Hide Delegate

Problem

The client gets object B from a field or method of object А. Then the client calls a method of object B.

Solution

Create a new method in class A that delegates the call to object B. Now the client does not know about, or depend on, class B.

Before

After

Why Refactor

To start with, let’s look at terminology:

delegate — the end object that contains the functionality needed by the client
server — the object to which the client has direct access

A call chain appears when a client requests an object from another object, then the second object requests another one, and so on. These sequences of calls involve the client in navigation along the class structure. Any changes in these interrelationships will require changes on the client side.

Benefits

Hides delegation from the client. The less that the client code needs to know about the details of relationships between objects, the easier it is to make changes to your program.

Drawbacks

If you need to create an excessive number of delegating methods, server-class risks becoming an unneeded go-between, leading to an excess of Middle Man.

How to Refactor

For each method of the delegate-class called by the client, create a method in the server-class that delegates the call to the delegate-class.
Change the client code so that it calls the methods of the server-class.
If your changes free the client from needing the delegate-class, you can remove the access method to the delegate-class from the server-class (the method that was originally used to get the delegate-class).