Command Pattern - Terminology

Terminology

The terminology used to describe command pattern implementations is not consistent and can therefore be confusing. This is the result of ambiguity, the use of synonyms, and implementations that may obscure the original pattern by going well beyond it.

1. Ambiguity.
   1. The term command is ambiguous. For example, move up, move up may refer to a single (move up) command that should be executed twice, or it may refer to two commands, each of which happens to do the same thing (move up). If the former command is added twice to an undo stack, both items on the stack refer to the same command instance. This may be appropriate when a command can always be undone the same way (e.g. move down). Both the Gang of Four and the Java example below use this interpretation of the term command. On the other hand, if the latter commands are added to an undo stack, the stack refers to two separate objects. This may be appropriate when each object on the stack must contain information that allows the command to be undone. For example, to undo a delete selection command, the object may contain a copy of the deleted text so that it can be re-inserted, if the delete selection command must be undone. Note that using a separate object for each invocation of a command is also an example of the chain of responsibility pattern.
   2. The term execute is also ambiguous. It may refer to running the code identified by the command object's execute method. However, in Microsoft's Windows Presentation Foundation a command is considered to have been executed when the command's execute method has been invoked, but that does not necessarily mean that the application code has run. That occurs only after some further event processing.
2. Synonyms and homonyms.
   1. Client, Source, Invoker: the button, toolbar button, or menu item clicked, the shortcut key pressed by the user.
   2. Command Object, Routed Command Object, Action Object: a singleton object (e.g. there is only one CopyCommand object), which knows about shortcut keys, button images, command text, etc. related to the command. A source/invoker object calls the Command/Action object's execute/performAction method. The Command/Action object notifies the appropriate source/invoker objects when the availability of a command/action has changed. This allows buttons and menu items to become inactive (grayed out) when a command/action cannot be executed/performed.
   3. Receiver, Target Object: the object that is about to be copied, pasted, moved, etc. The receiver object owns the method that is called by the command's execute method. The receiver is typically also the target object. For example, if the receiver object is a cursor and the method is called moveUp, then one would expect that the cursor is the target of the moveUp action. On the other hand, if the code is defined by the command object itself, the target object will be a different object entirely.
   4. Command Object, routed event args, event object: the object that is passed from the source to the Command/Action object, to the Target object to the code that does the work. Each button click or shortcut key results in a new command/event object. Some implementations add more information to the command/event object as it is being passed from one object (e.g. CopyCommand) to another (e.g. document section). Other implementations put command/event objects in other event objects (like a box inside a bigger box) as they move along the line, to avoid naming conflicts. (See also chain of responsibility pattern).
   5. Handler, ExecutedRoutedEventHandler, method, function: the actual code that does the copying, pasting, moving, etc. In some implementations the handler code is part of the command/action object. In other implementations the code is part of the Receiver/Target Object, and in yet other implementations the handler code is kept separate from the other objects.
   6. Command Manager, Undo Manager, Scheduler, Queue, Dispatcher, Invoker: an object that puts command/event objects on an undo stack or redo stack, or that holds on to command/event objects until other objects are ready to act on them, or that routes the command/event objects to the appropriate receiver/target object or handler code.
3. Implementations that go well beyond the original command pattern.
   1. Microsoft's Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF), introduces routed commands, which combine the command pattern with event processing. As a result the command object no longer contains a reference to the target object nor a reference to the application code. Instead, invoking the command object's execute command results in a so called Executed Routed Event which during the event's tunneling or bubbling may encounter a so called binding object that identifies the target and the application code, which is executed at that point.