How to: Implement an Observer

Article
11/10/2021

The observer design pattern requires a division between an observer, which registers for notifications, and a provider, which monitors data and sends notifications to one or more observers. This topic discusses how to create an observer. A related topic, How to: Implement a Provider, discusses how to create a provider.

To create an observer

Define the observer, which is a type that implements the System.IObserver<T> interface. For example, the following code defines a type named TemperatureReporter that is a constructed System.IObserver<T> implementation with a generic type argument of Temperature.
```
public class TemperatureReporter : IObserver<Temperature>
```
```
Public Class TemperatureReporter : Implements IObserver(Of Temperature)
```

If the observer can stop receiving notifications before the provider calls its IObserver<T>.OnCompleted implementation, define a private variable that will hold the IDisposable implementation returned by the provider's IObservable<T>.Subscribe method. You should also define a subscription method that calls the provider's Subscribe method and stores the returned IDisposable object. For example, the following code defines a private variable named unsubscriber and defines a Subscribe method that calls the provider's Subscribe method and assigns the returned object to the unsubscriber variable.

public class TemperatureReporter : IObserver<Temperature>
{
   private IDisposable unsubscriber;
   private bool first = true;
   private Temperature last;

   public virtual void Subscribe(IObservable<Temperature> provider)
   {
      unsubscriber = provider.Subscribe(this);
   }

Public Class TemperatureReporter : Implements IObserver(Of Temperature)

    Private unsubscriber As IDisposable
    Private first As Boolean = True
    Private last As Temperature

    Public Overridable Sub Subscribe(ByVal provider As IObservable(Of Temperature))
        unsubscriber = provider.Subscribe(Me)
    End Sub

Define a method that enables the observer to stop receiving notifications before the provider calls its IObserver<T>.OnCompleted implementation, if this feature is required. The following example defines an Unsubscribe method.
```
public virtual void Unsubscribe()
{
   unsubscriber.Dispose();
}
```
```
Public Overridable Sub Unsubscribe()
    unsubscriber.Dispose()
End Sub
```

Provide implementations of the three methods defined by the IObserver<T> interface: IObserver<T>.OnNext, IObserver<T>.OnError, and IObserver<T>.OnCompleted. Depending on the provider and the needs of the application, the OnError and OnCompleted methods can be stub implementations. Note that the OnError method should not handle the passed Exception object as an exception, and the OnCompleted method is free to call the provider's IDisposable.Dispose implementation. The following example shows the IObserver<T> implementation of the TemperatureReporter class.

public virtual void OnCompleted()
{
   Console.WriteLine("Additional temperature data will not be transmitted.");
}

public virtual void OnError(Exception error)
{
   // Do nothing.
}

public virtual void OnNext(Temperature value)
{
   Console.WriteLine("The temperature is {0}°C at {1:g}", value.Degrees, value.Date);
   if (first)
   {
      last = value;
      first = false;
   }
   else
   {
      Console.WriteLine("   Change: {0}° in {1:g}", value.Degrees - last.Degrees,
                                                    value.Date.ToUniversalTime() - last.Date.ToUniversalTime());
   }
}

Public Overridable Sub OnCompleted() Implements System.IObserver(Of Temperature).OnCompleted
    Console.WriteLine("Additional temperature data will not be transmitted.")
End Sub

Public Overridable Sub OnError(ByVal [error] As System.Exception) Implements System.IObserver(Of Temperature).OnError
    ' Do nothing.
End Sub

Public Overridable Sub OnNext(ByVal value As Temperature) Implements System.IObserver(Of Temperature).OnNext
    Console.WriteLine("The temperature is {0}°C at {1:g}", value.Degrees, value.Date)
    If first Then
        last = value
        first = False
    Else
        Console.WriteLine("   Change: {0}° in {1:g}", value.Degrees - last.Degrees,
                                                      value.Date.ToUniversalTime - last.Date.ToUniversalTime)
    End If
End Sub

Example

The following example contains the complete source code for the TemperatureReporter class, which provides the IObserver<T> implementation for a temperature monitoring application.

public class TemperatureReporter : IObserver<Temperature>
{
   private IDisposable unsubscriber;
   private bool first = true;
   private Temperature last;

   public virtual void Subscribe(IObservable<Temperature> provider)
   {
      unsubscriber = provider.Subscribe(this);
   }

   public virtual void Unsubscribe()
   {
      unsubscriber.Dispose();
   }

   public virtual void OnCompleted()
   {
      Console.WriteLine("Additional temperature data will not be transmitted.");
   }

   public virtual void OnError(Exception error)
   {
      // Do nothing.
   }

   public virtual void OnNext(Temperature value)
   {
      Console.WriteLine("The temperature is {0}°C at {1:g}", value.Degrees, value.Date);
      if (first)
      {
         last = value;
         first = false;
      }
      else
      {
         Console.WriteLine("   Change: {0}° in {1:g}", value.Degrees - last.Degrees,
                                                       value.Date.ToUniversalTime() - last.Date.ToUniversalTime());
      }
   }
}

Public Class TemperatureReporter : Implements IObserver(Of Temperature)

    Private unsubscriber As IDisposable
    Private first As Boolean = True
    Private last As Temperature

    Public Overridable Sub Subscribe(ByVal provider As IObservable(Of Temperature))
        unsubscriber = provider.Subscribe(Me)
    End Sub

    Public Overridable Sub Unsubscribe()
        unsubscriber.Dispose()
    End Sub

    Public Overridable Sub OnCompleted() Implements System.IObserver(Of Temperature).OnCompleted
        Console.WriteLine("Additional temperature data will not be transmitted.")
    End Sub

    Public Overridable Sub OnError(ByVal [error] As System.Exception) Implements System.IObserver(Of Temperature).OnError
        ' Do nothing.
    End Sub

    Public Overridable Sub OnNext(ByVal value As Temperature) Implements System.IObserver(Of Temperature).OnNext
        Console.WriteLine("The temperature is {0}°C at {1:g}", value.Degrees, value.Date)
        If first Then
            last = value
            first = False
        Else
            Console.WriteLine("   Change: {0}° in {1:g}", value.Degrees - last.Degrees,
                                                          value.Date.ToUniversalTime - last.Date.ToUniversalTime)
        End If
    End Sub
End Class

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How to: Implement an Observer

To create an observer

Example

See also

Additional resources