can I convert it to an instance of Member
I found many question about this subject, but none of them solved my problem
For more detail: I want the Get return data with its pointer of where it stored in items. So if I get some variable of same member, an change in one are shown in others
package main
import (
"fmt"
"reflect"
)
type Member struct {
Id int
Name string
Credit int
Age int
}
type Container struct {
outerType interface{}
items map[string]*interface{}
}
func (cls *Container)GetMysql(s string, a int64) interface{}{
obj := reflect.New(reflect.TypeOf(cls.outerType))
elem := obj.Elem()
//elem := reflect.ValueOf(o).Elem()
if elem.Kind() == reflect.Struct {
f := elem.FieldByName("Name")
f.SetString(s)
f = elem.FieldByName("Credit")
f.SetInt(a)
}
return obj.Interface()
}
func (cls *Container)Get(value string) *interface{}{
return cls.items[value]
}
func (cls *Container)Put(value string, a int64) {
res := cls.GetMysql(value, a)
cls.items[value] = &res
}
func main() {
c := Container{outerType:Member{}}
c.items = make(map[string]*interface{})
c.Put("Jack", 500)
res := c.Get("Jack")
fmt.Println(*res)
m := &Member{}
m = res.(Member) // Here is the problem. How to convert ?
fmt.Println(m)
}
You should hardly ever use pointer to interface. My advice is to never use it, when you'll need it, you'll know.
Instead if you need a pointer to something (so you can have the same pointer at multiple places, and so modifying the pointed value somewhere, it will have effect on the others), "wrap the pointer" in the interface value.
So first modify the items field so that it stores interface{} values instead of pointers:
items map[string]interface{}
This means no restriction: you can pass and store pointers, that's not a problem.
Next modify Get() to return interface{}:
func (cls *Container) Get(value string) interface{}{
return cls.items[value]
}
And also in Put(), don't take the address of an interface{}:
func (cls *Container) Put(value string, a int64) {
res := cls.GetMysql(value, a)
cls.items[value] = res
}
And you have to type-assert *Member from the values returned by Get().
And now testing it:
c := Container{outerType: Member{}}
c.items = make(map[string]interface{})
c.Put("Jack", 500)
res := c.Get("Jack")
fmt.Println(res)
m := res.(*Member) // Here is the problem. How to convert ?
fmt.Println(m)
Output (try it on the Go Playground):
&{0 Jack 500 0}
&{0 Jack 500 0}
Now if you would modify a field of m:
m.Credit = 11
And then get the value form the cache:
fmt.Println(c.Get("Jack"))
We'll see the modified value, even though we did not call Put() (try it on the Go Playground):
&{0 Jack 11 0}

why can't I use reflection to take the address of a slice?

How come this works:
slice := make([]string, 0, 10)
sliceptr := &slice
this too:
sliceptr := &[]string{"foo","bar","baz"}
But this doesn't:
sliceaddrval := reflect.ValueOf([]string{"foo","bar","baz"}).Addr()
It panics with: reflect.Value.Addr of unaddressable value
EDIT: Overall what I'm trying to do is take a struct that is of an unknown type, make a slice of structs of that type and return a pointer to it (I'm using github.com/jmoiron/modl which requires a pointer to slice to populate with results from a SQL query).
reflect.Value takes an interface{}, and an interface{} to a value can't be used to change the original. Otherwise, you could end up with code changing data in your struct when you didn't even intend to pass it a pointer. (Or, in this case, changing the length of a slice that was passed by value.) So if you take the address you'd have to do it before the ValueOf.
To make a pointer to a slice that you can to pass to a package that will append to it (like modl or Google App Engine GetMulti), you'd use something like http://play.golang.org/p/1ZXsqjrqa3, copied here:
package main
import (
"fmt"
"reflect"
)
type row struct { i, j int }
func main() {
aRow := row{}
valueType := reflect.ValueOf(aRow).Type()
slicePtrVal := reflect.New(reflect.SliceOf(valueType))
slicePtrIface := slicePtrVal.Interface()
getQueryResults(slicePtrIface)
fmt.Println(slicePtrIface)
}
// standing in for `modl` or whatever populates the slice
func getQueryResults(slicePtr interface{}) {
sPtr := slicePtr.(*[]row)
(*sPtr) = append((*sPtr), row{1,3})
}
Appending to a slice in a reflect.Value yourself takes another few lines of reflect, but it sounds like the package you're working with takes care of that part for you. For general info, code to do the append is at http://play.golang.org/p/m3-xFYc6ON and below:
package main
import (
"fmt"
"reflect"
)
type row struct { i, j int }
func main() {
aRow := row{}
// make a pointer to an empty slice
rowType := reflect.ValueOf(aRow).Type()
slicePtrVal := reflect.New(reflect.SliceOf(rowType))
slicePtrIface := slicePtrVal.Interface()
// append a zero row to it
rowVal := reflect.Zero(rowType)
sliceVal := reflect.Indirect(slicePtrVal)
sliceVal.Set(reflect.Append(sliceVal, rowVal))
fmt.Println(slicePtrIface)
}

