Re: constructor or factory or builder
David Bellot wrote:
Hi,
if I consider the Factory Method design pattern, then I should have the
following objects:
This is not really the factory method design pattern as defined by the
GoF. It's just using factory objects.
Object and ObjectFactory which are usually abstract classes
Then for each subclasses like ConcreteObject1, ConcreteObject2, .... I
must have a ConcreteObjectFactory1, ConcreteObjectFactory1, ...
What is the benefit using a Factory instead of a constructor to
instantiate a ConcreteObject ?
This is not really a C++ language question. You probably want to ask in
comp.object.
But to give you a common example in C++, you can use different
look-and-feels for GUI elements through a factory:
struct AbstractButton
{
virtual ~AbstractButton() {}
//...
};
struct AbstractFactory
{
virtual ~AbstractFactory() {}
virtual std::auto_ptr<AbstractButton> CreateButton() const = 0;
// ...
};
struct SquareButton : AbstractButton { /*...*/ };
struct RoundedButton : AbstractButton { /*...*/ };
struct SquareFactory : AbstractFactory
{
std::auto_ptr<AbstractButton> CreateButton() const
{
return auto_ptr<AbstractButton>( new SquareButton );
}
// ...
};
struct RoundedFactory : AbstractFactory
{
std::auto_ptr<AbstractButton> CreateButton() const
{
return auto_ptr<AbstractButton>( new RoundedButton );
}
// ...
};
struct Dialog
{
Dialog( const AbstractFactory& factory )
{
// ... create and use buttons abstractly, e.g.,
std::auto_ptr<AbstractButton> button = factory.CreateButton();
// ... now use AbstractButton's interface here
// and it will apply to either square or rounded buttons
// depending on which factory was passed to this constructor
}
// ...
};
For a more sophisticated implementation of this sort of thing, see
chapters 8 and 9 of _Modern C++ Design_.
Cheers! --M