Memento Pattern

Code Structure

Code Example

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Create Memento class

public class Memento {
   private String state;

   public Memento(String state){
      this.state = state;
   }

   public String getState(){
      return state;
   }	
}

Create Originator class

public class Originator {
   private String state;

   public void setState(String state){
      this.state = state;
   }

   public String getState(){
      return state;
   }

   public Memento saveStateToMemento(){
      return new Memento(state);
   }

   public void getStateFromMemento(Memento memento){
      state = memento.getState();
   }
}

Create CareTaker class

import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.List;

public class CareTaker {
   private List<Memento> mementoList = new ArrayList<Memento>();

   public void add(Memento state){
      mementoList.add(state);
   }

   public Memento get(int index){
      return mementoList.get(index);
   }
}

Use CareTaker and Originator objects

public class MementoPatternDemo {
   public static void main(String[] args) {
   
      Originator originator = new Originator();
      CareTaker careTaker = new CareTaker();
      
      originator.setState("State #1");
      originator.setState("State #2");
      careTaker.add(originator.saveStateToMemento());
      
      originator.setState("State #3");
      careTaker.add(originator.saveStateToMemento());
      
      originator.setState("State #4");
      System.out.println("Current State: " + originator.getState());		
      
      originator.getStateFromMemento(careTaker.get(0));
      System.out.println("First saved State: " + originator.getState());
      originator.getStateFromMemento(careTaker.get(1));
      System.out.println("Second saved State: " + originator.getState());
   }
}

Verify the output

Current State: State #4
First saved State: State #2
Second saved State: State #3

Comparisons

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• You can use Command and Memento together when implementing “undo”. In this case, commands are responsible for performing various operations over a target object, while mementos save the state of that object just before a command gets executed.
• You can use Memento along with Iterator to capture the current iteration state and roll it back if necessary.
• Sometimes Prototype can be a simpler alternative to Memento. This works if the object, the state of which you want to store in the history, is fairly straightforward and doesn’t have links to external resources, or the links are easy to re-establish