Delphi Singleton Pattern [closed]

Answer 1

I think if I wanted an object-like thing that didn't have any means of being constructed I'd probably use an interface with the implementing object contained in the implementation section of a unit.

I'd expose the interface by a global function (declared in the interface section). The instance would be tidied up in a finalization section.

To get thread-safety I'd use either a critical section (or equivalent) or possibly carefully implemented double-checked locking but recognising that naive implementations only work due to the strong nature of the x86 memory model.

It would look something like this:

unit uSingleton;

interface

uses
  SyncObjs;

type
  ISingleton = interface
    procedure DoStuff;
  end;

function Singleton: ISingleton;

implementation

type
  TSingleton = class(TInterfacedObject, ISingleton)
  private
    procedure DoStuff;
  end;

{ TSingleton }

procedure TSingleton.DoStuff;
begin
end;

var
  Lock: TCriticalSection;
  _Singleton: ISingleton;

function Singleton: ISingleton;
begin
  Lock.Acquire;
  Try
    if not Assigned(_Singleton) then
      _Singleton := TSingleton.Create;
    Result := _Singleton;
  Finally
    Lock.Release;
  End;
end;

initialization
  Lock := TCriticalSection.Create;

finalization
  Lock.Free;

end.