Annotation of html5/workers/Overview.html, revision 1.250

1.242     ihickson    1: <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01//EN"><!-- when publishing, change bits marked ZZZ --><html lang="en-US-x-Hixie"><title>Web Workers</title><style type="text/css">
1.82      ihickson    2:    pre { margin-left: 2em; white-space: pre-wrap; }
                      3:    h2 { margin: 3em 0 1em 0; }
                      4:    h3 { margin: 2.5em 0 1em 0; }
                      5:    h4 { margin: 2.5em 0 0.75em 0; }
                      6:    h5, h6 { margin: 2.5em 0 1em; }
                      7:    h1 + h2, h1 + h2 + h2 { margin: 0.75em 0 0.75em; }
                      8:    h2 + h3, h3 + h4, h4 + h5, h5 + h6 { margin-top: 0.5em; }
                      9:    p { margin: 1em 0; }
                     10:    hr:not(.top) { display: block; background: none; border: none; padding: 0; margin: 2em 0; height: auto; }
                     11:    dl, dd { margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; }
                     12:    dt { margin-top: 0.75em; margin-bottom: 0.25em; clear: left; }
                     13:    dt + dt { margin-top: 0; }
                     14:    dd dt { margin-top: 0.25em; margin-bottom: 0; }
                     15:    dd p { margin-top: 0; }
                     16:    dd dl + p { margin-top: 1em; }
                     17:    dd table + p { margin-top: 1em; }
                     18:    p + * > li, dd li { margin: 1em 0; }
                     19:    dt, dfn { font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; }
                     20:    dt dfn { font-style: italic; }
                     21:    pre, code { font-size: inherit; font-family: monospace; font-variant: normal; }
                     22:    pre strong { color: black; font: inherit; font-weight: bold; background: yellow; }
                     23:    pre em { font-weight: bolder; font-style: normal; }
1.89      ihickson   24:    @media screen { code { color: orangered; } code :link, code :visited { color: inherit; } }
1.82      ihickson   25:    var sub { vertical-align: bottom; font-size: smaller; position: relative; top: 0.1em; }
                     26:    table { border-collapse: collapse; border-style: hidden hidden none hidden; }
1.249     ihickson   27:    table thead, table tbody { border-bottom: solid; }
1.82      ihickson   28:    table tbody th:first-child { border-left: solid; }
1.180     ihickson   29:    table tbody th { text-align: left; }
1.82      ihickson   30:    table td, table th { border-left: solid; border-right: solid; border-bottom: solid thin; vertical-align: top; padding: 0.2em; }
                     31:    blockquote { margin: 0 0 0 2em; border: 0; padding: 0; font-style: italic; }
                     32: 
                     33:    .bad, .bad *:not(.XXX) { color: gray; border-color: gray; background: transparent; }
                     34:    .matrix, .matrix td { border: none; text-align: right; }
                     35:    .matrix { margin-left: 2em; }
                     36:    .dice-example { border-collapse: collapse; border-style: hidden solid solid hidden; border-width: thin; margin-left: 3em; }
                     37:    .dice-example caption { width: 30em; font-size: smaller; font-style: italic; padding: 0.75em 0; text-align: left; }
                     38:    .dice-example td, .dice-example th { border: solid thin; width: 1.35em; height: 1.05em; text-align: center; padding: 0; }
                     39: 
                     40:    .toc dfn, h1 dfn, h2 dfn, h3 dfn, h4 dfn, h5 dfn, h6 dfn { font: inherit; }
                     41:    img.extra { float: right; }
                     42:    pre.idl { border: solid thin; background: #EEEEEE; color: black; padding: 0.5em 1em; }
                     43:    pre.idl :link, pre.idl :visited { color: inherit; background: transparent; }
                     44:    pre.css { border: solid thin; background: #FFFFEE; color: black; padding: 0.5em 1em; }
                     45:    pre.css:first-line { color: #AAAA50; }
1.231     ihickson   46:    dl.domintro { color: green; margin: 2em 0 2em 2em; padding: 0.5em 1em; border: none; background: #DDFFDD; }
1.82      ihickson   47:    hr + dl.domintro, div.impl + dl.domintro { margin-top: 2.5em; margin-bottom: 1.5em; }
                     48:    dl.domintro dt, dl.domintro dt * { color: black; text-decoration: none; }
                     49:    dl.domintro dd { margin: 0.5em 0 1em 2em; padding: 0; }
                     50:    dl.domintro dd p { margin: 0.5em 0; }
                     51:    dl.switch { padding-left: 2em; }
                     52:    dl.switch > dt { text-indent: -1.5em; }
                     53:    dl.switch > dt:before { content: '\21AA'; padding: 0 0.5em 0 0; display: inline-block; width: 1em; text-align: right; line-height: 0.5em; }
1.121     ihickson   54:    dl.triple { padding: 0 0 0 1em; }
                     55:    dl.triple dt, dl.triple dd { margin: 0; display: inline }
                     56:    dl.triple dt:after { content: ':'; }
                     57:    dl.triple dd:after { content: '\A'; white-space: pre; }
1.82      ihickson   58:    .diff-old { text-decoration: line-through; color: silver; background: transparent; }
                     59:    .diff-chg, .diff-new { text-decoration: underline; color: green; background: transparent; }
                     60:    a .diff-new { border-bottom: 1px blue solid; }
                     61: 
                     62:    h2 { page-break-before: always; }
1.139     ihickson   63:    h1, h2, h3, h4, h5, h6 { page-break-after: avoid; }
1.82      ihickson   64:    h1 + h2, hr + h2.no-toc { page-break-before: auto; }
                     65: 
1.87      ihickson   66:    p > span:not([title=""]):not([class="XXX"]):not([class="impl"]), li > span:not([title=""]):not([class="XXX"]):not([class="impl"]) { border-bottom: solid #9999CC; }
1.82      ihickson   67: 
                     68:    div.head { margin: 0 0 1em; padding: 1em 0 0 0; }
                     69:    div.head p { margin: 0; }
                     70:    div.head h1 { margin: 0; }
                     71:    div.head .logo { float: right; margin: 0 1em; }
                     72:    div.head .logo img { border: none } /* remove border from top image */
                     73:    div.head dl { margin: 1em 0; }
1.212     ihickson   74:    div.head p.copyright, div.head p.alt { font-size: x-small; font-style: oblique; margin: 0; }
1.82      ihickson   75: 
                     76:    body > .toc > li { margin-top: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em; }
                     77:    body > .toc.brief > li { margin-top: 0.35em; margin-bottom: 0.35em; }
                     78:    body > .toc > li > * { margin-bottom: 0.5em; }
                     79:    body > .toc > li > * > li > * { margin-bottom: 0.25em; }
                     80:    .toc, .toc li { list-style: none; }
                     81: 
                     82:    .brief { margin-top: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em; line-height: 1.1; }
                     83:    .brief li { margin: 0; padding: 0; }
                     84:    .brief li p { margin: 0; padding: 0; }
                     85: 
1.137     ihickson   86:    .category-list { margin-top: -0.75em; margin-bottom: 1em; line-height: 1.5; }
                     87:    .category-list::before { content: '\21D2\A0'; font-size: 1.2em; font-weight: 900; }
                     88:    .category-list li { display: inline; }
                     89:    .category-list li:not(:last-child)::after { content: ', '; }
                     90:    .category-list li > span, .category-list li > a { text-transform: lowercase; }
                     91:    .category-list li * { text-transform: none; } /* don't affect <code> nested in <a> */
                     92: 
1.82      ihickson   93:    .XXX { color: #E50000; background: white; border: solid red; padding: 0.5em; margin: 1em 0; }
                     94:    .XXX > :first-child { margin-top: 0; }
                     95:    p .XXX { line-height: 3em; }
1.158     ihickson   96:    .annotation { border: solid thin black; background: #0C479D; color: white; position: relative; margin: 8px 0 20px 0; }
                     97:    .annotation:before { position: absolute; left: 0; top: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; margin: 6px -6px -6px 6px; background: #333333; z-index: -1; content: ''; }
                     98:    .annotation :link, .annotation :visited { color: inherit; }
                     99:    .annotation :link:hover, .annotation :visited:hover { background: transparent; }
                    100:    .annotation span { border: none ! important; }
1.82      ihickson  101:    .note { color: green; background: transparent; font-family: sans-serif; }
                    102:    .warning { color: red; background: transparent; }
                    103:    .note, .warning { font-weight: bolder; font-style: italic; }
                    104:    p.note, div.note { padding: 0.5em 2em; }
                    105:    span.note { padding: 0 2em; }
                    106:    .note p:first-child, .warning p:first-child { margin-top: 0; }
                    107:    .note p:last-child, .warning p:last-child { margin-bottom: 0; }
                    108:    .warning:before { font-style: normal; }
                    109:    p.note:before { content: 'Note: '; }
                    110:    p.warning:before { content: '\26A0 Warning! '; }
                    111: 
                    112:    .bookkeeping:before { display: block; content: 'Bookkeeping details'; font-weight: bolder; font-style: italic; }
                    113:    .bookkeeping { font-size: 0.8em; margin: 2em 0; }
                    114:    .bookkeeping p { margin: 0.5em 2em; display: list-item; list-style: square; }
                    115: 
                    116:    h4 { position: relative; z-index: 3; }
                    117:    h4 + .element, h4 + div + .element { margin-top: -2.5em; padding-top: 2em; }
                    118:    .element {
1.88      ihickson  119:      background: #EEEEFF;
1.82      ihickson  120:      color: black;
                    121:      margin: 0 0 1em 0.15em;
                    122:      padding: 0 1em 0.25em 0.75em;
1.88      ihickson  123:      border-left: solid #9999FF 0.25em;
1.82      ihickson  124:      position: relative;
                    125:      z-index: 1;
                    126:    }
                    127:    .element:before {
                    128:      position: absolute;
                    129:      z-index: 2;
                    130:      top: 0;
                    131:      left: -1.15em;
                    132:      height: 2em;
                    133:      width: 0.9em;
1.88      ihickson  134:      background: #EEEEFF;
1.82      ihickson  135:      content: ' ';
                    136:      border-style: none none solid solid;
1.88      ihickson  137:      border-color: #9999FF;
1.82      ihickson  138:      border-width: 0.25em;
                    139:    }
                    140: 
1.156     ihickson  141:    .example { display: block; color: #222222; background: #FCFCFC; border-left: double; margin-left: 2em; padding-left: 1em; }
                    142:    td > .example:only-child { margin: 0 0 0 0.1em; }
1.82      ihickson  143: 
1.131     ihickson  144:    ul.domTree, ul.domTree ul { padding: 0 0 0 1em; margin: 0; }
                    145:    ul.domTree li { padding: 0; margin: 0; list-style: none; position: relative; }
                    146:    ul.domTree li li { list-style: none; }
                    147:    ul.domTree li:first-child::before { position: absolute; top: 0; height: 0.6em; left: -0.75em; width: 0.5em; border-style: none none solid solid; content: ''; border-width: 0.1em; }
                    148:    ul.domTree li:not(:last-child)::after { position: absolute; top: 0; bottom: -0.6em; left: -0.75em; width: 0.5em; border-style: none none solid solid; content: ''; border-width: 0.1em; }
                    149:    ul.domTree span { font-style: italic; font-family: serif; }
                    150:    ul.domTree .t1 code { color: purple; font-weight: bold; }
                    151:    ul.domTree .t2 { font-style: normal; font-family: monospace; }
                    152:    ul.domTree .t2 .name { color: black; font-weight: bold; }
                    153:    ul.domTree .t2 .value { color: blue; font-weight: normal; }
                    154:    ul.domTree .t3 code, .domTree .t4 code, .domTree .t5 code { color: gray; }
                    155:    ul.domTree .t7 code, .domTree .t8 code { color: green; }
                    156:    ul.domTree .t10 code { color: teal; }
                    157: 
1.225     ihickson  158:    body.dfnEnabled dfn { cursor: pointer; }
                    159:    .dfnPanel {
                    160:      display: inline;
                    161:      position: absolute;
                    162:      z-index: 10;
                    163:      height: auto;
                    164:      width: auto;
                    165:      padding: 0.5em 0.75em;
                    166:      font: small sans-serif, Droid Sans Fallback;
                    167:      background: #DDDDDD;
                    168:      color: black;
                    169:      border: outset 0.2em;
                    170:    }
                    171:    .dfnPanel * { margin: 0; padding: 0; font: inherit; text-indent: 0; }
                    172:    .dfnPanel :link, .dfnPanel :visited { color: black; }
                    173:    .dfnPanel p { font-weight: bolder; }
                    174:    .dfnPanel * + p { margin-top: 0.25em; }
                    175:    .dfnPanel li { list-style-position: inside; }
                    176: 
1.207     ihickson  177:    #configUI { position: absolute; z-index: 20; top: 10em; right: 1em; width: 11em; font-size: small; }
                    178:    #configUI p { margin: 0.5em 0; padding: 0.3em; background: #EEEEEE; color: black; border: inset thin; }
                    179:    #configUI p label { display: block; }
                    180:    #configUI #updateUI, #configUI .loginUI { text-align: center; }
                    181:    #configUI input[type=button] { display: block; margin: auto; }
1.218     ihickson  182:   </style><link href="http://www.w3.org/StyleSheets/TR/W3C-ED" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css"><div class="head">
1.115     ihickson  183:    <p><a href="http://www.w3.org/"><img alt="W3C" height="48" src="http://www.w3.org/Icons/w3c_home" width="72"></a></p>
1.54      ihickson  184:    <h1>Web Workers</h1>
1.196     ihickson  185: 
1.250   ! ihickson  186:    <h2 class="no-num no-toc" id="editor-s-draft-11-may-2010">Editor's Draft 11 May 2010</h2>
1.218     ihickson  187:    <dl><dt>Latest Published Version:</dt>
1.115     ihickson  188:     <dd><a href="http://www.w3.org/TR/workers/">http://www.w3.org/TR/workers/</a></dd>
1.109     ihickson  189:     <dt>Latest Editor's Draft:</dt>
1.115     ihickson  190:     <dd><a href="http://dev.w3.org/html5/workers/">http://dev.w3.org/html5/workers/</a></dd>
1.117     ihickson  191: <!-- ZZZ: add the new version after it has shipped-->
1.2       ihickson  192:     <dt>Previous Versions:</dt>
1.113     ihickson  193:     <dd><a href="http://www.w3.org/TR/2009/WD-workers-20090423/">http://www.w3.org/TR/2009/WD-workers-20090423/</a>
1.198     ihickson  194:     <dd><a href="http://www.w3.org/TR/2009/WD-workers-20091029/">http://www.w3.org/TR/2009/WD-workers-20091029/</a></dd>
1.117     ihickson  195: <!-- :ZZZ -->
1.81      ihickson  196:     <dt>Editors:</dt>
1.115     ihickson  197:     <dd><a href="mailto:ian@hixie.ch">Ian Hickson</a>, Google, Inc.</dd>
1.155     ihickson  198:    </dl><p class="copyright"><a href="http://www.w3.org/Consortium/Legal/ipr-notice#Copyright">Copyright</a>
1.234     ihickson  199:    &copy; 2010 <a href="http://www.w3.org/"><abbr title="World Wide
1.155     ihickson  200:    Web Consortium">W3C</abbr></a><sup>&reg;</sup> (<a href="http://www.csail.mit.edu/"><abbr title="Massachusetts
1.115     ihickson  201:    Institute of Technology">MIT</abbr></a>, <a href="http://www.ercim.org/"><abbr title="European Research
                    202:    Consortium for Informatics and Mathematics">ERCIM</abbr></a>, <a href="http://www.keio.ac.jp/">Keio</a>), All Rights Reserved. W3C
                    203:    <a href="http://www.w3.org/Consortium/Legal/ipr-notice#Legal_Disclaimer">liability</a>,
                    204:    <a href="http://www.w3.org/Consortium/Legal/ipr-notice#W3C_Trademarks">trademark</a>
                    205:    and <a href="http://www.w3.org/Consortium/Legal/copyright-documents">document
1.81      ihickson  206:    use</a> rules apply.</p>
1.201     ihickson  207: 
1.155     ihickson  208:   </div><hr class="top"><h2 class="no-num no-toc" id="abstract">Abstract</h2><p>This specification defines an API that allows Web application
1.81      ihickson  209:   authors to spawn background workers running scripts in parallel to
                    210:   their main page. This allows for thread-like operation with
1.212     ihickson  211:   message-passing as the coordination mechanism.<h2 class="no-num no-toc" id="status-of-this-document">Status of This document</h2><!-- intro boilerplate (required) --><p><em>This section describes the status of this document at the
1.81      ihickson  212:   time of its publication. Other documents may supersede this
                    213:   document. A list of current W3C publications and the most recently
                    214:   formally published revision of this technical report can be found in
1.115     ihickson  215:   the <a href="http://www.w3.org/TR/">W3C technical reports index</a>
1.201     ihickson  216:   at http://www.w3.org/TR/.</em></p><!-- where to send feedback (required) --><p>If you wish to make comments regarding this document, please send
1.115     ihickson  217:   them to <a href="mailto:public-webapps@w3.org">public-webapps@w3.org</a>
1.90      ihickson  218:   (<a href="mailto:public-webapps-request@w3.org?subject=subscribe">subscribe</a>,
1.115     ihickson  219:   <a href="http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/public-webapps/">archives</a>)
1.81      ihickson  220: 
                    221:   <!-- UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES IS THE FOLLOWING SENTENCE TO BE REMOVED OR EDITED WITHOUT TALKING TO IAN FIRST -->  
1.115     ihickson  222:   or <a href="mailto:whatwg@whatwg.org">whatwg@whatwg.org</a> (<a href="http://lists.whatwg.org/listinfo.cgi/whatwg-whatwg.org">subscribe</a>,
                    223:   <a href="http://lists.whatwg.org/pipermail/whatwg-whatwg.org/">archives</a>).
