Factory Overview

The Factory design pattern is useful when a class cannot anticipate the class of objects it must create or when a class wants its subclasses to specify the objects it creates. It is also useful when you want to delegate responsibility to one of several helper subclasses and localize the knowledge of which helper subclass is the delegate. Its intent is to define an interface for creating an object, but let the subclasses decide which class to instantiate. The Factory Method allows a class to defer instantiation to the subclasses. (Reference www.dofactory.com) Factory Design Pattern allows applications to provide encapsulation by hiding the complex components and their dependencies from the client. It writes an object creation code in a centralized location, called the Factory class, which helps to reduce the code redundancy in the application. The client code instantiates the Factory class and passes some parameter values to the Factory class. The Factory class instantiates the required object, based on the received Parameter values, and returns it to the client. This way, Encapsulation is preserved and also helps to build reusable components. In the case of the following simple .NET example, we can consider a System.Convert class. This class contains a set of conversion functions, few of them are demonstrated below.
Listing 1
int intValue = Convert.ToUInt16(true);

In this Listing, we have passed the true Boolean value to the Convert.ToUInt16 method. This method internally checks parameter data type. It then converts this Boolean value into the integer value 1 and returns it. Similarly, in the below code, Convert.ToUInt16 method accepts the false Boolean value and returns integer value 0.
Listing 2
int intValue = Convert.ToUInt16(false);

We can even consider a Convert.ToBoolean function which behaves similarly. Classic examples of .NET are enumerators, such as CommandType.StoredProcedure, CommandType.TableDirect and CommandType.Text.
Listing 3
SqlCommand cmdobj = newSqlCommand(StoredProcedureName, ConnectionString); cmdobj.CommandType =CommandType.StoredProcedure; SqlCommand cmdobj = new SqlCommand(TableName,ConnectionString); cmdobj.CommandType = CommandType.TableDirect; SqlCommand cmdobj = new SqlCommand(SelectText,ConnectionString); cmdobj.CommandType = CommandType.Text;

In the above listing, notice that based on the CommandType set to the SqlCommand object, it executes one of the following- Stored Procedure, Table or Select Query. This demonstrates that inside a SqlCommand object, logic exists which based on the Enumerator value of CommandType, executes Stored Procedure, Table or Select Query.

A non-software example that demonstrates this pattern would be a restaurant. Restaurants serve a variety of items which they list in the menu. The restaurant's waiter provides a menu to the customer and, based on the items available in the Menu, the customer selects the items and orders them. These selected items are prepared and served to the customer by the waiter. If you map this non-software example against the factory design pattern, we can say: Items, as the subclasses, are served to the customer by a waiter and its preparation is hidden from the customer. The waiter, as the Factory class, takes the customer's order based on the items available in the menu and serves them. The customer, as the Client code, orders the items and does not see how the items are prepared. The following sample application depicts one of the ways to implement the Factory design pattern in C#.
Requirements

Microsoft Visual C# 2005 Express Edition

Define the Interface

Add the new Windows Application project (with the name as FactoryDesignPattern). Then add an interface class as IBase and paste the following code in it. This interface is defined for creating objects.
Listing 4
interface IBase { string Perform(); }

Implement the Interface Listing 5

class Algorithm1: IBase { public string Perform() { return "Algorithm1 Performed"; } } class Algorithm2: IBase { public string Perform() { return "Algorithm2 Performed"; } } class Algorithm3: IBase { public string Perform() { return "Algorithm3 Performed"; } }

In Listing 5, the three classes Algorithm1, Algorithm2 and Algorithm3 are defined which implements the IBase interface (refer to Listing 4).
Define the Factory Class

First, define the Factory class. This class is responsible for instantiating the required object and returning it to the client. Once the object is returned, the client code will call the object methods without knowing how these objects methods are implemented. This provides the encapsulation mechanism.
Listing 6
class Factory { public IBase GetObject(int AlgorithmType) { IBase objbase = null; switch (AlgorithmType) { case 1: objbase = new Algorithm1(); break; case 2: objbase = new Algorithm2(); break; case 3: objbase = new Algorithm3(); break; default: throw new Exception("Unknown Object"); } return objbase; } }

In the above listing, the factory class has one method, GetObject, which accepts one parameter. Based on the parameter value, one of the three IBase implementations will be returned. The client class is responsible for choosing which Algorithm it would like to use. If we wished to extend the factory to dynamically introduce new Algorithms, simply add another case statement in the above code with the new Algorithm object.
Create the Client Application

Add the form to the Windows Applications project and then add the button btnClient. To this button, add the below code.
Listing 7
private void btnClient_Click(object sender,EventArgs e) { try { Factory objfactory = new Factory(); IBase objBase = objfactory.GetObject(2); MessageBox.Show(objBase.Perform()); objBase = objfactory.GetObject(3); MessageBox.Show(objBase.Perform());

} catch (Exception objex) { MessageBox.Show(objex.Message); }

In Listing 7, first the Factory object is created which decides the object it should return. Then a parameter value of "2" is passed to the Getobject method of the Factory object which returns the Algorithm2 object. This object then executes the Perform method of the Algorithm2 class. Next, another parameter value of "3" is passed to the Getobject method of the Factory object, this time the Perform method of the Algorithm3 class is executed. Now run the application and click the button Client on the form, after which the following messages will be displayed.
Figure 1

This Windows application illustrates how a client would use the factory class to create an instance of the desired Algorithm class. This is a simple demonstration of the Factory design pattern.
Conclusion

In this article, we have seen how to hide the complex object implementation from the client by encapsulating it in the factory class. This also provides reusable components. Factory patterns are used extensively in building frameworks and they are implemented by the users of the Framework. If you try to explore .NET Framework, you will find many instances of the Factory pattern implementations in it.
Summary

Factory pattern provides flexibility and reusability by using a specialized object which creates other objects in a significant manner. This results in designing a flexible system which can withstand the changing requirements.