The Abstract Factory Pattern
The Abstract Factory Pattern is a creative design pattern that allows an interface for building families of related or dependent objects without clarifying their concrete classes, in easier terms the Abstract Factory Pattern is a way of arranging how you create groups of things related to each other.
What is the Abstract Factory Pattern?
The Abstract Factory Pattern is a way of arranging how you create groups of things that are interlinked to each other. It allows a set of rules or instructions that let one design different types of things without making exactly what those things originally were. This helps one keep things arranged and lets one swap between various types easily, allowing the same rules. Abstract Factory patterns are very much the same as Factory Patterns and are called another layer of abstraction on the factory pattern. Abstract Factory patterns work as a super-factory which helps and allows the creation of other factories. Abstract factory pattern execution provides us with a framework that allows us to create objects that go through a general pattern. The abstract factory is integrated with any wishful concrete factory which helps create objects of the wishful type.
What are the Components of Abstract Factory Pattern
1. Abstract Factory
Abstract Factory serves as a high-level blueprint that clarifies rules for building families of related objects without making their classes concrete. It explains a series of methods, each method is responsible for building a particular type of object and making sure that concrete factories solve a common interface, allowing a consistent way to build related sets of objects.
2. Concrete Factories
Concrete Factories execute the rules clarified by the abstract factory. It holds the logic for making specific instances of objects inside a family. Multiple concrete factories can exist, each tailored to build a distinct family of interlinked objects.
3. Abstract Products
Abstract Products show a family of interlinked objects by explaining a set of common methods or properties. It works as an abstract or interface type that every concrete product inside a family must see to and makes an unsolved way for concrete products to be worn interchangeably.
4. Concrete Products
They are the real instances of objects made by concrete factories. They execute the methods explained in the abstract products, making sure the consistency inside a family belongs to a single category or family of interlinked objects.
5. Client
Clients use the abstract factory to build families of objects without clarification of their concrete types which helps them interact with objects through abstract interfaces made by abstract products. Clients enjoy the flexibility of flawless swapping between families of objects by interchanging the concrete factory instance.
What are the challenges while implementing this system?
- Designing cars with single features and configurations for different regions can be a bit challenging.
- The other challenge is to ensure consistency in the production of cars and their identification inside each region.
- Lastly, Adapting the system to exchange the regulations or allow new features for a single region is a bit challenging along with Modifications that would require to be made in various places, increasing the number of bugs and developing the system more prone to errors.
How does the Abstract Factory Pattern help to solve the above challenges?
- The abstract factory makes sure that each region has its concrete factory, allowing for making cars and identification consistent with the local market needs. This allows liquidity in the designs and features of the product produced for every region.
- Each concrete factory condenses the logic for making cars and identification single to a region. This isolation allows one to make changes or allow new features for a specific region without changing the rest of the system.
- Adding support for a new region helps in creating a brand-new concrete factory for that particular region. This enlargement can be made without modifying recent code, allowing a measurable and modular solution.
- The pattern allows a clear difference between the creation of products (cars and identification) and their original use.
Advantages of using Abstract Factory Pattern
- This pattern is particularly useful when the client does not know where exactly to use and what type of pattern to create.
- Isolation of concrete classes: The Abstract Factory pattern allows you to control the classes of objects that an app creates. Because a factory condenses the responsibility and the procedure of creating product objects, it separates clients from execution classes.
- Clients influence the instances by their abstract interfaces. Product class names are separated in the execution of the concrete factory; they do not lie in client code.
Exchanging Product Families easily: The class of a concrete factory shows only a single in an application, that is where it’s incorporated. This construct it easy to exchange the concrete factory an app uses. It can use various product configurations by exchanging the concrete factory. Therefore, an abstract factory develops a complete family of products, the whole product family at one time.
Promoting consistency among products: Product objects in a family are made to work together, an app must use objects from a single family at a time. Abstract Factory ensures this is easy to prosecute.
Disadvantages of using Abstract Factory Pattern
- Complexity: Abstract Factory can add additional difficulties to the codebase. Multiple factories and abstract product interfaces can be overkill for simple projects.
Rigidity with New Product Types: Enforcing new product types (classes) into the system can be difficult. One might need to classify concrete factories as well as the abstract factory interface, interchanging existing code. - Increased Number of Classes: Allowing more abstract factories and product families, the total no.of classes in your system can increase continuously. This makes the code difficult to understand, particularly for decreased projects.
- Limited Extensibility: Enlarging the abstract factory ladder or allowing new product families must need modifications to multiple various parts of the code, potentially causing overflow changes and making the system less expansible.