Learning JavaScript Design Patterns The Observer Pattern

The Observer Pattern

The Observer is a design pattern where an object (known as a subject) maintains a list of objects depending on it (observers), automatically notifying them of any changes to state.

When a subject needs to notify observers about something interesting happening, it broadcasts a notification to the observers (which can include specific data related to the topic of the notification).

When we no longer wish for a particular observer to be notified of changes by the subject they are registered with, the subject can remove them from the list of observers.

It's often useful to refer back to published definitions of design patterns that are language agnostic to get a broader sense of their usage and advantages over time. The definition of the Observer pattern provided in the GoF book, Design Patterns: Elements of Reusable Object-Oriented Software, is:

"One or more observers are interested in the state of a subject and register their interest with the subject by attaching themselves. When something changes in our subject that the observer may be interested in, a notify message is sent which calls the update method in each observer. When the observer is no longer interested in the subject's state, they can simply detach themselves."

We can now expand on what we've learned to implement the Observer pattern with the following components:

• Subject: maintains a list of observers, facilitates adding or removing observers
• Observer: provides a update interface for objects that need to be notified of a Subject's changes of state
• ConcreteSubject: broadcasts notifications to observers on changes of state, stores the state of ConcreteObservers
• ConcreteObserver: stores a reference to the ConcreteSubject, implements an update interface for the Observer to ensure state is consistent with the Subject's

First, let's model the list of dependent Observers a subject may have:

function ObserverList(){
  this.observerList = [];
}
 
ObserverList.prototype.add = function( obj ){
  return this.observerList.push( obj );
};
 
ObserverList.prototype.count = function(){
  return this.observerList.length;
};
 
ObserverList.prototype.get = function( index ){
  if( index > -1 && index < this.observerList.length ){
    return this.observerList[ index ];
  }
};
 
ObserverList.prototype.indexOf = function( obj, startIndex ){
  var i = startIndex;
 
  while( i < this.observerList.length ){
    if( this.observerList[i] === obj ){
      return i;
    }
    i++;
  }
 
  return -1;
};
 
ObserverList.prototype.removeAt = function( index ){
  this.observerList.splice( index, 1 );
};

Next, let's model the Subject and the ability to add, remove or notify observers on the observer list.

function Subject(){
  this.observers = new ObserverList();
}
 
Subject.prototype.addObserver = function( observer ){
  this.observers.add( observer );
};
 
Subject.prototype.removeObserver = function( observer ){
  this.observers.removeAt( this.observers.indexOf( observer, 0 ) );
};
 
Subject.prototype.notify = function( context ){
  var observerCount = this.observers.count();
  for(var i=0; i < observerCount; i++){
    this.observers.get(i).update( context );
  }
};

We then define a skeleton for creating new Observers. The update functionality here will be overwritten later with custom behaviour.

// The Observer
function Observer(){
  this.update = function(){
    // ...
  };
}

In our sample application using the above Observer components, we now define:

• A button for adding new observable checkboxes to the page
• A control checkbox which will act as a subject, notifying other checkboxes they should be checked
• A container for the new checkboxes being added

We then define ConcreteSubject and ConcreteObserver handlers for both adding new observers to the page and implementing the updating interface. See below for inline comments on what these components do in the context of our example.

HTML:

<button id="addNewObserver">Add New Observer checkbox</button>
<input id="mainCheckbox" type="checkbox"/>
<div id="observersContainer"></div>

Sample script:

// Extend an object with an extension
function extend( extension, obj ){
  for ( var key in extension ){
    obj[key] = extension[key];
  }
}
 
// References to our DOM elements
 
var controlCheckbox = document.getElementById( "mainCheckbox" ),
  addBtn = document.getElementById( "addNewObserver" ),
  container = document.getElementById( "observersContainer" );
 
 
// Concrete Subject
 
// Extend the controlling checkbox with the Subject class
extend( new Subject(), controlCheckbox );
 
// Clicking the checkbox will trigger notifications to its observers
controlCheckbox.onclick = function(){
  controlCheckbox.notify( controlCheckbox.checked );
};
 
addBtn.onclick = addNewObserver;
 
// Concrete Observer
 
function addNewObserver(){
 
  // Create a new checkbox to be added
  var check  = document.createElement( "input" );
  check.type = "checkbox";
 
  // Extend the checkbox with the Observer class
  extend( new Observer(), check );
 
  // Override with custom update behaviour
  check.update = function( value ){
    this.checked = value;
  };
 
  // Add the new observer to our list of observers
  // for our main subject
  controlCheckbox.addObserver( check );
 
  // Append the item to the container
  container.appendChild( check );
}

In this example, we looked at how to implement and utilize the Observer pattern, covering the concepts of a Subject, Observer, ConcreteSubject and ConcreteObserver.

Differences Between The Observer And Publish/Subscribe Pattern

Whilst the Observer pattern is useful to be aware of, quite often in the JavaScript world, we'll find it commonly implemented using a variation known as the Publish/Subscribe pattern. Whilst very similar, there are differences between these patterns worth noting.

The Observer pattern requires that the observer (or object) wishing to receive topic notifications must subscribe this interest to the object firing the event (the subject).

The Publish/Subscribe pattern however uses a topic/event channel which sits between the objects wishing to receive notifications (subscribers) and the object firing the event (the publisher). This event system allows code to define application specific events which can pass custom arguments containing values needed by the subscriber. The idea here is to avoid dependencies between the subscriber and publisher.

This differs from the Observer pattern as it allows any subscriber implementing an appropriate event handler to register for and receive topic notifications broadcast by the publisher.

Here is an example of how one might use the Publish/Subscribe if provided with a functional implementation powering publish(),subscribe() and unsubscribe() behind the scenes: