Singleton
Introduction
Singleton pattern Ensure a class only has one instance, and provide a global point of access to it. This is useful when exactly one object is needed to coordinate actions across the system.
Implementation
- Singleton pattern is implemented by creating a class with a method that creates a new instance of the object if one does not exist.
- If an instance already exists, it simply returns a reference to that object.
- To make sure that the object cannot be instantiated any other way, the constructor is made either private or protected.
UML Diagram
Sample Code
Singleton pattern in C#:
// Singleton pattern -- Real World example
using System;
using System.Collections;
using System.Threading;
namespace DoFactory.GangOfFour.Singleton.RealWorld
{
// MainApp test application
class MainApp
{
static void Main()
{
LoadBalancer b1 = LoadBalancer.GetLoadBalancer();
LoadBalancer b2 = LoadBalancer.GetLoadBalancer();
LoadBalancer b3 = LoadBalancer.GetLoadBalancer();
LoadBalancer b4 = LoadBalancer.GetLoadBalancer();
// Same instance?
if (b1 == b2 && b2 == b3 && b3 == b4)
{
Console.WriteLine("Same instance\n");
}
// All are the same instance -- use b1 arbitrarily
// Load balance 15 server requests
for (int i = 0; i < 15; i++)
{
Console.WriteLine(b1.Server);
}
// Wait for user
Console.Read();
}
}
// "Singleton"
class LoadBalancer
{
private static LoadBalancer instance;
private ArrayList servers = new ArrayList();
private Random random = new Random();
// Lock synchronization object
private static object syncLock = new object();
// Constructor (protected)
protected LoadBalancer()
{
// List of available servers
servers.Add("ServerI");
servers.Add("ServerII");
servers.Add("ServerIII");
servers.Add("ServerIV");
servers.Add("ServerV");
}
public static LoadBalancer GetLoadBalancer()
{
// Support multithreaded applications through
// 'Double checked locking' pattern which (once
// the instance exists) avoids locking each
// time the method is invoked
if (instance == null)
{
lock (syncLock)
{
if (instance == null)
{
instance = new LoadBalancer();
}
}
}
return instance;
}
// Simple, but effective random load balancer
public string Server
{
get
{
int r = random.Next(servers.Count);
return servers[r].ToString();
}
}
}
}