HTML
Living Standard — Last Updated 16 January 2024
Living Standard — Last Updated 16 January 2024
Support in all current engines.
This section is non-normative.
This specification defines an API for running scripts in the background independently of any user interface scripts.
This allows for long-running scripts that are not interrupted by scripts that respond to clicks or other user interactions, and allows long tasks to be executed without yielding to keep the page responsive.
Workers (as these background scripts are called herein) are relatively heavy-weight, and are not intended to be used in large numbers. For example, it would be inappropriate to launch one worker for each pixel of a four megapixel image. The examples below show some appropriate uses of workers.
Generally, workers are expected to be long-lived, have a high start-up performance cost, and a high per-instance memory cost.
This section is non-normative.
There are a variety of uses that workers can be put to. The following subsections show various examples of this use.
This section is non-normative.
The simplest use of workers is for performing a computationally expensive task without interrupting the user interface.
In this example, the main document spawns a worker to (naïvely) compute prime numbers, and progressively displays the most recently found prime number.
The main page is as follows:
<!DOCTYPE HTML>
< html lang = "en" >
< head >
< meta charset = "utf-8" >
< title > Worker example: One-core computation</ title >
</ head >
< body >
< p > The highest prime number discovered so far is: < output id = "result" ></ output ></ p >
< script >
var worker = new Worker( 'worker.js' );
worker. onmessage = function ( event) {
document. getElementById( 'result' ). textContent = event. data;
};
</ script >
</ body >
</ html >
The Worker() constructor call creates a worker and returns a
Worker object representing that worker, which is used to communicate with the worker.
That object's onmessage event handler allows the
code to receive messages from the worker.
The worker itself is as follows:
var n = 1 ;
search: while ( true ) {
n += 1 ;
for ( var i = 2 ; i <= Math. sqrt( n); i += 1 )
if ( n % i == 0 )
continue search;
// found a prime!
postMessage( n);
}
The bulk of this code is simply an unoptimized search for a prime number. The postMessage() method is used to send a
message back to the page when a prime is found.
This section is non-normative.
All of our examples so far show workers that run classic
scripts. Workers can instead be instantiated using module
scripts, which have the usual benefits: the ability to use the JavaScript
import statement to import other modules; strict mode by default; and
top-level declarations not polluting the worker's global scope.
As the import statement is available, the importScripts() method will automatically fail
inside module workers.
In this example, the main document uses a worker to do off-main-thread image manipulation. It imports the filters used from another module.
The main page is as follows:
<!DOCTYPE html>
< html lang = "en" >
< meta charset = "utf-8" >
< title > Worker example: image decoding</ title >
< p >
< label >
Type an image URL to decode
< input type = "url" id = "image-url" list = "image-list" >
< datalist id = "image-list" >
< option value = "https://html.spec.whatwg.org/images/drawImage.png" >
< option value = "https://html.spec.whatwg.org/images/robots.jpeg" >
< option value = "https://html.spec.whatwg.org/images/arcTo2.png" >
</ datalist >
</ label >
</ p >
< p >
< label >
Choose a filter to apply
< select id = "filter" >
< option value = "none" > none</ option >
< option value = "grayscale" > grayscale</ option >
< option value = "brighten" > brighten by 20%</ option >
</ select >
</ label >
</ p >
< div id = "output" ></ div >
< script type = "module" >
const worker = new Worker( "worker.js" , { type: "module" });
worker. onmessage = receiveFromWorker;
const url = document. querySelector( "#image-url" );
const filter = document. querySelector( "#filter" );
const output = document. querySelector( "#output" );
url. oninput = updateImage;
filter. oninput = sendToWorker;
let imageData, context;
function updateImage() {
const img = new Image();
img. src = url. value;
img. onload = () => {
const canvas = document. createElement( "canvas" );
canvas. width = img. width;
canvas. height = img. height;
context = canvas. getContext( "2d" );
context. drawImage( img, 0 , 0 );
imageData = context. getImageData( 0 , 0 , canvas. width, canvas. height);
sendToWorker();
output. replaceChildren( canvas);
};
}
function sendToWorker() {
worker. postMessage({ imageData, filter: filter. value });
}
function receiveFromWorker( e) {
context. putImageData( e. data, 0 , 0 );
}
</ script >
The worker file is then:
import * as filters from "./filters.js" ;
self. onmessage = e => {
const { imageData, filter } = e. data;
filters[ filter]( imageData);
self. postMessage( imageData, [ imageData. data. buffer]);
};
Which imports the file filters.js:
export function none() {}
export function grayscale({ data: d }) {
for ( let i = 0 ; i < d. length; i += 4 ) {
const [ r, g, b] = [ d[ i], d[ i + 1 ], d[ i + 2 ]];
// CIE luminance for the RGB
// The human eye is bad at seeing red and blue, so we de-emphasize them.
d[ i] = d[ i + 1 ] = d[ i + 2 ] = 0.2126 * r + 0.7152 * g + 0.0722 * b;
}
};
export function brighten({ data: d }) {
for ( let i = 0 ; i < d. length; ++ i) {
d[ i] *= 1.2 ;
}
};
Support in all current engines.
This section is non-normative.
This section introduces shared workers using a Hello World example. Shared workers use slightly different APIs, since each worker can have multiple connections.
This first example shows how you connect to a worker and how a worker can send a message back to the page when it connects to it. Received messages are displayed in a log.
Here is the HTML page:
<!DOCTYPE HTML>
< html lang = "en" >
< meta charset = "utf-8" >
< title > Shared workers: demo 1</ title >
< pre id = "log" > Log:</ pre >
< script >
var worker = new SharedWorker( 'test.js' );
var log = document. getElementById( 'log' );
worker. port. onmessage = function ( e) { // note: not worker.onmessage!
log. textContent += '\n' + e. data;
}
</ script >
Here is the JavaScript worker:
onconnect = function ( e) {
var port = e. ports[ 0 ];
port. postMessage( 'Hello World!' );
}
This second example extends the first one by changing two things: first, messages are received
using addEventListener() instead of an event handler IDL attribute, and second, a message is sent to the
worker, causing the worker to send another message in return. Received messages are again
displayed in a log.
Here is the HTML page:
<!DOCTYPE HTML>
< html lang = "en" >
< meta charset = "utf-8" >
< title > Shared workers: demo 2</ title >
< pre id = "log" > Log:</ pre >
< script >
var worker = new SharedWorker( 'test.js' );
var log = document. getElementById( 'log' );
worker. port. addEventListener( 'message' , function ( e) {
log. textContent += '\n' + e. data;
}, false );
worker. port. start(); // note: need this when using addEventListener
worker. port. postMessage( 'ping' );
</ script >
Here is the JavaScript worker:
onconnect = function ( e) {
var port = e. ports[ 0 ];
port. postMessage( 'Hello World!' );
port. onmessage = function ( e) {
port. postMessage( 'pong' ); // not e.ports[0].postMessage!
// e.target.postMessage('pong'); would work also
}
}
Finally, the example is extended to show how two pages can connect to the same worker; in this
case, the second page is merely in an iframe on the first page, but the same
principle would apply to an entirely separate page in a separate top-level
traversable.
