Adapter Pattern

Adapter pattern works as a bridge between two incompatible interfaces.

The Adapter Pattern is also known as Wrapper.

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Advantage of Adapter Pattern

• It allows two or more previously incompatible objects to interact.
• It allows reusability of existing functionality.

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Usage of Adapter pattern:

It is used:

• When an object needs to utilize an existing class with an incompatible interface.
• When you want to create a reusable class that cooperates with classes which don't have compatible interfaces.
• When you want to create a reusable class that cooperates with classes which don't have compatible interfaces.

Implementation

We have a MediaPlayer interface and a concrete class AudioPlayer implementing the MediaPlayer interface. AudioPlayer can play mp3 format audio files by default.

We are having another interface AdvancedMediaPlayer and concrete classes implementing the AdvancedMediaPlayer interface. These classes can play vlc and mp4 format files.

We want to make AudioPlayer to play other formats as well. To attain this, we have created an adapter class MediaAdapter which implements the MediaPlayer interface and uses AdvancedMediaPlayer objects to play the required format.

AudioPlayer uses the adapter class MediaAdapter passing it the desired audio type without knowing the actual class which can play the desired format. AdapterPatternDemo, our demo class will use AudioPlayer class to play various formats.

Step 1

Create interfaces for Media Player and Advanced Media Player.

MediaPlayer.java

public interface MediaPlayer {
   public void play(String audioType, String fileName);
}

AdvancedMediaPlayer.java

public interface AdvancedMediaPlayer { 
   default void playVlc(String fileName){//do nothing}
   default void playMp4(String fileName){//do nothing}}

Step 2

Create concrete classes implementing the AdvancedMediaPlayer interface.

VlcPlayer.java

public class VlcPlayer implements AdvancedMediaPlayer{
   @Override
   public void playVlc(String fileName) {
      System.out.println("Playing vlc file. Name: "+ fileName);  
   }

}

Mp4Player.java

public class Mp4Player implements AdvancedMediaPlayer{

   @Override
   public void playMp4(String fileName) {
      System.out.println("Playing mp4 file. Name: "+ fileName);  
   }
}

Step 3

Create adapter class implementing the MediaPlayer interface.

MediaAdapter.java

public class MediaAdapter implements MediaPlayer {

   AdvancedMediaPlayer advancedMusicPlayer;

   public MediaAdapter(String audioType){
   
      if(audioType.equalsIgnoreCase("vlc") ){
         advancedMusicPlayer = new VlcPlayer();   
         
      }else if (audioType.equalsIgnoreCase("mp4")){
         advancedMusicPlayer = new Mp4Player();
      } 
   }

   @Override
   public void play(String audioType, String fileName) {
   
      if(audioType.equalsIgnoreCase("vlc")){
         advancedMusicPlayer.playVlc(fileName);
      }
      else if(audioType.equalsIgnoreCase("mp4")){
         advancedMusicPlayer.playMp4(fileName);
      }
   }
}

Step 4

Create concrete class implementing the MediaPlayer interface.

AudioPlayer.java

public class AudioPlayer implements MediaPlayer {
   MediaAdapter mediaAdapter; 

   @Override
   public void play(String audioType, String fileName) {  

      //inbuilt support to play mp3 music files
      if(audioType.equalsIgnoreCase("mp3")){
         System.out.println("Playing mp3 file. Name: " + fileName);   
      } 
      
      //mediaAdapter is providing support to play other file formats
      else if(audioType.equalsIgnoreCase("vlc") || audioType.equalsIgnoreCase("mp4")){
         mediaAdapter = new MediaAdapter(audioType);
         mediaAdapter.play(audioType, fileName);
      }
      
      else{
         System.out.println("Invalid media. " + audioType + " format not supported");
      }
   }   
}

Step 5

Use the AudioPlayer to play different types of audio formats.

AdapterPatternDemo.java

public class AdapterPatternDemo {
   public static void main(String[] args) {
      AudioPlayer audioPlayer = new AudioPlayer();

      audioPlayer.play("mp3", "beyond the horizon.mp3");
      audioPlayer.play("mp4", "alone.mp4");
      audioPlayer.play("vlc", "far far away.vlc");
      audioPlayer.play("avi", "mind me.avi");
   }
}

Step 6

Verify the output.

Playing mp3 file. Name: beyond the horizon.mp3
Playing mp4 file. Name: alone.mp4
Playing vlc file. Name: far far away.vlc
Invalid media. avi format not supported