Observable

Defines a one to many relationship between the Subject (the object being observed) and the Observers

where the Observers are notified of changed state in the Subject.

The problem

We have a Temperature object and we want to log the changes to the temperature.

Using OOPS we would have to modify the Temperature class.

Using AOP we can Introduce new behaviour without touching the original class.

We already have a logging utility class and we don't need to change that either.

There is no need for it to know about the Temperature class.

Again we can Introduce new behaviour.

Implementation

The jboss implementation of the pattern

• Observer - the interface "implemented" by the Observer

• Subject - the interface "implemented" by the Subject

• SubjectImpl - we use an Introduction to make Objects into Subjects

• SubjectInterceptor - this advice tracks the state of the Subject and  fires the changes to the Observers

Existing Code

The exisiting application that knows nothing about the Observable pattern

• Temperature - simple POJO holding a temperature value in its state

• LogUtil - simple POJO that logs to System.out

Integration Code

To integrate the two classes we write an Introduction for

LogUtil

that tells it log the changes in Subjects.

• LogUtilObserver - makes

  LogUtil

  into a generic Observer without changing the original code

Configuration

Now we use AOP to tie it all together

• jboss-aop.xml - the JBossAOP deployment description

The test class

• ObserverableTest - A simple test

The output

It doesn't look very exciting but ...

Received Notification: Temperature=10

Conclusion

• We have taken two existing POJOs that know nothing about the Observable pattern and integrated them using AOP.

• The only code we had to write was how to handle the change notification: LogUtilObserver which is exactly what you want to write when you are the integerator

• JBoss has already implemented the Observable pattern, we don't have to write this boiler plate code.

• AOP is a very powerful tool for integrating reusable components without touching the original code.

• You no longer have to repeat boiler plate code in all classes just in case somebody might want a particular feature - a boring task that is prone to error and difficult to change when it is spread across many classes

Things to try

• Use AOPRemoting to make this pattern distributed