The accepted answer is fine when you've only got 3 cases, and where the logic for each is simple.
But if the logic for each case were more complicated, or there are many more cases, a far better option is to use the chain-of-responsibility design pattern.
You create a BaseValidator which contains a reference to a BaseValidator and a method to validate and a method to call the validation on the referenced validator.
class BaseValidator {
BaseValidator* nextValidator;
public:
BaseValidator() {
nextValidator = 0;
}
void link(BaseValidator validator) {
if (nextValidator) {
nextValidator->link(validator);
} else {
nextValidator = validator;
}
}
bool callLinkedValidator(bool v1, bool v2, bool v3, bool v4) {
if (nextValidator) {
return nextValidator->validate(v1, v2, v3, v4);
}
return false;
}
virtual bool validate(bool v1, bool v2, bool v3, bool v4) {
return false;
}
}
Then you create a number of subclasses which inherit from the BaseValidator, overriding the validate method with the logic necessary for each validator.
class Validator1: public BaseValidator {
public:
bool validate(bool v1, bool v2, bool v3, bool v4) {
if (v1 && v2 && v3 && v4) {
return true;
}
return nextValidator->callLinkedValidator(v1, v2, v3, v4);
}
}
Then using it is simple, instantiate each of your validators, and set each of them to be the root of the others:
Validator1 firstValidator = new Validator1();
Validator2 secondValidator = new Validator2();
Validator3 thirdValidator = new Validator3();
firstValidator.link(secondValidator);
firstValidator.link(thirdValidator);
if (firstValidator.validate(value1, value2, value3, value4)) { ... }
In essence, each validation case has its own class which is responsible for (a) determining if the validation matches that case, and (b) sending the validation to someone else in the chain if it is not.
Please note that I am not familiar with C++. I've tried to match the syntax from some examples I found online, but if this does not work, treat it more like pseudocode. I also have a complete working Python example below that can be used as a basis if preferred.
class BaseValidator:
def __init__(self):
self.nextValidator = 0
def link(self, validator):
if (self.nextValidator):
self.nextValidator.link(validator)
else:
self.nextValidator = validator
def callLinkedValidator(self, v1, v2, v3, v4):
if (self.nextValidator):
return self.nextValidator.validate(v1, v2, v3, v4)
return False
def validate(self, v1, v2, v3, v4):
return False
class Validator1(BaseValidator):
def validate(self, v1, v2, v3, v4):
if (v1 and v2 and v3 and v4):
return True
return self.callLinkedValidator(v1, v2, v3, v4)
class Validator2(BaseValidator):
def validate(self, v1, v2, v3, v4):
if (v1 and v2 and v3 and not v4):
return True
return self.callLinkedValidator(v1, v2, v3, v4)
class Validator3(BaseValidator):
def validate(self, v1, v2, v3, v4):
if (v1 and not v2 and not v3 and not v4):
return True
return self.callLinkedValidator(v1, v2, v3, v4)
firstValidator = Validator1()
secondValidator = Validator2()
thirdValidator = Validator3()
firstValidator.link(secondValidator)
firstValidator.link(thirdValidator)
print(firstValidator.validate(False, False, True, False))
Again, you may find this overkill for your specific example, but it creates much cleaner code if you end up with a far more complicated set of cases that need to be met.