Here is the outer HTML page:
<!DOCTYPE HTML>
< html lang = "en" >
< meta charset = "utf-8" >
< title > Shared workers: demo 3</ title >
< pre id = "log" > Log:</ pre >
< script >
var worker = new SharedWorker( 'test.js' );
var log = document. getElementById( 'log' );
worker. port. addEventListener( 'message' , function ( e) {
log. textContent += '\n' + e. data;
}, false );
worker. port. start();
worker. port. postMessage( 'ping' );
</ script >
< iframe src = "inner.html" ></ iframe >
Here is the inner HTML page:
<!DOCTYPE HTML>
< html lang = "en" >
< meta charset = "utf-8" >
< title > Shared workers: demo 3 inner frame</ title >
< pre id = log > Inner log:</ pre >
< script >
var worker = new SharedWorker( 'test.js' );
var log = document. getElementById( 'log' );
worker. port. onmessage = function ( e) {
log. textContent += '\n' + e. data;
}
</ script >
Here is the JavaScript worker:
var count = 0 ;
onconnect = function ( e) {
count += 1 ;
var port = e. ports[ 0 ];
port. postMessage( 'Hello World! You are connection #' + count);
port. onmessage = function ( e) {
port. postMessage( 'pong' );
}
}
This section is non-normative.
In this example, multiple windows (viewers) can be opened that are all viewing the same map. All the windows share the same map information, with a single worker coordinating all the viewers. Each viewer can move around independently, but if they set any data on the map, all the viewers are updated.
The main page isn't interesting, it merely provides a way to open the viewers:
<!DOCTYPE HTML>
< html lang = "en" >
< head >
< meta charset = "utf-8" >
< title > Workers example: Multiviewer</ title >
< script >
function openViewer() {
window. open( 'viewer.html' );
}
</ script >
</ head >
< body >
< p >< button type = button onclick = "openViewer()" > Open a new
viewer</ button ></ p >
< p > Each viewer opens in a new window. You can have as many viewers
as you like, they all view the same data.</ p >
</ body >
</ html >
The viewer is more involved:
<!DOCTYPE HTML>
< html lang = "en" >
< head >
< meta charset = "utf-8" >
< title > Workers example: Multiviewer viewer</ title >
< script >
var worker = new SharedWorker( 'worker.js' , 'core' );
// CONFIGURATION
function configure( event) {
if ( event. data. substr( 0 , 4 ) != 'cfg ' ) return ;
var name = event. data. substr( 4 ). split( ' ' , 1 )[ 0 ];
// update display to mention our name is name
document. getElementsByTagName( 'h1' )[ 0 ]. textContent += ' ' + name;
// no longer need this listener
worker. port. removeEventListener( 'message' , configure, false );
}
worker. port. addEventListener( 'message' , configure, false );
// MAP
function paintMap( event) {
if ( event. data. substr( 0 , 4 ) != 'map ' ) return ;
var data = event. data. substr( 4 ). split( ',' );
// display tiles data[0] .. data[8]
var canvas = document. getElementById( 'map' );
var context = canvas. getContext( '2d' );
for ( var y = 0 ; y < 3 ; y += 1 ) {
for ( var x = 0 ; x < 3 ; x += 1 ) {
var tile = data[ y * 3 + x];
if ( tile == '0' )
context. fillStyle = 'green' ;
else
context. fillStyle = 'maroon' ;
context. fillRect( x * 50 , y * 50 , 50 , 50 );
}
}
}
worker. port. addEventListener( 'message' , paintMap, false );
// PUBLIC CHAT
function updatePublicChat( event) {
if ( event. data. substr( 0 , 4 ) != 'txt ' ) return ;
var name = event. data. substr( 4 ). split( ' ' , 1 )[ 0 ];
var message = event. data. substr( 4 + name. length + 1 );
// display "<name> message" in public chat
var public = document. getElementById( 'public' );
var p = document. createElement( 'p' );
var n = document. createElement( 'button' );
n. textContent = '<' + name + '> ' ;
n. onclick = function () { worker. port. postMessage( 'msg ' + name); };
p. appendChild( n);
var m = document. createElement( 'span' );
m. textContent = message;
p. appendChild( m);
public. appendChild( p);
}
worker. port. addEventListener( 'message' , updatePublicChat, false );
// PRIVATE CHAT
function startPrivateChat( event) {
if ( event. data. substr( 0 , 4 ) != 'msg ' ) return ;
var name = event. data. substr( 4 ). split( ' ' , 1 )[ 0 ];
var port = event. ports[ 0 ];
// display a private chat UI
var ul = document. getElementById( 'private' );
var li = document. createElement( 'li' );
var h3 = document. createElement( 'h3' );
h3. textContent = 'Private chat with ' + name;
li. appendChild( h3);
var div = document. createElement( 'div' );
var addMessage = function ( name, message) {
var p = document. createElement( 'p' );
var n = document. createElement( 'strong' );
n. textContent = '<' + name + '> ' ;
p. appendChild( n);
var t = document. createElement( 'span' );
t. textContent = message;
p. appendChild( t);
div. appendChild( p);
};
port. onmessage = function ( event) {
addMessage( name, event. data);
};
li. appendChild( div);
var form = document. createElement( 'form' );
var p = document. createElement( 'p' );
var input = document. createElement( 'input' );
input. size = 50 ;
p. appendChild( input);
p. appendChild( document. createTextNode( ' ' ));
var button = document. createElement( 'button' );
button. textContent = 'Post' ;
p. appendChild( button);
form. onsubmit = function () {
port. postMessage( input. value);
addMessage( 'me' , input. value);
input. value = '' ;
return false ;
};
form. appendChild( p);
li. appendChild( form);
ul. appendChild( li);
}
worker. port. addEventListener( 'message' , startPrivateChat, false );
worker. port. start();
</ script >
</ head >
< body >
< h1 > Viewer</ h1 >
< h2 > Map</ h2 >
< p >< canvas id = "map" height = 150 width = 150 ></ canvas ></ p >
< p >
< button type = button onclick = "worker.port.postMessage('mov left')" > Left</ button >
< button type = button onclick = "worker.port.postMessage('mov up')" > Up</ button >
< button type = button onclick = "worker.port.postMessage('mov down')" > Down</ button >
< button type = button onclick = "worker.port.postMessage('mov right')" > Right</ button >
< button type = button onclick = "worker.port.postMessage('set 0')" > Set 0</ button >
< button type = button onclick = "worker.port.postMessage('set 1')" > Set 1</ button >
</ p >
< h2 > Public Chat</ h2 >
< div id = "public" ></ div >
< form onsubmit = "worker.port.postMessage('txt ' + message.value); message.value = ''; return false;" >
< p >
< input type = "text" name = "message" size = "50" >
< button > Post</ button >
</ p >
</ form >
< h2 > Private Chat</ h2 >
< ul id = "private" ></ ul >
</ body >
</ html >
There are several key things worth noting about the way the viewer is written.
Multiple listeners. Instead of a single message processing function, the code here attaches multiple event listeners, each one performing a quick check to see if it is relevant for the message. In this example it doesn't make much difference, but if multiple authors wanted to collaborate using a single port to communicate with a worker, it would allow for independent code instead of changes having to all be made to a single event handling function.
Registering event listeners in this way also allows you to unregister specific listeners when
you are done with them, as is done with the configure() method in this
example.
