Observer

Intent, Motivation, Applicability, Structure, Participants, Collaborations, Consequences, Implementation, Sample Code, Known Uses, Related Patterns

Implementation

Several issues related to the implementation of the dependency mechanism are discussed in this section.

8. Encapsulating complex update semantics. When the dependency relationship between subjects and observers is particularly complex, an object that maintains these relationships might be required. We call such an object a ChangeManager. Its purpose is to minimize the work required to make observers reflect a change in their subject. For example, if an operation involves changes to several interdependent subjects, you might have to ensure that their observers are notified only after all the subjects have been modified to avoid notifying observers more than once.

   ChangeManager has three responsibilities:

   1. It maps a subject to its observers and provides an interface to maintain this mapping. This eliminates the need for subjects to maintain references to their observers and vice versa.
   2. It defines a particular update strategy.
   3. It updates all dependent observers at the request of a subject.

   The following diagram depicts a simple ChangeManager-based implementation of the Observer pattern. There are two specialized ChangeManagers. SimpleChangeManager is naive in that it always updates all observers of each subject. In contrast, DAGChangeManager handles directed-acyclic graphs of dependencies between subjects and their observers. A DAGChangeManager is preferable to a SimpleChangeManager when an observer observes more than one subject. In that case, a change in two or more subjects might cause redundant updates. The DAGChangeManager ensures the observer receives just one update. SimpleChangeManager is fine when multiple updates aren't an issue.

   

   ChangeManager is an instance of the Mediator pattern. In general there is only one ChangeManager, and it is known globally. The Singleton pattern would be useful here.

Implementation of Abstract Factory, Adapter, Bridge, Builder, Chain of Responsibility, Command, Composite, Decorator, Facade, Factory Method, Flyweight, Interpreter, Iterator, Mediator, Memento, Observer, Prototype, Proxy, Singleton, State, Strategy, Template Method, Visitor