Factory Pattern

Source :- C-SharpCorner

Link:-http://www.csharpcorner.com/UploadFile/questpond/DP109212008014904AM/DP1.aspx

Factory pattern is one of the types of creational patterns. You can make out from the name factory itself it's meant to construct and create something. In software architecture world factory pattern is meant to centralize creation of objects. Below is a code snippet of a client which has different types of invoices. These invoices are created depending on the invoice type specified by the client. There are two issues with the code below :
First we have lots of 'new' keyword scattered in the client. In other ways the client is loaded with lot of object creational activities which can make the client logic very complicated.
Second issue is that the client needs to be aware of all types of invoices. So if we are adding one more invoice class type called as 'InvoiceWithFooter' we need to reference the new class in the client and recompile the client also.

Figure 1. Different types of invoice
Taking these issues as our base we will now look in to how factory pattern can help us solve the same. Below figure 'Factory Pattern' shows two concrete classes 'ClsInvoiceWithHeader' and 'ClsInvoiceWithOutHeader'.
The first issue was that these classes are in direct contact with client which leads to lot of 'new' keyword scattered in the client code. This is removed by introducing a new class 'ClsFactoryInvoice' which does all the creation of objects.
The second issue was that the client code is aware of both the concrete classes i.e. 'ClsInvoiceWithHeader' and 'ClsInvoiceWithOutHeader'. This leads to recompiling of the client code when we add new invoice types. For instance if we add 'ClsInvoiceWithFooter' client code needs to be changed and recompiled accordingly. To remove this issue we have introduced a common interface 'IInvoice'. Both the concrete classes 'ClsInvoiceWithHeader' and 'ClsInvoiceWithOutHeader' inherit and implement the 'IInvoice' interface.
The client references only the 'IInvoice' interface which results in zero connection between client and the concrete classes ( 'ClsInvoiceWithHeader' and 'ClsInvoiceWithOutHeader'). So now if we add new concrete invoice class we do not need to change any thing at the client side.
In one line the creation of objects is taken care by 'ClsFactoryInvoice' and the client disconnection from the concrete classes is taken care by 'IInvoice' interface.

Figure 2. Factory pattern
Below are the code snippets of how actually factory pattern can be implemented in C#. In order to avoid recompiling the client we have introduced the invoice interface 'IInvoice'. Both the concrete classes 'ClsInvoiceWithOutHeaders' and 'ClsInvoiceWithHeader' inherit and implement the 'IInvoice' interface.

Figure 3. Interface and concrete classes
We have also introduced an extra class 'ClsFactoryInvoice' with a function 'getInvoice()' which will generate objects of both the invoices depending on 'intInvoiceType' value. In short we have centralized the logic of object creation in the 'ClsFactoryInvoice'. The client calls the 'getInvoice' function to generate the invoice classes. One of the most important points to be noted is that client only refers to 'IInvoice' type and the factory class 'ClsFactoryInvoice' also gives the same type of reference. This helps the client to be complete detached from the concrete classes, so now when we add new classes and invoice types we do not need to recompile the client.

Figure 4. Factory class which generates objects
Note : The above example is given in C# . Even if you are from some other technology you can still map the concept accordingly. You can get source code from the CD in 'FactoryPattern' folder.