Prev Next

GoF Patterns

A Design Pattern is a template for solving commonly recurring design problems; it consists of a series of elements and connectors that can be reused in a new context. The advantage of using Patterns is that they have been tested and refined in a number of contexts and so are typically robust solutions to common problems. Enterprise Architect provides the Gang of Four Patterns as an MDG Technology that can be loaded into the current repository.

The Gang of Four (Gof) Patterns are a group of twenty three Design Patterns originally published in a seminal book entitled Design Patterns: Elements of Reusable Object-Oriented Software; the term 'Gang of Four' refers to the four authors. Enterprise Architect displays these Patterns in its powerful Pattern engine, helping you to visualize the elements of the Pattern and adjust the Pattern to the context of your software design problem.

GoF Patterns in Enterprise Architect

Features

Description

See also

GoF Pattern Facilities

The GoF Patterns are provided in the form of:

  • GoF Behavioral Patterns, GoF Creational Patterns and GoF Structural Patterns pages in the Toolbox
  • Gang of Four Pattern entries in the Toolbox Shortcut Menu

GoF Pattern Toolbox Pages

You can access the 'GoF Pattern' pages of the Toolbox by clicking on to display the 'Find Toolbox Item' dialog and specifying 'GoF Patterns'; these icons are available:

When you drag one of the Pattern elements onto a new diagram, the 'Add Pattern GoF <pattern group><pattern type>' dialog displays; if necessary, modify the action and/or default for the component elements, then click on the OK button to create a diagram based on the Pattern.

Toolbox Shortcut Menu

Disable GoF Patterns

If you prefer not to use the GoF Patterns technology in Enterprise Architect, you can disable it (and subsequently re-enable it) using the 'MDG Technologies' dialog (select the 'Specialize > Technologies > Manage' ribbon option).

MDG Technologies

Learn more