1.110     ihickson  224:   <!-- UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES IS THE PRECEDING SENTENCE TO BE REMOVED OR EDITED WITHOUT TALKING TO IAN FIRST -->
1.1       ihickson  225: 
1.155     ihickson  226:   All feedback is welcome.</p><!-- stability (required) --><p>Implementors should be aware that this specification is not
1.81      ihickson  227:   stable. <strong>Implementors who are not taking part in the
                    228:   discussions are likely to find the specification changing out from
                    229:   under them in incompatible ways.</strong> Vendors interested in
                    230:   implementing this specification before it eventually reaches the
                    231:   Candidate Recommendation stage should join the aforementioned
1.155     ihickson  232:   mailing lists and take part in the discussions.</p><!-- UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES IS THE FOLLOWING PARAGRAPH TO BE REMOVED OR EDITED WITHOUT TALKING TO IAN FIRST --><!-- version history or list of changes (required) --><p>The latest stable version of the editor's draft of this
1.115     ihickson  233:   specification is always available on <a href="http://dev.w3.org/html5/workers/Overview.html">the W3C CVS
                    234:   server</a> and in the <a href="http://svn.whatwg.org/webworkers/">WHATWG Subversion
1.81      ihickson  235:   repository</a>. The latest editor's working copy (which may contain
1.115     ihickson  236:   unfinished text in the process of being prepared) is available <a href="http://www.whatwg.org/specs/web-workers/current-work/">on the
1.81      ihickson  237:   WHATWG site</a>. Detailed change history can be obtained from the
1.155     ihickson  238:   following locations:</p><!-- UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES IS THE PRECEDING PARAGRAPH TO BE REMOVED OR EDITED WITHOUT TALKING TO IAN FIRST --><!-- UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES IS THE FOLLOWING LIST TO BE REMOVED OR EDITED WITHOUT TALKING TO IAN FIRST --><ul><li>Twitter messages (non-editorial changes only): <a href="http://twitter.com/WHATWG">http://twitter.com/WHATWG</a></li>
1.115     ihickson  239:    <li>Interactive Web interface: <a href="http://html5.org/tools/web-workers-tracker">http://html5.org/tools/web-workers-tracker</a></li>
                    240:    <li>Commit-Watchers mailing list: <a href="http://lists.whatwg.org/listinfo.cgi/commit-watchers-whatwg.org">http://lists.whatwg.org/listinfo.cgi/commit-watchers-whatwg.org</a></li>
                    241:    <li>Subversion interface: <a href="http://svn.whatwg.org/webworkers/">http://svn.whatwg.org/webworkers/</a></li>
                    242:    <li>CVS log: <a href="http://dev.w3.org/cvsweb/html5/workers/Overview.html">http://dev.w3.org/cvsweb/html5/workers/Overview.html</a></li>
1.155     ihickson  243:   </ul><!-- UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES IS THE PRECEDING LIST TO BE REMOVED OR EDITED WITHOUT TALKING TO IAN FIRST --><!-- status of document, group responsible (required) --><p>The W3C <a href="http://www.w3.org/2008/webapps/">Web Apps
1.81      ihickson  244:   Working Group</a> is the W3C working group responsible for this
                    245:   specification's progress along the W3C Recommendation track.
1.196     ihickson  246: 
1.250   ! ihickson  247:   This specification is the 11 May 2010 Editor's Draft.
1.155     ihickson  248:   </p><!-- UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES IS THE PRECEDING PARAGRAPH TO BE REMOVED OR EDITED WITHOUT TALKING TO IAN FIRST --><!-- relationship to other work (required) --><p>This specification is also being produced by the <a href="http://www.whatwg.org/">WHATWG</a>. The two specifications are
                    249:   identical from the table of contents onwards.</p><!-- UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES IS THE FOLLOWING PARAGRAPH TO BE REMOVED OR EDITED WITHOUT TALKING TO IAN FIRST --><!-- UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES IS THE PRECEDING PARAGRAPH TO BE REMOVED OR EDITED WITHOUT TALKING TO IAN FIRST --><!-- context and rationale (required) --><p>This specification is intended to specify a part of the Web
1.81      ihickson  250:   platform closely related to HTML5. It is defined in a separate
1.155     ihickson  251:   document primarily to ease the cognitive load on reviewers.</p><!-- UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES IS THE FOLLOWING PARAGRAPH TO BE REMOVED OR EDITED WITHOUT TALKING TO IAN FIRST --><!-- required patent boilerplate --><p>This document was produced by a group operating under the <a href="http://www.w3.org/Consortium/Patent-Policy-20040205/">5
1.115     ihickson  252:   February 2004 W3C Patent Policy</a>. W3C maintains a <a href="http://www.w3.org/2004/01/pp-impl/42538/status" rel="disclosure">public list of
1.81      ihickson  253:   any patent disclosures</a> made in connection with the deliverables
                    254:   of the group; that page also includes instructions for disclosing a
                    255:   patent. An individual who has actual knowledge of a patent which the
1.115     ihickson  256:   individual believes contains <a href="http://www.w3.org/Consortium/Patent-Policy-20040205/#def-essential">Essential
                    257:   Claim(s)</a> must disclose the information in accordance with <a href="http://www.w3.org/Consortium/Patent-Policy-20040205/#sec-Disclosure">section
1.214     ihickson  258:   6 of the W3C Patent Policy</a>.</p><!-- UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES IS THE FOLLOWING PARAGRAPH TO BE REMOVED OR EDITED WITHOUT TALKING TO IAN FIRST --><!-- This text will be moved back to under the copyright in the header if this is not resolved by April 2010 --><p class="alt">The <a href="http://www.whatwg.org/specs/web-workers/current-work/">WHATWG
                    259:    version</a> of this specification is available under a license that
                    260:    permits reuse of the specification text.</p><!-- UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES IS THE PRECEDING PARAGRAPH TO BE REMOVED OR EDITED WITHOUT TALKING TO IAN FIRST --><h2 class="no-num no-toc" id="contents">Table of Contents</h2>
1.81      ihickson  261: <!--begin-toc-->
1.115     ihickson  262: <ol class="toc">
                    263:  <li><a href="#introduction"><span class="secno">1 </span>Introduction</a>
1.81      ihickson  264:   <ol>
1.115     ihickson  265:    <li><a href="#scope"><span class="secno">1.1 </span>Scope</a></li>
                    266:    <li><a href="#tutorial"><span class="secno">1.2 </span>Tutorial</a>
1.81      ihickson  267:     <ol>
1.115     ihickson  268:      <li><a href="#a-background-number-crunching-worker"><span class="secno">1.2.1 </span>A background number-crunching worker</a></li>
                    269:      <li><a href="#a-worker-for-updating-a-client-side-database"><span class="secno">1.2.2 </span>A worker for updating a client-side database</a></li>
                    270:      <li><a href="#worker-used-for-background-i-o"><span class="secno">1.2.3 </span>Worker used for background I/O</a></li>
1.238     ihickson  271:      <li><a href="#shared-workers-introduction"><span class="secno">1.2.4 </span>Shared workers introduction</a></li>
                    272:      <li><a href="#shared-state-using-a-shared-worker"><span class="secno">1.2.5 </span>Shared state using a shared worker</a></li>
                    273:      <li><a href="#delegation"><span class="secno">1.2.6 </span>Delegation</a></li>
                    274:      <li><a href="#providing-libraries"><span class="secno">1.2.7 </span>Providing libraries</a></ol></ol></li>
1.148     ihickson  275:  <li><a href="#conformance-requirements"><span class="secno">2 </span>Conformance requirements</a>
1.82      ihickson  276:   <ol>
1.148     ihickson  277:    <li><a href="#dependencies"><span class="secno">2.1 </span>Dependencies</a></ol></li>
                    278:  <li><a href="#terminology"><span class="secno">3 </span>Terminology</a></li>
                    279:  <li><a href="#infrastructure"><span class="secno">4 </span>Infrastructure</a>
                    280:   <ol>
                    281:    <li><a href="#the-global-scope"><span class="secno">4.1 </span>The global scope</a>
1.81      ihickson  282:     <ol>
1.148     ihickson  283:      <li><a href="#the-workerglobalscope-abstract-interface"><span class="secno">4.1.1 </span>The <code>WorkerGlobalScope</code> abstract interface</a></li>
                    284:      <li><a href="#dedicated-workers-and-the-dedicatedworkerglobalscope-interface"><span class="secno">4.1.2 </span>Dedicated workers and the <code>DedicatedWorkerGlobalScope</code> interface</a></li>
                    285:      <li><a href="#shared-workers-and-the-sharedworkerglobalscope-inteface"><span class="secno">4.1.3 </span>Shared workers and the <code>SharedWorkerGlobalScope</code> inteface</a></ol></li>
1.160     ihickson  286:    <li><a href="#origins-of-workers"><span class="secno">4.2 </span>Origins of workers</a></li>
1.186     ihickson  287:    <li><a href="#the-event-loop"><span class="secno">4.3 </span>The event loop</a></li>
                    288:    <li><a href="#the-worker-s-lifetime"><span class="secno">4.4 </span>The worker's lifetime</a></li>
                    289:    <li><a href="#processing-model"><span class="secno">4.5 </span>Processing model</a></li>
                    290:    <li><a href="#runtime-script-errors"><span class="secno">4.6 </span>Runtime script errors</a></li>
                    291:    <li><a href="#creating-workers"><span class="secno">4.7 </span>Creating workers</a>
1.81      ihickson  292:     <ol>
1.186     ihickson  293:      <li><a href="#the-abstractworker-abstract-interface"><span class="secno">4.7.1 </span>The <code>AbstractWorker</code> abstract interface</a></li>
                    294:      <li><a href="#dedicated-workers-and-the-worker-interface"><span class="secno">4.7.2 </span>Dedicated workers and the <code>Worker</code> interface</a></li>
                    295:      <li><a href="#shared-workers-and-the-sharedworker-interface"><span class="secno">4.7.3 </span>Shared workers and the <code>SharedWorker</code> interface</a></ol></ol></li>
1.148     ihickson  296:  <li><a href="#apis-available-to-workers"><span class="secno">5 </span>APIs available to workers</a>
1.81      ihickson  297:   <ol>
1.148     ihickson  298:    <li><a href="#importing-scripts-and-libraries"><span class="secno">5.1 </span>Importing scripts and libraries</a></li>
1.210     ihickson  299:    <li><a href="#the-workernavigator-object"><span class="secno">5.2 </span>The <code>WorkerNavigator</code> object</a></li>
1.148     ihickson  300:    <li><a href="#apis-defined-in-other-specifications"><span class="secno">5.3 </span>APIs defined in other specifications</a></li>
                    301:    <li><a href="#interface-objects-and-constructors"><span class="secno">5.4 </span>Interface objects and constructors</a></li>
                    302:    <li><a href="#worker-locations"><span class="secno">5.5 </span>Worker locations</a></ol></li>
1.115     ihickson  303:  <li><a class="no-num" href="#references">References</a></li>
                    304:  <li><a class="no-num" href="#acknowledgements">Acknowledgements</a></ol>
1.155     ihickson  305: <!--end-toc--><hr><h2 id="introduction"><span class="secno">1 </span>Introduction</h2><h3 id="scope"><span class="secno">1.1 </span>Scope</h3><p><i>This section is non-normative.</i><p>This specification defines an API for running scripts in the
                    306:   background independently of any user interface scripts.<p>This allows for long-running scripts that are not interrupted by
1.81      ihickson  307:   scripts that respond to clicks or other user interactions, and
                    308:   allows long tasks to be executed without yielding to keep the page
1.155     ihickson  309:   responsive.<p>Workers (as these background scripts are called herein) are
1.81      ihickson  310:   relatively heavy-weight, and are not intended to be used in large
                    311:   numbers. For example, it would be inappropriate to launch one worker
                    312:   for each pixel of a four megapixel image. The examples below show
1.155     ihickson  313:   some appropriate uses of workers.<p>Generally, workers are expected to be long-lived, have a high
                    314:   start-up performance cost, and a high per-instance memory cost.<h3 id="tutorial"><span class="secno">1.2 </span>Tutorial</h3><p><i>This section is non-normative.</i><p>There are a variety of uses that workers can be put to. The
                    315:   following subsections show various examples of this use.<h4 id="a-background-number-crunching-worker"><span class="secno">1.2.1 </span>A background number-crunching worker</h4><p><i>This section is non-normative.</i><p>The simplest use of workers is for performing a computationally
                    316:   expensive task without interrupting the user interface.<p>In this example, the main document spawns a worker to
                    317:   (na&iuml;vely) compute prime numbers, and progressively displays the
                    318:   most recently found prime number.<p>The main page is as follows:<pre>&lt;!DOCTYPE HTML&gt;
1.81      ihickson  319: &lt;html&gt;
                    320:  &lt;head&gt;
                    321:   &lt;title&gt;Worker example: One-core computation&lt;/title&gt;
                    322:  &lt;/head&gt;
                    323:  &lt;body&gt;
                    324:   &lt;p&gt;The highest prime number discovered so far is: &lt;output id="result"&gt;&lt;/output&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
                    325:   &lt;script&gt;
1.50      ihickson  326:    var worker = new Worker('worker.js');
                    327:    worker.onmessage = function (event) {
1.54      ihickson  328:      document.getElementById('result').textContent = event.data;
1.29      ihickson  329:    };
1.81      ihickson  330:   &lt;/script&gt;
                    331:  &lt;/body&gt;
1.155     ihickson  332: &lt;/html&gt;</pre><p>The <code title="dom-Worker"><a href="#dom-worker">Worker()</a></code> constructor call
1.115     ihickson  333:   creates a worker and returns a <code><a href="#worker">Worker</a></code> object
1.81      ihickson  334:   representing that worker, which is used to communicate with the
1.177     ihickson  335:   worker. That object's <code title="handler-Worker-onmessage"><a href="#handler-worker-onmessage">onmessage</a></code> event handler allows the code to receive messages from the worker.<p>The worker itself is as follows:<pre>var n = 1;
1.29      ihickson  336: search: while (true) {
                    337:   n += 1;
                    338:   for (var i = 2; i &lt;= Math.sqrt(n); i += 1)
                    339:     if (n % i == 0)
                    340:      continue search;
                    341:   // found a prime!
