Understanding and Implementing Abstract Factory Pattern in C++

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Introduction

This article aims at understanding and implementing Abstract Factory Pattern in C++.

Background

Abstract factory pattern in useful when the client needs to create objects which are somehow related. If we need to create the family of related or dependent objects, then we can use Abstract Factory Pattern. There are times when the client code does not know the exact type of object (out of many) it need to create and this pattern solves the problem by providing the client with a uniform interface to create multiple type of objects that are related by common theme.

This pattern is particularly useful when the client doesn't know exactly what type to create. As an example, let's say a Showroom exclusively selling cellphones gets a query for the smart phones made by Samsung. Here we don't know the exact type of object to be created (assuming all the information for a phone is wrapped in the form of a concrete object). But we do know that we are looking for smart phones that are manufactured by Samsung. This information can actually be utilized if our design has Abstract factory implementation.

So with this idea of Abstract Factory pattern, we will now try to create a design that will facilitate the creation of related objects. We will go ahead and write a rudimentary application for the scenario we just talked about.

Using the Code

Let us start with the GOFs representation of Abstract Factory Pattern:

Let's see what each class does here:

• AbstractFactory: declares an interface for operations that create abstract products
• ConcreteFactory: implements the operations to create concrete product objects
• AbstractProduct: declares an interface for a type of product object
• Product: defines a product object to be created by the corresponding concrete factory implements the AbstractProduct interface
• Client: uses interfaces declared by AbstractFactory and AbstractProduct classes

Now let us focus on the problem at hand. We need to create the appropriate object containing the information about cell phone based on the user request of:

1. Type of phone
2. Phone manufacturer

For the sake of simplicity, let's assume we have 3 manufacturers:

1. Nokia
2. Samsung
3. HTC

and there could be two types of phones:

1. Smart Phones
2. Dumb Phones

So with this information, we can safely say that we need three concrete factories (one for each manufacturer) and two sets of related products (one for smart and one for dumb).

Creating the Abstract Products

In our case, we need two abstract products ISmart and IDumb.

//ISmart interface
class ISmart
{
public:
    virtual std::string Name() = 0;
};

//IDumb interface
class IDumb
{
public:
    virtual std::string Name() = 0;
};

Creating the Concrete Products

Now let us go ahead and create some concrete products for IDumb:

class Asha : public IDumb
{
public:
    std::string Name()
    {
        return "Asha";
    }
};

class Primo : public IDumb
{
public:
    std::string Name()
    {
        return "Guru";
    }
};

class Genie : public IDumb
{
public:
    std::string Name()
    {
        return "Genie";
    }
};

Let's do the same for ISmart:

class GalaxyS2 : public ISmart
{
public:
    std::string Name()
    {
        return "GalaxyS2";
    }
};

class Titan : public ISmart
{
public:
    std::string Name()
    {
        return "Titan";
    }
};

class Lumia : public ISmart
{
public:
    std::string Name()
    {
        return "Lumia";
    }
};

So we have all the concrete classes ready for all the dumb phones and smart phones irrespective of their manufacturers.

Creating the Abstract Factory

Now the way we associate these Concrete products with their manufacturers is using the Concrete factories. But before having the concrete factories, we need to have an Abstract Factory.

//Header File
class APhoneFactory
{    
public:
    enum PHONE_FACTORIES
    {
        SAMSUNG,
        HTC,
        NOKIA
    };

    virtual ISmart* GetSmart() = 0;
    virtual IDumb* GetDumb() = 0;

    static APhoneFactory* CreateFactory(PHONE_FACTORIES factory);    
};

//CPP File
APhoneFactory* APhoneFactory::CreateFactory(PHONE_FACTORIES factory)
{
    if(factory == PHONE_FACTORIES::SAMSUNG)
    {
        return new SamsungFactory();
    }
    else if(factory == PHONE_FACTORIES::HTC)
    {
        return new HTCFactory();
    }
    else if(factory == PHONE_FACTORIES::NOKIA)
    {
        return new NokiaFactory();
    }
}

Creating the Concrete Factories

Now we can create our Concrete Factories for each manufacturer:

class SamsungFactory : public APhoneFactory
{
public:
    ISmart* GetSmart()
    {
        return new GalaxyS2();
    }

    IDumb* GetDumb()
    {
        return new Primo();
    }
};

class HTCFactory : public APhoneFactory
{
public:
    ISmart* GetSmart()
    {
        return new Titan();
    }

    IDumb* GetDumb()
    {
        return new Genie();
    }
};

class NokiaFactory : public APhoneFactory
{
public: 
    ISmart* GetSmart()
    {
        return new Lumia();
    }

    IDumb* GetDumb()
    {
        return new Asha();
    }
};

Creating the Client

Now we have all the Abstract product classes ready, all the Concrete Product classes ready. Our Abstract Factory is ready and all the Concrete Factories are ready. Now we can write client that will use this hierarchy of related products to create the products.

int main(int argc, char* argv[])
{
    APhoneFactory *factory = APhoneFactory::CreateFactory
                (APhoneFactory::PHONE_FACTORIES::SAMSUNG);

    cout << "Dumb phone from Samsung: " << factory->GetDumb()->Name() << "\n";
    delete factory->GetDumb(); //USe of smart pointer will get rid of these delete
    cout << "Smart phone from Samsung: " << factory->GetSmart()->Name() << "\n";
    delete factory->GetSmart(); //USe of smart pointer will get rid of these delete
    delete factory;
    getchar();

    factory = APhoneFactory::CreateFactory(APhoneFactory::PHONE_FACTORIES::HTC);
    cout << "Dumb phone from HTC: " << factory->GetDumb()->Name() << "\n";
    delete factory->GetDumb(); //USe of smart pointer will get rid of these delete
    cout << "Smart phone from HTC: " << factory->GetSmart()->Name() << "\n";
    delete factory->GetSmart(); //USe of smart pointer will get rid of these delete
    delete factory;
    getchar();
    
    factory = APhoneFactory::CreateFactory(APhoneFactory::PHONE_FACTORIES::NOKIA);
    cout << "Dumb phone from Nokia: " << factory->GetDumb()->Name() << "\n";
    delete factory->GetDumb(); //USe of smart pointer will get rid of these delete
    cout << "Smart phone from Nokia: " << factory->GetSmart()->Name() << "\n";    
    delete factory->GetSmart(); //USe of smart pointer will get rid of these delete
    getchar();

    return 0;
}

Now we can say we have a basic skeleton for the Abstract factory pattern ready. The concrete products here are not telling anything but names of products but they can contain more information too. Before we end the show, we can have a class diagram for the classes we created so that we can use this to map it with the GOFs diagram.

Note: Please refer to the source code for implementation. Stepping through the code will really help in understanding this concept better.

Points of Interest

Abstract factory pattern in very useful in GUI based applications where we need to create related GUI components. My example here is solely for the purpose of understanding and there is no way the "Cell-phone-information-system" can be designed this way (otherwise we will end up adding new classes every week). Please do let me know if I missed something. There is an exact same implementation for the Factory pattern in C# available too.

History

• 16 Feb, 2012: Rudimentary implementation of Abstract Factory Pattern in C++