Go- Copy all common fields between structs

Question

I have a database that stores JSON, and a server that provides an external API to whereby through an HTTP post, values in this database can be changed. The database is used by different processes internally, and as such have a common naming scheme.

The keys the customer sees are different, but map 1:1 with the keys in the database (there are unexposed keys). For example:

This is in the database:

{ "bit_size": 8, "secret_key": false }

And this is presented to the client:

{ "num_bits": 8 }

The API can change with respect to field names, but the database always has consistent keys.

I have named the fields the same in the struct, with different flags to the json encoder:

type DB struct {
    NumBits int  `json:"bit_size"`
    Secret  bool `json:"secret_key"`
}
type User struct {
    NumBits int `json:"num_bits"`
}

I'm using encoding/json to do the Marshal/Unmarshal.

Is reflect the right tool for this? Is there an easier way since all of the keys are the same? I was thinking some kind of memcpy (if I kept the user fields in the same order).

Answer 1

Using struct tags, the following would sure be nice,

package main

import (
    "fmt"
    "log"

    "hacked/json"
)

var dbj = `{ "bit_size": 8, "secret_key": false }`

type User struct {
    NumBits int `json:"bit_size" api:"num_bits"`
}

func main() {
    fmt.Println(dbj)
    // unmarshal from full db record to User struct
    var u User
    if err := json.Unmarshal([]byte(dbj), &u); err != nil {
        log.Fatal(err)
    }
    // remarshal User struct using api field names 
    api, err := json.MarshalTag(u, "api")
    if err != nil {
        log.Fatal(err)
    }
    fmt.Println(string(api))
}

Adding MarshalTag requires just a small patch to encode.go:

106c106,112
<       e := &encodeState{}
---
>       return MarshalTag(v, "json")
> }
> 
> // MarshalTag is like Marshal but marshalls fields with
> // the specified tag key instead of the default "json".
> func MarshalTag(v interface{}, tag string) ([]byte, error) {
>       e := &encodeState{tagKey: tag}
201a208
>       tagKey       string
328c335
<               for _, ef := range encodeFields(v.Type()) {
---
>               for _, ef := range encodeFields(v.Type(), e.tagKey) {
509c516
< func encodeFields(t reflect.Type) []encodeField {
---
> func encodeFields(t reflect.Type, tagKey string) []encodeField {
540c547
<               tv := f.Tag.Get("json")
---
>               tv := f.Tag.Get(tagKey)