I'm struggling trying to figure out how to "extract" an integer value from a interface that holds a value whose dynamic type is pointer to integer.
You may follow this ready-to-run example in order to fully get the picture of what is problem and my intention.
TD;DR:
For some reason the reflection on a first call to reflect.ValueOf(value) over an interface whose dynamic type is pointer to integer, it returns a value whose Kind() results in reflect.Ptr, when i extract again the "inner" value using reflect.ValueOf(value).Elem() i get another value whose Kind() results in reflect.Struct. I don't even code any struct, but they appears by their own "magically". So golang may not panic but i don't understand what is happening, probably i lack of some information. I would be very thankful with anyone that explaint me what is going on.
This may work for this case, but it doesn't enlight me. I would expect to have an integer value "behind" the pointer. I don't need to access for modification, i only need to get it.
It's struct because when you call ToCompliantValue inside the function, you're not passing it the value itself, you're passing a reflect.Value value, and reflect.Value is a struct. You have to handle it directly instead of trying to use recursion:
v := reflect.ValueOf(value)
fmt.Printf("Value is %+v\n", v)
if v.Kind() == reflect.Ptr {
v = v.Elem()
}
switch v.Kind() {
// ...
Working example: https://play.golang.org/p/ndRjXJfj5xV
Related
I want to add marshalling/unmarshalling to types that I accept, in a way similar JSON custom encoding/decoding. I have it all working great when the type implements a Marshal method (value receiver) and Unmarshal method (pointer receiver).
The Unmarshal method must obviously use a pointer receiver so that the new value is saved. I have been told that a Marshal method using a pointer (not value) receiver should also be allowed. The trouble with this is I am using a reflect.Value which is not always addressable.
Here's an edited extract of the code which panics:
var v reflect.Value // passed in parameter
t := v.Type()
pt := reflect.TypeOf(reflect.New(t).Interface())
if t.Implements(reflect.TypeOf((*Marshaler)(nil)).Elem()) {
str, err = v.Interface().(Marshaler).MarshalXXX()
// ... value receiver WORKS FINE
} else if pt.Implements(reflect.TypeOf((*Marshaler)(nil)).Elem()) {
str, err = v.Addr().Interface().(Marshaler).MarshalXXX()
// ptr receiver gives PANIC value is not addressable
I tried creating a copy of v, but the copy is also not addressable which makes no sense to me:
tmp := reflect.New(v.Type())
tmp.Addr().Set(v)
str, err = tmp.Interface().(Marshaler).MarshalXXX()
In case I have not explained this well here is an example on the Go Playground for you to try:
Also while I am here: Is there a better way to get the type of a pointer to a the type than in the assignment to pt above?
I found the answer. The problem was I was using Addr instead of Elem. Though that begs the question why Set worked, since the panic did not occur till the following line.
In summary, to create an addressable copy of a reflect.Value v do this:
tmp := reflect.New(v.Type()) // create zero value of same type as v
tmp.Elem().Set(v)
Please forgive me asking prematurely, but I had already spent 4 hours trying to solve the problem. For completeness here is the fix to my Go playground code in the question.
hi a have this func for get type of value, but i try this and never can get reflect.struct:
type Test struct {
Code int
Name string
}
func main(){
test := getTest()
data, err := getBytes(slice...)
sanitizedFile := bytes.Split(data, []byte("\r\n"))
err = Unmarshal(sanitizedFile[0], &test)
}
func getTest() interface{} {
return Test{}
}
With this code i don't can get the reflecet.struct from v params in Unmarshall func
func Unmarshal(data []byte, v interface{}) error {
rv := reflect.ValueOf(v)
if rv.Kind() == reflect.Ptr {
rvElem := rv.Elem()
switch rvElem.Kind() {
case reflect.Struct:
// implement me
}
}
return ErrInvalid
}
I would like to know if I can somehow find out if an interface is of type struct or access the values of that struct.
I think the real problem here is illustrated by this quote:
I would like to know if I can somehow find out if an interface is of type struct or access the values of that struct.
An interface value isn't "of type struct". Never! An interface value can contain a value whose type is some structure, but it is not a value of that type. It just contains one. This is similar to the way that a box1 you get from Amazon can contain a corkscrew, but the box is not a corkscrew, ever.
Given a non-nil value of type interface I for some interface type I, you know that you have a value that implements the methods of I. Since {} is the empty set of methods, all types implement it, so given a (still non-nil) value of type interface{}, you have a value that implements no methods. That's not at all useful by itself: it means you can invoke no methods, which means you can't do anything method-like.
But just because you can't do anything method-y doesn't mean you can't do anything at all. Any interface value, regardless of the interface type, can have a type-assertion used on it:
iv := somethingThatReturnsAnInterface()
cv := iv.(struct S) // assert that iv contains a `struct S`
If iv does in fact contain a struct S value—if that's what's inside the box once you open it—then this type-assertion doesn't panic, and cv winds up with the concrete value of type struct S. If panic is undesirable, we can use the cv, ok := iv.(struct S) form, or a type switch. All of these—including the version that panics—work by checking the type of the value inside the interface.