Finally, the worker:
var nextName = 0 ;
function getNextName() {
// this could use more friendly names
// but for now just return a number
return nextName++ ;
}
var map = [
[ 0 , 0 , 0 , 0 , 0 , 0 , 0 ],
[ 1 , 1 , 0 , 1 , 0 , 1 , 1 ],
[ 0 , 1 , 0 , 1 , 0 , 0 , 0 ],
[ 0 , 1 , 0 , 1 , 0 , 1 , 1 ],
[ 0 , 0 , 0 , 1 , 0 , 0 , 0 ],
[ 1 , 0 , 0 , 1 , 1 , 1 , 1 ],
[ 1 , 1 , 0 , 1 , 1 , 0 , 1 ],
];
function wrapX( x) {
if ( x < 0 ) return wrapX( x + map[ 0 ]. length);
if ( x >= map[ 0 ]. length) return wrapX( x - map[ 0 ]. length);
return x;
}
function wrapY( y) {
if ( y < 0 ) return wrapY( y + map. length);
if ( y >= map[ 0 ]. length) return wrapY( y - map. length);
return y;
}
function wrap( val, min, max) {
if ( val < min)
return val + ( max- min) + 1 ;
if ( val > max)
return val - ( max- min) - 1 ;
return val;
}
function sendMapData( viewer) {
var data = '' ;
for ( var y = viewer. y- 1 ; y <= viewer. y+ 1 ; y += 1 ) {
for ( var x = viewer. x- 1 ; x <= viewer. x+ 1 ; x += 1 ) {
if ( data != '' )
data += ',' ;
data += map[ wrap( y, 0 , map[ 0 ]. length- 1 )][ wrap( x, 0 , map. length- 1 )];
}
}
viewer. port. postMessage( 'map ' + data);
}
var viewers = {};
onconnect = function ( event) {
var name = getNextName();
event. ports[ 0 ]. _data = { port: event. ports[ 0 ], name: name, x: 0 , y: 0 , };
viewers[ name] = event. ports[ 0 ]. _data;
event. ports[ 0 ]. postMessage( 'cfg ' + name);
event. ports[ 0 ]. onmessage = getMessage;
sendMapData( event. ports[ 0 ]. _data);
};
function getMessage( event) {
switch ( event. data. substr( 0 , 4 )) {
case 'mov ' :
var direction = event. data. substr( 4 );
var dx = 0 ;
var dy = 0 ;
switch ( direction) {
case 'up' : dy = - 1 ; break ;
case 'down' : dy = 1 ; break ;
case 'left' : dx = - 1 ; break ;
case 'right' : dx = 1 ; break ;
}
event. target. _data. x = wrapX( event. target. _data. x + dx);
event. target. _data. y = wrapY( event. target. _data. y + dy);
sendMapData( event. target. _data);
break ;
case 'set ' :
var value = event. data. substr( 4 );
map[ event. target. _data. y][ event. target. _data. x] = value;
for ( var viewer in viewers)
sendMapData( viewers[ viewer]);
break ;
case 'txt ' :
var name = event. target. _data. name;
var message = event. data. substr( 4 );
for ( var viewer in viewers)
viewers[ viewer]. port. postMessage( 'txt ' + name + ' ' + message);
break ;
case 'msg ' :
var party1 = event. target. _data;
var party2 = viewers[ event. data. substr( 4 ). split( ' ' , 1 )[ 0 ]];
if ( party2) {
var channel = new MessageChannel();
party1. port. postMessage( 'msg ' + party2. name, [ channel. port1]);
party2. port. postMessage( 'msg ' + party1. name, [ channel. port2]);
}
break ;
}
}
Connecting to multiple pages. The script uses the onconnect event listener to listen for
multiple connections.
Direct channels. When the worker receives a "msg" message from one viewer naming another viewer, it sets up a direct connection between the two, so that the two viewers can communicate directly without the worker having to proxy all the messages.
This section is non-normative.
With multicore CPUs becoming prevalent, one way to obtain better performance is to split computationally expensive tasks amongst multiple workers. In this example, a computationally expensive task that is to be performed for every number from 1 to 10,000,000 is farmed out to ten subworkers.
The main page is as follows, it just reports the result:
<!DOCTYPE HTML>
< html lang = "en" >
< head >
< meta charset = "utf-8" >
< title > Worker example: Multicore computation</ title >
</ head >
< body >
< p > Result: < output id = "result" ></ output ></ p >
< script >
var worker = new Worker( 'worker.js' );
worker. onmessage = function ( event) {
document. getElementById( 'result' ). textContent = event. data;
};
</ script >
</ body >
</ html >
The worker itself is as follows:
// settings
var num_workers = 10 ;
var items_per_worker = 1000000 ;
// start the workers
var result = 0 ;
var pending_workers = num_workers;
for ( var i = 0 ; i < num_workers; i += 1 ) {
var worker = new Worker( 'core.js' );
worker. postMessage( i * items_per_worker);
worker. postMessage(( i+ 1 ) * items_per_worker);
worker. onmessage = storeResult;
}
// handle the results
function storeResult( event) {
result += 1 * event. data;
pending_workers -= 1 ;
if ( pending_workers <= 0 )
postMessage( result); // finished!
}
It consists of a loop to start the subworkers, and then a handler that waits for all the subworkers to respond.
The subworkers are implemented as follows:
var start;
onmessage = getStart;
function getStart( event) {
start = 1 * event. data;
onmessage = getEnd;
}
var end;
function getEnd( event) {
end = 1 * event. data;
onmessage = null ;
work();
}
function work() {
var result = 0 ;
for ( var i = start; i < end; i += 1 ) {
// perform some complex calculation here
result += 1 ;
}
postMessage( result);
close();
}
They receive two numbers in two events, perform the computation for the range of numbers thus specified, and then report the result back to the parent.
This section is non-normative.
Suppose that a cryptography library is made available that provides three tasks:
The library itself is as follows:
function handleMessage( e) {
if ( e. data == "genkeys" )
genkeys( e. ports[ 0 ]);
else if ( e. data == "encrypt" )
encrypt( e. ports[ 0 ]);
else if ( e. data == "decrypt" )
decrypt( e. ports[ 0 ]);
}
function genkeys( p) {
var keys = _generateKeyPair();
p. postMessage( keys[ 0 ]);
p. postMessage( keys[ 1 ]);
}
function encrypt( p) {
var key, state = 0 ;
p. onmessage = function ( e) {
if ( state == 0 ) {
key = e. data;
state = 1 ;
} else {
p. postMessage( _encrypt( key, e. data));
}
};
}
function decrypt( p) {
var key, state = 0 ;
p. onmessage = function ( e) {
if ( state == 0 ) {
key = e. data;
state = 1 ;
} else {
p. postMessage( _decrypt( key, e. data));
}
};
}
// support being used as a shared worker as well as a dedicated worker
if ( 'onmessage' in this ) // dedicated worker
onmessage = handleMessage;
else // shared worker
onconnect = function ( e) { e. port. onmessage = handleMessage; }
// the "crypto" functions:
function _generateKeyPair() {
return [ Math. random(), Math. random()];
}
function _encrypt( k, s) {
return 'encrypted-' + k + ' ' + s;
}
function _decrypt( k, s) {
return s. substr( s. indexOf( ' ' ) + 1 );
}
Note that the crypto functions here are just stubs and don't do real cryptography.
