What is a good name for class which creates factories? (FooFactoryFactory sounds silly imo)

user_100516 0
Viewed 7132

I don't remember exactly is it a common pattern but I have a class (Factory Method pattern) which has method for creating other classes (Abstract Factory pattern) depending on enum parameter: 

public class FooFactoryFactory {
   public FooFactory createFactory (FooFactoryType type) {
      switch (type) {
         case AFoo:
            return new AFooFactory ();
            break;
         case BFoo:
            return new BFooFactory ();
            break;
         default:
            throw new RuntimeException ("...");
      }  
   }
}

public interface FooFactory {
   Foo createFoo ();
   FooItem createFooItem ();
}

FooFactory has several implementations as well as Foo interface and FooItem interface (common Abstract Factory pattern).

So, how to rename FooFactoryFactory?

Maybe, FooFactoryCreator? (Think of this name during writing this question). IMHO it's nice, how do you think?

naming-conventions oop design-patterns java
3 Answers
  • FooFactoryCreator
  • FooFactoryProvider

But you might want to rename your factories to, say, builders. Take a look at javax.xml.parsers.DocumentBuilderFactory, which procudes DocumentBuilder instances, which in turn produce Documents

Looking into the DocumentBuilderFactory example, another option arises:

  • have an abstract FooFactory
  • make a static newInstance() method there (with parameters)
  • let newInstance() return the appropriate implementation of FooFactory
user_2039070
user_2305130

Although the answer by Bozho is pretty good, I'd really consider FooFactoryFactory even if it may sound silly. It conveys the intent like nothing else.

Alternative names are FooMetaFactory and FooPreFactory.

A possible different naming convention is FooParent and FooGrandParent.

user_8322300
Related