Version control problem

[LuckyStarr]

Hi,

I have a system written in Java that shares the same code for three different versions. The version logic is made using IFs, like the example:

if(currentRelease == ManagedProducts.SW_540){
 ...
}
else if(currentRelease == ManagedProducts.SW_530){
 ...
}
else if(currentRelease == ManagedProducts.SW_520){
 ...
}

This code snippet is spread all over the system code. However, when a new version is released, I have a big problem: modify each single if to update the version constants. There are a lot of them, near 100 ifs. It's very error prone.

My question is: Is there a design pattern that I could use to improve the code, to ease the new version's pain?

Thanks.

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There is no Knowledge that is not power
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[Diancecht]

It strongly depends on what kind of code is inside the ifs, but an option could be instantiating a class by reflection depending on the name of the version.

Cheers.

Dian

 

[chiph]

Do a Google on the Factory design pattern. It allows you to put the code that compares version into it's own component so you only have to change it in one place. All the code that would be inside your "if" statements would be in their own components.

   ---------         ---------
  | Calling | ----> | Factory |
  | Module  |       |         |
   ---------         ---------
                        / \
                       /   \
                      /     \
                     /       \
                    v         v
                 --------    --------
                | v5.3.0 |  | v5.4.0 |
                |  code  |  |  code  |
                 --------    --------

This way, the calling module doesn't need to know the messy details, it just needs to know how to call the factory.

When it comes time to add a new version, you update the factory module (change it's config file, or make code changes) so that it knows about the new version.

Chip H.


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[LuckyStarr]

Thank you guys!

I think that's what I was looking for.

I will study this pattern and try to organize this mess.

---
There is no Knowledge that is not power
---