Design for an interface implementation that provides additional functionality
- by Limbo Exile
There is a design problem that I came upon while implementing an interface:
Let's say there is a Device interface that promises to provide functionalities PerformA() and GetB(). This interface will be implemented for multiple models of a device. What happens if one model has an additional functionality CheckC() which doesn't have equivalents in other implementations?
I came up with different solutions, none of which seems to comply with interface design guidelines:
To add CheckC() method to the interface and leave one of its
implementations empty:
interface ISomeDevice
{
void PerformA();
int GetB();
bool CheckC();
}
class DeviceModel1 : ISomeDevice
{
public void PerformA() { // do stuff }
public int GetB() { return 1; }
public bool CheckC() {
bool res;
// assign res a value based on some validation
return res;
}
}
class DeviceModel2 : ISomeDevice
{
public void PerformA() { // do stuff }
public int GetB() { return 1; }
public bool CheckC() {
return true; // without checking anything
}
}
This solution seems incorrect as a class implements an interface without truly implementing all the demanded methods.
To leave out CheckC() method from the interface and to use explicit cast in order to call it:
interface ISomeDevice
{
void PerformA();
int GetB();
}
class DeviceModel1 : ISomeDevice
{
public void PerformA() { // do stuff }
public int GetB() { return 1; }
public bool CheckC() {
bool res;
// assign res a value based on some validation
return res;
}
}
class DeviceModel2 : ISomeDevice
{
public void PerformA() { // do stuff }
public int GetB() { return 1; }
}
class DeviceManager
{
private ISomeDevice myDevice;
public void ManageDevice(bool newDeviceModel)
{
myDevice = (newDeviceModel) ? new DeviceModel1() : new DeviceModel2();
myDevice.PerformA();
int b = myDevice.GetB();
if (newDeviceModel)
{
DeviceModel1 newDevice = myDevice as DeviceModel1;
bool c = newDevice.CheckC();
}
}
}
This solution seems to make the interface inconsistent.
For the device that supports CheckC(): to add the logic of CheckC() into the logic of another method that is present in the interface. This solution is not always possible.
So, what is the correct design to be used in such cases? Maybe creating an interface should be abandoned altogether in favor of another design?