What this—or, more precisely, the way the Go language is defined—tells us is that the interface "box" really holds two things:
a concrete type, and
a concrete value.
Well, that is, unless it holds a <nil, nil> pair, in which case iv == nil is true. Note that the iv == nil test actually tests both parts.
If Go had a syntax for this, we could write something like iv.type and iv.value to get at the two separate parts. But we can't do that. We have to use type assertions, type-switch, or reflect. So, going back to this:
I would like to know if I can somehow find out if an interface is of type struct
we can see that the question itself is just a little malformed. We don't want to know if an interface value has this type. We want to know if a non-nil interface's held value is of this type, as if we could inspect iv.type and iv.value directly.
If you have a limited set of possible types, you can use the type-switch construct, and enumerate all your allowed possiblities:
switch cv := iv.(type) {
case struct S:
// work with cv, which is a struct S
case *struct S:
// work with cv, which is a *struct S
// add more cases as appropriate
}
If you need more generality, instead of doing the above, we end up using the reflect package:
tv := reflect.TypeOf(iv)
or:
vv := reflect.ValueOf(iv)
The latter is actually the more useful form, since vv captures both the iv.type pseudo-field and the iv.value pseudo-field.
As mkopriva notes in a comment, test, in your sample code, has type interface{}, so &test has type *interface{}. In most cases this is not a good idea: you just want to pass the interface{} value directly.
To allow the called function to set the object to a new value, you will want to pass a pointer to the object as the interface value. You do not want to pass a pointer to the interface while having the interface hold the struct "in the box" as it were. You need a reflect.Value on which you can invoke Set(), and to get one, you will need to follow an elem on the reflect.Value that is a pointer to the struct (not one that is a pointer to the interface).
There's a more complete example here on the Go Playground.
1This is partly an allusion to "boxed values" in certain other programming languages (see What is boxing and unboxing and what are the trade offs?), but partly literal. Don't mistake Go's interfaces for Java's boxed values, though: they are not the same at all.
Maybe what you need is type assertion?
t, ok := v.(myStruct)
https://tour.golang.org/methods/15
In any case this code prints "struct":
type tt struct {}
var x tt
var z interface{}
z = x
v := reflect.ValueOf(z).Kind()
fmt.Printf("%v\n", v)
And see this for setting the value of a struct field using reflection:
Using reflect, how do you set the value of a struct field?
I started learning golang a couple of days ago and found reflect.Valueof() and Value.Elem() quite confusing. What is the difference between this two function/methods and how to use them correctly?
Both function/methods return a Value, and according to the go doc
ValueOf returns a new Value initialized to the concrete value stored in the interface i. ValueOf(nil) returns the zero Value.
Elem returns the value that the interface v contains or that the pointer v points to. It panics if v's Kind is not Interface or Ptr. It returns the zero Value if v is nil.
I found this code from a post on stackoverflow but still don't understand when to use .Elem()
func SetField(obj interface{}, name string, value interface{}) error {
// won't work if I remove .Elem()
structValue := reflect.ValueOf(obj).Elem()
structFieldValue := structValue.FieldByName(name)
if !structFieldValue.IsValid() {
return fmt.Errorf("No such field: %s in obj", name)
}
if !structFieldValue.CanSet() {
return fmt.Errorf("Cannot set %s field value", name)
}
structFieldType := structFieldValue.Type()
// won't work either if I add .Elem() to the end
val := reflect.ValueOf(value)
if structFieldType != val.Type() {
return fmt.Errorf("Provided value %v type %v didn't match obj field type %v",val,val.Type(),structFieldType)
}
structFieldValue.Set(val)
return nil
}
reflect.ValueOf() is a function, think of it as the entry point to reflection. When you have a "non-reflection" value, such as a string or int, you can use reflect.ValueOf() to get a reflect.Value descriptor of it.
Value.Elem() is a method of reflect.Value. So you can only use this if you already have a reflect.Value. You may use Value.Elem() to get the value (reflect.Value) pointed by the value wrapped by the original reflect.Value. Note that you may also use reflect.Indirect() for this. There's another "use case" for Value.Elem(), but it's more "advanced", we return to it at the end of the answer.
To "leave" reflection, you may use the general Value.Interface() method, which returns you the wrapped value as an interface{}.
For example:
var i int = 3
var p *int = &i
fmt.Println(p, i)
v := reflect.ValueOf(p)
fmt.Println(v.Interface()) // This is the p pointer
v2 := v.Elem()
fmt.Println(v2.Interface()) // This is i's value: 3
This will output (try it on the Go Playground):
0x414020 3
0x414020
3
For a great introduction to Go's reflection, read The Go Blog: The Laws of Reflection. Although if you're just starting with Go, I'd focus on other things and leave reflection for a later adventure.
