Proxy

suggest change

Proxy object is often used to ensure guarded access to another object, which internal business logic we don’t want to pollute with safety requirements.

Suppose we’d like to guarantee that only user of specific permissions can access resource.

Proxy definition: (it ensure that only users which actually can see reservations will be able to consumer reservation_service)

class Proxy
  def initialize(current_user, reservation_service)
    @current_user = current_user
    @reservation_service = reservation_service
  end

  def highest_total_price_reservations(date_from, date_to, reservations_count)
    if @current_user.can_see_reservations?
      @reservation_service.highest_total_price_reservations(
        date_from, 
        date_to, 
        reservations_count
      )
    else
      []
    end
  end 
end

Models and ReservationService:

class Reservation
  attr_reader :total_price, :date

  def initialize(date, total_price)
    @date = date
    @total_price = total_price
  end
end

class ReservationService
  def highest_total_price_reservations(date_from, date_to, reservations_count)
    # normally it would be read from database/external service
    reservations = [
      Reservation.new(Date.new(2014, 5, 15), 100),
      Reservation.new(Date.new(2017, 5, 15), 10),          
      Reservation.new(Date.new(2017, 1, 15), 50)
    ]

    filtered_reservations = reservations.select do |reservation|
      reservation.date.between?(date_from, date_to) 
    end

    filtered_reservations.take(reservations_count)
  end
end        

class User
  attr_reader :name

  def initialize(can_see_reservations, name)
    @can_see_reservations = can_see_reservations
    @name = name
  end

  def can_see_reservations?
    @can_see_reservations
  end
end

Consumer service:

class StatsService
  def initialize(reservation_service)
    @reservation_service = reservation_service
  end

  def year_top_100_reservations_average_total_price(year)
    reservations = @reservation_service.highest_total_price_reservations(
      Date.new(year, 1, 1),
      Date.new(year, 12, 31),
      100
    )

    if reservations.length > 0
      sum = reservations.reduce(0) do |memo, reservation| 
        memo + reservation.total_price
      end

      sum / reservations.length
    else
      0
    end
  end
end

Test:

def test(user, year)
  reservations_service = Proxy.new(user, ReservationService.new)
  stats_service = StatsService.new(reservations_service)
  average_price = stats_service.year_top_100_reservations_average_total_price(year)
  puts "#{user.name} will see: #{average_price}"
end

test(User.new(true, "John the Admin"), 2017)
test(User.new(false, "Guest"),         2017)

BENEFITS

we’re avoiding any changes in ReservationService when access restrictions are changed.
we’re not mixing business related data (date_from, date_to, reservations_count) with domain unrelated concepts (user permissions) in service.
Consumer (StatsService) is free from permissions related logic as well

CAVEATS

Proxy interface is always exactly the same as the object it hides, so that user that consumes service wrapped by proxy wasn’t even aware of proxy presence.

Found a mistake? Have a question or improvement idea? Let me know.

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