Facade Design Pattern

GoF definition for facade design pattern is, “Provide a unified interface to a set of interfaces in a subsystem. Facade Pattern defines a higher-level interface that makes the subsystem easier to use.”

How do we infer the above definition? Think of a component that solves a complex business problem. That component may expose lot of interfaces to interact with it. To complete a process flow we may have to interact with multiple interfaces.

To simplify that interaction process, we introduce facade layer. Facade exposes a simplified interface (in this case a single interface to perform that multi-step process) and internally it interacts with those components and gets the job done for you. It can be taken as one level of abstraction over an existing layer.

Facade design pattern is one among the other design patterns that promote loose coupling. It emphasizes one more important aspect of design which is abstraction. By hiding the complexity behind it and exposing a simple interface it achieves abstraction.

Real World Examples for Facade Pattern

I wish to give you couple of real world examples. Lets take a car, starting a car involves multiple steps. Imagine how it would be if you had to adjust n number of valves and controllers. The facade you have got is just a key hole. On turn of a key it send instruction to multiple subsystems and executes a sequence of operation and completes the objective. All you know is a key turn which acts as a facade and simplifies your job.

Similarly consider microwave oven, it consists of components like trasnformer, capacitor, magnetron, waveguide and some more. To perform an operation these different components needs to be activated in a sequence. Every components has different outputs and inputs. Imagine you will have separate external controller for all these components using which you will heat the food. It will be complicated and cumbersome.

In this scenario, oven provides you preprogrammed switches which can be considered as a facade. On click on of a single switch the job gets done. That single menu switch works as an abstraction layer between you and the internal components.

These are realworld examples for facade design pattern. In software scenario, you can have interfaces which acts as a facade. Methods in these interfaces contains the interaction sequence, formatting and converting data for input for components. As such it will not hold the business logic.

UML Diagram for Facade Design Pattern

Common Mistakes while Implementing Facade Design Pattern

In my experience the common mistakes I have seen is,

• just for the sake of introducing a facade layer developers tend to create additional classes. Layered architecture is good but assess the need for every layer. Just naming a class as ABCDFacade.java doesn’r really make it a facade.
• Creating a java class and ‘forcing’ the UI to interact with other layers through it and calling it a facade layer is one more popular mistake. Facade layer should not be forced and its always optional. If the client wishes to interact with components directly it should be allowed to bypass the facade layer.
• Methods in facade layer has only one or two lines which calls the other components. If facade is going to be so simple it invalidates its purpose and clients can directly do that by themselves.
• A controller is not a facade.
• Facade is ‘not’ a layer that imposes security and hides important data and implementation.
• Don’t create a facade layer in advance. If you feel that in future the subsystem is going to evolve and become complicated to defend that do not create a stub class and name it a facade. After the subsystem has become complex you can implement the facade design pattern.
• Subsystems are not aware of facade and there should be no reference for facade in subsystems.

Summary of Facade Design Pattern

• Facade provides a single interface.
• Programmers comfort is a main purpose of facade.
• Simplicity is the aim of facade pattern.
• Facade design pattern is used for promoting subsystem independence and portability.
• Subsystem may be dependent with one another. In such case, facade can act as a coordinator and decouple the dependencies between the subsystems.
• Translating data to suit the interface of a subsystem is done by the facade.

Facade Vs Mediator Design Pattern

Mediator design pattern may look very similar to facade design pattern in terms of abstraction. Mediator abstracts the functionality of the subsystems in this way it is similar to the facade pattern. In the implementation of mediator pattern, subsystem or peers components are aware of the mediator and that interact with it. In the case of facade pattern, subsystems are not aware of the existence of facade. Only facade talks to the subsystems.

Facade Design Pattern in Java API

ExternalContext behaves as a facade for performing cookie, session scope and similar operations. Underlying classes it uses are HttpSession, ServletContext, javax.servlet.http.HttpServletRequest and javax.servlet.http.HttpServletResponse.