structexplorer

README

structexplorer

A Go Struct Explorer Service (http.Handler) that offers remote inspection of any Go struct and its references.

example of exploring a yaegi program

install

go get github.com/emicklei/structexplorer

usage

structexplorer.NewService("some structure", yourStruct).Start()

then a HTTP service will be started

INFO starting go struct explorer at http://localhost:5656

or as root HTTP Handler:

s := structexplorer.NewService("some structure", yourStruct, "other" , otherStruct)
http.ListenAndServe(":5656", s)

or as a HTTP Handler function:

http.HandleFunc("/explore", structexplorer.NewService("game", game).ServeHTTP)

syntax

• if a value is a pointer to a standard type then the display value has a "*" prefix
• if a value is a reflect.Value then the display value has a "~" prefix

buttons

• ⇊ : explore one or more selected values from the list and put them below
• ⇉ : explore one or more selected values from the list and put them on the right
• z : show or hide fields which currently have zero value ("",0,nil,false)
• x : remove the struct from the page

Note: if the list contains just one structural value then selecting it can be skipped for both ⇊ and ⇉.

explore while debugging

Currently, the standard Go debugger delve stops all goroutines while in a debugging session. This means that if you have started the structexplorer service in your program, it will not respond to any HTTP requests during that session.

The explorer can also be asked to dump an HTML page with the current state of values to a file.

s := structexplorer.NewService()
s.Explore("some structure", yourStruct, "some field", yourStruct.Field).Dump()

Another method is to use a special test case which starts an explorer at the end of a test and then run it with a longer acceptable timeout.

examples

See folder examples for simple programs demonstrating each feature.

Documentation

Index

• type Options
• type Service
  • func NewService(labelValuePairs ...any) Service

Types

type Options

type Options struct {
	// Uses 5656 as the default
	HTTPPort int
	// Uses http.DefaultServeMux as default
	ServeMux *http.ServeMux
	// Uses "/" as default
	HTTPBasePath string
}

Options can be used to configure a Service on startup.

type Service

type Service interface {
	http.Handler
	// Start accepts 0 or 1 Options
	Start(opts ...Options)
	// Dump writes an HTML file for displaying the current state of the explorer and its entries.
	Dump()
	// Explore adds a new entry (next available row in column 0) for a value unless it cannot be explored.
	Explore(label string, value any) Service
}

Service is an HTTP Handler to explore one or more values (structures).

func NewService

func NewService(labelValuePairs ...any) Service

NewService creates a new to explore one or more values (structures).