This library could be used as follows:
<!DOCTYPE HTML>
< html lang = "en" >
< head >
< meta charset = "utf-8" >
< title > Worker example: Crypto library</ title >
< script >
const cryptoLib = new Worker( 'libcrypto-v1.js' ); // or could use 'libcrypto-v2.js'
function startConversation( source, message) {
const messageChannel = new MessageChannel();
source. postMessage( message, [ messageChannel. port2]);
return messageChannel. port1;
}
function getKeys() {
let state = 0 ;
startConversation( cryptoLib, "genkeys" ). onmessage = function ( e) {
if ( state === 0 )
document. getElementById( 'public' ). value = e. data;
else if ( state === 1 )
document. getElementById( 'private' ). value = e. data;
state += 1 ;
};
}
function enc() {
const port = startConversation( cryptoLib, "encrypt" );
port. postMessage( document. getElementById( 'public' ). value);
port. postMessage( document. getElementById( 'input' ). value);
port. onmessage = function ( e) {
document. getElementById( 'input' ). value = e. data;
port. close();
};
}
function dec() {
const port = startConversation( cryptoLib, "decrypt" );
port. postMessage( document. getElementById( 'private' ). value);
port. postMessage( document. getElementById( 'input' ). value);
port. onmessage = function ( e) {
document. getElementById( 'input' ). value = e. data;
port. close();
};
}
</ script >
< style >
textarea { display : block ; }
</ style >
</ head >
< body onload = "getKeys()" >
< fieldset >
< legend > Keys</ legend >
< p >< label > Public Key: < textarea id = "public" ></ textarea ></ label ></ p >
< p >< label > Private Key: < textarea id = "private" ></ textarea ></ label ></ p >
</ fieldset >
< p >< label > Input: < textarea id = "input" ></ textarea ></ label ></ p >
< p >< button onclick = "enc()" > Encrypt</ button > < button onclick = "dec()" > Decrypt</ button ></ p >
</ body >
</ html >
A later version of the API, though, might want to offload all the crypto work onto subworkers. This could be done as follows:
function handleMessage( e) {
if ( e. data == "genkeys" )
genkeys( e. ports[ 0 ]);
else if ( e. data == "encrypt" )
encrypt( e. ports[ 0 ]);
else if ( e. data == "decrypt" )
decrypt( e. ports[ 0 ]);
}
function genkeys( p) {
var generator = new Worker( 'libcrypto-v2-generator.js' );
generator. postMessage( '' , [ p]);
}
function encrypt( p) {
p. onmessage = function ( e) {
var key = e. data;
var encryptor = new Worker( 'libcrypto-v2-encryptor.js' );
encryptor. postMessage( key, [ p]);
};
}
function encrypt( p) {
p. onmessage = function ( e) {
var key = e. data;
var decryptor = new Worker( 'libcrypto-v2-decryptor.js' );
decryptor. postMessage( key, [ p]);
};
}
// support being used as a shared worker as well as a dedicated worker
if ( 'onmessage' in this ) // dedicated worker
onmessage = handleMessage;
else // shared worker
onconnect = function ( e) { e. ports[ 0 ]. onmessage = handleMessage };
The little subworkers would then be as follows.
For generating key pairs:
onmessage = function ( e) {
var k = _generateKeyPair();
e. ports[ 0 ]. postMessage( k[ 0 ]);
e. ports[ 0 ]. postMessage( k[ 1 ]);
close();
}
function _generateKeyPair() {
return [ Math. random(), Math. random()];
}
For encrypting:
onmessage = function ( e) {
var key = e. data;
e. ports[ 0 ]. onmessage = function ( e) {
var s = e. data;
postMessage( _encrypt( key, s));
}
}
function _encrypt( k, s) {
return 'encrypted-' + k + ' ' + s;
}
For decrypting:
onmessage = function ( e) {
var key = e. data;
e. ports[ 0 ]. onmessage = function ( e) {
var s = e. data;
postMessage( _decrypt( key, s));
}
}
function _decrypt( k, s) {
return s. substr( s. indexOf( ' ' ) + 1 );
}
Notice how the users of the API don't have to even know that this is happening — the API hasn't changed; the library can delegate to subworkers without changing its API, even though it is accepting data using message channels.
This section is non-normative.
Creating a worker requires a URL to a JavaScript file. The Worker() constructor is invoked with the URL to that file as its only
argument; a worker is then created and returned:
var worker = new Worker( 'helper.js' ); If you want your worker script to be interpreted as a module script instead of the default classic script, you need to use a slightly different signature:
var worker = new Worker( 'helper.mjs' , { type: "module" }); This section is non-normative.
Dedicated workers use MessagePort objects behind the scenes, and thus support all
the same features, such as sending structured data, transferring binary data, and transferring
other ports.
To receive messages from a dedicated worker, use the onmessage event
handler IDL attribute on the Worker object:
worker. onmessage = function ( event) { ... }; You can also use the addEventListener()
method.
The implicit MessagePort used by dedicated workers has its port
message queue implicitly enabled when it is created, so there is no equivalent to the
MessagePort interface's start() method on
the Worker interface.
To send data to a worker, use the postMessage() method. Structured data can be sent over this
communication channel. To send ArrayBuffer objects
efficiently (by transferring them rather than cloning them), list them in an array in the second
argument.
worker. postMessage({
operation: 'find-edges' ,
input: buffer, // an ArrayBuffer object
threshold: 0.6 ,
}, [ buffer]); To receive a message inside the worker, the onmessage event handler IDL attribute is used.
onmessage = function ( event) { ... }; You can again also use the addEventListener() method.
In either case, the data is provided in the event object's data attribute.
To send messages back, you again use postMessage(). It supports the
structured data in the same manner.
postMessage( event. data. input, [ event. data. input]); // transfer the buffer back Support in all current engines.
This section is non-normative.
Shared workers are identified by the URL of the script used to create it, optionally with an explicit name. The name allows multiple instances of a particular shared worker to be started.
Shared workers are scoped by origin. Two different sites using the same names will not collide. However, if a page tries to use the same shared worker name as another page on the same site, but with a different script URL, it will fail.
Creating shared workers is done using the SharedWorker()
constructor. This constructor takes the URL to the script to use for its first argument, and the
name of the worker, if any, as the second argument.
var worker = new SharedWorker( 'service.js' ); Communicating with shared workers is done with explicit MessagePort objects. The
object returned by the SharedWorker() constructor holds a
reference to the port on its port attribute.
worker. port. onmessage = function ( event) { ... };
worker. port. postMessage( 'some message' );
worker. port. postMessage({ foo: 'structured' , bar: [ 'data' , 'also' , 'possible' ]}); Inside the shared worker, new clients of the worker are announced using the connect event. The port for the new client is
given by the event object's source attribute.
onconnect = function ( event) {
var newPort = event. source;
// set up a listener
newPort. onmessage = function ( event) { ... };
// send a message back to the port
newPort. postMessage( 'ready!' ); // can also send structured data, of course
}; This standard defines two kinds of workers: dedicated workers, and shared workers. Dedicated workers, once created, are linked to their creator, but message ports can be used to communicate from a dedicated worker to multiple other browsing contexts or workers. Shared workers, on the other hand, are named, and once created any script running in the same origin can obtain a reference to that worker and communicate with it. Service Workers defines a third kind. [SW]
The global scope is the "inside" of a worker.
WorkerGlobalScope common interfaceSupport in all current engines.
[Exposed =Worker ]
interface WorkerGlobalScope : EventTarget {
readonly attribute WorkerGlobalScope self ;
readonly attribute WorkerLocation location ;
readonly attribute WorkerNavigator navigator ;
undefined importScripts (USVString ... urls );
attribute OnErrorEventHandler onerror ;
attribute EventHandler onlanguagechange ;
attribute EventHandler onoffline ;
attribute EventHandler ononline ;
attribute EventHandler onrejectionhandled ;
attribute EventHandler onunhandledrejection ;
};WorkerGlobalScope serves as the base class for specific types of worker global
scope objects, including DedicatedWorkerGlobalScope,
SharedWorkerGlobalScope, and ServiceWorkerGlobalScope.
A WorkerGlobalScope object has an associated owner set (a
set of Document and WorkerGlobalScope objects). It is
initially empty and populated when the worker is created or obtained.
It is a set, instead of a single owner, to accommodate
SharedWorkerGlobalScope objects.
A WorkerGlobalScope object has an associated type ("classic" or "module"). It is set during creation.
A WorkerGlobalScope object has an associated url (null or a URL). It is initially
null.
