Framework Overview

with UML Diagrams

Learn to Build Robust, Scalable and Maintainable
Applications using PureMVC
Framework Overview

This document discusses the classes and interfaces of the PureMVC

framework; illustrating their roles, responsibilities and collaborations
with simple UML (Unified Modeling Language) diagrams.

The PureMVC framework has a very narrow goal. That is to help you
separate your application’s coding concerns into three discrete tiers;
Model, View and Controller.

In this implementation of the classic MVC design meta-pattern, the

application tiers are represented by three Singletons (a class where
only one instance may be created).

A fourth Singleton, the Façade, simplifies development by providing a

single interface for communications throughout the application.

The Model caches named references to Proxies, which expose an API for
manipulating the Data Model (including data retrieved from remote services).

The View primarily caches named references to Mediators, which adapt and
steward the View Components that make up the user interface.

The Controller maintains named mappings to Command classes, which are

stateless, and only created when needed.

The Façade initializes and caches the Core actors (Model, View and
Controller), and provides a single place to access all of their public methods.

AUTHOR: Cliff Hall <[email protected]>

LAST MODIFIED: 3/05/2008
Façade and Core

The Façade class makes it possible for the Proxies, Mediators and
Commands that make up most of our final application to talk to each
other in a loosely coupled way, without having to import or work
directly with the Core framework actors.

When we create a concrete Façade implementation for our application,

we are able to use the Core actors ‘out of the box’, incidental to our
interaction with the Façade, minimizing the amount of API knowledge
the developer needs to have to be successful with the framework.

The Core actors Model, View and Controller implement IModel, IView
and IController interfaces respectively. The Façade implements IFacade,
which implements all the Core interfaces, by composition.
PureMVC is a free, open source framework created and maintained by Futurescale, Inc. Copyright © 2006-08, Some rights reserved.
Reuse is governed by the Creative Commons 3.0 Attribution Unported License. PureMVC, as well as this documentation and any training materials or demonstration source
code downloaded from Futurescale’s websites is provided 'as is' without warranty of any kind, either express or implied, including, but not limited to, the implied
warranties of fitness for a purpose, or the warranty of non-infringement.

PureMVC_Framework_Overview_with_UML.doc Page 2 of 14 3/5/2008 10:27 PM

Façade and Core

PureMVC is a free, open source framework created and maintained by Futurescale, Inc. Copyright © 2006-08, Some rights reserved.
Reuse is governed by the Creative Commons 3.0 Attribution Unported License. PureMVC, as well as this documentation and any training materials or demonstration source
code downloaded from Futurescale’s websites is provided 'as is' without warranty of any kind, either express or implied, including, but not limited to, the implied
warranties of fitness for a purpose, or the warranty of non-infringement.

PureMVC_Framework_Overview_with_UML.doc Page 3 of 14 3/5/2008 10:27 PM

View, Mediators and View Components

The View class is implemented as a Singleton that caches and provides

access to concrete IMediator instances.

Mediators help us to create or reuse existing user interface

components without the need to imbue them with knowledge about
the PureMVC application they communicate with. Concrete Mediators
must implement the IMediator interface, usually by sub-classing the
framework Mediator class.

View Components display data or accept user gestures. In a Flash-

based application, they typically communicate with their Mediators
using Events and exposing some properties for the concrete Mediator
to inspect or manage. A Mediator connects a View Component with its
data and communicates with the rest of the system on its behalf.

When a concrete Mediator is registered with the View, it is queried as

to its Notification interests. It must return an Array of all the names of
the Notifications it wishes to be informed of.

Because it must implement the IMediator interface, the concrete

Mediator will have a handleNotification method. When it is registered
with the View, an Observer instance is created and registered for each
Notification in the Array so that the Mediator's handleNotification
method is invoked whenever a Notification of interest to the Mediator
is sent.

The Mediator framework class implements INotifier and so has a

sendNotification method, which takes the parameters for a new
Notification, constructs the Notification and uses the Singleton IFacade
instance to send it.

PureMVC is a free, open source framework created and maintained by Futurescale, Inc. Copyright © 2006-08, Some rights reserved.
Reuse is governed by the Creative Commons 3.0 Attribution Unported License. PureMVC, as well as this documentation and any training materials or demonstration source
code downloaded from Futurescale’s websites is provided 'as is' without warranty of any kind, either express or implied, including, but not limited to, the implied
warranties of fitness for a purpose, or the warranty of non-infringement.