1.50      ihickson  342:   postMessage(n);
1.155     ihickson  343: }</pre><p>The bulk of this code is simply an unoptimized search for a prime
1.115     ihickson  344:   number. To send a message back to the page, the <code title="dom-DedicatedWorkerGlobalScope-postMessage"><a href="#dom-dedicatedworkerglobalscope-postmessage">postMessage()</a></code>
1.155     ihickson  345:   method is used to post a message when a prime is found.<p><a href="http://www.whatwg.org/demos/workers/primes/page.html">View this example online</a>.<h4 id="a-worker-for-updating-a-client-side-database"><span class="secno">1.2.2 </span>A worker for updating a client-side database</h4><p><i>This section is non-normative.</i><p>In this example, the main document spawns a worker whose only
1.81      ihickson  346:   task is to listen for notifications from the server, and, when
                    347:   appropriate, either add or remove data from the client-side
1.155     ihickson  348:   database.<p>Since no communication occurs between the worker and the main
                    349:   page, the main page can start the worker by just doing:<pre>&lt;script&gt;
1.50      ihickson  350:  new Worker('worker.js');
1.155     ihickson  351: &lt;/script&gt;</pre><p>The worker itself is as follows:<pre>var server = new WebSocket('ws://whatwg.org/database');
1.42      ihickson  352: var database = openDatabase('demobase', '1.0', 'Demo Database', 10240);
1.31      ihickson  353: server.onmessage = function (event) {
                    354:   // data is in the format "command key value"
1.54      ihickson  355:   var data = event.data.split(' ');
1.31      ihickson  356:   switch (data[0]) {
                    357:     case '+':
                    358:      database.transaction(function(tx) {
                    359:        tx.executeSql('INSERT INTO pairs (key, value) VALUES (?, ?)', data[1], data[2]);
                    360:      });
                    361:     case '-':
                    362:      database.transaction(function(tx) {
                    363:        tx.executeSql('DELETE FROM pairs WHERE key=? AND value=?', data[1], data[2]);
                    364:      });
                    365:   }
1.155     ihickson  366: };</pre><p>This connects to the server using the <code>WebSocket</code>
1.81      ihickson  367:   mechanism and opens the local database (which, we presume, has been
                    368:   created earlier). The worker then just listens for messages from the
                    369:   server and acts on them as appropriate, forever (or until the main
1.155     ihickson  370:   page is closed).<p><a href="http://www.whatwg.org/demos/workers/database-updater/page.html">View
1.81      ihickson  371:   this example online</a>. (This example will not actually function,
                    372:   since the server does not actually exist and the database is not
1.155     ihickson  373:   created by this sample code.)<h4 id="worker-used-for-background-i-o"><span class="secno">1.2.3 </span>Worker used for background I/O</h4><p><i>This section is non-normative.</i><p>In this example, the main document uses two workers, one for
1.81      ihickson  374:   fetching stock updates for at regular intervals, and one for
1.155     ihickson  375:   fetching performing search queries that the user requests.<p>The main page is as follows:<pre>&lt;!DOCTYPE HTML&gt;
1.81      ihickson  376: &lt;html&gt;
                    377:  &lt;head&gt;
                    378:   &lt;title&gt;Worker example: Stock ticker&lt;/title&gt;
                    379:   &lt;script&gt;
1.33      ihickson  380:    // TICKER
                    381:    var symbol = 'GOOG'; // default symbol to watch
1.50      ihickson  382:    var ticker = new Worker('ticker.js');
1.33      ihickson  383: 
                    384:    // SEARCHER
1.50      ihickson  385:    var searcher = new Worker('searcher.js');
1.33      ihickson  386:    function search(query) {
1.50      ihickson  387:      searcher.postMessage(query);
1.33      ihickson  388:    }
                    389: 
                    390:    // SYMBOL SELECTION UI
                    391:    function select(newSymbol) {
                    392:      symbol = newSymbol;
1.50      ihickson  393:      ticker.postMessage(symbol);
1.33      ihickson  394:    }
1.81      ihickson  395:   &lt;/script&gt;
                    396:  &lt;/head&gt;
1.122     ihickson  397:  &lt;body onload="search('')"&gt;
1.81      ihickson  398:   &lt;p&gt;&lt;output id="symbol"&gt;&lt;/output&gt; &lt;output id="value"&gt;&lt;/output&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
                    399:   &lt;script&gt;
1.50      ihickson  400:    ticker.onmessage = function (event) {
1.54      ihickson  401:      var data = event.data.split(' ');
1.33      ihickson  402:      document.getElementById('symbol').textContent = data[0];
                    403:      document.getElementById('value').textContent = data[1];
                    404:    };
1.50      ihickson  405:    ticker.postMessage(symbol);
1.81      ihickson  406:   &lt;/script&gt;
1.122     ihickson  407:   &lt;p&gt;&lt;label&gt;Search: &lt;input type="text" autofocus oninput="search(this.value)"&gt;&lt;/label&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
1.81      ihickson  408:   &lt;ul id="results"&gt;&lt;/ul&gt;
                    409:   &lt;script&gt;
1.50      ihickson  410:    searcher.onmessage = function (event) {
1.54      ihickson  411:      var data = event.data.split(' ');
1.33      ihickson  412:      var results = document.getElementById('results');
                    413:      while (results.hasChildNodes()) // clear previous results
                    414:        results.removeChild(results.firstChild);
                    415:      for (var i = 0; i &lt; data.length; i += 1) {
                    416:        // add a list item with a button for each result
                    417:        var li = document.createElement('li');
                    418:        var button = document.createElement('button');
                    419:        button.value = data[i];
                    420:        button.type = 'button';
                    421:        button.onclick = function () { select(this.value); };
                    422:        button.textContent = data[i];
                    423:        li.appendChild(button);
                    424:        results.appendChild(li);
                    425:      }
                    426:    };
1.81      ihickson  427:   &lt;/script&gt;
                    428:   &lt;p&gt;(The data in this example is not real. Try searching for "Google" or "Apple".)&lt;/p&gt;
                    429:  &lt;/body&gt;
1.155     ihickson  430: &lt;/html&gt;</pre><p>The two workers use a common library for performing the actual
                    431:   network calls. This library is as follows:<pre>function get(url) {
1.50      ihickson  432:   try {
                    433:     var xhr = new XMLHttpRequest();
                    434:     xhr.open('GET', url, false);
                    435:     xhr.send();
                    436:     return xhr.responseText;
                    437:   } catch (e) {
                    438:     return ''; // turn all errors into empty results
                    439:   }
1.155     ihickson  440: }</pre><p>The stock updater worker is as follows:<pre>importScripts('io.js');
1.33      ihickson  441: var timer;
                    442: var symbol;
                    443: function update() {
1.50      ihickson  444:   postMessage(symbol + ' ' + get('stock.cgi?' + symbol));
1.33      ihickson  445:   timer = setTimeout(update, 10000);
                    446: }
1.50      ihickson  447: onmessage = function (event) {
1.33      ihickson  448:   if (timer)
                    449:     clearTimeout(timer);
1.54      ihickson  450:   symbol = event.data;
1.33      ihickson  451:   update();
1.155     ihickson  452: };</pre><p>The search query worker is as follows:<pre>importScripts('io.js');
1.50      ihickson  453: onmessage = function (event) {
1.54      ihickson  454:   postMessage(get('search.cgi?' + event.data));
1.238     ihickson  455: };</pre><p><a href="http://www.whatwg.org/demos/workers/stocks/page.html">View this example online</a>.<h4 id="shared-workers-introduction"><span class="secno">1.2.4 </span>Shared workers introduction</h4><p><i>This section is non-normative.</i><p>This section introduces shared workers using a Hello World
                    456:   example. Shared workers use slightly different APIs, since each
                    457:   worker can have multiple connections.<p>This first example shows how you connect to a worker and how a
                    458:   worker can send a message back to the page when it connects to
1.239     ihickson  459:   it. Received messages are displayed in a log.<p>Here is the HTML page:<pre>&lt;!DOCTYPE HTML&gt;
                    460: &lt;title&gt;Shared workers: demo 1&lt;/title&gt;
                    461: &lt;pre id="log"&gt;Log:&lt;/pre&gt;
                    462: &lt;script&gt;
                    463:   var worker = new SharedWorker('test.js');
                    464:   var log = document.getElementById('log');
                    465:   worker.port.onmessage = function(e) { // note: not worker.onmessage!
                    466:     log.textContent += '\n' + e.data;
                    467:   }
                    468: &lt;/script&gt;
                    469: </pre><p>Here is the JavaScript worker:<pre>onconnect = function(e) {
                    470:   var port = e.ports[0];
                    471:   port.postMessage('Hello World!');
                    472: }
1.245     ihickson  473: </pre><p><a href="http://www.whatwg.org/demos/workers/shared/001.html">View this example online</a>.<hr><p>This second example extends the first one by changing two things:
1.238     ihickson  474:   first, messages are received using <code title="">addEventListener()</code> instead of an <span title="event
                    475:   handler IDL attributes">event handler IDL attribute</span>, and
                    476:   second, a message is sent <em>to</em> the worker, causing the worker
                    477:   to send another message in return. Received messages are again
1.239     ihickson  478:   displayed in a log.<p>Here is the HTML page:<pre>&lt;!DOCTYPE HTML&gt;
1.240     ihickson  479: &lt;title&gt;Shared workers: demo 2&lt;/title&gt;
1.239     ihickson  480: &lt;pre id="log"&gt;Log:&lt;/pre&gt;
                    481: &lt;script&gt;
                    482:   var worker = new SharedWorker('test.js');
                    483:   var log = document.getElementById('log');
1.240     ihickson  484:   worker.port.addEventListener('message', function(e) {
1.239     ihickson  485:     log.textContent += '\n' + e.data;
1.240     ihickson  486:   }, false);
                    487:   worker.port.start(); // note: need this when using addEventListener
                    488:   worker.port.postMessage('ping');
1.239     ihickson  489: &lt;/script&gt;
                    490: </pre><p>Here is the JavaScript worker:<pre>onconnect = function(e) {
                    491:   var port = e.ports[0];
                    492:   port.postMessage('Hello World!');
1.240     ihickson  493:   port.onmessage = function(e) {
                    494:     port.postMessage('pong'); // not e.ports[0].postMessage!
                    495:     // e.target.postMessage('pong'); would work also
                    496:   }
1.239     ihickson  497: }
1.245     ihickson  498: </pre><p><a href="http://www.whatwg.org/demos/workers/shared/002.html">View this example online</a>.<hr><p>Finally, the example is extended to show how two pages can
1.238     ihickson  499:   connect to the same worker; in this case, the second page is merely
                    500:   in an <code>iframe</code> on the first page, but the same principle
                    501:   would apply to an entirely separate page in a separate
1.239     ihickson  502:   <span>top-level browsing context</span>.<p>Here is the outer HTML page:<pre>&lt;!DOCTYPE HTML&gt;
                    503: &lt;title&gt;Shared workers: demo 3&lt;/title&gt;
                    504: &lt;pre id="log"&gt;Log:&lt;/pre&gt;
                    505: &lt;script&gt;
                    506:   var worker = new SharedWorker('test.js');
                    507:   var log = document.getElementById('log');
                    508:   worker.port.addEventListener('message', function(e) {
                    509:     log.textContent += '\n' + e.data;
                    510:   }, false);
                    511:   worker.port.start();
                    512:   worker.port.postMessage('ping');
                    513: &lt;/script&gt;
                    514: &lt;iframe src="inner.html"&gt;&lt;/iframe&gt;
                    515: </pre><p>Here is the inner HTML page:<pre>&lt;!DOCTYPE HTML&gt;
                    516: &lt;title&gt;Shared workers: demo 3 inner frame&lt;/title&gt;
                    517: &lt;pre id=log&gt;Inner log:&lt;/pre&gt;
                    518: &lt;script&gt;
                    519:   var worker = new SharedWorker('test.js');
                    520:   var log = document.getElementById('log');
                    521:   worker.port.onmessage = function(e) {
                    522:    log.textContent += '\n' + e.data;
                    523:   }
                    524: &lt;/script&gt;
                    525: </pre><p>Here is the JavaScript worker:<pre>var count = 0;
                    526: onconnect = function(e) {
                    527:   count += 1;
                    528:   var port = e.ports[0];
                    529:   port.postMessage('Hello World! You are connection #' + count);
                    530:   port.onmessage = function(e) {
                    531:     port.postMessage('pong');
                    532:   }
                    533: }
1.245     ihickson  534: </pre><p><a href="http://www.whatwg.org/demos/workers/shared/003.html">View this example online</a>.<h4 id="shared-state-using-a-shared-worker"><span class="secno">1.2.5 </span>Shared state using a shared worker</h4><p><i>This section is non-normative.</i><p>In this example, multiple windows (viewers) can be opened that
1.81      ihickson  535:   are all viewing the same map. All the windows share the same map
                    536:   information, with a single worker coordinating all the viewers. Each
                    537:   viewer can move around independently, but if they set any data on
1.155     ihickson  538:   the map, all the viewers are updated.<p>The main page isn't interesting, it merely provides a way to open
                    539:   the viewers:<pre>&lt;!DOCTYPE HTML&gt;
1.81      ihickson  540: &lt;html&gt;
                    541:  &lt;head&gt;
                    542:   &lt;title&gt;Workers example: Multiviewer&lt;/title&gt;
                    543:   &lt;script&gt;
1.36      ihickson  544:    function openViewer() {
                    545:      window.open('viewer.html');
                    546:    }
1.81      ihickson  547:   &lt;/script&gt;
                    548:  &lt;/head&gt;
                    549:  &lt;body&gt;
                    550:   &lt;p&gt;&lt;button type=button onclick="openViewer()"&gt;Open a new
                    551:   viewer&lt;/button&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
                    552:   &lt;p&gt;Each viewer opens in a new window. You can have as many viewers
                    553:   as you like, they all view the same data.&lt;/p&gt;
                    554:  &lt;/body&gt;
1.155     ihickson  555: &lt;/html&gt;</pre><p>The viewer is more involved:<pre>&lt;!DOCTYPE HTML&gt;
1.81      ihickson  556: &lt;html&gt;
                    557:  &lt;head&gt;
                    558:   &lt;title&gt;Workers example: Multiviewer viewer&lt;/title&gt;
                    559:   &lt;script&gt;
1.50      ihickson  560:    var worker = new SharedWorker('worker.js', 'core');
1.36      ihickson  561: 
                    562:    // CONFIGURATION
                    563:    function configure(event) {
1.54      ihickson  564:      if (event.data.substr(0, 4) != 'cfg ') return;
                    565:      var name = event.data.substr(4).split(' ', 1);
1.36      ihickson  566:      // update display to mention our name is name
                    567:      document.getElementsByTagName('h1')[0].textContent += ' ' + name;
                    568:      // no longer need this listener
1.43      ihickson  569:      worker.port.removeEventListener('message', configure, false);
1.36      ihickson  570:    }
1.53      ihickson  571:    worker.port.addEventListener('message', configure, false);
1.36      ihickson  572: 
                    573:    // MAP
                    574:    function paintMap(event) {
1.54      ihickson  575:      if (event.data.substr(0, 4) != 'map ') return;
                    576:      var data = event.data.substr(4).split(',');
1.36      ihickson  577:      // display tiles data[0] .. data[8]
                    578:      var canvas = document.getElementById('map');
                    579:      var context = canvas.getContext('2d');
                    580:      for (var y = 0; y &lt; 3; y += 1) {
                    581:        for (var x = 0; x &lt; 3; x += 1) {
                    582:          var tile = data[y * 3 + x];
                    583:          if (tile == '0')
                    584:            context.fillStyle = 'green';
                    585:          else 
                    586:            context.fillStyle = 'maroon';
                    587:          fillRect(x * 50, y * 50, 50, 50);
                    588:        }
                    589:      }
                    590:    }
1.53      ihickson  591:    worker.port.addEventListener('message', paintMap, false);
1.36      ihickson  592: 
                    593:    // PUBLIC CHAT
                    594:    function updatePublicChat(event) {
1.54      ihickson  595:      if (event.data.substr(0, 4) != 'txt ') return;
                    596:      var name = event.data.substr(4).split(' ', 1);
                    597:      var message = event.data.substr(4 + length(name) + 1);
1.81      ihickson  598:      // display "&lt;name&gt; message" in public chat
1.36      ihickson  599:      var dialog = document.getElementById('public');
                    600:      var dt = document.createElement('dt');
                    601:      dt.textContent = name;
                    602:      dialog.appendChild(dt);
                    603:      var dd = document.createElement('dd');
                    604:      dd.textContent = message;
                    605:      dialog.appendChild(dd);
                    606:    }
1.53      ihickson  607:    worker.port.addEventListener('message', updatePublicChat, false);
1.36      ihickson  608: 
                    609:    // PRIVATE CHAT
                    610:    function startPrivateChat(event) {
1.54      ihickson  611:      if (event.data.substr(0, 4) != 'msg ') return;
                    612:      var name = event.data.substr(4).split(' ', 1);
1.84      ihickson  613:      var port = event.ports[0];
1.36      ihickson  614:      // display a private chat UI
                    615:      var ul = document.getElementById('private');
                    616:      var li = document.createElement('li');
                    617:      var h3 = document.createElement('h3');
                    618:      h3.textContent = 'Private chat with ' + name;
                    619:      li.appendChild(h3);
                    620:      var dialog = document.createElement('dialog');
                    621:      var addMessage = function(name, message) {
                    622:        var dt = document.createElement('dt');
                    623:        dt.textContent = name;
                    624:        dialog.appendChild(dt);
                    625:        var dd = document.createElement('dd');
                    626:        dd.textContent = message;
                    627:        dialog.appendChild(dd);
                    628:      };
                    629:      port.onmessage = function (event) {
1.54      ihickson  630:        addMessage(name, event.data);
1.36      ihickson  631:      };
                    632:      li.appendChild(dialog);
                    633:      var form = document.createElement('form');
                    634:      var p = document.createElement('p');
                    635:      var input = document.createElement('input');
                    636:      input.size = 50;
                    637:      p.appendChild(input);
                    638:      p.appendChild(document.createTextNode(' '));
                    639:      var button = document.createElement('button');
                    640:      button.textContent = 'Post';
                    641:      p.appendChild(button);
                    642:      form.onsubmit = function () {
                    643:        port.postMessage(input.value);
                    644:        addMessage('me', input.value);
                    645:        input.value = '';
                    646:        return false;
                    647:      };
                    648:      form.appendChild(p);
                    649:      li.appendChild(form);
                    650:    }
1.53      ihickson  651:    worker.port.addEventListener('message', startPrivateChat, false);
1.188     ihickson  652: 
                    653:    worker.port.start();
1.81      ihickson  654:   &lt;/script&gt;
                    655:  &lt;/head&gt;
                    656:  &lt;body&gt;
                    657:   &lt;h1&gt;Viewer&lt;/h1&gt;
                    658:   &lt;h2&gt;Map&lt;/h2&gt;
                    659:   &lt;p&gt;&lt;canvas id="map" height=150 width=150&gt;&lt;/canvas&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
                    660:   &lt;p&gt;
                    661:    &lt;button type=button onclick="worker.port.postMessage('mov left')"&gt;Left&lt;/button&gt;
                    662:    &lt;button type=button onclick="worker.port.postMessage('mov up')"&gt;Up&lt;/button&gt;
                    663:    &lt;button type=button onclick="worker.port.postMessage('mov down')"&gt;Down&lt;/button&gt;
                    664:    &lt;button type=button onclick="worker.port.postMessage('mov right')"&gt;Right&lt;/button&gt;
                    665:    &lt;button type=button onclick="worker.port.postMessage('set 0')"&gt;Set 0&lt;/button&gt;
                    666:    &lt;button type=button onclick="worker.port.postMessage('set 1')"&gt;Set 1&lt;/button&gt;
                    667:   &lt;/p&gt;
                    668:   &lt;h2&gt;Public Chat&lt;/h2&gt;
                    669:   &lt;dialog id="public"&gt;&lt;/dialog&gt;
                    670:   &lt;form onsubmit="worker.port.postMessage('txt ' + message.value); message.value = ''; return false;"&gt;
                    671:    &lt;p&gt;
                    672:     &lt;input type="text" name="message" size="50"&gt;
                    673:     &lt;button&gt;Post&lt;/button&gt;
                    674:    &lt;/p&gt;
                    675:   &lt;/form&gt;
                    676:   &lt;h2&gt;Private Chat&lt;/h2&gt;
                    677:   &lt;ul id="private"&gt;&lt;/ul&gt;
                    678:  &lt;/body&gt;
                    679: &lt;/html&gt;
1.155     ihickson  680: </pre><p>There are several key things worth noting about the way the
                    681:   viewer is written.<p><strong>Multiple listeners</strong>. Instead of a single message
1.81      ihickson  682:   processing function, the code here attaches multiple event
                    683:   listeners, each one performing a quick check to see if it is
                    684:   relevant for the message. In this example it doesn't make much
                    685:   difference, but if multiple authors wanted to collaborate using a
                    686:   single port to communicate with a worker, it would allow for
                    687:   independent code instead of changes having to all be made to a
1.155     ihickson  688:   single event handling function.<p>Registering event listeners in this way also allows you to
1.81      ihickson  689:   unregister specific listeners when you are done with them, as is
                    690:   done with the <code title="">configure()</code> method in this
1.155     ihickson  691:   example.<p>Finally, the worker:<pre>
                    692: var nextName = 0;
1.36      ihickson  693: function getNextName() {
                    694:   // this could use more friendly names
                    695:   // but for now just return a number
                    696:   return nextName++;
                    697: }
                    698: 
                    699: var map = [
                    700:  [0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0],
                    701:  [1, 1, 0, 1, 0, 1, 1],
                    702:  [0, 1, 0, 1, 0, 0, 0],
                    703:  [0, 1, 0, 1, 0, 1, 1],
                    704:  [0, 0, 0, 1, 0, 0, 0],
                    705:  [1, 0, 0, 1, 1, 1, 1],
                    706:  [1, 1, 0, 1, 1, 0, 1],
                    707: ];
                    708: 
                    709: function wrapX(x) {
                    710:   if (x &lt; 0) return wrapX(x + map[0].length);
1.81      ihickson  711:   if (x &gt;= map[0].length) return wrapX(x - map[0].length);
1.36      ihickson  712:   return x;
                    713: }
                    714: 
                    715: function wrapY(y) {
                    716:   if (y &lt; 0) return wrapY(y + map.length);
1.81      ihickson  717:   if (y &gt;= map[0].length) return wrapY(y - map.length);
1.36      ihickson  718:   return y;
                    719: }
                    720: 
1.50      ihickson  721: function sendMapData(callback) {
1.36      ihickson  722:   var data = '';
                    723:   for (var y = viewer.y-1; y &lt;= viewer.y+1; y += 1) {
                    724:     for (var x = viewer.x-1; x &lt;= viewer.x+1; x += 1) {
                    725:       if (data != '')
                    726:         data += ',';
                    727:       data += map[y][x];
                    728:     }
                    729:   }
1.50      ihickson  730:   callback('map ' + data);
1.36      ihickson  731: }
                    732: 
                    733: var viewers = {};
                    734: onconnect = function (event) {
1.84      ihickson  735:   event.ports[0]._name = getNextName();
                    736:   event.ports[0]._data = { port: event.port, x: 0, y: 0, };
                    737:   viewers[event.ports[0]._name] = event.port._data;
                    738:   event.ports[0].postMessage('cfg ' + name);
                    739:   event.ports[0].onmessage = getMessage;
                    740:   sendMapData(event.ports[0].postMessage);
1.36      ihickson  741: };
                    742: 
                    743: function getMessage(event) {
1.54      ihickson  744:   switch (event.data.substr(0, 4)) {
1.36      ihickson  745:     case 'mov ':
1.54      ihickson  746:       var direction = event.data.substr(4);
1.36      ihickson  747:       var dx = 0;
                    748:       var dy = 0;
                    749:       switch (direction) {
                    750:         case 'up': dy = -1; break;
                    751:         case 'down': dy = 1; break;
                    752:         case 'left': dx = -1; break;
                    753:         case 'right': dx = 1; break;
                    754:       }
                    755:       event.target._data.x = wrapX(event.target._data.x + dx);
                    756:       event.target._data.y = wrapY(event.target._data.y + dy);
1.50      ihickson  757:       sendMapData(event.target.postMessage);
1.36      ihickson  758:       break;
                    759:     case 'set ':
1.54      ihickson  760:       var value = event.data.substr(4);
1.36      ihickson  761:       map[event.target._data.y][event.target._data.x] = value;
                    762:       for (var viewer in viewers)
1.50      ihickson  763:         sendMapData(viewers[viewer].port.postMessage);
1.36      ihickson  764:       break;
                    765:     case 'txt ':
                    766:       var name = event.target._name;
1.54      ihickson  767:       var message = event.data.substr(4);
1.36      ihickson  768:       for (var viewer in viewers)
                    769:         viewers[viewer].port.postMessage('txt ' + name + ' ' + message);
                    770:       break;
                    771:     case 'msg ':
                    772:       var party1 = event._data;
1.54      ihickson  773:       var party2 = viewers[event.data.substr(4).split(' ', 1)];
1.36      ihickson  774:       if (party2) {
                    775:         var channel = new MessageChannel();
1.84      ihickson  776:         party1.port.postMessage('msg ' + party2.name, [channel.port1]);
                    777:         party2.port.postMessage('msg ' + party1.name, [channel.port2]);
1.36      ihickson  778:       }
                    779:       break;
                    780:   }
1.155     ihickson  781: }</pre><p><strong>Connecting to multiple pages</strong>. The script uses
1.115     ihickson  782:   the <code title="handler-SharedWorkerGlobalScope-onconnect"><a href="#handler-sharedworkerglobalscope-onconnect">onconnect</a></code>
1.155     ihickson  783:   event listener to listen for multiple connections.<p><strong>Direct channels</strong>. When the worker receives a
1.81      ihickson  784:   "msg" message from one viewer naming another viewer, it sets up a
                    785:   direct connection between the two, so that the two viewers can
                    786:   communicate directly without the worker having to proxy all the
1.238     ihickson  787:   messages.<p><a href="http://www.whatwg.org/demos/workers/multiviewer/page.html">View this example online</a>.<h4 id="delegation"><span class="secno">1.2.6 </span>Delegation</h4><p><i>This section is non-normative.</i><p>With multicore CPUs becoming prevalent, one way to obtain better
1.81      ihickson  788:   performance is to split computationally expensive tasks amongst
                    789:   multiple workers. In this example, a computationally expensive task
                    790:   that is to be performed for every number from 1 to 10,000,000 is
1.155     ihickson  791:   farmed out to ten subworkers.<p>The main page is as follows, it just reports the result:<pre>&lt;!DOCTYPE HTML&gt;
1.81      ihickson  792: &lt;html&gt;
                    793:  &lt;head&gt;
1.203     ihickson  794:   &lt;title&gt;Worker example: Multicore computation&lt;/title&gt;
1.81      ihickson  795:  &lt;/head&gt;
                    796:  &lt;body&gt;
1.203     ihickson  797:   &lt;p&gt;Result: &lt;output id="result"&gt;&lt;/output&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
1.81      ihickson  798:   &lt;script&gt;
1.50      ihickson  799:    var worker = new Worker('worker.js');
                    800:    worker.onmessage = function (event) {
1.54      ihickson  801:      document.getElementById('result').textContent = event.data;
1.40      ihickson  802:    };
1.81      ihickson  803:   &lt;/script&gt;
                    804:  &lt;/body&gt;
1.155     ihickson  805: &lt;/html&gt;</pre><p>The worker itself is as follows:<pre>// settings
1.40      ihickson  806: var num_workers = 10;
                    807: var items_per_worker = 1000000;
                    808: 
                    809: // start the workers
                    810: var result = 0;
                    811: var pending_workers = num_workers;
                    812: for (var i = 0; i &lt; num_workers; i += 1) {
1.50      ihickson  813:   var worker = new Worker('core.js');
                    814:   worker.postMessage(i * items_per_worker);
                    815:   worker.postMessage((i+1) * items_per_worker);
                    816:   worker.onmessage = storeResult;
1.40      ihickson  817: }
                    818: 
                    819: // handle the results
                    820: function storeResult(event) {
1.54      ihickson  821:   result += 1*event.data;
1.40      ihickson  822:   pending_workers -= 1;
                    823:   if (pending_workers &lt;= 0)
1.50      ihickson  824:     postMessage(result); // finished!
