Factory Pattern without a Switch or If/Then

Question

I\'m looking for a simple example of how to implement a factory class, but without the use of a Switch or an If-Then statement. All the examples I can find use one. F

Answer 1

You could make use of custom attributes and reflection.

[PositionType(1)]
class Manager : Position
{
    public override string Title
    {
        get
        { return "Manager"; }
    }
}

[PositionType(2)]
class Clerk : Position
{
    public override string Title
    {
        get
        { return "Clerk"; }
    }
}

In your factory you could then get all classes that inherit from Position and find the one that has the PositionType attribute with the correct value.

static class Factory
{
    public static Position Get(int id)
    {
        var types = typeof(Position).Assembly.GetTypes()
            .Where(t => !t.IsAbstract && t.IsSubclassOf(typeof(Position)))
            .ToList();

        Position position = null;
        foreach(var type in types)
        {
           type.GetCustomAttributes();

           if(type.PositionId == id)
           {
               position = Activator.CreateInstance(type) as Position;
               break;
           }
        }

        if(position == null)
        {
            var message = $"Could not find a Position to create for id {id}.";
            throw new NotSupportedException(message);
        }

        return position;
    }
}