Question

I am facing the following problem:

I defined an abstract class that contains the public generate, clone, etc. methods that must be implemented by the subclass. However I would like to ensure that when these public methods are called certain other methods are also executed within the abstract class.

An obvious solution would be to make a protected abstract method to be implemented and a public non-abstract method that calls the abstract one and all the other methods that I need.

For example:

abstract class Representation {

    public void generate(int variable) {
        myFunction();
        generateAbstract(variable);
    }

    protected abstract void generateAbstract(int variable);

    private void myFunction() {
        //do something
    }
}

My question is how to solve it a nicer way, or if this is the way to go how to name the function in a user-friendly way.

Thanks!

Answer 1

I would do it as you are doing it. I would make the wrapper method either

1. final so I can’t be blown away in a subclass, or
2. document the hell out of the methods, indicating that the abstract method MUST be called…