1.155     ihickson  825: }</pre><p>It consists of a loop to start the subworkers, and then a handler
                    826:   that waits for all the subworkers to respond.<p>The subworkers are implemented as follows:<pre>var start;
1.41      ihickson  827: onmessage = getStart;
1.40      ihickson  828: function getStart(event) {
1.54      ihickson  829:   start = 1*event.data;
1.40      ihickson  830:   onmessage = getEnd;
                    831: }
                    832: 
                    833: var end;
                    834: function getEnd(event) {
1.54      ihickson  835:   end = 1*event.data;
1.40      ihickson  836:   onmessage = null;
1.66      ihickson  837:   work();
1.40      ihickson  838: }
                    839: 
1.66      ihickson  840: function work() {
1.40      ihickson  841:   var result = 0;
                    842:   for (var i = start; i &lt; end; i += 1) {
                    843:     // perform some complex calculation here
                    844:     result += 1;
                    845:   }
1.50      ihickson  846:   postMessage(result);
                    847:   close();
1.155     ihickson  848: }</pre><p>They receive two numbers in two events, perform the computation
1.81      ihickson  849:   for the range of numbers thus specified, and then report the result
1.238     ihickson  850:   back to the parent.<p><a href="http://www.whatwg.org/demos/workers/multicore/page.html">View this example online</a>.<h4 id="providing-libraries"><span class="secno">1.2.7 </span>Providing libraries</h4><p><i>This section is non-normative.</i><p>Suppose that a cryptography library is made available that
1.155     ihickson  851:   provides three tasks:<dl><dt>Generate a public/private key pair</dt>
1.81      ihickson  852: 
                    853:    <dd>Takes a port, on which it will send two messages, first the
                    854:    public key and then the private key.</dd>
                    855: 
                    856:    <dt>Given a plaintext and a public key, return the corresponding cyphertext</dt>
                    857: 
                    858:    <dd>Takes a port, to which any number of messages can be sent, the
                    859:    first giving the public key, and the remainder giving the
                    860:    plaintext, each of which is encrypted and then sent on that same
                    861:    channel as the cyphertext. The user can close the port when it is
                    862:    done encrypting content.</dd>
                    863: 
                    864:    <dt>Given a cyphertext and a private key, return the corresponding plaintext</dt>
                    865: 
                    866:    <dd>Takes a port, to which any number of messages can be sent, the
                    867:    first giving the private key, and the remainder giving the
                    868:    cyphertext, each of which is decrypted and then sent on that same
                    869:    channel as the plaintext. The user can close the port when it is
                    870:    done decrypting content.</dd>
1.49      ihickson  871: 
1.155     ihickson  872:   </dl><p>The library itself is as follows:<pre>function handleMessage(e) {
1.54      ihickson  873:   if (e.data == "genkeys")
1.84      ihickson  874:     genkeys(e.ports[0]);
1.54      ihickson  875:   else if (e.data == "encrypt")
1.84      ihickson  876:     encrypt(e.ports[0]);
1.54      ihickson  877:   else if (e.data == "decrypt")
1.84      ihickson  878:     decrypt(e.ports[0]);
1.49      ihickson  879: }
                    880: 
                    881: function genkeys(p) {
                    882:   var keys = _generateKeyPair();
                    883:   p.postMessage(keys[0]);
                    884:   p.postMessage(keys[1]);
                    885: }
                    886: 
                    887: function encrypt(p) {
                    888:   var key, state = 0;
                    889:   p.onmessage = function (e) {
                    890:     if (state == 0) {
1.54      ihickson  891:       key = e.data;
1.49      ihickson  892:       state = 1;
                    893:     } else {
1.54      ihickson  894:       p.postMessage(_encrypt(key, e.data));
1.49      ihickson  895:     }
                    896:   };
                    897: }
                    898: 
                    899: function decrypt(p) {
                    900:   var key, state = 0;
                    901:   p.onmessage = function (e) {
                    902:     if (state == 0) {
1.54      ihickson  903:       key = e.data;
1.49      ihickson  904:       state = 1;
                    905:     } else {
1.54      ihickson  906:       p.postMessage(_decrypt(key, e.data));
1.49      ihickson  907:     }
                    908:   };
                    909: }
                    910: 
1.50      ihickson  911: // support being used as a shared worker as well as a dedicated worker
1.195     ihickson  912: if ('onmessage' in this) // dedicated worker
1.50      ihickson  913:   onmessage = handleMessage;
                    914: else // shared worker
                    915:   onconnect = function (e) { e.port.onmessage = handleMessage; }
1.49      ihickson  916: 
                    917: 
                    918: // the "crypto" functions:
                    919: 
                    920: function _generateKeyPair() {
                    921:   return [Math.random(), Math.random()];
                    922: }
                    923: 
                    924: function _encrypt(k, s) {
                    925:   return 'encrypted-' + k + ' ' + s;
                    926: }
                    927: 
                    928: function _decrypt(k, s) {
                    929:   return s.substr(s.indexOf(' ')+1);
1.155     ihickson  930: }</pre><p>Note that the crypto functions here are just stubs and don't do
                    931:   real cryptography.<p>This library could be used as follows:<pre>&lt;!DOCTYPE HTML&gt;
1.81      ihickson  932: &lt;html&gt;
                    933:  &lt;head&gt;
                    934:   &lt;title&gt;Worker example: Crypto library&lt;/title&gt;
                    935:   &lt;script&gt;
1.50      ihickson  936:    var crytoLib = new Worker('libcrypto-v1.js'); // or could use 'libcrypto-v2.js'
1.49      ihickson  937:    function getKeys() {
                    938:      var state = 0;
1.50      ihickson  939:      cryptoLib.startConversation("genkeys").onmessage = function (e) {
1.49      ihickson  940:        if (state == 0)
1.54      ihickson  941:          document.getElementById('public').value = e.data;
1.49      ihickson  942:        else if (state == 1)
1.54      ihickson  943:          document.getElementById('private').value = e.data;
1.49      ihickson  944:        state += 1;
                    945:      };
                    946:    }
                    947:    function enc() {
1.50      ihickson  948:      var port = cryptoLib.startConversation("encrypt");
                    949:      port.postMessage(document.getElementById('public').value);
                    950:      port.postMessage(document.getElementById('input').value);
                    951:      port.onmessage = function (e) {
1.54      ihickson  952:        document.getElementById('input').value = e.data;
1.50      ihickson  953:        port.close();
1.49      ihickson  954:      };
                    955:    }
                    956:    function dec() {
1.50      ihickson  957:      var port = cryptoLib.startConversation("decrypt");
                    958:      port.postMessage(document.getElementById('private').value);
                    959:      port.postMessage(document.getElementById('input').value);
                    960:      port.onmessage = function (e) {
1.54      ihickson  961:        document.getElementById('input').value = e.data;
1.50      ihickson  962:        port.close();
1.49      ihickson  963:      };
                    964:    }
1.81      ihickson  965:   &lt;/script&gt;
                    966:   &lt;style&gt;
1.49      ihickson  967:    textarea { display: block; }
1.81      ihickson  968:   &lt;/style&gt;
                    969:  &lt;/head&gt;
                    970:  &lt;body onload="getKeys()"&gt;
                    971:   &lt;fieldset&gt;
                    972:    &lt;legend&gt;Keys&lt;/legend&gt;
                    973:    &lt;p&gt;&lt;label&gt;Public Key: &lt;textarea id="public"&gt;&lt;/textarea&gt;&lt;/label&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
                    974:    &lt;p&gt;&lt;label&gt;Private Key: &lt;textarea id="private"&gt;&lt;/textarea&gt;&lt;/label&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
                    975:   &lt;/fieldset&gt;
                    976:   &lt;p&gt;&lt;label&gt;Input: &lt;textarea id="input"&gt;&lt;/textarea&gt;&lt;/label&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
                    977:   &lt;p&gt;&lt;button onclick="enc()"&gt;Encrypt&lt;/button&gt; &lt;button onclick="dec()"&gt;Decrypt&lt;/button&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
                    978:  &lt;/body&gt;
1.155     ihickson  979: &lt;/html&gt;</pre><p>A later version of the API, though, might want to offload all the
                    980:   crypto work onto subworkers. This could be done as follows:<pre>function handleMessage(e) {
1.54      ihickson  981:   if (e.data == "genkeys")
1.84      ihickson  982:     genkeys(e.ports[0]);
1.54      ihickson  983:   else if (e.data == "encrypt")
1.84      ihickson  984:     encrypt(e.ports[0]);
1.54      ihickson  985:   else if (e.data == "decrypt")
1.84      ihickson  986:     decrypt(e.ports[0]);
1.49      ihickson  987: }
                    988: 
                    989: function genkeys(p) {
1.50      ihickson  990:   var generator = new Worker('libcrypto-v2-generator.js');
1.84      ihickson  991:   generator.postMessage('', [p]);
1.49      ihickson  992: }
                    993: 
                    994: function encrypt(p) {
                    995:   p.onmessage = function (e) {
1.54      ihickson  996:     var key = e.data;
1.50      ihickson  997:     var encryptor = new Worker('libcrypto-v2-encryptor.js');
1.84      ihickson  998:     encryptor.postMessage(key, [p]);
1.49      ihickson  999:   };
                   1000: }
                   1001: 
                   1002: function encrypt(p) {
                   1003:   p.onmessage = function (e) {
1.54      ihickson 1004:     var key = e.data;
1.50      ihickson 1005:     var decryptor = new Worker('libcrypto-v2-decryptor.js');
1.84      ihickson 1006:     decryptor.postMessage(key, [p]);
1.49      ihickson 1007:   };
                   1008: }
                   1009: 
1.50      ihickson 1010: // support being used as a shared worker as well as a dedicated worker
1.195     ihickson 1011: if ('onmessage' in this) // dedicated worker
1.50      ihickson 1012:   onmessage = handleMessage;
                   1013: else // shared worker
1.84      ihickson 1014:   onconnect = function (e) { e.ports[0].onmessage = handleMessage };
1.155     ihickson 1015: </pre><p>The little subworkers would then be as follows.<p>For generating key pairs:<pre>onmessage = function (e) {
1.50      ihickson 1016:   var k = _generateKeyPair();
1.84      ihickson 1017:   e.ports[0].postMessage(k[0]);
                   1018:   e.ports[0].postMessage(k[1]);
1.49      ihickson 1019:   close();
                   1020: }
1.50      ihickson 1021: 
                   1022: function _generateKeyPair() {
                   1023:   return [Math.random(), Math.random()];
1.155     ihickson 1024: }</pre><p>For encrypting:<pre>onmessage = function (e) {
1.54      ihickson 1025:   var key = e.data;
1.84      ihickson 1026:   e.ports[0].onmessage = function (e) {
1.54      ihickson 1027:     var s = e.data;
1.50      ihickson 1028:     postMessage(_encrypt(key, s));
1.49      ihickson 1029:   }
1.50      ihickson 1030: }
                   1031: 
                   1032: function _encrypt(k, s) {
                   1033:   return 'encrypted-' + k + ' ' + s;
1.155     ihickson 1034: }</pre><p>For decrypting:<pre>onmessage = function (e) {
1.54      ihickson 1035:   var key = e.data;
1.84      ihickson 1036:   e.ports[0].onmessage = function (e) {
1.54      ihickson 1037:     var s = e.data;
1.50      ihickson 1038:     postMessage(_decrypt(key, s));
1.49      ihickson 1039:   }
1.50      ihickson 1040: }
                   1041: 
                   1042: function _decrypt(k, s) {
                   1043:   return s.substr(s.indexOf(' ')+1);
1.155     ihickson 1044: }</pre><p>Notice how the users of the API don't have to even know that this
                   1045:   is happening &mdash; the API hasn't changed; the library can
1.81      ihickson 1046:   delegate to subworkers without changing its API, even though it is
1.155     ihickson 1047:   accepting data using message channels.<p><a href="http://www.whatwg.org/demos/workers/crypto/page.html">View this example online</a>.<h2 id="conformance-requirements"><span class="secno">2 </span>Conformance requirements</h2><p>All diagrams, examples, and notes in this specification are
1.81      ihickson 1048:   non-normative, as are all sections explicitly marked non-normative.
1.155     ihickson 1049:   Everything else in this specification is normative.<p>The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", <!--"SHALL", "SHALL
1.81      ihickson 1050:   NOT",--> "SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and
                   1051:   "OPTIONAL" in the normative parts of this document are to be
                   1052:   interpreted as described in RFC2119. For readability, these words do
1.155     ihickson 1053:   not appear in all uppercase letters in this specification. <a href="#refsRFC2119">[RFC2119]</a><p>Requirements phrased in the imperative as part of algorithms
1.81      ihickson 1054:   (such as "strip any leading space characters" or "return false and
                   1055:   abort these steps") are to be interpreted with the meaning of the
                   1056:   key word ("must", "should", "may", etc) used in introducing the
1.155     ihickson 1057:   algorithm.<p>Some conformance requirements are phrased as requirements on
1.81      ihickson 1058:   attributes, methods or objects. Such requirements are to be
1.155     ihickson 1059:   interpreted as requirements on user agents.<p>Conformance requirements phrased as algorithms or specific steps
1.81      ihickson 1060:   may be implemented in any manner, so long as the end result is
                   1061:   equivalent. (In particular, the algorithms defined in this
                   1062:   specification are intended to be easy to follow, and not intended to
1.155     ihickson 1063:   be performant.)<p>The only conformance class defined by this specification is user
                   1064:   agents.<p>User agents may impose implementation-specific limits on
1.81      ihickson 1065:   otherwise unconstrained inputs, e.g. to prevent denial of service
                   1066:   attacks, to guard against running out of memory, or to work around
1.229     ihickson 1067:   platform-specific limitations.<p>When support for a feature is disabled (e.g. as an emergency
                   1068:   measure to mitigate a security problem, or to aid in development, or
                   1069:   for performance reasons), user agents must act as if they had no
                   1070:   support for the feature whatsoever, and as if the feature was not
                   1071:   mentioned in this specification. For example, if a particular
                   1072:   feature is accessed via an attribute in a Web IDL interface, the
                   1073:   attribute itself would be omitted from the objects that implement
                   1074:   that interface &mdash; leaving the attribute on the object but
                   1075:   making it return null or throw an exception is insufficient.<h3 id="dependencies"><span class="secno">2.1 </span>Dependencies</h3><p>This specification relies on several other underlying
1.226     ihickson 1076:   specifications.<dl><dt>HTML</dt>
1.49      ihickson 1077: 
1.81      ihickson 1078:    <dd>
1.49      ihickson 1079: 
1.226     ihickson 1080:     <p>Many fundamental concepts from HTML are used by this
                   1081:     specification. <a href="#refsHTML">[HTML]</a></p>
1.49      ihickson 1082: 
1.81      ihickson 1083:    </dd>
1.1       ihickson 1084: 
1.81      ihickson 1085:    <dt>WebIDL</dt>
1.1       ihickson 1086: 
                   1087:    <dd>
                   1088: 
1.81      ihickson 1089:     <p>The IDL blocks in this specification use the semantics of the
1.153     ihickson 1090:     WebIDL specification. <a href="#refsWEBIDL">[WEBIDL]</a></p>
1.1       ihickson 1091: 
1.81      ihickson 1092:    </dd>
1.1       ihickson 1093: 
1.155     ihickson 1094:   </dl><h2 id="terminology"><span class="secno">3 </span>Terminology</h2><p>The construction "a <code title="">Foo</code> object", where
1.81      ihickson 1095:   <code title="">Foo</code> is actually an interface, is sometimes
                   1096:   used instead of the more accurate "an object implementing the
1.155     ihickson 1097:   interface <code title="">Foo</code>".<p>The term DOM is used to refer to the API set made available to
