Prototype design pattern in Java

A prototype is a template of any object before the actual object is constructed. In java also, it holds the same meaning. Prototype design pattern is used in scenarios where application needs to create a number of instances of a class, which has almost same state or differs very little.

In this design pattern, an instance of actual object (i.e. prototype) is created on starting, and thereafter whenever a new instance is required, this prototype is cloned to have another instance. The main advantage of this pattern is to have minimal instance creation process which is much costly than cloning process.

Table of Contents

Design participants
Problem statement
Implementation

Please ensure that you want to deep clone or shallow clone your prototype because both will have different behavior on runtime. If deep copy is needed, you can use a good technique given here using in memory serialization.

Prototype pattern – Participants

• Prototype : This is the prototype of actual object as discussed above.
• Prototype registry : This is used as registry service to have all prototypes accessible using simple string parameters.
• Client : Client will be responsible for using registry service to access prototype instances.

Problem Statement

Lets understand this pattern using an example. I am creating an entertainment application that will require instances of Movie, Album and Show classes very frequently. I do not want to create their instances everytime as it is costly. So, I will create their prototype instances, and everytime when i will need a new instance, I will just clone the prototype.

Prototype pattern example – Implementation

Lets start by creating class diagram.

Above class diagram explains the necessary classes and their relationship.

Only one interface, “PrototypeCapable” is new addition in solution. The reason to use this interface is broken behavior of Cloneable interface. This interface helps in achieving following goals:

• Ability to clone prototypes without knowing their actual types
• Provides a type reference to be used in registry

Their workflow will look like this:

Lets hit the keyboard and compose these classes.

PrototypeCapable.java

package com.howtodoinjava.prototypeDemo.contract;

public interface PrototypeCapable extends Cloneable
{
	public PrototypeCapable clone() throws CloneNotSupportedException;
}

Movie.java, Album.java and Show.java

package com.howtodoinjava.prototypeDemo.model;

import com.howtodoinjava.prototypeDemo.contract.PrototypeCapable;

public class Movie implements PrototypeCapable
{
	private String name = null;
	public String getName() {
		return name;
	}
	public void setName(String name) {
		this.name = name;
	}
	@Override
	public Movie clone() throws CloneNotSupportedException {
		System.out.println("Cloning Movie object..");
		return (Movie) super.clone();
	}
	@Override
	public String toString() {
		return "Movie";
	}
}

public class Album implements PrototypeCapable
{
	private String name = null;
	public String getName() {
		return name;
	}
	public void setName(String name) {
		this.name = name;
	}
	@Override
	public Album clone() throws CloneNotSupportedException {
		System.out.println("Cloning Album object..");
		return (Album) super.clone();
	}
	@Override
	public String toString() {
		return "Album";
	}
}

public class Show implements PrototypeCapable
{
	private String name = null;
	public String getName() {
		return name;
	}
	public void setName(String name) {
		this.name = name;
	}
	@Override
	public Show clone() throws CloneNotSupportedException {
		System.out.println("Cloning Show object..");
		return (Show) super.clone();
	}
	@Override
	public String toString() {
		return "Show";
	}
}

PrototypeFactory.java

package com.howtodoinjava.prototypeDemo.factory;

import com.howtodoinjava.prototypeDemo.contract.PrototypeCapable;
import com.howtodoinjava.prototypeDemo.model.Album;
import com.howtodoinjava.prototypeDemo.model.Movie;
import com.howtodoinjava.prototypeDemo.model.Show;

public class PrototypeFactory
{
	public static class ModelType
	{
		public static final String MOVIE = "movie";
		public static final String ALBUM = "album";
		public static final String SHOW = "show";
	}
	private static java.util.Map<String , PrototypeCapable> prototypes = new java.util.HashMap<String , PrototypeCapable>();

	static
	{
		prototypes.put(ModelType.MOVIE, new Movie());
		prototypes.put(ModelType.ALBUM, new Album());
		prototypes.put(ModelType.SHOW, new Show());
	}

	public static PrototypeCapable getInstance(final String s) throws CloneNotSupportedException {
		return ((PrototypeCapable) prototypes.get(s)).clone();
	}
}

TestPrototypePattern

package com.howtodoinjava.prototypeDemo.client;

import com.howtodoinjava.prototypeDemo.factory.PrototypeFactory;
import com.howtodoinjava.prototypeDemo.factory.PrototypeFactory.ModelType;

public class TestPrototypePattern
{
	public static void main(String[] args)
	{
		try
		{
			String moviePrototype  = PrototypeFactory.getInstance(ModelType.MOVIE).toString();
			System.out.println(moviePrototype);

			String albumPrototype  = PrototypeFactory.getInstance(ModelType.ALBUM).toString();
			System.out.println(albumPrototype);

			String showPrototype  = PrototypeFactory.getInstance(ModelType.SHOW).toString();
			System.out.println(showPrototype);

		}
		catch (CloneNotSupportedException e)
		{
			e.printStackTrace();
		}
	}
}

When you run the client code, following is the output.

Cloning Movie object..
Movie
Cloning Album object..
Album
Cloning Show object..
Show

I hope, you liked this post on Java prototype pattern example. If any question, drop a comment.

Happy Learning !!