/ Design Patterns / Structural patterns / Adapter

Adapter Design Pattern in C++

Adapter design pattern demo

Discussion. LegacyRectangle's interface is not compatible with the system that would like to reuse it. An abstract base class is created that specifies the desired interface. An "adapter" class is defined that publicly inherits the interface of the abstract class, and privately inherits the implementation of the legacy component. This adapter class "maps" or "impedance matches" the new interface to the old implementation. 

#include <iostream.h>

typedef int Coordinate;
typedef int Dimension;

// Desired interface
class Rectangle
{
  public:
    virtual void draw() = 0;
};

// Legacy component
class LegacyRectangle
{
  public:
    LegacyRectangle(Coordinate x1, Coordinate y1, Coordinate x2, Coordinate y2)
    {
        x1_ = x1;
        y1_ = y1;
        x2_ = x2;
        y2_ = y2;
        cout << "LegacyRectangle:  create.  (" << x1_ << "," << y1_ << ") => ("
          << x2_ << "," << y2_ << ")" << endl;
    }
    void oldDraw()
    {
        cout << "LegacyRectangle:  oldDraw.  (" << x1_ << "," << y1_ << 
          ") => (" << x2_ << "," << y2_ << ")" << endl;
    }
  private:
    Coordinate x1_;
    Coordinate y1_;
    Coordinate x2_;
    Coordinate y2_;
};

// Adapter wrapper
class RectangleAdapter: public Rectangle, private LegacyRectangle
{
  public:
    RectangleAdapter(Coordinate x, Coordinate y, Dimension w, Dimension h):
      LegacyRectangle(x, y, x + w, y + h)
    {
        cout << "RectangleAdapter: create.  (" << x << "," << y << 
          "), width = " << w << ", height = " << h << endl;
    }
    virtual void draw()
    {
        cout << "RectangleAdapter: draw." << endl;
        oldDraw();
    }
};

int main()
{
  Rectangle *r = new RectangleAdapter(120, 200, 60, 40);
  r->draw();
}

Output

LegacyRectangle:  create.  (120,200) => (180,240)
RectangleAdapter: create.  (120,200), width = 60, height = 40
RectangleAdapter: draw.
LegacyRectangle:  oldDraw.  (120,200) => (180,240)

Code examples

Java Adapter in Java: Before and after Adapter in Java
C++ Adapter in C++ Adapter in C++: External Polymorphism
PHP Adapter in PHP
Delphi Adapter in Delphi
Python Adapter in Python