Re: Re (tilly) 3: Object Oriented Pattern help

[zigster]

I was talking about correctly scoping an object, this would involve the object being constructed whilst in scope and destroyed while out of scope. Now my point was that in this case as the scope is well defined so should be used. Now as database connections represent a scarce resource, keeping a connection open too long is not IMHO desirable.

If I were to solve a problem such as this I suppose I would take the middle ground. The point you make about complex initialisation is very valid, however I would disagree that this is something that the singleton pattern is best suited to resolve. I would suggest the factory pattern would be more appropriate here. I would wrap the database connection up in object that is scoped over the life of the query, and have this object constructed by the factory. I would probably make the query an object also, complete the query close the connection. If performance was really an issue and opening and closing connections was a concern I would NOT extend the scope of a connection DIRECTLY. I would implement connection pooling withing the database connection object via a faceted object (pattern not seen within DP but described in C++ for proffessional programmers, kinda like a cross between a factory and a singleton, an object that can doll out several of a suite of objects within it's control). In short my point was that the use of a singleton in this case covers up weaknesses in the design that could be resolved more elegently.

UPDATE I just want to say that I am not actually disagreing with tilly in this post. His comments are all valid (except the one where he disagrees with me *grins*) I think my views actually fit alongside his. This post is to expand upon my thinking not to create an argument.
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Zigster