How do I implement the strategy pattern in web servers with C++?

The Strategy Pattern is a design pattern that enables selecting an algorithm's behavior at runtime. In the context of a web server, this can be used to define various request-handling strategies.

This example demonstrates how the Strategy Pattern can be implemented in a web server context using C++. We will create a simple server that can handle GET and POST requests through different strategies.

keywords: strategy pattern, C++, web server, design patterns, request handling


#include 
#include 

// Strategy interface
class RequestHandler {
public:
    virtual void handleRequest() = 0;
};

// Concrete Strategy for handling GET requests
class GetRequestHandler : public RequestHandler {
public:
    void handleRequest() override {
        std::cout << "Handling GET request." << std::endl;
    }
};

// Concrete Strategy for handling POST requests
class PostRequestHandler : public RequestHandler {
public:
    void handleRequest() override {
        std::cout << "Handling POST request." << std::endl;
    }
};

// Context that uses the Strategy
class Server {
private:
    std::unique_ptr handler;

public:
    void setHandler(std::unique_ptr newHandler) {
        handler = std::move(newHandler);
    }

    void processRequest() {
        if (handler) {
            handler->handleRequest();
        }
        else {
            std::cout << "No handler set for this request." << std::endl;
        }
    }
};

int main() {
    Server server;

    // Set to handle GET requests
    server.setHandler(std::make_unique());
    server.processRequest();

    // Change to handle POST requests
    server.setHandler(std::make_unique());
    server.processRequest();

    return 0;
}
    

keywords: strategy pattern C++ web server design patterns request handling