What design pattern do you use to support graceful fallback on old platforms?

Posted by JoJo on Programmers See other posts from Programmers or by JoJo
Published on 2012-05-31T21:00:04Z Indexed on 2012/05/31 22:50 UTC
Read the original article Hit count: 319

Filed under:

design-patterns

|

cross-platform

Let's say I need to add a drop shadow behind a box. Some old platforms do not support drop shadows, so I have to fake it by putting an image behind the box. Here's the pseudo code of how I'm currently handling this fallback:

if (dropShadowsAreSupported) {
    box.addDropShadow("black");
} else {
    box.putImageBehindIt("gaussianBlur.png");
}

Is this the right way to handle it? It seems too amateur to me. Is there a better design pattern?

© Programmers or respective owner

Related posts about design-patterns

Should universities put more emphasis on teaching their students about design patterns?

as seen on Programmers - Search for 'Programmers'
While I've heard about design patterns being mentioned in a few courses at uni, I know of only a single course which actually teaches design patterns. In almost all other areas (algorithms, parallelism, architecture, dynamic languages, paradigms, etc), there are several, often a basic course and an… >>> More
Podcasts on GoF design patterns

as seen on Stack Overflow - Search for 'Stack Overflow'
Anyone know of a good podcast on design patterns? >>> More
How often are design patterns used in the workplace using PHP

as seen on Stack Overflow - Search for 'Stack Overflow'
Hey everyone, I read a book awhile back called PHP Design Patterns and Practice, and ever since then I have been using design patterns whenever I think they are needed. However it just occurred to me that maybe most companies do not use design patterns very often for PHP, or at all. What I was wondering… >>> More
Who benefits from the use of Design Patterns?

as seen on DotNetBlocks - Search for 'DotNetBlocks'
Who benefits from the use of design patterns is like asking who benefits from clean air or a good education. All of the stakeholders of a project benefit from the use of design patterns. Project Sponsor Project sponsors benefit from the use of design patterns because they promote reduced development… >>> More
Architect: "Collaborating on Design Patterns"

as seen on Oracle Technology Network - Search for 'Oracle Technology Network'
It takes an architect community to raise a collection of SOA design patterns. >>> More

Related posts about cross-platform

Creating cross platform applications

as seen on Stack Overflow - Search for 'Stack Overflow'
I have a fair bit of knowledge of Java and C#.NET (prefer C#). What should I use to create small applications that will work well in Windows, Mac and Linux? Speed will probably not be the main concern (small applications; using Sockets etc). >>> More
Is there a trend for cross-platform GUI toolkits?

as seen on Programmers - Search for 'Programmers'
What is the trend like for the usage of cross-platform GUI frameworks right now? Are more people starting to use cross-platform frameworks (such as GTK+, Qt and wxWidgets) or are there more who use more platform-tied frameworks (e.g. Cocoa or WPF)? Is it more or less stagnant? Is it like a rollercoaster… >>> More
Appcelerator Set to Release Titanium Cross-Platform App Dev Technology

as seen on Internet.com - Search for 'Internet.com'
The product will Web developers to use languages they already know to build mobile and desktop apps >>> More
Looking for a permissive and active cross-platform image processing library in C/C++

as seen on Stack Overflow - Search for 'Stack Overflow'
I'm looking a cross-platform image processing library in C/C++ which is under active development. One more requirement: No GPL license. Some references: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/796364/fast-cross-platform-c-c-image-processing-libraries http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1200727/cross-platform-drawing-librar… >>> More
SQLite on C# Cross-Platform Applications

as seen on Stack Overflow - Search for 'Stack Overflow'
Can someone help/guide me with using SQLite lib on Linux (MONO) and Windows (.NET) On linux i use native mono sqlite client, and on windows i use http://sqlite.phxsoftware.com/ is there a way to define 'using' directives like this : #if (linux) using Mono.Data.Sqlite; #else using System.Data… >>> More