Obtaining reflect.Ptr type to field in a Go struct

I am trying to pass to a third-party package a variadic list of pointers to fields in a struct. The package accepts a variadic interface{} list ( func Persist(...interface) error ), where each of the interface values is a pointer to a variable. I created a function that mocks how the third-party library and prints out the Type and Kind of the pointers (called mockFunction below).
When I pass it the address of the struct variables in a non-variadic way, they have their primitive Types and Values within the mocked function using the reflect calls. However, when I pass them in a variadic way using expansion, they have Type: Type: reflect.Value and Kind: struct. The third-party package does not know how to handle them in this form.
I would like to figure out a way to call the third-party package with a slice of interface{} (e.g. inv := make([]interface{}, 3) and use variadic expansion on the call Persist(inv...) if at all possible.
Here is the code with a link to Go Playground below:
package main
import (
"fmt"
"reflect"
)
type Investment struct {
Price float64
Symbol string
Rating int64
}
func main() {
inv := Investment{Price: 534.432, Symbol: "GBG", Rating: 4}
s := reflect.ValueOf(&inv).Elem()
variableParms := make([]interface{}, s.NumField())
for i := 0; i < s.NumField(); i++ {
variableParms[i] = s.Field(i).Addr()
}
// non-variadic call
mockFunction(&inv.Price, &inv.Symbol, &inv.Rating)
//variadic call
mockFunction(variableParms...)
}
func mockFunction(values ...interface{}) {
for i, value := range values {
rv := reflect.ValueOf(value)
fmt.Printf("value %d has Type: %s and Kind %s\n", i, rv.Type(), rv.Kind())
}
}
Go Playground Link
When I run it with the non-variadic parameters, the call to mockFunction returns the native Types and Kinds and the third-party package processes them fine:
value 0 has Type: *float64 and Kind ptr
value 1 has Type: *string and Kind ptr
value 2 has Type: *int64 and Kind ptr
When I run it with the variadic parameters, the values are different and the third-party package does not know how to handle these types:
value 0 has Type: reflect.Value and Kind struct
value 1 has Type: reflect.Value and Kind struct
value 2 has Type: reflect.Value and Kind struct
Is there any way to structure the slice definition and the call to what is placed in to the slice so that it can be variadic expanded and look like passing the pointers to the struct fields in the non-variadic way?
Addr() returns the reflect Value for the field pointer. Call Ptr() on the value to get the actual pointer as an interface{}.
variableParms[i] = s.Field(i).Addr().Ptr()
playground
I think that perhaps Go's handling for this case has changed since 2014 - certainly the code above no longer works for me with Go 1.10...
However the following code works for me to create an appropriate []interface{} to use in the described way...
func settableSliceFromStruct(inStruct interface{}) ([]interface{}, error) {
t := reflect.TypeOf(inStruct)
if t.Kind() != reflect.Ptr {
return nil, errors.New("can only assign values with pointer to struct")
}
v := reflect.ValueOf(inStruct).Elem()
t = t.Elem()
dataColumns := make([]interface{}, 0, t.NumField())
for i := 0; i < t.NumField(); i++ {
if weWantToIncludeThis(t.Field(i)) {
dataColumns = append(dataColumns, v.Field(i).Addr().Interface())
}
}
return dataColumns, nil
}
The critical part here would be for your code to use:
variableParms[i] = s.Field(i).Addr().Interface()

