Understanding the Decorator Pattern in .NET with C#

The Decorator Pattern is a structural design pattern that allows for dynamically adding behavior to individual objects without affecting the behavior of other objects from the same class. This pattern is particularly useful in .NET applications where you need to extend the functionality of classes in a flexible and reusable way. In this post, we will explore the Decorator Pattern in detail, using C# for our examples.

What is the Decorator Pattern?

At its core, the Decorator Pattern involves a set of ‘decorator’ classes that are used to wrap concrete components. This pattern allows for adding new functionality to existing objects without altering their structure. This is particularly useful in situations where subclassing would lead to an exponential rise in new classes for every possible combination of functionalities.

Key Components

The pattern comprises the following components:

1. Component: An interface or abstract class defining the methods that will be implemented.
2. ConcreteComponent: A class that implements the Component interface.
3. Decorator: An abstract class that implements the Component interface and contains a reference to a Component object.