Golang convert list objects to string - go

Question

I have two structs:
type A struct {
BankCode string `json:"bankCode"`
BankName string `json:"bankName"`
}
And:
type B struct {
A
extra string `json:" extra"`
}
And two slices:
listsA []A and listsB []B
I want to get bankCodes from listA and listB. bankcodes only contains bankcodes. It is a []string
It will be so easy as using two function.
func getBankCodes(data []A) []string {
res := make([]string, len(data))
for i := 0; i < len(data); i++ {
res[i] = data[i].BankCode
}
return res
}
func getBankCodes(data []B) []string {
res := make([]string, len(data))
for i := 0; i < len(data); i++ {
res[i] = data[i].BankCode
}
return res
}
How to use one common function ?

Answer 1

Well the clean solution would be to use an interface, since go doesn't support classic inheritance, so something like []parentclass can't work. Interfaces however can only describe functions not a common field, so you have to implement a Getter (essentially).
// GetBankCoder provides a function that gives the BankCode
type GetBankCoder interface {
getBankCode() string
}
// implement GetBankCoder for A (and indirectly for B)
func (a A) getBankCode() string {
return a.BankCode
}
and make your getBankCodes work on that interface type, notice the parameter of the function as well as the statement inside the loop:
func getBankCodes(data []GetBankCoder) []string { // <-- changed
res := make([]string, len(data))
for i := 0; i < len(data); i++ {
res[i] = data[i].getBankCode() // <-- changed
}
return res
}
There are other solutions where the function parameter is of interface{} type and then reflection is used to assure you can actually do .BankCode, but I don't like those, as they are not adding more clarity either.
... However, I couldn't get the golang playground to make this work correctly without putting it into a []GetBankCoder var first, before giving it to the function.
banks := make([]GetBankCoder, 0)
banks = append(banks, A{ BankCode: "ABC", BankName: "ABC Bank"})
getBankCodes(banks)

Answer 2

You may use one common function like so:
func BankCodes(data interface{}) []string {
if reflect.TypeOf(data).Kind() != reflect.Slice {
panic("err: data is not slice")
}
slice := reflect.Indirect(reflect.ValueOf(data))
res := make([]string, slice.Len())
for i := 0; i < slice.Len(); i++ {
a := slice.Index(i).Interface().(BankCoder)
res[i] = a.Bankcode()
}
return res
}
Code (try on The Go Playground):
package main
import (
"fmt"
"reflect"
)
func main() {
bs := []B{B{A{"BC1", "BN"}, "e"}, B{A{"BC2", "BN"}, "e"}}
strs := BankCodes(bs)
fmt.Println(strs)
as := []A{A{"AC1", "BN"}, A{"AC2", "BN"}}
strs2 := BankCodes(as)
fmt.Println(strs2)
}
func BankCodes(data interface{}) []string {
if reflect.TypeOf(data).Kind() != reflect.Slice {
panic("err: data is not slice")
}
slice := reflect.Indirect(reflect.ValueOf(data))
res := make([]string, slice.Len())
for i := 0; i < slice.Len(); i++ {
a := slice.Index(i).Interface().(BankCoder)
res[i] = a.Bankcode()
}
return res
}
type A struct {
BankCode string `json:"bankCode"`
BankName string `json:"bankName"`
}
type B struct {
A
extra string `json:" extra"`
}
type BankCoder interface {
Bankcode() string
}
func (a A) Bankcode() string {
return a.BankCode
}