Question

I have written a program with both a Advanced Mode and a Beginner Mode to allow the user to get the hang of my program before it is actually used. The Advanced Mode is almost identical to the Beginner Mode apart from one or two methods needing to be replaced by another, so I have decided to create a general Mode class for both Advanced Mode and Beginner Mode classes to use instead of just coping code: Here is the class structure if my explanation isn’t very clear:

• GUI Class
• General Mode Class
  • Beginner Mode
  • Advanced Mode

Let’s say that the General Mode class has the following code:

public class GeneralMode {      private int range;     private String id;       public GeneralMode() {      }      public int getRange() {         return range;     }      public String getID() {     return id;     }      public void doStuff() {      }  } 

The GeneralMode class is where all the work gets done for the program. Now, I would like to make it so that the Advanced Mode class can take the input from the GUI class and use it in the same way as the GeneralMode class does.

Thank you for all your help!

Answer 1

Make ‘GeneralMode’ class, an abstract class, with abstract methods that have to be implemented by the concrete ‘advanced’ and ‘beginner’ classes. The functionality that both modes have in common, can be implemented in the ‘GeneralMode’ class.

Then, in your GUI class, instantiate the correct concrete class, and put it in a ‘GeneralMode’ variable. Then, you can use it without you having to know whether your program is running in beginner mode or in advanced mode.

pseudocode:

GeneralMode mode = (UseAdvancedMode == true)? new AdvancedMode() : new BeginnerMode();