1.81      ihickson 1098:   scripts in Web applications, and does not necessarily imply the
                   1099:   existence of an actual <code>Document</code> object or of any other
                   1100:   <code>Node</code> objects as defined in the DOM Core
1.171     ihickson 1101:   specifications. <a href="#refsDOMCORE">[DOMCORE]</a><p>An IDL attribute is said to be <em>getting</em> when its value is
1.81      ihickson 1102:   being retrieved (e.g. by author script), and is said to be
1.155     ihickson 1103:   <em>setting</em> when a new value is assigned to it.<p>The term "JavaScript" is used to refer to ECMA262, rather than
1.103     ihickson 1104:   the official term ECMAScript, since the term JavaScript is more
1.155     ihickson 1105:   widely known. <a href="#refsECMA262">[ECMA262]</a><h2 id="infrastructure"><span class="secno">4 </span>Infrastructure</h2><p>There are two kinds of workers; dedicated workers, and shared
1.81      ihickson 1106:   workers. Dedicated workers, once created, and are linked to their
                   1107:   creator; but message ports can be used to communicate from a
                   1108:   dedicated worker to multiple other browsing contexts or
                   1109:   workers. Shared workers, on the other hand, are named, and once
                   1110:   created any script running in the same <span>origin</span> can
1.155     ihickson 1111:   obtain a reference to that worker and communicate with it.<h3 id="the-global-scope"><span class="secno">4.1 </span>The global scope</h3><p>The global scope is the "inside" of a worker.<h4 id="the-workerglobalscope-abstract-interface"><span class="secno">4.1.1 </span>The <code><a href="#workerglobalscope">WorkerGlobalScope</a></code> abstract interface</h4><pre class="idl">interface <dfn id="workerglobalscope">WorkerGlobalScope</dfn> {
1.115     ihickson 1112:   readonly attribute <a href="#workerglobalscope">WorkerGlobalScope</a> <a href="#dom-workerglobalscope-self" title="dom-WorkerGlobalScope-self">self</a>;
                   1113:   readonly attribute <a href="#workerlocation">WorkerLocation</a> <a href="#dom-workerglobalscope-location" title="dom-WorkerGlobalScope-location">location</a>;
                   1114: 
                   1115:   void <a href="#dom-workerglobalscope-close" title="dom-WorkerGlobalScope-close">close</a>();
1.144     ihickson 1116: <!-- v2-onclose           attribute <span>Function</span> <span title="handler-WorkerGlobalScope-onclose">onclose</span>;
                   1117: -->           attribute <span>Function</span> <a href="#handler-workerglobalscope-onerror" title="handler-WorkerGlobalScope-onerror">onerror</a>;
1.150     ihickson 1118: };
1.172     ihickson 1119: <a href="#workerglobalscope">WorkerGlobalScope</a> implements <a href="#workerutils">WorkerUtils</a>;
                   1120: <a href="#workerglobalscope">WorkerGlobalScope</a> implements <span>EventTarget</span>;</pre><p>The <dfn id="dom-workerglobalscope-self" title="dom-WorkerGlobalScope-self"><code>self</code></dfn> attribute
1.155     ihickson 1121:   must return the <code><a href="#workerglobalscope">WorkerGlobalScope</a></code> object itself.<p>The <dfn id="dom-workerglobalscope-location" title="dom-WorkerGlobalScope-location"><code>location</code></dfn>
1.115     ihickson 1122:   attribute must return the <code><a href="#workerlocation">WorkerLocation</a></code> object created
                   1123:   for the <code><a href="#workerglobalscope">WorkerGlobalScope</a></code> object when the worker was
1.81      ihickson 1124:   created. It represents the <span>absolute URL</span> of the script
1.155     ihickson 1125:   that was used to initialize the worker, after any redirects.<hr><p>When a script invokes the <dfn id="dom-workerglobalscope-close" title="dom-WorkerGlobalScope-close"><code>close()</code></dfn>
1.123     ihickson 1126:   method on a <code><a href="#workerglobalscope">WorkerGlobalScope</a></code> object, the user agent
1.155     ihickson 1127:   must run the following steps (atomically):<ol><li><p>Discard any <span title="concept-task">tasks</span> that
1.123     ihickson 1128:    have been added to the <span>event loop</span>'s <span title="task
                   1129:    queue">task queues</span>.</p>
                   1130: 
                   1131: <!-- v2-onclose
                   1132:    <li><p><span>Queue a task</span> to <span>fire a simple
1.179     ihickson 1133:    event</span> named <code title="event-close">close</code> at the
1.123     ihickson 1134:    <code>WorkerGlobalScope</code> object.</p></li>
                   1135: -->
1.81      ihickson 1136: 
1.115     ihickson 1137:    <li><p>Set the worker's <code><a href="#workerglobalscope">WorkerGlobalScope</a></code> object's
                   1138:    <a href="#dom-workerglobalscope-closing" title="dom-WorkerGlobalScope-closing">closing</a> flag to
1.123     ihickson 1139:    true. (This prevents any further tasks from being queued.)</li>
1.81      ihickson 1140: 
1.177     ihickson 1141:   </ol><p>The following are the <span>event handlers</span> (and their
                   1142:   corresponding <span title="event handler event type">event handler
                   1143:   event types</span>) that must be supported, as IDL attributes, by
                   1144:   objects implementing the <code><a href="#workerglobalscope">WorkerGlobalScope</a></code>
                   1145:   interface:<table><thead><tr><th><span title="event handlers">Event handler</span> <th><span>Event handler event type</span>
1.155     ihickson 1146:    <tbody><!-- v2-onclose    <tr><td><dfn title="handler-WorkerGlobalScope-onclose"><code>onclose</code></dfn> <td> <code title="event-close">close</code> --><tr><td><dfn id="handler-workerglobalscope-onerror" title="handler-WorkerGlobalScope-onerror"><code>onerror</code></dfn> <td> <code title="event-error">error</code>
1.209     ihickson 1147:   </table><hr><p>The <code><a href="#workerglobalscope">WorkerGlobalScope</a></code> interface must not exist if
                   1148:   the interface's <span>relevant namespace object</span> is a
                   1149:   <code>Window</code> object. <a href="#refsWEBIDL">[WEBIDL]</a><h4 id="dedicated-workers-and-the-dedicatedworkerglobalscope-interface"><span class="secno">4.1.2 </span>Dedicated workers and the <code><a href="#dedicatedworkerglobalscope">DedicatedWorkerGlobalScope</a></code> interface</h4><pre class="idl">[Supplemental, NoInterfaceObject]
1.150     ihickson 1150: interface <dfn id="dedicatedworkerglobalscope">DedicatedWorkerGlobalScope</dfn> : <a href="#workerglobalscope">WorkerGlobalScope</a> {
1.174     ihickson 1151:   void <a href="#dom-dedicatedworkerglobalscope-postmessage" title="dom-DedicatedWorkerGlobalScope-postMessage">postMessage</a>(in any message, in optional <span>MessagePortArray</span> ports);<!--
1.77      ihickson 1152:   <span>MessagePort</span> <span title="dom-DedicatedWorkerGlobalScope-startConversation">startConversation</span>(in any message);-->
1.144     ihickson 1153:            attribute <span>Function</span> <a href="#handler-dedicatedworkerglobalscope-onmessage" title="handler-DedicatedWorkerGlobalScope-onmessage">onmessage</a>;
1.155     ihickson 1154: };</pre><p><code><a href="#dedicatedworkerglobalscope">DedicatedWorkerGlobalScope</a></code> objects act as if they
1.81      ihickson 1155:   had an implicit <code>MessagePort</code> associated with them. This
                   1156:   port is part of a channel that is set up when the worker is created,
                   1157:   but it is not exposed. This object must never be garbage collected
1.155     ihickson 1158:   before the <code><a href="#dedicatedworkerglobalscope">DedicatedWorkerGlobalScope</a></code> object.<p>All messages received by that port must immediately be retargeted
                   1159:   at the <code><a href="#dedicatedworkerglobalscope">DedicatedWorkerGlobalScope</a></code> object.<p>The <dfn id="dom-dedicatedworkerglobalscope-postmessage" title="dom-DedicatedWorkerGlobalScope-postMessage"><code>postMessage()</code></dfn><!--
1.64      ihickson 1160:   and <dfn
                   1161:   title="dom-DedicatedWorkerGlobalScope-startConversation"><code>startConversation()</code></dfn>-->
1.81      ihickson 1162:   method<!--s (startConversation)--> on
1.115     ihickson 1163:   <code><a href="#dedicatedworkerglobalscope">DedicatedWorkerGlobalScope</a></code> objects must act as if, when
1.81      ihickson 1164:   invoked, it<!--/they (startConversation)--> immediately invoked the
                   1165:   method of the same name on the port, with the same arguments, and
1.177     ihickson 1166:   returned the same return value.<p>The following are the <span>event handlers</span> (and their
                   1167:   corresponding <span title="event handler event type">event handler
                   1168:   event types</span>) that must be supported, as IDL attributes, by
                   1169:   objects implementing the <code><a href="#dedicatedworkerglobalscope">DedicatedWorkerGlobalScope</a></code>
                   1170:   interface:<table><thead><tr><th><span title="event handlers">Event handler</span> <th><span>Event handler event type</span>
1.155     ihickson 1171:    <tbody><tr><td><dfn id="handler-dedicatedworkerglobalscope-onmessage" title="handler-DedicatedWorkerGlobalScope-onmessage"><code>onmessage</code></dfn> <td> <code title="event-message">message</code>
1.191     ihickson 1172:   </table><p>For the purposes of the <span>application cache</span> networking
                   1173:   model, a dedicated worker is an extension of the <span>cache
                   1174:   host</span> from which it was created.<h4 id="shared-workers-and-the-sharedworkerglobalscope-inteface"><span class="secno">4.1.3 </span>Shared workers and the <code><a href="#sharedworkerglobalscope">SharedWorkerGlobalScope</a></code> inteface</h4><pre class="idl">[Supplemental, NoInterfaceObject]
1.150     ihickson 1175: interface <dfn id="sharedworkerglobalscope">SharedWorkerGlobalScope</dfn> : <a href="#workerglobalscope">WorkerGlobalScope</a> {
1.115     ihickson 1176:   readonly attribute DOMString <a href="#dom-sharedworkerglobalscope-name" title="dom-SharedWorkerGlobalScope-name">name</a>;
1.181     ihickson 1177:   readonly attribute <span>ApplicationCache</span> <span title="dom-SharedWorkerGlobalScope-applicationCache">applicationCache</span>;
1.144     ihickson 1178:            attribute <span>Function</span> <a href="#handler-sharedworkerglobalscope-onconnect" title="handler-SharedWorkerGlobalScope-onconnect">onconnect</a>;
1.155     ihickson 1179: };</pre><p>Shared workers receive message ports through <code title="event-WorkerGlobalScope-connect">connect</code> events on
                   1180:   their global object for each connection.<p>The <dfn id="dom-sharedworkerglobalscope-name" title="dom-SharedWorkerGlobalScope-name"><code>name</code></dfn>
1.81      ihickson 1181:   attribute must return the value it was assigned when the
1.115     ihickson 1182:   <code><a href="#sharedworkerglobalscope">SharedWorkerGlobalScope</a></code> object was created by the
                   1183:   "<a href="#run-a-worker">run a worker</a>" algorithm. Its value represents the name
1.81      ihickson 1184:   that can be used to obtain a reference to the worker using the
1.177     ihickson 1185:   <code><a href="#sharedworker">SharedWorker</a></code> constructor.<p>The following are the <span>event handlers</span> (and their
                   1186:   corresponding <span title="event handler event type">event handler
                   1187:   event types</span>) that must be supported, as IDL attributes, by
                   1188:   objects implementing the <code><a href="#sharedworkerglobalscope">SharedWorkerGlobalScope</a></code>
                   1189:   interface:<table><thead><tr><th><span title="event handlers">Event handler</span> <th><span>Event handler event type</span>
1.155     ihickson 1190:    <tbody><tr><td><dfn id="handler-sharedworkerglobalscope-onconnect" title="handler-SharedWorkerGlobalScope-onconnect"><code>onconnect</code></dfn> <td> <code title="event-connect">connect</code>
1.191     ihickson 1191:   </table><p>For the purposes of the <span>application cache</span> networking
                   1192:   model, a shared worker is its own <span>cache host</span>. The
                   1193:   <a href="#run-a-worker">run a worker</a> algorithm takes care of associating the
                   1194:   worker with an <span>application cache</span>.<p class="note">The <code title="dom-SharedWorkerGlobalScope-applicationCache">applicationCache</code>
1.123     ihickson 1195:   attribute returns the <code>ApplicationCache</code> object for the
1.101     ihickson 1196:   worker.</p><!-- normative conf criteria is in the appcache section
1.160     ihickson 1197:   --><h3 id="origins-of-workers"><span class="secno">4.2 </span>Origins of workers</h3><p>Both the <span>origin</span> and <span>effective script
1.81      ihickson 1198:   origin</span> of scripts running in workers are the
                   1199:   <span>origin</span> of the <span>absolute URL</span> given in that
1.115     ihickson 1200:   the worker's <code title="dom-WorkerGlobalScope-location"><a href="#dom-workerglobalscope-location">location</a></code> attribute
1.186     ihickson 1201:   represents.<h3 id="the-event-loop"><span class="secno">4.3 </span>The event loop</h3><p>Each <code><a href="#workerglobalscope">WorkerGlobalScope</a></code> object has an <span>event
1.128     ihickson 1202:   loop</span> distinct from those defined for <span title="unit of
                   1203:   related similar-origin browsing contexts">units of related
                   1204:   similar-origin browsing contexts</span>. This <span>event
                   1205:   loop</span> has no associated <span>browsing context</span>, and its
                   1206:   <span title="task queue">task queues</span> only have events,
                   1207:   callbacks, and networking activity as <span title="concept-task">tasks</span>. The processing model of these
                   1208:   <span title="event loop">event loops</span> is defined below in the
1.155     ihickson 1209:   <a href="#run-a-worker">run a worker</a> algorithm.<p>Each <code><a href="#workerglobalscope">WorkerGlobalScope</a></code> object also has a <dfn id="dom-workerglobalscope-closing" title="dom-WorkerGlobalScope-closing">closing</dfn> flag, which must
1.81      ihickson 1210:   initially be false, but which can get set to true by the algorithms
1.155     ihickson 1211:   in the processing model section below.<p>Once the <code><a href="#workerglobalscope">WorkerGlobalScope</a></code>'s <a href="#dom-workerglobalscope-closing" title="dom-WorkerGlobalScope-closing">closing</a> flag is set to
1.81      ihickson 1212:   true, the <span>event loop</span>'s <span title="task queue">task
1.115     ihickson 1213:   queues</span> must discard any further <span title="concept-task">tasks</span> that would be added to them (tasks
1.175     ihickson 1214:   already on the queue are unaffected except where otherwise
1.115     ihickson 1215:   specified). Effectively, once the <a href="#dom-workerglobalscope-closing" title="dom-WorkerGlobalScope-closing">closing</a> flag is true,
1.81      ihickson 1216:   timers stop firing, notifications for all pending asynchronous
1.186     ihickson 1217:   operations are dropped, etc.<h3 id="the-worker-s-lifetime"><span class="secno">4.4 </span>The worker's lifetime</h3><p>Workers communicate with other workers and with <span title="browsing context">browsing contexts</span> through <span title="channel messaging">message channels</span> and their
1.155     ihickson 1218:   <code>MessagePort</code> objects.<p>Each <code><a href="#workerglobalscope">WorkerGlobalScope</a></code> <var title="">worker global
1.124     ihickson 1219:   scope</var> has a list of <dfn id="the-worker-s-ports">the worker's ports</dfn>, which
1.81      ihickson 1220:   consists of all the <code>MessagePort</code> objects that are
                   1221:   entangled with another port and that have one (but only one) port
                   1222:   owned by <var title="">worker global scope</var>. This list includes
                   1223:   <!--all the <code>MessagePort</code> objects that are in events
1.68      ihickson 1224:   pending in the <span>event loop</span>, as well as (commented out
                   1225:   because in practice it makes no difference either way as far as I
                   1226:   can tell, and it would be hard to strictly implement since these
1.81      ihickson 1227:   ports might not yet be across the thread boundary)--> the implicit
1.155     ihickson 1228:   <code>MessagePort</code> in the case of <a href="#dedicatedworkerglobalscope" title="DedicatedWorkerGlobalScope">dedicated workers</a>.<p>Each <code><a href="#workerglobalscope">WorkerGlobalScope</a></code> also has a list of <dfn id="the-worker-s-workers">the
1.124     ihickson 1229:   worker's workers</dfn>. Initially this list is empty; it is
1.155     ihickson 1230:   populated when the worker creates or obtains further workers.<p>Finally, each <code><a href="#workerglobalscope">WorkerGlobalScope</a></code> also has a list of
