Java

Usage examples: The Facade pattern is commonly used in apps written in Java. It’s especially handy when working with complex libraries and APIs.

Here are some Facade examples in core Java libs:

• javax.faces.context.FacesContext uses LifeCycle, ViewHandler, NavigationHandler classes under the hood, but most clients aren’t aware of that.

• javax.faces.context.ExternalContext uses ServletContext, HttpSession, HttpServletRequest, HttpServletResponse and others inside.

Identification: Facade can be recognized in a class that has a simple interface, but delegates most of the work to other classes. Usually, facades manage the full life cycle of objects they use.

Simple interface for a complex video conversion library

In this example, the Facade simplifies communication with a complex video conversion framework.

The Facade provides a single class with a single method that handles all the complexity of configuring the right classes of the framework and retrieving the result in a correct format.

some_complex_media_library: Complex video conversion library

some_complex_media_library/VideoFile.java

package refactoring_guru.facade.example.some_complex_media_library;

public class VideoFile {
    private String name;
    private String codecType;

    public VideoFile(String name) {
        this.name = name;
        this.codecType = name.substring(name.indexOf(".") + 1);
    }

    public String getCodecType() {
        return codecType;
    }

    public String getName() {
        return name;
    }
}

some_complex_media_library/Codec.java

package refactoring_guru.facade.example.some_complex_media_library;

public interface Codec {
}

some_complex_media_library/MPEG4CompressionCodec.java

package refactoring_guru.facade.example.some_complex_media_library;

public class MPEG4CompressionCodec implements Codec {
    public String type = "mp4";

}

some_complex_media_library/OggCompressionCodec.java

package refactoring_guru.facade.example.some_complex_media_library;

public class OggCompressionCodec implements Codec {
    public String type = "ogg";
}

some_complex_media_library/CodecFactory.java

package refactoring_guru.facade.example.some_complex_media_library;

public class CodecFactory {
    public static Codec extract(VideoFile file) {
        String type = file.getCodecType();
        if (type.equals("mp4")) {
            System.out.println("CodecFactory: extracting mpeg audio...");
            return new MPEG4CompressionCodec();
        }
        else {
            System.out.println("CodecFactory: extracting ogg audio...");
            return new OggCompressionCodec();
        }
    }
}

some_complex_media_library/BitrateReader.java

package refactoring_guru.facade.example.some_complex_media_library;

public class BitrateReader {
    public static VideoFile read(VideoFile file, Codec codec) {
        System.out.println("BitrateReader: reading file...");
        return file;
    }

    public static VideoFile convert(VideoFile buffer, Codec codec) {
        System.out.println("BitrateReader: writing file...");
        return buffer;
    }
}

some_complex_media_library/AudioMixer.java

package refactoring_guru.facade.example.some_complex_media_library;

import java.io.File;

public class AudioMixer {
    public File fix(VideoFile result){
        System.out.println("AudioMixer: fixing audio...");
        return new File("tmp");
    }
}

facade

facade/VideoConversionFacade.java: Facade provides simple interface of video conversion

package refactoring_guru.facade.example.facade;

import refactoring_guru.facade.example.some_complex_media_library.*;

import java.io.File;

public class VideoConversionFacade {
    public File convertVideo(String fileName, String format) {
        System.out.println("VideoConversionFacade: conversion started.");
        VideoFile file = new VideoFile(fileName);
        Codec sourceCodec = CodecFactory.extract(file);
        Codec destinationCodec;
        if (format.equals("mp4")) {
            destinationCodec = new MPEG4CompressionCodec();
        } else {
            destinationCodec = new OggCompressionCodec();
        }
        VideoFile buffer = BitrateReader.read(file, sourceCodec);
        VideoFile intermediateResult = BitrateReader.convert(buffer, destinationCodec);
        File result = (new AudioMixer()).fix(intermediateResult);
        System.out.println("VideoConversionFacade: conversion completed.");
        return result;
    }
}

Demo.java: Client code

package refactoring_guru.facade.example;

import refactoring_guru.facade.example.facade.VideoConversionFacade;

import java.io.File;

public class Demo {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        VideoConversionFacade converter = new VideoConversionFacade();
        File mp4Video = converter.convertVideo("youtubevideo.ogg", "mp4");
        // ...
    }
}

OutputDemo.txt: Execution result

VideoConversionFacade: conversion started.
CodecFactory: extracting ogg audio...
BitrateReader: reading file...
BitrateReader: writing file...
AudioMixer: fixing audio...
VideoConversionFacade: conversion completed.