A WorkerGlobalScope object has an associated name (a string). It is set during creation.
The name can have different
semantics for each subclass of WorkerGlobalScope. For
DedicatedWorkerGlobalScope instances, it is simply a developer-supplied name, useful
mostly for debugging purposes. For SharedWorkerGlobalScope instances, it allows
obtaining a reference to a common shared worker via the SharedWorker() constructor. For
ServiceWorkerGlobalScope objects, it doesn't make sense (and as such isn't exposed
through the JavaScript API at all).
A WorkerGlobalScope object has an associated policy container (a policy
container). It is initially a new policy container.
A WorkerGlobalScope object has an associated embedder policy (an embedder
policy).
A WorkerGlobalScope object has an associated module map. It is a module map,
initially empty.
A WorkerGlobalScope object has an associated cross-origin isolated
capability boolean. It is initially false.
workerGlobal.selfSupport in all current engines.
workerGlobal.locationSupport in all current engines.
WorkerLocation object.workerGlobal.navigatorSupport in all current engines.
WorkerNavigator object.workerGlobal.importScripts(...urls)WorkerGlobalScope/importScripts
Support in all current engines.
The self attribute must return the
WorkerGlobalScope object itself.
The location attribute must return the
WorkerLocation object whose associated WorkerGlobalScope object is
the WorkerGlobalScope object.
While the WorkerLocation object is created after the
WorkerGlobalScope object, this is not problematic as it cannot be observed from
script.
The following are the event handlers (and their corresponding event handler event types) that must be supported,
as event handler IDL attributes, by objects implementing the
WorkerGlobalScope interface:
| Event handler | Event handler event type |
|---|---|
onerror Support in all current engines. Firefox3.5+Safari4+Chrome4+ Opera11.5+Edge79+ Edge (Legacy)12+Internet Explorer10+ Firefox Android?Safari iOS5+Chrome Android?WebView Android?Samsung Internet?Opera Android? | error
|
onlanguagechange WorkerGlobalScope/languagechange_event Support in all current engines. Firefox74+Safari4+Chrome4+ Opera11.5+Edge79+ Edge (Legacy)?Internet ExplorerNo Firefox Android?Safari iOS5+Chrome Android?WebView Android37+Samsung Internet?Opera Android? | languagechange
|
onoffline WorkerGlobalScope/offline_event Firefox29+Safari8+ChromeNo Opera?EdgeNo Edge (Legacy)?Internet ExplorerNo Firefox Android?Safari iOS?Chrome Android?WebView Android?Samsung Internet?Opera Android? | offline
|
ononline WorkerGlobalScope/online_event Firefox29+Safari8+ChromeNo Opera?EdgeNo Edge (Legacy)?Internet ExplorerNo Firefox Android?Safari iOS?Chrome Android?WebView Android?Samsung Internet?Opera Android? | online
|
onrejectionhandled | rejectionhandled
|
onunhandledrejection | unhandledrejection
|
DedicatedWorkerGlobalScope interfaceSupport in all current engines.
[Global =(Worker ,DedicatedWorker ),Exposed =DedicatedWorker ]
interface DedicatedWorkerGlobalScope : WorkerGlobalScope {
[Replaceable ] readonly attribute DOMString name ;
undefined postMessage (any message , sequence <object > transfer );
undefined postMessage (any message , optional StructuredSerializeOptions options = {});
undefined close ();
attribute EventHandler onmessage ;
attribute EventHandler onmessageerror ;
};DedicatedWorkerGlobalScope objects act as if they had an implicit
MessagePort associated with them. This port is part of a channel that is set up when
the worker is created, but it is not exposed. This object must never be garbage
collected before the DedicatedWorkerGlobalScope object.
All messages received by that port must immediately be retargeted at the
DedicatedWorkerGlobalScope object.
dedicatedWorkerGlobal.nameDedicatedWorkerGlobalScope/name
Support in all current engines.
Returns dedicatedWorkerGlobal's name, i.e. the value given to the
Worker constructor. Primarily useful for debugging.
dedicatedWorkerGlobal.postMessage(message [, transfer ])DedicatedWorkerGlobalScope/postMessage
Support in all current engines.
dedicatedWorkerGlobal.postMessage(message [, { transfer } ])Clones message and transmits it to the Worker object associated
with dedicatedWorkerGlobal. transfer can be passed as a list of objects
that are to be transferred rather than cloned.
dedicatedWorkerGlobal.close()DedicatedWorkerGlobalScope/close
Support in all current engines.
Aborts dedicatedWorkerGlobal.
The name getter steps are to return
this's name. Its value
represents the name given to the worker using the Worker constructor, used primarily
for debugging purposes.
The postMessage(message,
transfer) and postMessage(message,
options) methods on DedicatedWorkerGlobalScope objects act as
if, when invoked, it immediately invoked the respective postMessage(message, transfer)
and postMessage(message,
options) on the port, with the same arguments, and returned the same return
value.
To close a worker, given a workerGlobal, run these steps:
Discard any tasks that have been added to workerGlobal's relevant agent's event loop's task queues.
Set workerGlobal's closing flag to true. (This prevents any further tasks from being queued.)
The close() method steps are to
close a worker given this.
The following are the event handlers (and their corresponding event handler event types) that must be supported,
as event handler IDL attributes, by objects implementing the
DedicatedWorkerGlobalScope interface:
| Event handler | Event handler event type |
|---|---|
onmessage DedicatedWorkerGlobalScope/message_event Support in all current engines. Firefox3.5+Safari4+Chrome4+ Opera10.6+Edge79+ Edge (Legacy)12+Internet Explorer10+ Firefox Android?Safari iOS5+Chrome Android?WebView Android37+Samsung Internet?Opera Android11.5+ | message
|
onmessageerror DedicatedWorkerGlobalScope/messageerror_event Support in all current engines. Firefox57+Safari16.4+Chrome60+ Opera?Edge79+ Edge (Legacy)18Internet ExplorerNo Firefox Android?Safari iOS?Chrome Android?WebView Android?Samsung Internet?Opera Android47+ | messageerror
|
SharedWorkerGlobalScope interfaceSupport in all current engines.
[Global =(Worker ,SharedWorker ),Exposed =SharedWorker ]
interface SharedWorkerGlobalScope : WorkerGlobalScope {
[Replaceable ] readonly attribute DOMString name ;
undefined close ();
attribute EventHandler onconnect ;
};A SharedWorkerGlobalScope object has an associated constructor origin, constructor
url, and credentials. They are initialized when
the SharedWorkerGlobalScope object is created, in the run a worker
algorithm.
Shared workers receive message ports through connect events on their SharedWorkerGlobalScope object for each
connection.
sharedWorkerGlobal.nameSupport in all current engines.
Returns sharedWorkerGlobal's name, i.e. the value given to the
SharedWorker constructor. Multiple SharedWorker objects can correspond
to the same shared worker (and SharedWorkerGlobalScope), by reusing the same
name.
sharedWorkerGlobal.close()Support in all current engines.
Aborts sharedWorkerGlobal.
The name getter steps are to return
this's name. Its value
represents the name that can be used to obtain a reference to the worker using the
SharedWorker constructor.
The close() method steps are to close a
worker given this.
The following are the event handlers (and their corresponding event handler event types) that must be supported,
as event handler IDL attributes, by objects implementing the
SharedWorkerGlobalScope interface:
| Event handler | Event handler event type |
|---|---|
onconnect SharedWorkerGlobalScope/connect_event Support in all current engines. Firefox29+Safari16+Chrome4+ Opera10.6+Edge79+ Edge (Legacy)?Internet ExplorerNo Firefox Android?Safari iOS16+Chrome Android?WebView Android37+Samsung Internet?Opera Android11+ | connect
|
A worker event loop's task queues only have events, callbacks, and networking activity as tasks. These worker event loops are created by the run a worker algorithm.
