Delphi SysUtils.Supports unexpectedly returns true

Question

I am making eventPublisher based on Spring4d sample documentation

The difference is that subscribers must explicitly subscribe to events.

I want to run the Handle procedure based on whether to implement an interface IEventHandler<TEventType>.

When an incoming event is posted, I find the type link IEventHandler<TEventType>using the event class name and Spring4dTType.FindType('IEventHandler<TEvent1>')

Then I look at my subscribers (objects that implement the IEventHandler interface) and check if it supports the IEventHandler type.

The problem is that the Supports method returns true even if the subscriber does not implement the interface.

In addition, I tried to list the type interfaces TMyEventHandler2. Does it contain IEventHandler<TEvent2>??

I believe this is due to the restriction using IEventHandler<TEvent2> and IEventHandler<TEvent1>using the same GUID

Is there a workaround for this?

Using these classes and interfaces:

TEvent1 = class(TObject)
end;

TEvent2 = class(TObject)
end;

IEventHandler = interface(IInvokable)
[guid]
procedure Handle(aEvent : TObject);
end;

IEventHandler<T : class> = interface(IEventHandler)
[guid]
procedure Handle(aEvent : T);
end;

TMyEventHandler1 = class(TObject, IEventHandler, IEventHandler<TEvent1>)
public 
procedure Handle(AEvent : TObject); overload;
procedure Handle(AEvent : TEvent1); overload;
end;

TMyEventHandler2 = class(TObject, IEventHandler, IEventHandler<TEvent2>)
public 
procedure Handle(AEvent : TObject); overload;
procedure Handle(AEvent : TEvent2); overload;
end;

TEventPublisher = class(TObject)
public
  fSubscribers : IList<TValue>;
  procedure Subscribe(aSubscriber : TValue);  // Simply adds the subscriber to the list of subscribers
  procedure Publish(aEvent : TObject); // Publishes an event to the subscribers
end;

procedure TEventPublisher.Publish(const event: TObject; ownsObject: Boolean = True);
const
  IEventSubscriberName = 'IEventSubscriber<*>';
var
  consumerTypeName: string;
  consumerType    : TRttiType;
  intfType        : TRttiInterfaceType;
  subscriber      : TValue;
  subscribed      : IInterface;
  lEventSubscriber: IEventSubscriber;
  lIntfs          : IReadOnlyList<TRttiInterfaceType>;
begin

  consumerTypeName := StringReplace(IEventSubscriberName, '*', GetQualifiedClassName(event), []);
  consumerType     := TType.FindType(consumerTypeName);
  intfType         := consumerType as TRttiInterfaceType;

  for subscriber in fSubscribers do
  begin

    lIntfs := TType.GetType(subscriber.AsObject.ClassInfo).GetInterfaces();

    // lIntfs for TMyEventHandler2 containts IEventHandler<TEvent1> ???

    if Supports(subscriber.AsObject, intfType.GUID, subscribed) then
      if Supports(subscriber.AsObject, IEventSubscriber, lEventSubscriber) then
      begin
        intfType.GetMethod('Handle').Invoke(TValue.From(@subscribed, intfType.Handle), [event])
      end;
  end;

  if ownsObject then
    event.Free;
end;


lEventPublisher := TEventPublisher.Create;
lEventPublisher.Subscribe(TMyEventHandler1.Create);
lEventPublisher.Subscribe(TMyEventHandler2.Create);
lEventPublisher.Publish(TEvent1.Create); // Will both trigger TMyEventHandler1.Handle and TMyEventHandler2.Handle. Why ??

Answer 1

This is because if you place a guide on a common interface, each specialization of that interface will have the same pointer, regardless of its typical type parameter.

I usually solve this by putting a way to provide information about this in the interface (for example, Spring.Collections.IEnumerablehas a property ElementTypeto get the actual type IEnumerable<T>).

So, the implementation will look like this:

program GenericEventPublisher;

{$APPTYPE CONSOLE}

uses
  Spring,
  Spring.Collections,
  System.SysUtils;

type
  IEventHandler = interface
    ['{2E4BD8F4-4EB8-4B33-84F4-B70F42EF9208}']
    procedure Handle(const event: TObject);
  end;

  IEventHandler<T: class> = interface
    ['{82B7521E-D719-4051-BE2C-2EC449A92B22}']
    procedure Handle(const event: T);
    function GetHandledClass: TClass;
  end;

  IEventPublisher = interface
    ['{2A460EF0-AE27-480F-ACEA-1B897F2DE056}']
    procedure Subscribe(const subscriber: IEventHandler);
    procedure Publish(const event: TObject; ownsObject: Boolean = True);
  end;

  TEventHandlerBase<T: class> = class(TInterfacedObject, IEventHandler, IEventHandler<T>)
  private
    function GetHandledClass: TClass;
    procedure Handle(const event: TObject); overload;
  public
    procedure Handle(const event: T); overload; virtual; abstract;
  end;

  TEvent1 = class
  end;

  TEvent2 = class
  end;

  TMyEventHandler1 = class(TEventHandlerBase<TEvent1>)
  public
    procedure Handle(const event: TEvent1); override;
  end;

  TMyEventHandler2 = class(TEventHandlerBase<TEvent2>)
  public
    procedure Handle(const event: TEvent2); override;
  end;

  TEventPublisher = class(TInterfacedObject, IEventPublisher)
  private
    fSubscribers: IList<IEventHandler>;
  public
    constructor Create;
    procedure Subscribe(const subscriber: IEventHandler);
    procedure Publish(const event: TObject; ownsObject: Boolean = True);
  end;

{ TEventPublisher }

constructor TEventPublisher.Create;
begin
  fSubscribers := TCollections.CreateList<IEventHandler>;
end;

procedure TEventPublisher.Publish(const event: TObject; ownsObject: Boolean);
var
  subscriber: IEventHandler;
  eventSubscriber: IEventHandler<TObject>;
begin
  for subscriber in fSubscribers do
    if Supports(subscriber, IEventHandler<TObject>, eventSubscriber)
      and (eventSubscriber.GetHandledClass = event.ClassType) then
        eventSubscriber.Handle(event);

  if ownsObject then
    event.Free;
end;

procedure TEventPublisher.Subscribe(const subscriber: IEventHandler);
begin
  fSubscribers.Add(subscriber)
end;

{ TEventHandlerBase<T> }

function TEventHandlerBase<T>.GetHandledClass: TClass;
begin
  Result := T;
end;

procedure TEventHandlerBase<T>.Handle(const event: TObject);
begin
  Assert(event is T);
  Handle(T(event));
end;

{ TMyEventHandler1 }

procedure TMyEventHandler1.Handle(const event: TEvent1);
begin
  Writeln(event.ClassName, ' handled by ', ClassName);
end;

{ TMyEventHandler2 }

procedure TMyEventHandler2.Handle(const event: TEvent2);
begin
  Writeln(event.ClassName, ' handled by ', ClassName);
end;

var
  eventPublisher: IEventPublisher;
begin
  eventPublisher := TEventPublisher.Create;
  eventPublisher.Subscribe(TMyEventHandler1.Create);
  eventPublisher.Subscribe(TMyEventHandler2.Create);
  eventPublisher.Publish(TEvent1.Create);
  eventPublisher.Publish(TEvent2.Create);
end.

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