Building things from names using reflect and Golang

reflectAllTheThings.go

package main

import (
	"log"
	"reflect"
)

var objectMap = make(map[string]reflect.Type)

type MyString struct {
}

type Foo string

func init() {
	// Lazy hack but you walk the AST and build this ... if you wanted to
	myVec := []interface{}{
		MyString{},
		Foo(""),
		0,
		0.0,
	}
	for i := range myVec {
		objectMap[reflect.TypeOf(myVec[i]).String()] = reflect.TypeOf(myVec[i])
		log.Println("Added", objectMap[reflect.TypeOf(myVec[i]).String()])
	}
}

func CreateFromName(name string) (interface{}, bool) {
	if val, ok := objectMap[name]; ok {
		return reflect.New(val).Elem().Interface(), true
	}
	return nil, false
}

func main() {
	ms, ok := CreateFromName("main.Foo")
	if !ok {
		log.Println("Not OK :(")
	}
	log.Println(reflect.TypeOf(ms), ms)
	ms = Foo("Yay")
	log.Println(reflect.TypeOf(ms), ms)
	
	// Try a builtin
	builtin, ok := CreateFromName("int")
	if !ok {
		log.Println("Not OK :(")
	}
	log.Println(reflect.TypeOf(builtin), builtin)
	builtin = 10
	log.Println(reflect.TypeOf(builtin), builtin)
}