PureMVC_Framework_Overview_with_UML.doc Page 4 of 14 3/5/2008 10:27 PM

View, Mediators and View Components

The Mediator’s protected façade property is initialized to the registered

IFacade instance, and therefore the Mediator must be constructed after
you have initialized your Application's concrete Façade.

View
-instance : IView
-mediatorMap : Array
-observerMap : Array
-SINGLETON_MSG : String
+registerObserver(in notificationName : String, in observer : IObserver) : void
IView +notifyObservers(in notification : INotification) : void
+registerMediator(in mediator : IMediator) : void
+retrieveMediator(in mediatorName : String) : IMediator
+removeMediator(in mediatorName : String) : void
+hasMediator(in mediatorName : String) : Boolean
+View()
+getInstance() : IView
#initializeView() : void

Mediator
+NAME : String
-viewComponent : Object
-facade : IFacade
+getMediatorName() : String
+setViewComponent(in viewComponent : Object) : void
IMediator +getViewComponent() : Object
+listNotificationInterests() : Array
1 +handleNotification(in notification : INotification) : void
+onRegister() : void
+onRemove() : void
1
+sendNotification(in notificationName : String, in body : Object, in type : String) : void
+Meditator(in viewComponent : Object)

1
ViewComponent
IFacade Facade
1

PureMVC is a free, open source framework created and maintained by Futurescale, Inc. Copyright © 2006-08, Some rights reserved.
Reuse is governed by the Creative Commons 3.0 Attribution Unported License. PureMVC, as well as this documentation and any training materials or demonstration source
code downloaded from Futurescale’s websites is provided 'as is' without warranty of any kind, either express or implied, including, but not limited to, the implied
warranties of fitness for a purpose, or the warranty of non-infringement.

PureMVC_Framework_Overview_with_UML.doc Page 5 of 14 3/5/2008 10:27 PM

Model, Proxies and Data Objects

The Model class is implemented as a Singleton that caches and

provides access to concrete IProxy instances.

Proxies help us to expose data structures and entity classes (and the
domain logic and services that support them) to our application in such
a way that they may be easily reused elsewhere, or refactored with a
minimum amount of impact to the rest of the application.

We might use a concrete Proxy to simply manage a reference to a

local data object, in which case idioms for interacting with it might
involve synchronous setting and getting of its data.

A Proxy might also encapsulate the application's interaction with a

remote service to save or retrieve a piece of data, in which case, one
might call a method or set data upon the Proxy and await a
Notification sent when the Proxy has retrieved the data from the
service.

The Proxy framework class implements INotifier and so has a

sendNotification method, which takes the parameters for a new
Notification, constructs the Notification and uses the IFacade Singleton
instance to send it.

Its protected façade property is initialized to the registered IFacade

instance, and therefore the Proxy must be constructed after you have
initialized your Application's concrete Facade.

PureMVC is a free, open source framework created and maintained by Futurescale, Inc. Copyright © 2006-08, Some rights reserved.
Reuse is governed by the Creative Commons 3.0 Attribution Unported License. PureMVC, as well as this documentation and any training materials or demonstration source
code downloaded from Futurescale’s websites is provided 'as is' without warranty of any kind, either express or implied, including, but not limited to, the implied
warranties of fitness for a purpose, or the warranty of non-infringement.

PureMVC_Framework_Overview_with_UML.doc Page 6 of 14 3/5/2008 10:27 PM

Model, Proxies and Data Objects

Model
-instance : IModel
-proxyMap : Array
-SINGLETON_MSG : String
+regsterProxy(in proxy : IProxy) : void
IModel +retrieveProxy(in proxyName : String) : IProxy
+removeProxy(in proxyName : String) : void
+hasProxy(in proxyName : String) : Boolean
+Model()
+getInstance() : IModel
#initializeModel() : void

Proxy
+NAME : String
-data : Object
-proxyName : String
-facade : IFacade
IProxy +getProxyName() : IProxy
1 +onRegister() : void
+onRemove() : void
+sendNotification(in notificationName : String, in body : Object, in type : String) : void
+getData() : Object 1
+setData() : Object

1
DataObject
IFacade Facade

PureMVC is a free, open source framework created and maintained by Futurescale, Inc. Copyright © 2006-08, Some rights reserved.
Reuse is governed by the Creative Commons 3.0 Attribution Unported License. PureMVC, as well as this documentation and any training materials or demonstration source
code downloaded from Futurescale’s websites is provided 'as is' without warranty of any kind, either express or implied, including, but not limited to, the implied
warranties of fitness for a purpose, or the warranty of non-infringement.