Another use case for Value.Elem()
This is kind of an advanced topic, so don't freak out if you don't understand it. You don't need to.
We saw how Value.Elem() can be used to "navigate" when a pointer is wrapped in the reflect.Value. Doc of Value.Elem() says:
Elem returns the value that the interface v contains or that the pointer v points to.
So if reflect.Value wraps an interface value, Value.Elem() may also be used to get the concrete value wrapped in that interface value.
Interfaces in Go is its own topic, for the internals, you may read Go Data Structures: Interfaces by Russ Cox. Again, not necessarily a topic for Go starters.
Basically whatever value you pass to reflect.ValueOf(), if it's not already an interface value, it will be wrapped in an interface{} implicitly. If the passed value is already an interface value, then the concrete value stored in it will be passed as a interface{}. This second "use case" surfaces if you pass a pointer to interface (which is otherwise very rare in Go!).
So if you pass a pointer to interface, this pointer will be wrapped in an interface{} value. You may use Value.Elem() to get the pointed value, which will be an interface value (not a concrete value), and using Value.Elem() again on this will give you the concrete value.
This example illustrates it:
var r io.Reader = os.Stdin // os.Stdin is of type *os.File which implements io.Reader
v := reflect.ValueOf(r) // r is interface wrapping *os.File value
fmt.Println(v.Type()) // *os.File
v2 := reflect.ValueOf(&r) // pointer passed, will be wrapped in interface{}
fmt.Println(v2.Type()) // *io.Reader
fmt.Println(v2.Elem().Type()) // navigate to pointed: io.Reader (interface type)
fmt.Println(v2.Elem().Elem().Type()) // 2nd Elem(): get concrete value in interface: *os.File
Try it on the Go Playground.
I know its not idiomatic to write generic functions in Go, but I want to explore my options before I dive into the go generate.
The problem I have is that the Value.Call() returns a slice where the element I interested in is a pointer to a custom struct. Seems like I cant find a way to access this.
returns := listMethod.Call([]reflect.Value{reflect.ValueOf(filter)})
fmt.Println(returns)
output
[<vspk.EnterpriseProfilesList Value> <*bambou.Error Value>]
type definition:
type EnterpriseProfilesList []*EnterpriseProfile
I want to get access to the vspk.EnterpriseProfilesList, but I am struggling to make it.
If I try to retrieve the underlying value like this:
returns := listMethod.Call([]reflect.Value{reflect.ValueOf(filter)})
ret1 := returns[0].Interface()
fmt.Println(ret1)
I receive
[0xc0000fc7e0]
Value.Call() returns a value of type []reflect.Value. What you're interested in is the first value of that slice: returns[0].
This will be of course of type reflect.Value. To extract the value wrapped in it, use Value.Interface().
This will be of type interface{}. If you need the concrete type, use a type assertion:
returns[0].Interface().(spk.EnterpriseProfilesList)
For example:
if list, ok := returns[0].Interface().(spk.EnterpriseProfilesList); ok {
// here list is of type spk.EnterpriseProfilesList
} else {
// it was nil or not of type spk.EnterpriseProfilesList
}
I am curious about IsValid function, because during my use of this function, it never returned false. So when does it return a negative result?
As the doc reflect.IsValid() says:
It returns false if v is the zero Value. [...]
Most functions and methods never return an invalid value. If one does, its documentation states the conditions explicitly.
Value.IsValid() is supposed to report whether the reflect.Value itself is valid, not the value it wraps (if any).
All the examples below print false. You can try them on the Go Playground.
The simplest example is calling IsValid() on the zero value of reflect.Value (which is a struct):
fmt.Println(reflect.Value{}.IsValid())
The 2nd simplest example is when passing nil to reflect.ValueOf():
fmt.Println(reflect.ValueOf(nil).IsValid())
Another example: start with a pointer being nil, in this case there is no "pointed" value, a nil pointer points to nowhere. Attempting to get the reflect.Value of the pointed value using Value.Elem() results in a zero reflect.Value whose IsValid() method will return false:
var i *int
v := reflect.ValueOf(i)
v2 := v.Elem()
fmt.Println(v2.IsValid())
Or in one line:
fmt.Println(reflect.ValueOf((*int)(nil)).Elem().IsValid())
Same thing if you call Value.Indirect() on the above reflect.Value():
fmt.Println(reflect.Indirect(v).IsValid())
Or attempting to get a non-existing struct field by name using Value.FieldByName():
s := struct{}{}
fmt.Println(reflect.ValueOf(s).FieldByName("").IsValid())
Or attempting to get a non-existing method by name using Value.MethodByName():
fmt.Println(reflect.ValueOf(s).MethodByName("").IsValid())
Or attempting to get a value from a map by a non-existing key using Value.MapIndex():
m := map[int]int{}
fmt.Println(reflect.ValueOf(m).MapIndex(reflect.ValueOf(3)).IsValid())
The list goes on...