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<!--{
"Title": "Return greetings for multiple people",
"Breadcrumb": true
}-->
<p>
In the last changes you'll make to your module's code, you'll add support for
getting greetings for multiple people in one request. In other words, you'll
handle a multiple-value input, then pair values in that input with a
multiple-value output. To do this, you'll need to pass a set of names to a
function that can return a greeting for each of them.
</p>
<aside class="Note">
<strong>Note:</strong> This topic is part of a multi-part tutorial that begins
with <a href="/doc/tutorial/create-module.html">Create a Go module</a>.
</aside>
<p>
But there's a hitch. Changing the <code>Hello</code> function's
parameter from a single name to a set of names would change the function's
signature. If you had already published the <code>example.com/greetings</code>
module and users had already written code calling <code>Hello</code>, that
change would break their programs.</p>
<p>
In this situation, a better choice is to write a new function with a different
name. The new function will take multiple parameters. That preserves the old
function for backward compatibility.
</p>
<ol>
<li>
In greetings/greetings.go, change your code so it looks like the following.
<pre>
package greetings
import (
"errors"
"fmt"
"math/rand"
)
// Hello returns a greeting for the named person.
func Hello(name string) (string, error) {
// If no name was given, return an error with a message.
if name == "" {
return name, errors.New("empty name")
}
// Create a message using a random format.
message := fmt.Sprintf(randomFormat(), name)
return message, nil
}
<ins>// Hellos returns a map that associates each of the named people
// with a greeting message.
func Hellos(names []string) (map[string]string, error) {
// A map to associate names with messages.
messages := make(map[string]string)
// Loop through the received slice of names, calling
// the Hello function to get a message for each name.
for _, name := range names {
message, err := Hello(name)
if err != nil {
return nil, err
}
// In the map, associate the retrieved message with
// the name.
messages[name] = message
}
return messages, nil
}</ins>
// randomFormat returns one of a set of greeting messages. The returned
// message is selected at random.
func randomFormat() string {
// A slice of message formats.
formats := []string{
"Hi, %v. Welcome!",
"Great to see you, %v!",
"Hail, %v! Well met!",
}
// Return one of the message formats selected at random.
return formats[rand.Intn(len(formats))]
}
</pre>
<p>
In this code, you:
</p>
<ul>
<li>
Add a <code>Hellos</code> function whose parameter is a slice of names
rather than a single name. Also, you change one of its return types from
a <code>string</code> to a <code>map</code> so you can return names
mapped to greeting messages.
</li>
<li>
Have the new <code>Hellos</code> function call the existing
<code>Hello</code> function. This helps reduce duplication while also
leaving both functions in place.
</li>
<li>
Create a <code>messages</code> map to associate each of the
received names (as a key) with a generated message (as a value). In Go,
you initialize a map with the following syntax:
<code>make(map[<em>key-type</em>]<em>value-type</em>)</code>. You have
the <code>Hellos</code> function return this map to the caller. For more
about maps, see <a href="https://blog.golang.org/maps">Go maps in
action</a> on the Go blog.
</li>
<li>
Loop through the names your function received, checking that each has a
non-empty value, then associate a message with each. In this
<code>for</code> loop, <code>range</code> returns two values: the index
of the current item in the loop and a copy of the item's value. You
don't need the index, so you use the Go blank identifier (an underscore)
to ignore it. For more, see
<a href="/doc/effective_go.html#blank">The blank
identifier</a> in Effective Go.
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
In your hello/hello.go calling code, pass a slice of names, then print the
contents of the names/messages map you get back.
<p>
In hello.go, change your code so it looks like the following.
</p>
<pre>
package main
import (
"fmt"
"log"
"example.com/greetings"
)
func main() {
// Set properties of the predefined Logger, including
// the log entry prefix and a flag to disable printing
// the time, source file, and line number.
log.SetPrefix("greetings: ")
log.SetFlags(0)
<ins>// A slice of names.
names := []string{"Gladys", "Samantha", "Darrin"}
// Request greeting messages for the names.
messages, err := greetings.Hellos(names)</ins>
if err != nil {
log.Fatal(err)
}
<ins>// If no error was returned, print the returned map of
// messages to the console.
fmt.Println(messages)</ins>
}
</pre>
<p>
With these changes, you:
</p>
<ul>
<li>
Create a <code>names</code> variable as a slice type holding three
names.
</li>
<li>
Pass the <code>names</code> variable as the argument to the
<code>Hellos</code> function.
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
At the command line, change to the directory that contains hello/hello.go,
then use <code>go run</code> to confirm that the code works.
<p>
The output should be a string representation of the map associating names
with messages, something like the following:
</p>
<pre>
$ go run .
map[Darrin:Hail, Darrin! Well met! Gladys:Hi, Gladys. Welcome! Samantha:Hail, Samantha! Well met!]
</pre
>
</li>
</ol>
<p>
This topic introduced maps for representing name/value pairs. It also
introduced the idea of preserving backward compatibility
by implementing a new function for new or changed functionality in a module.
For more about backward compatibility, see
<a href="https://blog.golang.org/module-compatibility">Keeping your modules
compatible</a>.
</p>
<p>Next, you'll use built-in Go features to create a unit test for your code.</p>
<p class="Navigation">
<a class="Navigation-prev" href="/doc/tutorial/random-greeting.html"
>&lt; Return a random greeting</a
>
<a class="Navigation-next" href="/doc/tutorial/add-a-test.html">Add a test &gt;</a>
</p>