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State Design Pattern in Java


State design pattern - an FSM with two states and one event
(distributed transition logic - logic in the derived state classes)
  1. Create a "wrapper" class that models the state machine
  2. The wrapper class maintains a "current" state object
  3. All client requests are simply delegated to the current state object and the wrapper object's "this" pointer is passed
  4. Create a state base class that makes the concrete states interchangeable
  5. The State base class specifies any useful "default" behavior
  6. The State derived classes only override the messages they need to o/r
  7. The State methods will change the "current" state in the "wrapper"
// 1. The "wrapper" class
class Button {
    // 2. The "current" state object
    private State current;

    public Button() {
        current = OFF.instance();
    }

    public void setCurrent(State s) {
        current = s;
    }

    // 3. The "wrapper" always delegates to the "wrappee"
    public void push() {
        current.push(this);
    }
}

// 4. The "wrappee" hierarchy
class State {
    // 5. Default behavior can go in the base class
    public void push(Button b) {
        b.setCurrent(OFF.instance());
        System.out.println("   turning OFF");
    }
}

class ON extends State {
    private static ON instance = new ON();

    private ON() {}

    public static State instance() {
        return instance;
    }
}

class OFF extends State {
    private static OFF instance = new OFF();
    private OFF() { }

    public static State instance() {
        return instance;
    }
    // 6. Override only the necessary methods
    public void push(Button b) {
        // 7. The "wrappee" may callback to the "wrapper"
        b.setCurrent(ON.instance());
        System.out.println("   turning ON");
    }
}

public class StateDemo {
    public static void main(String[] args) throws IOException {
        InputStreamReader is = new InputStreamReader( System.in );
        Button btn = new Button();
        while (true) {
            System.out.print("Press 'Enter'");
            is.read();
            btn.push();
        }
    }
}

Output

D:\Java> java StateToggle
Press 'Enter'
   turning ON
Press 'Enter'
   turning OFF
Press 'Enter'
   turning ON
Press 'Enter'
   turning OFF

Code examples

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PHP State in PHP
Delphi State in Delphi State in Delphi
Python State in Python