Using reflection with structs to build generic handler function

I have some trouble building a function that can dynamically use parametrized structs. For that reason my code has 20+ functions that are similar except basically for one type that gets used. Most of my experience is with Java, and I'd just develop basic generic functions, or use plain Object as parameter to function (and reflection from that point on). I would need something similar, using Go.
I have several types like:
// The List structs are mostly needed for json marshalling
type OrangeList struct {
Oranges []Orange
}
type BananaList struct {
Bananas []Banana
}
type Orange struct {
Orange_id string
Field_1 int
// The fields are different for different types, I am simplifying the code example
}
type Banana struct {
Banana_id string
Field_1 int
// The fields are different for different types, I am simplifying the code example
}
Then I have function, basically for each list type:
// In the end there are 20+ of these, the only difference is basically in two types!
// This is very un-DRY!
func buildOranges(rows *sqlx.Rows) ([]byte, error) {
oranges := OrangeList{} // This type changes
for rows.Next() {
orange := Orange{} // This type changes
err := rows.StructScan(&orange) // This can handle each case already, could also use reflect myself too
checkError(err, "rows.Scan")
oranges.Oranges = append(oranges.Oranges,orange)
}
checkError(rows.Err(), "rows.Err")
jsontext, err := json.Marshal(oranges)
return jsontext, err
}
Yes, I could change the sql library to use more intelligent ORM or framework, but that's besides the point. I want to learn on how to build generic function that can handle similar function for all my different types.
I got this far, but it still doesn't work properly (target isn't expected struct I think):
func buildWhatever(rows *sqlx.Rows, tgt interface{}) ([]byte, error) {
tgtValueOf := reflect.ValueOf(tgt)
tgtType := tgtValueOf.Type()
targets := reflect.SliceOf(tgtValueOf.Type())
for rows.Next() {
target := reflect.New(tgtType)
err := rows.StructScan(&target) // At this stage target still isn't 1:1 smilar struct so the StructScan fails... It's some perverted "Value" object instead. Meh.
// Removed appending to the list because the solutions for that would be similar
checkError(err, "rows.Scan")
}
checkError(rows.Err(), "rows.Err")
jsontext, err := json.Marshal(targets)
return jsontext, err
}
So umm, I would need to give the list type, and the vanilla type as parameters, then build one of each, and the rest of my logic would be probably fixable quite easily.
Turns out there's an sqlx.StructScan(rows, &destSlice) function that will do your inner loop, given a slice of the appropriate type. The sqlx docs refer to caching results of reflection operations, so it may have some additional optimizations compared to writing one.
Sounds like the immediate question you're actually asking is "how do I get something out of my reflect.Value that rows.StructScan will accept?" And the direct answer is reflect.Interface(target); it should return an interface{} representing an *Orange you can pass directly to StructScan (no additional & operation needed). Then, I think targets = reflect.Append(targets, target.Indirect()) will turn your target into a reflect.Value representing an Orange and append it to the slice. targets.Interface() should get you an interface{} representing an []Orange that json.Marshal understands. I say all these 'should's and 'I think's because I haven't tried that route.
Reflection, in general, is verbose and slow. Sometimes it's the best or only way to get something done, but it's often worth looking for a way to get your task done without it when you can.
So, if it works in your app, you can also convert Rows straight to JSON, without going through intermediate structs. Here's a sample program (requires sqlite3 of course) that turns sql.Rows into map[string]string and then into JSON. (Note it doesn't try to handle NULL, represent numbers as JSON numbers, or generally handle anything that won't fit in a map[string]string.)
package main
import (
_ "code.google.com/p/go-sqlite/go1/sqlite3"
"database/sql"
"encoding/json"
"os"
)
func main() {
db, err := sql.Open("sqlite3", "foo")
if err != nil {
panic(err)
}
tryQuery := func(query string, args ...interface{}) *sql.Rows {
rows, err := db.Query(query, args...)
if err != nil {
panic(err)
}
return rows
}
tryQuery("drop table if exists t")
tryQuery("create table t(i integer, j integer)")
tryQuery("insert into t values(?, ?)", 1, 2)
tryQuery("insert into t values(?, ?)", 3, 1)
// now query and serialize
rows := tryQuery("select * from t")
names, err := rows.Columns()
if err != nil {
panic(err)
}
// vals stores the values from one row
vals := make([]interface{}, 0, len(names))
for _, _ = range names {
vals = append(vals, new(string))
}
// rowMaps stores all rows
rowMaps := make([]map[string]string, 0)
for rows.Next() {
rows.Scan(vals...)
// now make value list into name=>value map
currRow := make(map[string]string)
for i, name := range names {
currRow[name] = *(vals[i].(*string))
}
// accumulating rowMaps is the easy way out
rowMaps = append(rowMaps, currRow)
}
json, err := json.Marshal(rowMaps)
if err != nil {
panic(err)
}
os.Stdout.Write(json)
}
In theory, you could build this to do fewer allocations by not reusing the same rowMap each time and using a json.Encoder to append each row's JSON to a buffer. You could go a step further and not use a rowMap at all, just the lists of names and values. I should say I haven't compared the speed against a reflect-based approach, though I know reflect is slow enough it might be worth comparing them if you can put up with either strategy.

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