The facade pattern is a wrapper of many other interfaces in a result to produce a simpler interface. Facade hides the complexities of the system and provides an interface to the client from where the client can access the system easily.
A facade is an object that provides a simplified interface to a larger body of code, such as a class library.
Example: This is an abstract example of how a client ("you") interacts with a facade (the "computer") to a complex system (internal computer parts, like CPU and HardDrive).
/* Complex parts */
class CPU {
public void freeze() {
...
}
public void jump(long position) {
...
}
public void execute() {
...
}
}
class Memory {
public void load(long position, byte[] data) {
...
}
}
class HardDrive {
public byte[] read(long lba, int size) {
...
}
}
/* Facade */
class ComputerFacade {
private CPU processor;
private Memory ram;
private HardDrive hd;
public ComputerFacade() {
this.processor= new CPU();
this.ram = new Memory();
this.hd = new HardDrive();
}
public void start() {
processor.freeze();
ram.load(BOOT_ADDRESS, hd.read(BOOT_SECTOR, SECTOR_SIZE));
processor.jump(BOOT_ADDRESS);
processor.execute();
}
}
/* Client */
class Facade {
public static void main(String[] args) {
ComputerFacade computer = newComputerFacade();
computer.start();
}
}
Points to remember about façade design pattern:
1. Wrap a poorly designed collection of APIs with a single well-designed API.
2. Reduce dependencies of outside code on the inner workings of a library, since most code uses the facade, thus allowing more flexibility in developing the system;
3. Facade design pattern is more like a helper for client applications; it doesn’t hide subsystem interfaces from the client. Whether to use Facade or not is completely dependent on client code.
4. Facade design pattern can be applied at any point of development, usually when the number of interfaces grows and system gets complex.
5. Subsystem interfaces are not aware of Facade and they shouldn’t have any reference of the Facade interface.
We can use Factory pattern with Facade to provide better interface to client systems.