1.124     ihickson 1231:   <dfn id="the-worker-s-documents">the worker's <code>Document</code>s</dfn>. Initially this list
1.155     ihickson 1232:   is empty; it is populated when the worker is created.<p>Whenever a <code>Document</code> <var title="">d</var> is <dfn id="add-a-document-to-the-worker-s-documents" title="add a document to the worker's documents">added to the
1.123     ihickson 1233:   worker's <code>Document</code>s</dfn>, the user agent must, for each
1.124     ihickson 1234:   worker in the list of <a href="#the-worker-s-workers">the worker's workers</a> whose list
                   1235:   of <a href="#the-worker-s-documents">the worker's <code>Document</code>s</a> does not contain
                   1236:   <var title="">d</var>, <a href="#add-a-document-to-the-worker-s-documents" title="add a document to the worker's
1.123     ihickson 1237:   documents">add <var title="">d</var> to <var title="">q</var>'s
                   1238:   <code>WorkerGlobalScope</code> owner's list of <span>the worker's
1.155     ihickson 1239:   <code>Document</code>s</span></a>.</p><!-- suggestions welcome
                   1240:   on making this sentence into understandable English --><p>Whenever a <code>Document</code> object is <span title="discard a
1.123     ihickson 1241:   Document">discarded</span>, it must be removed from the list of
                   1242:   <a href="#the-worker-s-documents">the worker's <code>Document</code>s</a> of each worker
1.192     ihickson 1243:   whose list contains that <code>Document</code>.<p>Given a <span>script's global object</span> <var title="">o</var>
1.123     ihickson 1244:   when creating or obtaining a worker, the <dfn id="list-of-relevant-document-objects-to-add">list of relevant
                   1245:   <code>Document</code> objects to add</dfn> depends on the type of
                   1246:   <var title="">o</var>. If <var title="">o</var> is a
                   1247:   <code><a href="#workerglobalscope">WorkerGlobalScope</a></code> object (i.e. if we are creating a
                   1248:   nested worker), then the relevant <code>Document</code>s are the
                   1249:   <code>Document</code>s that are in <var title="">o</var>'s own list
                   1250:   of <a href="#the-worker-s-documents">the worker's <code>Document</code>s</a>. Otherwise, <var title="">o</var> is a <code>Window</code> object, and the relevant
                   1251:   <code>Document</code> is just the <code>Document</code> that is the
1.155     ihickson 1252:   <span>active document</span> of the <code>Window</code> object <var title="">o</var>.<hr><p>A worker is said to be a <dfn id="permissible-worker">permissible worker</dfn> if its
1.123     ihickson 1253:   list of <a href="#the-worker-s-documents">the worker's <code>Document</code>s</a> is not
1.155     ihickson 1254:   empty.<p>A worker is said to be a <dfn id="protected-worker">protected worker</dfn> if it is a
1.123     ihickson 1255:   <a href="#permissible-worker">permissible worker</a> and either it has outstanding
                   1256:   timers, database transactions, or network connections, or its list
1.124     ihickson 1257:   of <a href="#the-worker-s-ports">the worker's ports</a> is not empty, or its
1.123     ihickson 1258:   <code><a href="#workerglobalscope">WorkerGlobalScope</a></code> is actually a
                   1259:   <code><a href="#sharedworkerglobalscope">SharedWorkerGlobalScope</a></code> object (i.e. the worker is a
1.155     ihickson 1260:   shared worker).<p>A worker is said to be an <dfn id="active-needed-worker">active needed worker</dfn> if any
1.123     ihickson 1261:   of the <code>Document</code> objects in <a href="#the-worker-s-documents">the worker's
1.155     ihickson 1262:   <code>Document</code>s</a> are <span>fully active</span>.<p>A worker is said to be a <dfn id="suspendable-worker">suspendable worker</dfn> if it is
1.123     ihickson 1263:   not an <a href="#active-needed-worker">active needed worker</a> but it is a
1.186     ihickson 1264:   <a href="#permissible-worker">permissible worker</a>.<h3 id="processing-model"><span class="secno">4.5 </span>Processing model</h3><p>When a user agent is to <dfn id="run-a-worker">run a worker</dfn> for a script with
1.232     ihickson 1265:   <span>URL</span> <var title="">url</var>, a <span>browsing
                   1266:   context</span> <var title="">owner browsing context</var>, a
                   1267:   <code>Document</code> <var title="">owner document</var>, an
                   1268:   <span>origin</span> <var title="">owner origin</var>, and with
                   1269:   global scope <var title="">worker global scope</var>, it must run
                   1270:   the following steps:<ol><li>
1.81      ihickson 1271: 
                   1272:     <p>Create a completely separate and parallel execution environment
                   1273:     (i.e. a separate thread or process or equivalent construct), and
1.106     ihickson 1274:     run the rest of these steps asynchronously in that context.</p>
1.81      ihickson 1275: 
                   1276:    </li>
1.4       ihickson 1277: 
1.101     ihickson 1278:    <li><p>If <var title="">worker global scope</var> is actually a
1.115     ihickson 1279:    <code><a href="#sharedworkerglobalscope">SharedWorkerGlobalScope</a></code> object (i.e. the worker is a
1.101     ihickson 1280:    shared worker), and there are any <span title="relevant application
                   1281:    cache">relevant application caches</span> that are identified by a
                   1282:    manifest URL with the <span>same origin</span> as <var title="">url</var> and that have <var title="">url</var> as one of
1.115     ihickson 1283:    their entries, <em>not</em> excluding entries marked as <span title="concept-appcache-foreign">foreign</span>, then associate the
                   1284:    <var title="">worker global scope</var> with the <span title="concept-appcache-selection">most appropriate application
1.101     ihickson 1285:    cache</span> of those that match.</li>
                   1286: 
1.4       ihickson 1287:    <li>
1.52      ihickson 1288: 
1.176     ihickson 1289:     <p>Attempt to <span>fetch</span> the resource identified by <var title="">url</var>, from the <var title="">owner origin</var>.</p>
                   1290:     <!-- not http-origin privacy sensitive -->
1.81      ihickson 1291: 
1.129     ihickson 1292:     <p>If the attempt fails, or if the attempt involves any redirects
                   1293:     to URIs that do not have the <span>same origin</span> as <var title="">url</var> (even if the final URI is at the <span>same
                   1294:     origin</span> as the original <var title="">url</var>), then for
                   1295:     each <code><a href="#worker">Worker</a></code> or <code><a href="#sharedworker">SharedWorker</a></code> object
                   1296:     associated with <var title="">worker global scope</var>,
                   1297:     <span>queue a task</span> to <span>fire a simple event</span>
1.179     ihickson 1298:     named <code title="event-error">error</code> at that
1.129     ihickson 1299:     object. Abort these steps.</p>
1.7       ihickson 1300: 
1.186     ihickson 1301:     <p>If the attempt succeeds, then convert the script resource to
                   1302:     Unicode by assuming it was encoded as UTF-8, to obtain its <var title="">source</var>.</p>
1.81      ihickson 1303: 
1.68      ihickson 1304:     <p>Let <var title="">language</var> be JavaScript.</p>
1.7       ihickson 1305: 
1.115     ihickson 1306:     <p class="note">As with <code>script</code> elements, the MIME
1.81      ihickson 1307:     type of the script is ignored. Unlike with <code>script</code>
                   1308:     elements, there is no way to override the type. It's always
1.170     ihickson 1309:     assumed to be JavaScript.</p>
1.81      ihickson 1310: 
                   1311:    </li>
1.7       ihickson 1312: 
                   1313:    <li>
1.68      ihickson 1314: 
1.115     ihickson 1315:     <p>A new <span title="concept-script">script</span> is now
1.81      ihickson 1316:     created, as follows.</p>
                   1317: 
                   1318:     <p>Create a new <span>script execution environment</span>
                   1319:     set up as appropriate for the scripting language <var title="">language</var>.</p>
1.34      ihickson 1320: 
1.68      ihickson 1321:     <p>Parse/compile/initialize <var title="">source</var> using that
1.81      ihickson 1322:     <span>script execution environment</span>, as appropriate for <var title="">language</var>, and thus obtain a <span>list of code
                   1323:     entry-points</span>; set the <i>initial code entry-point</i> to
                   1324:     the entry-point for any executable code to be immediately run.</p>
                   1325: 
                   1326:     <p>Set the <span>script's global object</span> to <var title="">worker global scope</var>.</p>
                   1327: 
                   1328:     <p>Set the <span>script's browsing context</span> to <var title="">owner browsing context</var>.</p>
                   1329: 
1.232     ihickson 1330:     <p>Set the <span>script's document</span> to <var title="">owner
                   1331:     document</var>.</p>
                   1332: 
1.83      ihickson 1333:     <p>Set the <span>script's URL character encoding</span> to
1.81      ihickson 1334:     UTF-8. (This is just used for encoding non-ASCII characters in the
                   1335:     query component of URLs.)</p>
1.68      ihickson 1336: 
                   1337:     <p>Set the <span>script's base URL</span> to <var title="">url</var>.</p>
1.4       ihickson 1338: 
1.81      ihickson 1339:    </li>
1.4       ihickson 1340: 
                   1341:    <li>
1.81      ihickson 1342: 
                   1343:     <p><strong>Closing orphan workers</strong>: Start monitoring the
1.125     ihickson 1344:     worker such that no sooner than it stops being either a
                   1345:     <a href="#protected-worker">protected worker</a> or a <a href="#suspendable-worker">suspendable
1.123     ihickson 1346:     worker</a>, and no later than it stops being a
                   1347:     <a href="#permissible-worker">permissible worker</a>, <var title="">worker global
                   1348:     scope</var>'s <a href="#dom-workerglobalscope-closing" title="dom-WorkerGlobalScope-closing">closing</a> flag is set
                   1349:     to true<!-- v2-onclose and <span title="queue a task">a task is
1.179     ihickson 1350:     queued</span> to <span>fire a simple event</span> named <code
1.123     ihickson 1351:     title="event-close">close</code> at <var title="">worker global
                   1352:     scope</var>-->.</p>
1.81      ihickson 1353: 
                   1354:    </li>
1.9       ihickson 1355: 
                   1356:    <li>
1.7       ihickson 1357: 
1.81      ihickson 1358:     <p><strong>Suspending workers</strong>: Start monitoring the
                   1359:     worker, such that whenever <var title="">worker global
1.115     ihickson 1360:     scope</var>'s <a href="#dom-workerglobalscope-closing" title="dom-WorkerGlobalScope-closing">closing</a> flag is false
                   1361:     and the worker is a <a href="#suspendable-worker">suspendable worker</a>, the user
1.81      ihickson 1362:     agent suspends execution of script in that worker until such time
1.115     ihickson 1363:     as either the <a href="#dom-workerglobalscope-closing" title="dom-WorkerGlobalScope-closing">closing</a> flag switches
                   1364:     to true or the worker stops being a <a href="#suspendable-worker">suspendable
1.81      ihickson 1365:     worker</a>.</p>
1.4       ihickson 1366: 
1.81      ihickson 1367:    </li>
1.68      ihickson 1368: 
                   1369:    <li>
1.4       ihickson 1370: 
1.81      ihickson 1371:     <p><span title="jump to a code entry-point">Jump</span> to the
1.115     ihickson 1372:     <span title="concept-script">script</span>'s <i>initial code
1.81      ihickson 1373:     entry-point</i>, and let that run until it either returns, fails
                   1374:     to catch an exception, or gets prematurely aborted by the
1.115     ihickson 1375:     "<a href="#kill-a-worker">kill a worker</a>" or "<a href="#terminate-a-worker">terminate a worker</a>"
1.81      ihickson 1376:     algorithms defined below.</p>
                   1377: 
1.149     ihickson 1378: <!-- v2-onclose
                   1379:     <p class="note">If the script gets aborted by the "<span>kill a
                   1380:     worker</span>" algorithm, then that same algorithm will cause
1.115     ihickson 1381:     there to only be a single <span title="concept-task">task</span>
1.81      ihickson 1382:     in the <span>event loop</span> at the next step, namely the task
1.115     ihickson 1383:     for the <code title="message-close">close</code> event. The
1.149     ihickson 1384:     "<span>terminate a worker</span>" algorithm removes all the
1.81      ihickson 1385:     events.</p>
1.149     ihickson 1386: -->
1.4       ihickson 1387: 
1.81      ihickson 1388:    </li>
1.4       ihickson 1389: 
1.95      ihickson 1390:    <li><p>If <var title="">worker global scope</var> is actually a
1.115     ihickson 1391:    <code><a href="#dedicatedworkerglobalscope">DedicatedWorkerGlobalScope</a></code> object (i.e. the worker is
1.126     ihickson 1392:    a dedicated worker), then enable the <span>port message
                   1393:    queue</span> of the worker's implicit port.</li>
1.95      ihickson 1394: 
1.4       ihickson 1395:    <li>
1.68      ihickson 1396: 
1.115     ihickson 1397:     <p><i title="">Event loop</i>: Wait until either there is a <span title="concept-task">task</span> in one of the <span>event
                   1398:     loop</span>'s <span title="task queue">task queues</span> or <var title="">worker global scope</var>'s <a href="#dom-workerglobalscope-closing" title="dom-WorkerGlobalScope-closing">closing</a> flag is set
1.81      ihickson 1399:     to true.</p>
1.43      ihickson 1400: 
1.81      ihickson 1401:    </li>
1.4       ihickson 1402: 
                   1403:    <li>
                   1404: 
1.81      ihickson 1405:     <p>Run the oldest task on one of the <span>event loop</span>'s
                   1406:     <span title="task queue">task queues</span>, if any. The user
                   1407:     agent may pick any <span>task queue</span>.</p>
                   1408: 
1.115     ihickson 1409:     <p class="note">The handling of events or the execution of
                   1410:     callbacks might get prematurely aborted by the "<a href="#kill-a-worker">kill a
                   1411:     worker</a>" or "<a href="#terminate-a-worker">terminate a worker</a>" algorithms
1.81      ihickson 1412:     defined below.</p>
1.8       ihickson 1413: 
1.81      ihickson 1414:    </li>
1.4       ihickson 1415: 
                   1416:    <li>
                   1417: 
1.248     ihickson 1418:     <p>If the <span>storage mutex</span> is now owned by the worker's
                   1419:     <span>event loop</span>, release it so that it is once again
                   1420:     free.</p>
                   1421: 
                   1422:    </li>
                   1423: 
                   1424:    <li>
                   1425: 
                   1426:     <p>Remove the task just run in the earlier step, if any, from its
1.81      ihickson 1427:     <span>task queue</span>.</p>
1.4       ihickson 1428: 
1.81      ihickson 1429:    </li>
1.4       ihickson 1430: 
                   1431:    <li>
1.8       ihickson 1432: 
1.81      ihickson 1433:     <p>If there are any more events in the <span>event loop</span>'s
1.115     ihickson 1434:     <span title="task queue">task queues</span> or if <var title="">worker global scope</var>'s <a href="#dom-workerglobalscope-closing" title="dom-WorkerGlobalScope-closing">closing</a> flag is set
1.81      ihickson 1435:     to false, then jump back to the step above labeled <i>event
                   1436:     loop</i>.</p>
1.8       ihickson 1437: 
1.81      ihickson 1438:    </li>
1.8       ihickson 1439: 
                   1440:    <li>
1.71      ihickson 1441: 
1.123     ihickson 1442:     <p>If there are any outstanding transactions that have callbacks
                   1443:     that involve <span title="concept-script">scripts</span> whose
                   1444:     <span title="script's global object">global object</span> is the
                   1445:     <var title="">worker global scope</var>, roll them back (without
                   1446:     invoking any of the callbacks).</p>
1.50      ihickson 1447: 
1.123     ihickson 1448:    </li>
                   1449: 
                   1450:    <li>
                   1451: 
                   1452:     <p>Empty the <var title="">worker global scope</var>'s <span>list
                   1453:     of active timeouts</span> and its <span>list of active
                   1454:     intervals</span>.</p>
1.50      ihickson 1455: 
1.81      ihickson 1456:    </li>
1.50      ihickson 1457: 
1.247     ihickson 1458:    <li>
