How can I implement the observer pattern in Rust?

Question

I have an observable collection and an observer. I want the observer to be a trait implementation of trait Observer. The observable object should be able to notify each observer when some event occurs. This should explain my intentions:

struct A {
    observables: Vec<Observable>,
}

impl A {
    fn new() -> A {
        A {
            observables: vec![],
        }
    }
}

trait Observer {
    fn event(&mut self, _: &String);
}

impl Observer for A {
    fn event(&mut self, ev: &String) {
        println!("Got event from observable: {}", ev);
    }
}

struct Observable {
    observers: Vec<dyn Observer>, // How to contain references to observers? (this line is invalid)
}

impl Observable {
    fn new() -> Observable {
        Observable {
            observers: Vec::new(),
        }
    }

    fn add_observer(&mut self, o: &dyn Observer) {
        // incorrect line too
        self.observers.push(o);
    }

    fn remove_observer(&mut self, o: &dyn Observer) {
        // incorrect line too
        self.observers.remove(o);
    }

    fn notify_observers(&self, ev: &String) {
        for o in &mut self.observers {
            o.event(ev);
        }
    }
}

(Playground)

I get the error:

error[E0277]: the size for values of type `(dyn Observer + 'static)` cannot be known at compilation time
  --> src/lib.rs:24:5
   |
24 |     observers: Vec<dyn Observer>, // How to contain references to observers?
   |     ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ doesn't have a size known at compile-time
   |
   = help: the trait `std::marker::Sized` is not implemented for `(dyn Observer + 'static)`
   = note: to learn more, visit <https://doc.rust-lang.org/book/second-edition/ch19-04-advanced-types.html#dynamically-sized-types-and-the-sized-trait>
   = note: required by `std::vec::Vec`

This is just a mock-up of what I want to do. I have code like this in Java, Python, and C++, but I don't know how to implement the observer pattern in Rust. I believe my problem is in storing a reference to observer objects inside observable objects.

How does the Observer unregister from the Observable? How is the lifetime of an Observer handled? — Matthieu M.
@MatthieuM. I would like to know it too because it is related to the question's answer. And excuse me, I don't understood your second question. — Victor Polevoy
cross post on users.rust-lang.org: users.rust-lang.org/t/… — oli_obk

Matthieu M. Matthieu M. · Accepted Answer · 2016-06-01T15:47:48

The Observer pattern, depending on implementation choices, may pose an ownership challenge.

In garbage collected languages it is typical to have the Observable referring to the Observer (to notify it) and the Observer referring to the Observable (to unregister itself)... this causes some challenges in terms of ownership (who outlives whom?) and there is this whole "notification on un-registering" thing.

In Rust (and C++), I advise avoiding cycles.

Simple solution

The Observable and Observer have distinct lifetimes, none owning the other or being expected to outlive the other.

use std::rc::Weak;

struct Event;

trait Observable {
    fn register(&mut self, observer: Weak<dyn Observer>);
}

trait Observer {
    fn notify(&self, event: &Event);
}

The key is to allocate the Observer into a Rc and then hand over Weak (weak references) to the Observable.

If the Observer needs be modified on the Event, then either it needs internal mutability or it needs to be wrapped into a RefCell (passing Weak<RefCell<dyn Observer>> to the Observable).

When notifying, the Observable will regularly realize that there are dead weak-references (the Observer has disappeared), it can remove those then, lazily.

There are other solutions, such as using a Broker (quite similar to an event loop), moving from push mode to pull mode (i.e. (1) generate all events, (2) treat all of them), however these depart a bit from the traditional Observer Pattern and have different pluses/minuses so I will not attempt to treat them all here.

How can I implement the observer pattern in Rust?

5 Answers