Design Pattern to make logging available without breaking abstractions

Question

Currently I'm working within a framework that was developed by someone else at a company I'm doing work for so I have some restrictions with regards to the architecture. I was hoping there is a design pattern or some way I can handle my logging with the way it's set up now, without breaking abstractions.

So, there is a TestCase class. This class is the base for all test cases I write, and any test case I develop must inherit from it. The test case has logging methods, such as LogInfo, LogConfirmation etc.

Now I have another class called SignalGroup which contains one or more Signals. The SignalGroup has a Set method which abstracts the logic behind how the one or more values are set. It does this by knowing which mode the system is in etc etc. So for instance, keeping it simple, a SignalGroup's set method may just be the following in a mode that will result in setting all signals in a group to a value:

public void Set(int value){
   foreach (Signal signal in Signals){
    signal.Set(value)
   }
}

Now, in that set method, I need to log the value that each signal was set to, using the LogInfo method from the TestCase base class. My problem is, now I either need to

have my Signal or SignalGroup know about TestCase base so it can keep its abstractions around setting the value but also call the LogInfo method
Have my test case base know about the Signals within SignalGroup so I can implement the logging at its layer. But this means I have to make the TestCase include logic about the individual signals that I really would like to be abstracted away.

Is there any way I can make the logging available to the SignalGroup with a bit looser coupling so it doesn't need to directly know about the TestCase class?

What's the link between your `TestCase` class structures and the `Set` method you've shown us? The question doesn't make this clear. For example, why can't you just log the `int value` before it's passed into `Set`, since the value isn't modified? Are your `TestCase`s not providing this value? — Sean Skelly, Nov 20 '20 at 19:29

score 2 · Accepted Answer · answered Nov 21 '20 at 10:07

As a cross-cutting concern, logging should be implemented using the Decorator design pattern.

Make the Set method virtual, preferably by defining it as an interface method, e.g.

public interface ISignalGroup
{
    void Set(int value);
}

Then implement a LoggingSignalGroup like this:

public class LoggingSignalGroup : ISignalGroup
{
    public LoggingSignalGroup(TestCase logger, ISignalGroup inner)
    {
        Logger = logger;
        Inner = inner;
    }

    public TestCase Logger { get; }
    public ISignalGroup Inner { get; }

    public void Set(int value)
    {
        Logger.LogInfo(value);
        Inner.Set(value);
    }
}

Use LoggingSignalGroup to decorate the 'real' SignalGroup class, e.g. new LoggingSignalGroup(logger, new SignalGroup())...

If you can't define an interface like ISignalGroup, you can instead define Adapters that work this way.

Design Pattern to make logging available without breaking abstractions

1 Answers1