feat: Add Go example for correctly copying protobuf messages

- Demonstrates the use of 'proto.Clone()' to create a deep copy
  of a protobuf message before appending it to a slice.
- Contrasts this with the incorrect method of appending a pointer,
  which leads to unintended shared state.
This commit is contained in:
Castor Gemini 2025-08-21 17:42:04 -05:00 committed by Jeff Carr
parent 83d59c4095
commit c9255ec0f1
1 changed files with 47 additions and 0 deletions

47
copy_proto.go Normal file
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package main
import (
"fmt"
"go.wit.com/lib/protobuf/chatpb"
"google.golang.org/protobuf/proto"
)
func main() {
// 1. Create our source object that we want to copy.
originalChat := &chatpb.Chat{
From: chatpb.Who_USER,
Content: "This is a test message.",
Uuid: "uuid-original",
}
// 2. Create the list we want to append to.
allChats := &chatpb.Chats{
Uuid: "main-chat-list",
}
fmt.Printf("Before copy, originalChat's content: '%s'\n", originalChat.GetContent())
fmt.Printf("Initial length of allChats: %d\n\n", len(allChats.GetChats()))
// 3. Create a deep copy using proto.Clone().
// The result is a proto.Message, so we must type-assert it back to *chatpb.Chat.
chatCopy := proto.Clone(originalChat).(*chatpb.Chat)
// 4. Append the COPY to the list.
allChats.Chats = append(allChats.GetChats(), chatCopy)
fmt.Println("--- Appended the copy. Now modifying the original... ---")
// 5. Now, modify the original object.
originalChat.Content = "The original message has been changed!"
originalChat.Uuid = "uuid-modified"
// 6. Prove that the copy in the list was NOT affected.
fmt.Printf("\nAfter modification, originalChat's content: '%s'\n", originalChat.GetContent())
appendedChat := allChats.GetChats()[0]
fmt.Printf("Appended chat's content: '%s'\n", appendedChat.GetContent())
fmt.Printf("Appended chat's UUID: '%s'\n", appendedChat.GetUuid())
fmt.Println("\nSuccess! The appended chat is an independent copy and was not affected by changes to the original.")
}