PureMVC_Framework_Overview_with_UML.doc Page 7 of 14 3/5/2008 10:27 PM

Controller and Commands

The Controller class is implemented as a Singleton that maintains a

mapping between Notification names and Command class references.

A Command may retrieve and interact with Proxies, communicate with

Mediators, or execute other Commands. Commands are often used to
orchestrate complex or system-wide activities such as application
startup and shutdown.

When it is initialized (typically by an IFacade implementation), the

Controller creates and registers with the View an appropriate Observer
instance for each Notification to Command mapping, such that when
any of the registered Notifications are broadcast, the Controller's
executeCommand method is called with the Notification.

When Notifications are broadcast by the View, the Controller

instantiates the appropriate Command class and calls the execute
method, passing in the Notification.

PureMVC includes two ICommand class implementations that you may

easily extend. Both implement INotifier, and so have a sendNotification
method and a protected façade property, initialized to the Singleton
IFaçade instance.

The SimpleCommand class merely has an execute method which is

called with the Notification object.

The MacroCommand class allows you to execute multiple

'subcommands' sequentially, each being created and passed the
original Notification on its execute method.

PureMVC is a free, open source framework created and maintained by Futurescale, Inc. Copyright © 2006-08, Some rights reserved.
Reuse is governed by the Creative Commons 3.0 Attribution Unported License. PureMVC, as well as this documentation and any training materials or demonstration source
code downloaded from Futurescale’s websites is provided 'as is' without warranty of any kind, either express or implied, including, but not limited to, the implied
warranties of fitness for a purpose, or the warranty of non-infringement.

PureMVC_Framework_Overview_with_UML.doc Page 8 of 14 3/5/2008 10:27 PM

Controller and Commands

MacroCommand calls its initializeMacroCommand method from within

its constructor. You override this method in your sub classes to call the
addSubCommand method once for each Command to be added. You
may add SimpleCommands or other MacroCommands.

Controller
-instance : IController
-view : IView
-commandMap : Array
-SINGLETON_MSG : String
IController +registerCommand(in notificationName : String, in commandClassRef : Class) : void
+executeCommand(in notification : INotification) : void
+removeCommand(in notificationName : String) : void
+hasCommand(in notificationName : String) : Boolean
+Controller()
+getInstance() : IView
#initializeController() : void

MacroCommand
-subCommands : Array
-facade : IFacade «uses»

ICommand +execute(in notification : INotification) : void

+sendNotification(in notificationName : String, in body : Object, in type : String) : String
+MacroCommand()
+initializeMacroCommand() : void
+addSubCommand(in commandClassRef : Class) : void 1

«uses» 1
IFacade Facade

SimpleCommand

ICommand -facade : IFacade

+execute(in notification : INotification) : void
+sendNotification(in notificationName : String, in body : Object, in type : String) : String
1

1
IFacade Facade

PureMVC is a free, open source framework created and maintained by Futurescale, Inc. Copyright © 2006-08, Some rights reserved.
Reuse is governed by the Creative Commons 3.0 Attribution Unported License. PureMVC, as well as this documentation and any training materials or demonstration source
code downloaded from Futurescale’s websites is provided 'as is' without warranty of any kind, either express or implied, including, but not limited to, the implied
warranties of fitness for a purpose, or the warranty of non-infringement.

PureMVC_Framework_Overview_with_UML.doc Page 9 of 14 3/5/2008 10:27 PM

View, Observer and Notification

Proxies, Mediators and Commands communicate with each other in a

loosely-coupled and platform-neutral way by broadcasting
Notifications.

• Proxies may broadcast, but do not listen for

Notifications.

• Mediators listen for and may broadcast Notifications.

• Commands are triggered by and may broadcast

Notifications.

Since PureMVC applications may also run in a pure ActionScript

environment without the underlying flash.events.Event and
EventDispatcher classes, the framework implements an Observer
notification scheme for communication between the Core actors and
other parts of the system.

PureMVC employs the Observer pattern for this purpose. An IObserver

instance carries a reference to an object which wishes to be notified
(the 'Notify Context'), and a method on that object to call when an
INotification is broadcast (the 'Notify Method').

The View is responsible for managing the map of Notification names to

Observer lists and for notifying all Observers when a Notification is
sent.

PureMVC is a free, open source framework created and maintained by Futurescale, Inc. Copyright © 2006-08, Some rights reserved.
Reuse is governed by the Creative Commons 3.0 Attribution Unported License. PureMVC, as well as this documentation and any training materials or demonstration source
code downloaded from Futurescale’s websites is provided 'as is' without warranty of any kind, either express or implied, including, but not limited to, the implied
warranties of fitness for a purpose, or the warranty of non-infringement.