Each WorkerGlobalScope object has a closing flag, which must be initially
false, but which can get set to true by the algorithms in the processing model
section below.
Once the WorkerGlobalScope's closing flag is set to true, the event
loop's task queues must discard any
further tasks that would be added to them (tasks already on the
queue are unaffected except where otherwise specified). Effectively, once the closing flag is true, timers stop firing,
notifications for all pending background operations are dropped, etc.
Workers communicate with other workers and with Windows through message channels and their MessagePort
objects.
Each WorkerGlobalScope object worker global scope has a list of
the worker's ports, which consists of all the MessagePort objects
that are entangled with another port and that have one (but only one) port owned by worker
global scope. This list includes the implicit MessagePort in the case of dedicated workers.
Given an environment settings
object o when creating or obtaining a worker, the relevant owner to
add depends on the type of global
object specified by o. If o's global object is a WorkerGlobalScope
object (i.e., if we are creating a nested dedicated worker), then the relevant owner is that
global object. Otherwise, o's global
object is a Window object, and the relevant owner is that
Window's associated
Document.
A worker is said to be a permissible worker if its WorkerGlobalScope's
owner set is not empty or:
WorkerGlobalScope object is a SharedWorkerGlobalScope object
(i.e., the worker is a shared worker), andThe second part of this definition allows a shared worker to survive for a short time while a page is loading, in case that page is going to contact the shared worker again. This can be used by user agents as a way to avoid the cost of restarting a shared worker used by a site when the user is navigating from page to page within that site.
A worker is said to be an active needed worker if any of its owners are either Document objects that are fully active or
active needed workers.
A worker is said to be a protected worker if it is an active needed
worker and either it has outstanding timers, database transactions, or network connections,
or its list of the worker's ports is not empty, or its WorkerGlobalScope
is actually a SharedWorkerGlobalScope object (i.e., the worker is a shared
worker).
A worker is said to be a suspendable worker if it is not an active needed worker but it is a permissible worker.
When a user agent is to run a worker for a script with Worker or
SharedWorker object worker, URL url,
environment settings object outside settings, MessagePort
outside port, and a WorkerOptions dictionary options, it must
run the following steps.
Let is shared be true if worker is a SharedWorker
object, and false otherwise.
Let owner be the relevant owner to add given outside settings.
Let unsafeWorkerCreationTime be the unsafe shared current time.
Let agent be the result of obtaining a dedicated/shared worker agent given outside settings and is shared. Run the rest of these steps in that agent.
Let realm execution context be the result of creating a new realm given agent and the following customizations:
For the global object, if is shared is true, create a new
SharedWorkerGlobalScope object. Otherwise, create a new
DedicatedWorkerGlobalScope object.
Let worker global scope be the global object of realm execution context's Realm component.
This is the DedicatedWorkerGlobalScope or
SharedWorkerGlobalScope object created in the previous step.
Set up a worker environment settings object with realm execution context, outside settings, and unsafeWorkerCreationTime, and let inside settings be the result.
Set worker global scope's name to the value of options's
name member.
If is shared is true, then:
Set worker global scope's constructor origin to outside settings's origin.
Set worker global scope's constructor url to url.
Set worker global scope's type to the value of options's
type member.
Set worker global scope's credentials to the value of
options's credentials member.
Let destination be "sharedworker" if is
shared is true, and "worker" otherwise.
Obtain script by switching on the value of options's type member:
classic"module"credentials
member of options, inside settings, and with onComplete and
performFetch as defined below.In both cases, let performFetch be the following perform the fetch hook given request, isTopLevel and processCustomFetchResponse:
If isTopLevel is false, fetch request with processResponseConsumeBody set to processCustomFetchResponse, and abort these steps.
Fetch request with processResponseConsumeBody set to the following steps given response response and null, failure, or a byte sequence bodyBytes:
Initialize worker global scope's policy container given worker global scope, response, and inside settings.
If the Run CSP initialization for a global object algorithm returns
"Blocked" when executed upon worker global scope, set
response to a network error. [CSP]
If worker global scope's embedder policy's value is compatible with cross-origin
isolation and is shared is true, then set agent's agent
cluster's cross-origin isolation
mode to "logical" or "concrete". The one chosen is
implementation-defined.
This really ought to be set when the agent cluster is created, which requires a redesign of this section.
If the result of checking a global object's embedder policy with worker global scope, outside settings, and response is false, then set response to a network error.
Set worker global scope's cross-origin isolated
capability to true if agent's agent cluster's cross-origin isolation mode is "concrete".
If is shared is false and owner's cross-origin isolated capability is false, then set worker global scope's cross-origin isolated capability to false.
If is shared is false and response's
url's scheme is "data", then set
worker global scope's cross-origin isolated
capability to false.
This is a conservative default for now, while we figure out how workers in
general, and data: URL workers in particular (which are
cross-origin from their owner), will be treated in the context of permissions policies. See
w3c/webappsec-permissions-policy
issue #207 for more details.
Run processCustomFetchResponse with response and bodyBytes.
In both cases, let onComplete given script be the following steps:
If script is null or if script's error to rethrow is non-null, then:
Queue a global task on the DOM manipulation task source given
worker's relevant global object to fire an event named error
at worker.
Run the environment discarding steps for inside settings.
Abort these steps.
Associate worker with worker global scope.
Let inside port be a new MessagePort object in
inside settings's realm.
Associate inside port with worker global scope.
Entangle outside port and inside port.
Create a new WorkerLocation object and associate it with worker global
scope.
Closing orphan workers: Start monitoring the worker such that no sooner than it stops being a protected worker, and no later than it stops being a permissible worker, worker global scope's closing flag is set to true.
Suspending workers: Start monitoring the worker, such that whenever worker global scope's closing flag is false and the worker is a suspendable worker, the user agent suspends execution of script in that worker until such time as either the closing flag switches to true or the worker stops being a suspendable worker.
Set inside settings's execution ready flag.
If script is a classic script, then run the classic script script. Otherwise, it is a module script; run the module script script.
In addition to the usual possibilities of returning a value or failing due to an exception, this could be prematurely aborted by the terminate a worker algorithm defined below.
Enable outside port's port message queue.
If is shared is false, enable the port message queue of the worker's implicit port.
If is shared is true, then queue a global task on DOM
manipulation task source given worker global scope to fire an event named connect at worker global scope, using
MessageEvent, with the data attribute
initialized to the empty string, the ports attribute
initialized to a new frozen array containing inside port, and the source attribute initialized to inside
port.
Enable the client message queue of the
ServiceWorkerContainer object whose associated service worker client is
worker global scope's relevant settings object.
Event loop: Run the responsible event loop specified by inside settings until it is destroyed.
The handling of events or the execution of callbacks by tasks run by the event loop might get prematurely aborted by the terminate a worker algorithm defined below.
The worker processing model remains on this step until the event loop is destroyed, which happens after the closing flag is set to true, as described in the event loop processing model.
Clear the worker global scope's map of active timers.
Disentangle all the ports in the list of the worker's ports.
When a user agent is to terminate a worker it must run the following steps in parallel with the worker's main loop (the "run a worker" processing model defined above):
Set the worker's WorkerGlobalScope object's closing flag to true.
If there are any tasks queued in the
WorkerGlobalScope object's relevant agent's event loop's task
queues, discard them without processing them.
Abort the script currently running in the worker.
