---
layout: pattern
title: Business Delegate
folder: business-delegate
permalink: /patterns/business-delegate/
categories: Structural
language: en
tags:
 - Decoupling
---

## Intent

The Business Delegate pattern adds an abstraction layer between
presentation and business tiers. By using the pattern we gain loose coupling
between the tiers and encapsulate knowledge about how to locate, connect to,
and interact with the business objects that make up the application.

## Explanation

Real world example

> A mobile phone application promises to stream any movie in existence to your phone. It captures
> the user's search string and passes this on to the business delegate. The business delegate
> selects the most suitable video streaming service and plays the video from there.

In Plain Words

> Business delegate adds an abstraction layer between the presentation and business tiers.

Wikipedia says

> Business delegate is a Java EE design pattern. This pattern is directing to reduce the coupling 
> in between business services and the connected presentation tier, and to hide the implementation 
> details of services (including lookup and accessibility of EJB architecture). Business delegates 
> acts as an adaptor to invoke business objects from the presentation tier.

**Programmatic Example**

First, we have an abstraction for video streaming services and a couple of implementations.

```java
public interface VideoStreamingService {
  void doProcessing();
}

@Slf4j
public class NetflixService implements VideoStreamingService {
  @Override
  public void doProcessing() {
    LOGGER.info("NetflixService is now processing");
  }
}

@Slf4j
public class YouTubeService implements VideoStreamingService {
  @Override
  public void doProcessing() {
    LOGGER.info("YouTubeService is now processing");
  }
}
```

Then we have a lookup service that decides which video streaming service is used.

```java
@Setter
public class BusinessLookup {

  private NetflixService netflixService;
  private YouTubeService youTubeService;

  public VideoStreamingService getBusinessService(String movie) {
    if (movie.toLowerCase(Locale.ROOT).contains("die hard")) {
      return netflixService;
    } else {
      return youTubeService;
    }
  }
}
```

The business delegate uses a business lookup to route movie playback requests to a suitable
video streaming service.

```java
@Setter
public class BusinessDelegate {

  private BusinessLookup lookupService;

  public void playbackMovie(String movie) {
    VideoStreamingService videoStreamingService = lookupService.getBusinessService(movie);
    videoStreamingService.doProcessing();
  }
}
```

The mobile client utilizes business delegate to call the business tier.

```java
public class MobileClient {

  private final BusinessDelegate businessDelegate;

  public MobileClient(BusinessDelegate businessDelegate) {
    this.businessDelegate = businessDelegate;
  }

  public void playbackMovie(String movie) {
    businessDelegate.playbackMovie(movie);
  }
}
```

Finally, we can show the full example in action.

```java
  public static void main(String[] args) {

    // prepare the objects
    var businessDelegate = new BusinessDelegate();
    var businessLookup = new BusinessLookup();
    businessLookup.setNetflixService(new NetflixService());
    businessLookup.setYouTubeService(new YouTubeService());
    businessDelegate.setLookupService(businessLookup);

    // create the client and use the business delegate
    var client = new MobileClient(businessDelegate);
    client.playbackMovie("Die Hard 2");
    client.playbackMovie("Maradona: The Greatest Ever");
  }
```

Here is the console output.

```
21:15:33.790 [main] INFO com.iluwatar.business.delegate.NetflixService - NetflixService is now processing
21:15:33.794 [main] INFO com.iluwatar.business.delegate.YouTubeService - YouTubeService is now processing
```

## Class diagram

![alt text](./etc/business-delegate.urm.png "Business Delegate")

## Related patterns

* [Service locator pattern](https://java-design-patterns.com/patterns/service-locator/)

## Applicability

Use the Business Delegate pattern when

* You want loose coupling between presentation and business tiers
* You want to orchestrate calls to multiple business services
* You want to encapsulate service lookups and service calls

## Tutorials

* [Business Delegate Pattern at TutorialsPoint](https://www.tutorialspoint.com/design_pattern/business_delegate_pattern.htm)

## Credits

* [J2EE Design Patterns](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0596004273/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0596004273&linkCode=as2&tag=javadesignpat-20&linkId=48d37c67fb3d845b802fa9b619ad8f31)
* [Core J2EE Patterns: Best Practices and Design Strategies](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0130648841/ref=as_li_qf_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=javadesignpat-20&creative=9325&linkCode=as2&creativeASIN=0130648841&linkId=a0100de2b28c71ede8db1757fb2b5947)