PureMVC_Framework_Overview_with_UML.doc Page 10 of 14 3/5/2008 10:27 PM

View, Observer and Notification

View
-instance : IView
-mediatorMap : Array
-observerMap : Array
-SINGLETON_MSG : String
+registerObserver(in notificationName : String, in observer : IObserver) : void
IView +notifyObservers(in notification : INotification) : void
+registerMediator(in mediator : IMediator) : void
+retrieveMediator(in mediatorName : String) : IMediator
+removeMediator(in mediatorName : String) : void
+hasMediator(in mediatorName : String) : Boolean
+View()
+getInstance() : IView
#initializeView() : void

Observer
-notify : Function «uses»
-context : Object
+setNotifyMethod(in notifyMethod : Function) : void
IObserver +setNotifyContext(in notifyContext : Object) : void
+getNotifyMethod() : Function
+getNotifyContext() : Object
+notifyObserver(in notification : INotification) : void
+Observer(in method : Function, in context : Object)

Notification
-name : String
-type : String
-body : Object
+getName() : String
INotification +setBody(in body : Object) : void
+getBody() : Object
+setType(in type : String) : void
+getType() : String
+toString() : String
+Notification(in notificationName : String, in body : Object = null, in type : String = null)

PureMVC is a free, open source framework created and maintained by Futurescale, Inc. Copyright © 2006-08, Some rights reserved.
Reuse is governed by the Creative Commons 3.0 Attribution Unported License. PureMVC, as well as this documentation and any training materials or demonstration source
code downloaded from Futurescale’s websites is provided 'as is' without warranty of any kind, either express or implied, including, but not limited to, the implied
warranties of fitness for a purpose, or the warranty of non-infringement.

PureMVC_Framework_Overview_with_UML.doc Page 11 of 14 3/5/2008 10:27 PM

Interfaces
IFacade

IModel

«interface»interfaces::IModel
+regsterProxy(in proxy : IProxy) : void
+retrieveProxy(in proxyName : String) : IProxy
+removeProxy(in proxyName : String) : void
+hasProxy(in proxyName : String) : Boolean

IView

«interface»interfaces::IView
+registerObserver(in notificationName : String, in observer : IObserver) : void
+notifyObservers(in notification : INotification) : void
+registerMediator(in mediator : IMediator) : void
+retrieveMediator(in mediatorName : String) : IMediator
+removeMediator(in mediatorName : String) : void
+hasMediator(in mediatorName : String) : Boolean

IController

«interface»interfaces::IController
+registerCommand(in notificationName : String, in commandClassRef : Class) : void
+executeCommand(in notification : INotification) : void
+removeCommand(in notificationName : String) : void
+hasCommand(in notificationName : String) : Boolean

PureMVC is a free, open source framework created and maintained by Futurescale, Inc. Copyright © 2006-08, Some rights reserved.
Reuse is governed by the Creative Commons 3.0 Attribution Unported License. PureMVC, as well as this documentation and any training materials or demonstration source
code downloaded from Futurescale’s websites is provided 'as is' without warranty of any kind, either express or implied, including, but not limited to, the implied
warranties of fitness for a purpose, or the warranty of non-infringement.

PureMVC_Framework_Overview_with_UML.doc Page 12 of 14 3/5/2008 10:27 PM

Interfaces
IProxy

IMediator

ICommand

INotifier

IObserver

PureMVC is a free, open source framework created and maintained by Futurescale, Inc. Copyright © 2006-08, Some rights reserved.
Reuse is governed by the Creative Commons 3.0 Attribution Unported License. PureMVC, as well as this documentation and any training materials or demonstration source
code downloaded from Futurescale’s websites is provided 'as is' without warranty of any kind, either express or implied, including, but not limited to, the implied
warranties of fitness for a purpose, or the warranty of non-infringement.

PureMVC_Framework_Overview_with_UML.doc Page 13 of 14 3/5/2008 10:27 PM

Interfaces
INotification

PureMVC is a free, open source framework created and maintained by Futurescale, Inc. Copyright © 2006-08, Some rights reserved.
Reuse is governed by the Creative Commons 3.0 Attribution Unported License. PureMVC, as well as this documentation and any training materials or demonstration source
code downloaded from Futurescale’s websites is provided 'as is' without warranty of any kind, either express or implied, including, but not limited to, the implied
warranties of fitness for a purpose, or the warranty of non-infringement.

PureMVC_Framework_Overview_with_UML.doc Page 14 of 14 3/5/2008 10:27 PM