If the worker's WorkerGlobalScope object is actually a
DedicatedWorkerGlobalScope object (i.e. the worker is a dedicated worker), then
empty the port message queue of the port that the worker's implicit port is
entangled with.
User agents may invoke the terminate a worker algorithm when a worker stops being an active needed worker and the worker continues executing even after its closing flag was set to true.
Whenever an uncaught runtime script error occurs in one of the worker's scripts, if the error
did not occur while handling a previous script error, the user agent must
report the error for that script, with the position (line number and column number) where the
error occurred, using the WorkerGlobalScope object as the target.
For shared workers, if the error is still not handled afterwards, the error may be reported to a developer console.
For dedicated workers, if the error is still not handled afterwards, the user agent must queue a task to run these steps:
Let notHandled be the result of firing an
event named error at the Worker object
associated with the worker, using ErrorEvent, with the cancelable attribute initialized to true, the message, filename, lineno, and colno attributes initialized appropriately, and the error attribute initialized to null.
If notHandled is true, then the user agent must act as if the uncaught runtime
script error had occurred in the global scope that the Worker object is in, thus
repeating the entire runtime script error reporting process one level up.
If the implicit port connecting the worker to its Worker object has been
disentangled (i.e. if the parent worker has been terminated), then the user agent must act as if
the Worker object had no error event handler and as
if that worker's onerror attribute was
null, but must otherwise act as described above.
Thus, error reports propagate up to
the chain of dedicated workers up to the original Document, even if some of the
workers along this chain have been terminated and garbage collected.
The task source for the task mentioned above is the DOM manipulation task source.
AbstractWorker mixininterface mixin AbstractWorker {
attribute EventHandler onerror ;
};The following are the event handlers (and their corresponding event handler event types) that must be supported,
as event handler IDL attributes, by objects implementing the
AbstractWorker interface:
| Event handler | Event handler event type |
|---|---|
onerror Support in all current engines. Firefox44+Safari11.1+Chrome40+ Opera?Edge79+ Edge (Legacy)17+Internet ExplorerNo Firefox Android?Safari iOS?Chrome Android?WebView Android?Samsung Internet?Opera Android? Support in all current engines. Firefox29+Safari16+Chrome5+ Opera10.6+Edge79+ Edge (Legacy)?Internet ExplorerNo Firefox Android33+Safari iOS16+Chrome AndroidNoWebView Android?Samsung Internet4.0–5.0Opera Android11–14 Support in all current engines. Firefox3.5+Safari4+Chrome4+ Opera10.6+Edge79+ Edge (Legacy)12+Internet Explorer10+ Firefox Android?Safari iOS5+Chrome Android?WebView Android?Samsung Internet?Opera Android11+ | error
|
To set up a worker environment settings object, given a JavaScript execution context execution context, an environment settings object outside settings, and a number unsafeWorkerCreationTime:
Let inherited origin be outside settings's origin.
Let realm be the value of execution context's Realm component.
Let worker global scope be realm's global object.
Let settings object be a new environment settings object whose algorithms are defined as follows:
Return execution context.
Return worker global scope's module map.
Return worker global scope's url.
Return a unique opaque origin if worker
global scope's url's scheme is "data", and inherited
origin otherwise.
Return worker global scope's policy container.
Return worker global scope's cross-origin isolated capability.
Return the result of coarsening unsafeWorkerCreationTime with worker global scope's cross-origin isolated capability.
Set settings object's id to a new unique opaque string, creation URL to worker global scope's url, top-level creation URL to null, target browsing context to null, and active service worker to null.
If worker global scope is a DedicatedWorkerGlobalScope object,
then set settings object's top-level origin to outside
settings's top-level origin.
Otherwise, set settings object's top-level origin to an implementation-defined value.
See Client-Side Storage Partitioning for the latest on properly defining this.
Set realm's [[HostDefined]] field to settings object.
Return settings object.
Worker interfaceSupport in all current engines.
[Exposed =(Window ,DedicatedWorker ,SharedWorker )]
interface Worker : EventTarget {
constructor (USVString scriptURL , optional WorkerOptions options = {});
undefined terminate ();
undefined postMessage (any message , sequence <object > transfer );
undefined postMessage (any message , optional StructuredSerializeOptions options = {});
attribute EventHandler onmessage ;
attribute EventHandler onmessageerror ;
};
dictionary WorkerOptions {
WorkerType type = "classic";
RequestCredentials credentials = "same-origin"; // credentials is only used if type is "module"
DOMString name = "";
};
enum WorkerType { "classic" , "module" };
Worker includes AbstractWorker ;worker = new Worker(scriptURL [, options ])Support in all current engines.
Returns a new Worker object. scriptURL will be fetched and
executed in the background, creating a new global environment for which worker
represents the communication channel. options can be used to define the name of that global environment via the name option, primarily for debugging purposes. It can also ensure this new
global environment supports JavaScript modules (specify type: "module"),
and if that is specified, can also be used to specify how scriptURL is fetched through
the credentials option.
worker.terminate()Support in all current engines.
worker.postMessage(message [, transfer ])Support in all current engines.
worker.postMessage(message [, { transfer } ])Clones message and transmits it to worker's global environment. transfer can be passed as a list of objects that are to be transferred rather than cloned.
The terminate()
method, when invoked, must cause the terminate a worker algorithm to be run on the
worker with which the object is associated.
Worker objects act as if they had an implicit MessagePort associated
with them. This port is part of a channel that is set up when the worker is created, but it is not
exposed. This object must never be garbage collected before the Worker object.
All messages received by that port must immediately be retargeted at the Worker
object.
The postMessage(message, transfer)
and postMessage(message,
options) methods on Worker objects act as if, when invoked,
they immediately invoked the respective postMessage(message, transfer)
and postMessage(message,
options) on the port, with the same arguments, and returned the same return
value.
The postMessage()
method's first argument can be structured data:
worker. postMessage({ opcode: 'activate' , device: 1938 , parameters: [ 23 , 102 ]}); The following are the event handlers (and their corresponding event handler event types) that must be supported,
as event handler IDL attributes, by objects implementing the Worker
interface:
| Event handler | Event handler event type |
|---|---|
onmessage | message
|
onmessageerror | messageerror
|
When the Worker(scriptURL,
options) constructor is invoked, the user agent must run the following
steps:
Let outside settings be the current settings object.
Let worker URL be the result of encoding-parsing a URL given scriptURL, relative to outside settings.
Any same-origin URL (including blob: URLs) can be used. data:
URLs can also be used, but they create a worker with an opaque origin.
If worker URL is failure, then throw a "SyntaxError"
DOMException.
Let worker be a new Worker object.
Let outside port be a new MessagePort in outside
settings's realm.
Associate the outside port with worker.
Run this step in parallel:
Run a worker given worker, worker URL, outside settings, outside port, and options.
Return worker.
SharedWorker interfaceSupport in all current engines.
[Exposed =Window ]
interface SharedWorker : EventTarget {
constructor (USVString scriptURL , optional (DOMString or WorkerOptions ) options = {});
readonly attribute MessagePort port ;
};
SharedWorker includes AbstractWorker ;sharedWorker = new SharedWorker(scriptURL [, name ])Support in all current engines.
Returns a new SharedWorker object. scriptURL will be fetched and
executed in the background, creating a new global environment for which sharedWorker
represents the communication channel. name can be used to define the name of that global environment.
sharedWorker = new SharedWorker(scriptURL [, options ])Returns a new SharedWorker object. scriptURL will be fetched and
executed in the background, creating a new global environment for which sharedWorker
represents the communication channel. options can be used to define the name of that global environment via the name option. It can also ensure this new global environment supports JavaScript
modules (specify type: "module"), and if that is specified, can also be
used to specify how scriptURL is fetched through the credentials option. Note that attempting to construct a shared worker with
options whose type or credentials values
mismatch an existing shared worker will cause the returned sharedWorker to fire an
error event and not connect to the existing shared worker.
sharedWorker.portSupport in all current engines.
