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copied!<p>I had a bunch of objects which were responsible for their own construction (get properties from network message, then build). By construction I mean setting frame sizes, colours, that sort of thing, not literal object construction. </p> <p>The code got really bloated and messy when I started adding conditions to control the building algorithm, so I decided to separate the algorithm to into a "Builder" class, which essentially gets the properties of the object, works out what needs to be done and then applies the changes to the object.</p> <p>The advantage to having the builder algorithm separate is that I can wrap/decorate it, or override it completely. The object itself doesn't need to worry about how it is built, it just creates a <code>builder</code> and 'decorates' the <code>builder</code> with extra the functionality that it needs to get the job done.</p> <p>I am quite happy with this approach except for one thing... Because my <code>Builder</code> does not inherit from the object itself (object is large and I want run-time customisation), I have to expose a lot of internal properties of the object.</p> <p>It's like employing a builder to rebuild your house. He isn't a house himself but he needs access to the internal details, he can't do anything by looking through the windows. I don't want to open my house up to everyone, just the builder.</p> <p>I know objects are supposed to look after themselves, and in an ideal world my object (house) would build itself, but I am refactoring the <code>build</code> portion of this object only, and I need a way to apply building algorithms dynamically, and I hate opening up my objects with getters and setters just for the sake of the <code>Builder</code>.</p> <p>I should mention I'm working in Obj-C++ so lack <code>friend</code> classes or internal classes. If the explanation was too abstract I'd be happy to clarify with something a little more concrete. Mostly just looking for ideas or advice about what to do in this kind of situation.</p> <p>Cheers folks, Sam</p> <p>EDIT: is it a good approach to declare a </p> <pre><code>interface House(StuffTheBuilderNeedsAccessTo) </code></pre> <p>category inside <code>Builder.h</code> ? That way I suppose I could declare the properties the builder needs and put synthesizers inside House.mm. Nobody would have access to the properties unless they included the <code>Builder</code> header.... </p> <p>That's all I can think of!</p>

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