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Observer in Ruby
Observer is a behavioral design pattern that allows some objects to notify other objects about changes in their state.
The Observer pattern provides a way to subscribe and unsubscribe to and from these events for any object that implements a subscriber interface.
Complexity:
Popularity:
Usage examples: The Observer pattern is pretty common in Ruby code, especially in the GUI components. It provides a way to react to events happening in other objects without coupling to their classes.
Identification: The pattern can be recognized by subscription methods, that store objects in a list and by calls to the update method issued to objects in that list.
Conceptual Example
This example illustrates the structure of the Observer 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 Subject interface declares a set of methods for managing subscribers.
class Subject
# Attach an observer to the subject.
def attach(observer)
raise NotImplementedError, "#{self.class} has not implemented method '#{__method__}'"
end
# Detach an observer from the subject.
def detach(observer)
raise NotImplementedError, "#{self.class} has not implemented method '#{__method__}'"
end
# Notify all observers about an event.
def notify
raise NotImplementedError, "#{self.class} has not implemented method '#{__method__}'"
end
end
# The Subject owns some important state and notifies observers when the state
# changes.
class ConcreteSubject < Subject
# For the sake of simplicity, the Subject's state, essential to all
# subscribers, is stored in this variable.
attr_accessor :state
# @!attribute observers
# @return [Array<Observer>] attr_accessor :observers private :observers
def initialize
@observers = []
end
# List of subscribers. In real life, the list of subscribers can be stored
# more comprehensively (categorized by event type, etc.).
# @param [Obserser] observer
def attach(observer)
puts 'Subject: Attached an observer.'
@observers << observer
end
# @param [Obserser] observer
def detach(observer)
@observers.delete(observer)
end
# The subscription management methods.
# Trigger an update in each subscriber.
def notify
puts 'Subject: Notifying observers...'
@observers.each { |observer| observer.update(self) }
end
# Usually, the subscription logic is only a fraction of what a Subject can
# really do. Subjects commonly hold some important business logic, that
# triggers a notification method whenever something important is about to
# happen (or after it).
def some_business_logic
puts "\nSubject: I'm doing something important."
@state = rand(0..10)
puts "Subject: My state has just changed to: #{@state}"
notify
end
end
# The Observer interface declares the update method, used by subjects.
class Observer
# Receive update from subject.
def update(_subject)
raise NotImplementedError, "#{self.class} has not implemented method '#{__method__}'"
end
end
# Concrete Observers react to the updates issued by the Subject they had been
# attached to.
class ConcreteObserverA < Observer
# @param [Subject] subject
def update(subject)
puts 'ConcreteObserverA: Reacted to the event' if subject.state < 3
end
end
class ConcreteObserverB < Observer
# @param [Subject] subject
def update(subject)
return unless subject.state.zero? || subject.state >= 2
puts 'ConcreteObserverB: Reacted to the event'
end
end
# The client code.
subject = ConcreteSubject.new
observer_a = ConcreteObserverA.new
subject.attach(observer_a)
observer_b = ConcreteObserverB.new
subject.attach(observer_b)
subject.some_business_logic
subject.some_business_logic
subject.detach(observer_a)
subject.some_business_logic
output.txt: Execution result
Subject: Attached an observer.
Subject: Attached an observer.
Subject: I'm doing something important.
Subject: My state has just changed to: 1
Subject: Notifying observers...
ConcreteObserverA: Reacted to the event
Subject: I'm doing something important.
Subject: My state has just changed to: 10
Subject: Notifying observers...
ConcreteObserverB: Reacted to the event
Subject: I'm doing something important.
Subject: My state has just changed to: 2
Subject: Notifying observers...
ConcreteObserverB: Reacted to the event
