Creational Design Pattern: Abstract Factory Pattern

Abstract Factory Pattern

Abstract Factory Patterns function as a super-factory, generating other factories. The pattern is also known as a Factory of factories. In the Abstract Factory pattern, an interface is in charge of generating a factory of related or dependent objects without specifying their specific classes.

Abstract Factory Pattern with UML diagram

The UML class diagram above defines the following classes, interfaces, and objects:

• AbstractFactory: This interface is used to generate an abstract product.
• ConcreteFactory: This class uses the AbstractFactory interface to build concrete items.
• AbstractProduct: This interface declares the type of product.
• ConcreteProduct: This is a class that uses the AbstractProduct interface to generate a product.
• Client: This class uses the AbstractFactory and AbstractProduct interfaces to build a family of linked objects.

When should we use the Abstract Factory pattern?

The abstract factory pattern is useful in the following cases:

• Create a collection of related or dependent things that must be used together.
• Configure the system to function with multiple product families.
• The production of items should be independent of the system.
• Concrete classes should be isolated from clients.