Question

I’m using the composite pattern to have reusable elements to build a page. for this i have a simple interface which drives the pattern

interface Ai1ec_Renderable {
    /**
     * This is the main function, it just renders the method for the element,
     * taking care of childrens ( if any )
     */
    public function render();
}

Since only some of the elements will be allowed to have children, i have created an abstract class that adds that behaviour

abstract class Ai1ec_Can_Have_Children {
    /**
     *
     * @var array
     */
    protected $renderables = array();
    /**
     * Adds a renderable child to the element
     * 
     * @param Ai1ec_Renderable $renderable
     */
    public function add_renderable_children( Ai1ec_Renderable $renderable ) {
        $this->renderables[] = $renderable;
    }
}

so if the object can have children it extends the abstract class. The problem arise because i have a second abstract class for html elements

abstract class Ai1ec_Html_Element {
    /**
     *
     * @var string
     */
    protected $id;
    /**
     *
     * @var array
     */
    protected $classes = array();
    /**
     *
     * @param $id string        
     */
    public function set_id( $id ) {
        $this->id = $id;
    }

    public function add_class( $class ) {
        $this->classes[] = $class;
    }
    protected function create_class_markup() {
        if (empty( $this->classes )) {
            return '';
        }
        $classes = implode( ' ', $this->classes );
        return "class='$classes'";
    }
    protected function create_attribute_markup( 
        $attribute_name, 
        $attribute_value
    ) {
        if (empty( $attribute_value )) {
            return '';
        }
        return "$attribute_name='$attribute_value'";
    }
}

The problem is that all the objects of the composite must implement the interface, some of them must extend only the first class ( can_have_children ) but not the second ( this is because they are higher level abstraction that configure another renderable object to do the job ), some of them the second but not the first and some of them both classes.

Have i done somthing wrong while designing my classes?How do i come out of it? The most obvious way is to make a class duplicating some code

abstract class Ai1ec_Can_Have_Children extends Ai1ec_Html_Element {
    /**
     *
     * @var array
     */
    protected $renderables = array();
    /**
     * Adds a renderable child to the element
     * 
     * @param Ai1ec_Renderable $renderable
     */
    public function add_renderable_children( Ai1ec_Renderable $renderable ) {
        $this->renderables[] = $renderable;
    }
}

this would work, but it’s a smell that something is not right, as i would need to duplicate code if i add something to Can_Have_Children. What should i do?

P.S. No traits, i support 5.2

Answer 1

It seems there are two major responsibilities here: rendering and having children. So I would start with two separate interfaces:

interface Renderable {
  public function render();
}

interface Container {
  public function addChild(Renderable $renderable);
}

Then have a concrete implementation of Container (not abstract):

class BasicContainer implements Container, Renderable {
  /* similar to your Ai1ec_Can_Have_Children class */
}

Then you can define your HTML element classes as follows, using composition instead of inheritance for adding container functionality:

abstract class HtmlElement implements Renderable {
  /* similar to your Ai1ec_Html_Element class */
}

abstract class ContainerHtmlElement extends HtmlElement implements Container {
  private $container = new BasicContainer();

  public function addChild(Renderable $renderable) {
    $this->container->addChild($renderable);
  }

  public function render() {
    parent::render();
    $this->container->render();
  }
}