JavaScript Behavioral Design Patterns Mediator Pattern
Example
Think of the mediator pattern as the flight control tower that controls planes in the air: it directs this plane to land now, the second to wait, and the third to take off, etc. However no plane is ever allowed to talk to its peers.
This is how mediator works, it works as a communication hub among different modules, this way you reduce module dependency on each other, increase loose coupling, and consequently portability.
This Chatroom example explains how mediator patterns works:
// each participant is just a module that wants to talk to other modules(other participants)
var Participant = function(name) {
this.name = name;
this.chatroom = null;
};
// each participant has method for talking, and also listening to other participants
Participant.prototype = {
send: function(message, to) {
this.chatroom.send(message, this, to);
},
receive: function(message, from) {
log.add(from.name + " to " + this.name + ": " + message);
}
};
// chatroom is the Mediator: it is the hub where participants send messages to, and receive messages from
var Chatroom = function() {
var participants = {};
return {
register: function(participant) {
participants[participant.name] = participant;
participant.chatroom = this;
},
send: function(message, from) {
for (key in participants) {
if (participants[key] !== from) {//you cant message yourself !
participants[key].receive(message, from);
}
}
}
};
};
// log helper
var log = (function() {
var log = "";
return {
add: function(msg) { log += msg + "\n"; },
show: function() { alert(log); log = ""; }
}
})();
function run() {
var yoko = new Participant("Yoko");
var john = new Participant("John");
var paul = new Participant("Paul");
var ringo = new Participant("Ringo");
var chatroom = new Chatroom();
chatroom.register(yoko);
chatroom.register(john);
chatroom.register(paul);
chatroom.register(ringo);
yoko.send("All you need is love.");
yoko.send("I love you John.");
paul.send("Ha, I heard that!");
log.show();
}