Returns sharedWorker's MessagePort object which can be used to
communicate with the global environment.
The port
attribute must return the value it was assigned by the object's constructor. It represents the
MessagePort for communicating with the shared worker.
A user agent has an associated shared worker manager which is the result of starting a new parallel queue.
Each user agent has a single shared worker manager for simplicity. Implementations could use one per origin; that would not be observably different and enables more concurrency.
When the SharedWorker(scriptURL, options)
constructor is invoked:
If options is a DOMString, set
options to a new WorkerOptions dictionary whose name member is set to the value of options and whose other members
are set to their default values.
Let outside settings be the current settings object.
Let urlRecord be the result of encoding-parsing a URL given scriptURL, relative to outside settings.
Any same-origin URL (including blob: URLs) can be used. data:
URLs can also be used, but they create a worker with an opaque origin.
If urlRecord is failure, then throw a "SyntaxError"
DOMException.
Let worker be a new SharedWorker object.
Let outside port be a new MessagePort in outside
settings's realm.
Assign outside port to the port
attribute of worker.
Let callerIsSecureContext be true if outside settings is a secure context; otherwise, false.
Let outside storage key be the result of running obtain a storage key for non-storage purposes given outside settings.
Enqueue the following steps to the shared worker manager:
Let worker global scope be null.
For each scope in the list of all
SharedWorkerGlobalScope objects:
Let worker storage key be the result of running obtain a storage key for non-storage purposes given scope's relevant settings object.
If all of the following conditions are true:
name memberthen:
Set worker global scope to scope.
data: URLs create a worker with an opaque origin. Both the constructor origin and
constructor url are
compared so the same data: URL can be used within an
origin to get to the same SharedWorkerGlobalScope object, but cannot
be used to bypass the same origin restriction.
If worker global scope is not null, but the user agent has been configured to disallow communication between the worker represented by the worker global scope and the scripts whose settings object is outside settings, then set worker global scope to null.
For example, a user agent could have a development mode that isolates a particular top-level traversable from all other pages, and scripts in that development mode could be blocked from connecting to shared workers running in the normal browser mode.
If worker global scope is not null, then check if worker global
scope's type and credentials match the
options values. If not, queue a task to fire an event named error
and abort these steps.
If worker global scope is not null, then run these subsubsteps:
Let settings object be the relevant settings object for worker global scope.
Let workerIsSecureContext be true if settings object is a secure context; otherwise, false.
If workerIsSecureContext is not callerIsSecureContext, then
queue a task to fire an event named
error at worker and abort these steps.
[SECURE-CONTEXTS]
Associate worker with worker global scope.
Let inside port be a new MessagePort in
settings object's realm.
Entangle outside port and inside port.
Queue a task, using the DOM manipulation task source, to
fire an event named connect at worker global scope,
using MessageEvent, with the data
attribute initialized to the empty string, the ports attribute initialized to a new frozen
array containing only inside port, and the source attribute initialized to inside
port.
Append the relevant owner to add given outside settings to worker global scope's owner set.
Otherwise, in parallel, run a worker given worker, urlRecord, outside settings, outside port, and options.
Return worker.
interface mixin NavigatorConcurrentHardware {
readonly attribute unsigned long long hardwareConcurrency ;
};self.navigator.hardwareConcurrencyReturns the number of logical processors potentially available to the user agent.
The navigator.hardwareConcurrency attribute's
getter must return a number between 1 and the number of logical processors potentially available
to the user agent. If this cannot be determined, the getter must return 1.
User agents should err toward exposing the number of logical processors available, using lower values only in cases where there are user-agent specific limits in place (such as a limitation on the number of workers that can be created) or when the user agent desires to limit fingerprinting possibilities.
The importScripts(...urls)
method steps are to import scripts into worker global scope given this
and urls.
To import scripts into worker global scope, given a
WorkerGlobalScope object worker global scope, a list of
scalar value strings urls, and an optional
perform the fetch hook
performFetch:
If worker global scope's type is "module", throw a
TypeError exception.
Let settings object be the current settings object.
If urls is empty, return.
Let urlRecords be « ».
For each url of urls:
Let urlRecord be the result of encoding-parsing a URL given url, relative to settings object.
If urlRecord is failure, then throw a "SyntaxError"
DOMException.
Append urlRecord to urlRecords.
For each urlRecord of urlRecords:
Fetch a classic worker-imported script given urlRecord and settings object, passing along performFetch if provided. If this succeeds, let script be the result. Otherwise, rethrow the exception.
Run the classic script script, with the rethrow errors argument set to true.
script will run until it either returns, fails to parse, fails to catch an exception, or gets prematurely aborted by the terminate a worker algorithm defined above.
If an exception was thrown or if the script was prematurely aborted, then abort all these steps, letting the exception or aborting continue to be processed by the calling script.
Service Workers is an example of a specification that runs this algorithm with its own perform the fetch hook. [SW]
WorkerNavigator interfaceSupport in all current engines.
The navigator attribute of the
WorkerGlobalScope interface must return an instance of the
WorkerNavigator interface, which represents the identity and state of the user agent
(the client):
[Exposed =Worker ]
interface WorkerNavigator {};
WorkerNavigator includes NavigatorID ;
WorkerNavigator includes NavigatorLanguage ;
WorkerNavigator includes NavigatorOnLine ;
WorkerNavigator includes NavigatorConcurrentHardware ;WorkerLocation interfaceSupport in all current engines.
Support in all current engines.
[Exposed =Worker ]
interface WorkerLocation {
stringifier readonly attribute USVString href ;
readonly attribute USVString origin ;
readonly attribute USVString protocol ;
readonly attribute USVString host ;
readonly attribute USVString hostname ;
readonly attribute USVString port ;
readonly attribute USVString pathname ;
readonly attribute USVString search ;
readonly attribute USVString hash ;
};A WorkerLocation object has an associated WorkerGlobalScope object (a
WorkerGlobalScope object).
Support in all current engines.
The href getter steps are to return this's
WorkerGlobalScope
object's url, serialized.
Support in all current engines.
The origin getter steps are to return the serialization of this's WorkerGlobalScope object's
url's origin.
Support in all current engines.
The protocol getter steps are to return
this's WorkerGlobalScope object's
url's scheme, followed by ":".
Support in all current engines.
The host getter steps are:
Let url be this's WorkerGlobalScope object's
url.
If url's host is null, return the empty string.
If url's port is null, return url's host, serialized.
Return url's host, serialized, followed by ":" and url's port, serialized.
Support in all current engines.
The hostname getter steps are:
Let host be this's WorkerGlobalScope object's
url's host.
If host is null, return the empty string.
Return host, serialized.
Support in all current engines.
The port getter steps are:
Let port be this's WorkerGlobalScope object's
url's port.
If port is null, return the empty string.
Return port, serialized.
Support in all current engines.
The pathname getter steps are to return the result
of URL path serializing this's WorkerGlobalScope object's
url.
Support in all current engines.
The search getter steps are:
Let query be this's WorkerGlobalScope object's
url's query.
If query is either null or the empty string, return the empty string.
Return "?", followed by query.
Support in all current engines.
The hash getter steps are:
Let fragment be this's WorkerGlobalScope object's
url's fragment.
If fragment is either null or the empty string, return the empty string.
Return "#", followed by fragment.