Memento in Ruby

Memento is a behavioral design pattern that allows making snapshots of an object’s state and restoring it in future.

The Memento doesn’t compromise the internal structure of the object it works with, as well as data kept inside the snapshots.

Learn more about Memento

Complexity:

Popularity:

Usage examples: The Memento’s principle can be achieved using serialization, which is quite common in Ruby. While it’s not the only and the most efficient way to make snapshots of an object’s state, it still allows storing state backups while protecting the originator’s structure from other objects.

Conceptual Example

This example illustrates the structure of the Memento design pattern. It focuses on answering these questions:

What classes does it consist of?
What roles do these classes play?
In what way the elements of the pattern are related?

main.rb: Conceptual example

# The Originator holds some important state that may change over time. It also
# defines a method for saving the state inside a memento and another method for
# restoring the state from it.
class Originator
  # For the sake of simplicity, the originator's state is stored inside a single
  # variable.
  attr_accessor :state
  private :state

  # @param [String] state
  def initialize(state)
    @state = state
    puts "Originator: My initial state is: #{@state}"
  end

  # The Originator's business logic may affect its internal state. Therefore,
  # the client should backup the state before launching methods of the business
  # logic via the save() method.
  def do_something
    puts 'Originator: I\'m doing something important.'
    @state = generate_random_string(30)
    puts "Originator: and my state has changed to: #{@state}"
  end

  private def generate_random_string(length = 10)
    ascii_letters = [*'a'..'z', *'A'..'Z']
    (0...length).map { ascii_letters.sample }.join
  end

  # Saves the current state inside a memento.
  def save
    ConcreteMemento.new(@state)
  end

  # Restores the Originator's state from a memento object.
  def restore(memento)
    @state = memento.state
    puts "Originator: My state has changed to: #{@state}"
  end
end

# The Memento interface provides a way to retrieve the memento's metadata, such
# as creation date or name. However, it doesn't expose the Originator's state.
class Memento
  # @abstract
  #
  # @return [String]
  def name
    raise NotImplementedError, "#{self.class} has not implemented method '#{__method__}'"
  end

  # @abstract
  #
  # @return [String]
  def date
    raise NotImplementedError, "#{self.class} has not implemented method '#{__method__}'"
  end
end

class ConcreteMemento < Memento
  # @param [String] state
  def initialize(state)
    @state = state
    @date = Time.now.strftime('%F %T')
  end

  # The Originator uses this method when restoring its state.
  attr_reader :state

  # The rest of the methods are used by the Caretaker to display metadata.
  def name
    "#{@date} / (#{@state[0, 9]}...)"
  end

  # @return [String]
  attr_reader :date
end

# The Caretaker doesn't depend on the Concrete Memento class. Therefore, it
# doesn't have access to the originator's state, stored inside the memento. It
# works with all mementos via the base Memento interface.
class Caretaker
  # @param [Originator] originator
  def initialize(originator)
    @mementos = []
    @originator = originator
  end

  def backup
    puts "\nCaretaker: Saving Originator's state..."
    @mementos << @originator.save
  end

  def undo
    return if @mementos.empty?

    memento = @mementos.pop
    puts "Caretaker: Restoring state to: #{memento.name}"

    begin
      @originator.restore(memento)
    rescue StandardError
      undo
    end
  end

  def show_history
    puts 'Caretaker: Here\'s the list of mementos:'

    @mementos.each { |memento| puts memento.name }
  end
end

originator = Originator.new('Super-duper-super-puper-super.')
caretaker = Caretaker.new(originator)

caretaker.backup
originator.do_something

caretaker.backup
originator.do_something

caretaker.backup
originator.do_something

puts "\n"
caretaker.show_history

puts "\nClient: Now, let's rollback!\n"
caretaker.undo

puts "\nClient: Once more!\n"
caretaker.undo

output.txt: Execution result

Originator: My initial state is: Super-duper-super-puper-super.

Caretaker: Saving Originator's state...
Originator: I'm doing something important.
Originator: and my state has changed to: CHYzYSIWbqvWkCzIHOqTyEJWfQlFMn

Caretaker: Saving Originator's state...
Originator: I'm doing something important.
Originator: and my state has changed to: vbkhwCeAEQBpLwQLlhmpcvUnwzxVnT

Caretaker: Saving Originator's state...
Originator: I'm doing something important.
Originator: and my state has changed to: SBWlQnAEPLsitiOQAZbGlXHZAeWBoW

Caretaker: Here's the list of mementos:
2023-08-11 15:02:35 / (Super-dup...)
2023-08-11 15:02:35 / (CHYzYSIWb...)
2023-08-11 15:02:35 / (vbkhwCeAE...)

Client: Now, let's rollback!
Caretaker: Restoring state to: 2023-08-11 15:02:35 / (vbkhwCeAE...)
Originator: My state has changed to: vbkhwCeAEQBpLwQLlhmpcvUnwzxVnT

Client: Once more!
Caretaker: Restoring state to: 2023-08-11 15:02:35 / (CHYzYSIWb...)
Originator: My state has changed to: CHYzYSIWbqvWkCzIHOqTyEJWfQlFMn

Memento in Ruby

Conceptual Example

main.rb: Conceptual example

output.txt: Execution result

Memento in Other Languages