State Pattern

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One approach we could take is to leverage Interface-Oriented Design. To do this, we coud could introduce the following interface:

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Then our Client, Online and Offline classes could be modified to implement that interface, e.g.:

Panel
class Client implements State { // ... as before ... }

Panel
class Online implements State { // ... as before ... }

You might ask: Haven't we just introduced additional boilerplate code? Can't we rely on duck-typing for this? The answer is 'yes' and 'no'. We can get away with duck-typing but one of the key intentions of the state pattern is to partition complexity. If we know that the client class and each state class all satisfy one interface, then we have placed some key boundaries around the complexity. We can look at any state class in isolation and know the bounds of behaviour possible for that state.

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Code Block

abstract class InstanceProvider {
    static def registry = GroovySystem.metaClassRegistry
    static def create(objectClass, param) {
        registry.getMetaClass(objectClass).invokeConstructor([param] as Object[])
    }
}

abstract class Context {
    private context
    protected setContext(context) {
        this.context = context
    }
    def invokeMethod(String name, Object arg) {
        context.invokeMethod(name, arg)
    }
    def startFrom(initialState) {
        setContext(InstanceProvider.create(initialState, this))
    }
}

abstract class State {
    private client

    State(client) { this.client = client }

        def transitionTo(nextState) {
        client.setContext(InstanceProvider.create(nextState, client))
    }
}

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Code Block

class Grammar {
    def fsm

    def event
    def fromState
    def toState

    Grammar(a_fsm) {
        fsm = a_fsm
    }

    def on(a_event) {
        event = a_event
        this
    }

    def on(a_event, a_transitioner) {
        on(a_event)
                a_transitioner.delegate = this
        a_transitioner.call()
        this
    }

    def from(a_fromState) {
        fromState = a_fromState
        this
    }

    def to(a_toState) {
        assert a_toState, "Invalid toState: $a_toState"
        toState = a_toState
        fsm.registerTransition(this)
        this
    }

        def isValid() {
        event && fromState && toState
    }

        public String toString() {
        "$event: $fromState=>$toState"
    }
}

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Code Block

class FiniteStateMachine {
    def transitions = [:]

        def initialState
    def currentState

        FiniteStateMachine(a_initialState) {
        assert a_initialState, "You need to provide an initial state"
        initialState = a_initialState
        currentState = a_initialState
    }

        def record() {
        Grammar.newInstance(this)
    }

        def reset() {
        currentState = initialState
    }

    def isState(a_state) {
        currentState == a_state
    }

    def registerTransition(a_grammar) {
        assert a_grammar.isValid(), "Invalid transition ($a_grammar)"
        def transition
        def event = a_grammar.event
        def fromState = a_grammar.fromState
        def toState = a_grammar.toState

        if (!transitions[event]) {
            transitions[event] = [:]
        }

        transition = transitions[event]
        assert !transition[fromState], "Duplicate fromState $fromState for transition $a_grammar"
        transition[fromState] = toState
    }

    def fire(a_event) {
        assert currentState, "Invalid current state '$currentState': passed into constructor"
        assert transitions.containsKey(a_event), "Invalid event '$a_event', should be one of ${transitions.keySet()}"
                def transition = transitions[a_event]
        def nextState = transition[currentState]
        assert nextState, "There is no transition from '$currentState' to any other state"
        currentState = nextState
        currentState
    }
}

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Code Block

class StatePatternDslTest extends GroovyTestCase {
    private fsm

    protected void setUp() {
        fsm = FiniteStateMachine.newInstance('offline')
        def recorder = fsm.record()
        recorder.on('connect').from('offline').to('online')
        recorder.on('disconnect').from('online').to('offline')
        recorder.on('send_message').from('online').to('online')
        recorder.on('receive_message').from('online').to('online')
    }

    void testInitialState() {
        assert fsm.isState('offline')
    }

        void testOfflineState() {
        shouldFail{
            fsm.fire('send_message')
        }
        shouldFail{
            fsm.fire('receive_message')
        }
        shouldFail{
            fsm.fire('disconnect')
        }
        assert 'online' == fsm.fire('connect')
       
    }

        void testOnlineState() {
        fsm.fire('connect')
        fsm.fire('send_message')
        fsm.fire('receive_message')
        shouldFail{
            fsm.fire('connect')
        }
        assert 'offline' == fsm.fire('disconnect')
       
    }
}

This example isn't an exact equivalent of the others. It doesn't use predefined Online and Offline classes. Instead it defines the entire state machine on the fly as needed. See the previous reference for more elaborate examples of this style.

State Pattern

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