Flyweight Examples in Java

Question

I am trying to create a flyweight object in Java. I've worked with a similar concept in Objective-C (Singleton Classes in Objective-C // I believe they are the same thing).

I am trying to find a tutorial or an example or explanation online to learn how to create a flyweight object and use it, but I've searched on Google and I can't find anything descent. I went through 10 pages and they basically all plagiarize from one website which just explains the concept. I understand the concept - I need something to help me/teach me how to implement it in Java.

Anyone has any suggestions/tutorials?

Thanks!

Answer 1

The Wikipedia entry for the flyweight pattern has a concrete Java example.

EDIT to try and help the OP understand the pattern:

As noted in my comment below, The point of the flyweight pattern is that you're sharing a single instance of something rather than creating new, identical objects.

Using the Wiki example, the CoffeeFlavorFactory will only create a single instance of any given CoffeeFlavor (this is done the first time a Flavor is requested). Subsequent requests for the same flavor return a reference to the original, single instance.

public static void main(String[] args) 
{
    flavorFactory = new CoffeeFlavorFactory();
    CoffeeFlavor a = flavorFactory.getCoffeeFlavor("espresso");
    CoffeeFlavor b = flavorFactory.getCoffeeFlavor("espresso");
    CoffeeFlavor c = flavorFactory.getCoffeeFlavor("espresso");

    // This is comparing the reference value, not the contents of the objects
    if (a == b && b == c)
        System.out.println("I have three references to the same object!");
}

Answer 2

To follow up on the Wikipedia example that Brian cited...

Usually, if you want to cache some objects (such as CoffeeFlavors) and have them shared between a number of flyweights (the CoffeeOrders), then you would make them statically available. But this is not at all necessary. The important part is that the CoffeeOrders are being given the shared objects when they're constructed.

If the Orders are always only created by one singleton, like a "CoffeeOrderFactory," then the factory can keep a non-static cache of Flavors. However you accomplish it, your goal is to get all the Orders in the whole system to use the same exact set of Flavor objects. But at the end of the day, if you want to avoid creating many instances of CoffeeFlavor, then it usually needs to be created statically, just to make sure there's only one cache.

Get it?