In today’s article, which is part of our series about frontend design patterns, I will explain the Composite Pattern, explore real-world examples, and provide a hands-on JavaScript implementation. Let's dive in!

Composite Pattern is a structural design pattern that organizes objects into tree structures for representing whole-part hierarchies. It helps you handle individual objects and groups of objects in the same way. This pattern is handy for working with tree-like structures, like user interfaces or organizational hierarchies.

In JavaScript, the Composite Pattern can be implemented by creating a base component class that defines the common interface for both simple and composite objects. “Leaf” objects represent the end objects in the composition, while composite objects can contain other leaf or composite objects.

Real case scenario

A common challenge developers face is managing a complex UI with nested elements, such as menus with submenus or file systems with directories and files. Without a structured approach, the code can become difficult to manage and extend, leading to potential bugs and inefficiencies.

This is where the Composite Pattern comes into play. By treating individual UI elements and groups of elements uniformly, developers can simplify the management of nested components. For instance, consider a menu system where we have two types of components: MenuItem and Menu. MenuItem represents a single menu item, while Menu can contain multiple MenuItem objects and other Menu objects. Both MenuItem and Menu implement a common interface, allowing the main menu to treat them uniformly. This pattern not only makes the code more manageable but also enhances its extensibility.

Hands-on

To better understand the Composite Pattern, let's implement a simple example using JavaScript.

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// Component interface
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class MenuComponent {
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  add(component) {}
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  remove(component) {}
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  getChild(index) {}
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  display() {}
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}
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// Leaf object
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class MenuItem extends MenuComponent {
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  constructor(name) {
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    super();
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    this.name = name;
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  }
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  display() {
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    console.log(this.name);
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  }
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}
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// Composite object
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class Menu extends MenuComponent {
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  constructor(name) {
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    super();
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    this.name = name;
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    this.children = [];
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  }
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  add(component) {
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    this.children.push(component);
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  }
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  remove(component) {
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    this.children = this.children.filter(child => child !== component);
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  }
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  getChild(index) {
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    return this.children[index];
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  }
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  display() {
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    console.log(this.name);
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    this.children.forEach(child => child.display());
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  }
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}
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// Client code
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const mainMenu = new Menu('Main Menu');
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const menuItem1 = new MenuItem('Item 1');
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const menuItem2 = new MenuItem('Item 2');
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const subMenu = new Menu('Sub Menu');
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const subMenuItem1 = new MenuItem('Sub Item 1');
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mainMenu.add(menuItem1);
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mainMenu.add(menuItem2);
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mainMenu.add(subMenu);
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subMenu.add(subMenuItem1);
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// Display the menu structure
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mainMenu.display();

Let's break down the code:

MenuComponent: This is the base class, serving as an interface for both leaf and composite objects. It defines the common methods like add, remove, getChild, and display.

MenuItem: This class represents the leaf objects in the composite pattern. It extends MenuComponent and implements the display method to output its name.

Menu: This class represents composite objects that can contain children (both MenuItem and other Menu objects). It extends MenuComponent and implements methods to add, remove, retrieve, and display its children.

Client code: The example creates a menu structure with a main menu, menu items, and a sub-menu. It then adds items to the main menu and the sub-menu, and finally displays the entire structure.

Conclusion

By applying the Composite Pattern, you can manage complex UI components efficiently, handle organizational hierarchies, and structure data representations such as file systems. This pattern makes your codebase more maintainable and scalable, particularly in scenarios where you need to treat individual objects and compositions of objects uniformly.

If you have any questions feel free to drop a comment below. Also, make sure to check out the other articles in our frontend design patterns series!

Stay tuned for our next post coming next week!