                   1459: 
                   1460:     <p>Disentangle all the ports in the list of <a href="#the-worker-s-ports">the worker's
                   1461:     ports</a>.</p>
                   1462: 
                   1463:    </li>
                   1464: 
1.123     ihickson 1465: <!-- v2-onclose
1.81      ihickson 1466:    <li>
1.50      ihickson 1467: 
1.123     ihickson 1468:     <p>For each <code>Worker</code> or <code>SharedWorker</code>
1.81      ihickson 1469:     object associated with <var title="">worker global scope</var>,
                   1470:     <span>queue a task</span> to <span>fire a simple event</span>
1.179     ihickson 1471:     named <code title="event-close">close</code> at that object.</p>
1.5       ihickson 1472: 
1.81      ihickson 1473:    </li>
1.123     ihickson 1474: -->
1.155     ihickson 1475:   </ol><hr><p>When a user agent is to <dfn id="kill-a-worker">kill a worker</dfn> it must
1.81      ihickson 1476:   run the following steps in parallel with the worker's main loop (the
1.155     ihickson 1477:   "<a href="#run-a-worker">run a worker</a>" processing model defined above):<ol><!-- v2-onclose
1.123     ihickson 1478:    <li><p>If the worker's <code>WorkerGlobalScope</code> object's
                   1479:    <span title="dom-WorkerGlobalScope-closing">closing</span> flag is
1.81      ihickson 1480:    false, <span>queue a task</span> to <span>fire a simple
1.179     ihickson 1481:    event</span> named <code title="event-close">close</code> at the
1.123     ihickson 1482:    worker's <code>WorkerGlobalScope</code> object.</p></li>
1.155     ihickson 1483: --><li><p>Set the worker's <code><a href="#workerglobalscope">WorkerGlobalScope</a></code> object's <a href="#dom-workerglobalscope-closing" title="dom-WorkerGlobalScope-closing">closing</a> flag to
1.81      ihickson 1484:    true.</li>
                   1485: 
1.123     ihickson 1486: <!-- v2-onclose
                   1487:    <li><p>Wait a user-agent-defined amount of time. If the "<span>run
                   1488:    a worker</span>" processing model defined above immediately starts
                   1489:    running event listeners registered for the <code
                   1490:    title="event-close">close</code> event, this time should not be
                   1491:    zero &mdash; the idea is that the <code
                   1492:    title="event-close">close</code> event can be used to clean up
                   1493:    when shutting down unexpectedly.</p></li>
                   1494: -->
1.81      ihickson 1495: 
1.115     ihickson 1496:    <li><p>If there are any <span title="concept-task">tasks</span>
1.81      ihickson 1497:    queued in the <span>event loop</span>'s <span title="task
1.123     ihickson 1498:    queue">task queues</span><!-- v2-onclose other than the <code
                   1499:    title="event-close">close</code> event that this algorithm just
                   1500:    added-->, discard them without processing them.</li>
1.81      ihickson 1501: 
1.123     ihickson 1502: <!-- v2-onclose
1.115     ihickson 1503:    <li><p>If the <code title="event-close">close</code> event that
1.81      ihickson 1504:    this algorithm just queued hasn't yet been dispatched, then abort
1.123     ihickson 1505:    the script currently running in the worker.</p></li>
                   1506: -->
1.81      ihickson 1507: 
                   1508:    <li><p>Wait a user-agent-defined amount of time.</li>
                   1509: 
1.123     ihickson 1510:    <li><p>Abort the script currently running in the worker<!--
                   1511:    v2-onclose (if any script is running, then it will be a handler for
                   1512:    the <code title="event-close">close</code> event)-->.</li>
1.81      ihickson 1513: 
1.155     ihickson 1514:   </ol><p>User agents may invoke the "<a href="#kill-a-worker">kill a worker</a>"
1.81      ihickson 1515:   processing model on a worker at any time, e.g. in response to user
                   1516:   requests, in response to CPU quota management, or when a worker
1.115     ihickson 1517:   stops being an <a href="#active-needed-worker">active needed worker</a> if the worker
                   1518:   continues executing even after its <a href="#dom-workerglobalscope-closing" title="dom-WorkerGlobalScope-closing">closing</a> flag was
1.155     ihickson 1519:   set to true.<hr><p>When a user agent is to <dfn id="terminate-a-worker">terminate a worker</dfn> it must run
1.81      ihickson 1520:   the following steps in parallel with the worker's main loop (the
1.155     ihickson 1521:   "<a href="#run-a-worker">run a worker</a>" processing model defined above):<ol><li><p>Set the worker's <code><a href="#workerglobalscope">WorkerGlobalScope</a></code> object's
1.115     ihickson 1522:    <a href="#dom-workerglobalscope-closing" title="dom-WorkerGlobalScope-closing">closing</a> flag to
1.81      ihickson 1523:    true.</li>
                   1524: 
1.115     ihickson 1525:    <li><p>If there are any <span title="concept-task">tasks</span>
1.81      ihickson 1526:    queued in the <span>event loop</span>'s <span title="task
                   1527:    queue">task queues</span>, discard them without processing
                   1528:    them.</li>
                   1529: 
                   1530:    <li><p>Abort the script currently running in the worker.</li>
                   1531: 
1.115     ihickson 1532:    <li><p>If the worker's <code><a href="#workerglobalscope">WorkerGlobalScope</a></code> object is
                   1533:    actually a <code><a href="#dedicatedworkerglobalscope">DedicatedWorkerGlobalScope</a></code> object (i.e. the
1.81      ihickson 1534:    worker is a dedicated worker), then empty the <span>port message
                   1535:    queue</span> of the port that the worker's implicit port is
                   1536:    entangled with.</li>
                   1537: 
1.155     ihickson 1538:   </ol><hr><p>The <span>task source</span> for the tasks mentioned above is the
1.186     ihickson 1539:   <span>DOM manipulation task source</span>.<h3 id="runtime-script-errors"><span class="secno">4.6 </span>Runtime script errors</h3><p>Whenever an uncaught runtime script error occurs in one of the
1.143     ihickson 1540:   worker's scripts, if the error did not occur while handling a
                   1541:   previous script error, the user agent must <span>report the
                   1542:   error</span> using the <code><a href="#workerglobalscope">WorkerGlobalScope</a></code> object's <code title="handler-WorkerGlobalScope-onerror"><a href="#handler-workerglobalscope-onerror">onerror</a></code>
1.205     ihickson 1543:   attribute.
                   1544:   
1.226     ihickson 1545:   <a href="#refsHTML">[HTML]</a>
1.205     ihickson 1546:   
                   1547:   <p>For shared workers, if the error is still <i title="concept-error-nothandled">not handled</i> afterwards, or if
1.132     ihickson 1548:   the error occurred while handling a previous script error, the error
1.215     ihickson 1549:   may be reported to the user.
1.205     ihickson 1550:   
1.226     ihickson 1551:   <a href="#refsHTML">[HTML]</a>
1.205     ihickson 1552:   
                   1553:   <p>For dedicated workers, if the error is still <i title="concept-error-nothandled">not handled</i> afterwards, or if
1.132     ihickson 1554:   the error occurred while handling a previous script error, the user
1.123     ihickson 1555:   agent must <span>queue a task</span> to <a href="#fire-a-worker-error-event">fire a worker error
                   1556:   event</a> at the <code><a href="#worker">Worker</a></code> object associated with the
1.155     ihickson 1557:   worker.<p>When the user agent is to <dfn id="fire-a-worker-error-event">fire a worker error event</dfn> at
1.118     ihickson 1558:   a <code><a href="#worker">Worker</a></code> object, it must dispatch an event that uses
                   1559:   the <code><a href="#errorevent">ErrorEvent</a></code> interface, with the name <code title="event-error">error</code>, that doesn't bubble and is
1.115     ihickson 1560:   cancelable, with its <code title="dom-ErrorEvent-message"><a href="#dom-errorevent-message">message</a></code>, <code title="dom-ErrorEvent-filename"><a href="#dom-errorevent-filename">filename</a></code>, and <code title="dom-ErrorEvent-lineno"><a href="#dom-errorevent-lineno">lineno</a></code> attributes set
1.81      ihickson 1561:   appropriately. The default action of this event depends on whether
1.115     ihickson 1562:   the <code><a href="#worker">Worker</a></code> object is itself in a worker. If it is, and
1.81      ihickson 1563:   that worker is also a dedicated worker, then the user agent must
1.118     ihickson 1564:   again <span>queue a task</span> to <a href="#fire-a-worker-error-event">fire a worker error
                   1565:   event</a> at the <code><a href="#worker">Worker</a></code> object associated with
1.215     ihickson 1566:   <em>that</em> worker. Otherwise, then the error may be reported
1.155     ihickson 1567:   to the user.<p>The <span>task source</span> for the tasks mentioned above is the
1.233     ihickson 1568:   <span>DOM manipulation task source</span>.<hr><pre class="idl">interface <dfn id="errorevent">ErrorEvent</dfn> : <span>Event</span> {
1.147     ihickson 1569:   readonly attribute DOMString <a href="#dom-errorevent-message" title="dom-ErrorEvent-message">message</a>;
                   1570:   readonly attribute DOMString <a href="#dom-errorevent-filename" title="dom-ErrorEvent-filename">filename</a>;
1.115     ihickson 1571:   readonly attribute unsigned long <a href="#dom-errorevent-lineno" title="dom-ErrorEvent-lineno">lineno</a>;
1.147     ihickson 1572:   void <a href="#dom-errorevent-initerrorevent" title="dom-ErrorEvent-initErrorEvent">initErrorEvent</a>(in DOMString typeArg, in boolean canBubbleArg, in boolean cancelableArg, in DOMString messageArg, in DOMString filenameArg, in unsigned long linenoArg);
1.155     ihickson 1573: };</pre><p>The <dfn id="dom-errorevent-initerrorevent" title="dom-ErrorEvent-initErrorEvent"><code>initErrorEvent()</code></dfn>
1.190     ihickson 1574:   method must initialize the event in a manner analogous to the
                   1575:   similarly-named method in the DOM Events interfaces. <a href="#refsDOMEVENTS">[DOMEVENTS]</a><p>The <dfn id="dom-errorevent-message" title="dom-ErrorEvent-message"><code>message</code></dfn>
1.155     ihickson 1576:   attribute represents the error message.<p>The <dfn id="dom-errorevent-filename" title="dom-ErrorEvent-filename"><code>filename</code></dfn>
1.81      ihickson 1577:   attribute represents the <span>absolute URL</span> of the script in
1.155     ihickson 1578:   which the error originally occurred.<p>The <dfn id="dom-errorevent-lineno" title="dom-ErrorEvent-lineno"><code>lineno</code></dfn>
1.132     ihickson 1579:   attribute represents the line number where the error occurred in the
1.208     ihickson 1580:   script.<h3 id="creating-workers"><span class="secno">4.7 </span>Creating workers</h3><h4 id="the-abstractworker-abstract-interface"><span class="secno">4.7.1 </span>The <code><a href="#abstractworker">AbstractWorker</a></code> abstract interface</h4><pre class="idl">[Supplemental, NoInterfaceObject]
                   1581: interface <dfn id="abstractworker">AbstractWorker</dfn> {
1.144     ihickson 1582:            attribute <span>Function</span> <a href="#handler-abstractworker-onerror" title="handler-AbstractWorker-onerror">onerror</a>;
                   1583: <!-- v2-onclose           attribute <span>Function</span> <span title="handler-AbstractWorker-onclose">onclose</span>; -->
1.172     ihickson 1584: };
1.177     ihickson 1585: <a href="#abstractworker">AbstractWorker</a> implements <span>EventTarget</span>;</pre><p>The following are the <span>event handlers</span> (and their
                   1586:   corresponding <span title="event handler event type">event handler
                   1587:   event types</span>) that must be supported, as IDL attributes, by
                   1588:   objects implementing the <code><a href="#abstractworker">AbstractWorker</a></code> interface:<table><thead><tr><th><span title="event handlers">Event handler</span> <th><span>Event handler event type</span>
1.155     ihickson 1589:    <tbody><tr><td><dfn id="handler-abstractworker-onerror" title="handler-AbstractWorker-onerror"><code>onerror</code></dfn> <td> <code title="event-error">error</code>
1.123     ihickson 1590: <!-- v2-onclose    <tr><td><dfn title="handler-AbstractWorker-onclose"><code>onclose</code></dfn> <td> <code title="event-close">close</code> -->
1.186     ihickson 1591:   </table><h4 id="dedicated-workers-and-the-worker-interface"><span class="secno">4.7.2 </span>Dedicated workers and the <code><a href="#worker">Worker</a></code> interface</h4><pre class="idl">[<a href="#dom-worker" title="dom-Worker">Constructor</a>(in DOMString scriptURL)]
1.115     ihickson 1592: interface <dfn id="worker">Worker</dfn> : <a href="#abstractworker">AbstractWorker</a> {
                   1593:   void <a href="#dom-worker-terminate" title="dom-Worker-terminate">terminate</a>();
1.50      ihickson 1594: 
1.174     ihickson 1595:   void <a href="#dom-worker-postmessage" title="dom-Worker-postMessage">postMessage</a>(in any message, in optional <span>MessagePortArray</span> ports);<!--
1.81      ihickson 1596:   <span>MessagePort</span> <span title="dom-Worker-startConversation">startConversation</span>(in any message);-->
1.144     ihickson 1597:            attribute <span>Function</span> <a href="#handler-worker-onmessage" title="handler-Worker-onmessage">onmessage</a>;
1.155     ihickson 1598: };</pre><p>The <dfn id="dom-worker-terminate" title="dom-Worker-terminate"><code>terminate()</code></dfn> method,
1.115     ihickson 1599:   when invoked, must cause the "<a href="#terminate-a-worker">terminate a worker</a>"
1.81      ihickson 1600:   algorithm to be run on the worker with with the object is
1.155     ihickson 1601:   associated.<p><code><a href="#worker">Worker</a></code> objects act as if they had an implicit
1.81      ihickson 1602:   <code>MessagePort</code> associated with them. This port is part of
                   1603:   a channel that is set up when the worker is created, but it is not
                   1604:   exposed. This object must never be garbage collected before the
1.155     ihickson 1605:   <code><a href="#worker">Worker</a></code> object.<p>All messages received by that port must immediately be retargeted
                   1606:   at the <code><a href="#worker">Worker</a></code> object.<p>The <dfn id="dom-worker-postmessage" title="dom-Worker-postMessage"><code>postMessage()</code></dfn><!--
1.64      ihickson 1607:   and <dfn
                   1608:   title="dom-Worker-startConversation"><code>startConversation()</code></dfn>-->
1.115     ihickson 1609:   method<!--s (startConversation)--> on <code><a href="#worker">Worker</a></code> objects
1.81      ihickson 1610:   must act as if, when invoked, it<!--/they (startConversation)-->
                   1611:   immediately invoked the method of the same name on the port, with
1.177     ihickson 1612:   the same arguments, and returned the same return value.<p>The following are the <span>event handlers</span> (and their
                   1613:   corresponding <span title="event handler event type">event handler
                   1614:   event types</span>) that must be supported, as IDL attributes, by
                   1615:   objects implementing the <code><a href="#worker">Worker</a></code> interface:<table><thead><tr><th><span title="event handlers">Event handler</span> <th><span>Event handler event type</span>
1.155     ihickson 1616:    <tbody><tr><td><dfn id="handler-worker-onmessage" title="handler-Worker-onmessage"><code>onmessage</code></dfn> <td> <code title="event-message">message</code>
                   1617:   </table><hr><p>When the <dfn id="dom-worker" title="dom-Worker"><code>Worker(<var title="">scriptURL</var>)</code></dfn> constructor is invoked, the
1.216     ihickson 1618:   user agent must run the following steps:<ol><li><p><span title="resolve a url">Resolve</span> the <var title="">scriptURL</var> argument relative to the <span>entry
1.133     ihickson 1619:    script</span>'s <span title="script's base URL">base URL</span>,
                   1620:    when the method is invoked.</li>
1.9       ihickson 1621: 
1.81      ihickson 1622:    <li><p>If this fails, throw a <code>SYNTAX_ERR</code>
                   1623:    exception.</li>
1.9       ihickson 1624: 
1.167     ihickson 1625:    <li>
                   1626: 
                   1627:     <p>If the <span>origin</span> of the resulting <span>absolute
                   1628:     URL</span> is not the <span title="same origin">same</span> as the
1.216     ihickson 1629:     origin of the <span>entry script</span>, then throw a
1.182     ihickson 1630:     <code>SECURITY_ERR</code> exception.</p>
1.167     ihickson 1631: 
                   1632:     <p class="note">Thus, scripts must be external files with the same
                   1633:     scheme as the original page: you can't load a script from a <code title="">data:</code> URL or <code title="">javascript:</code>
                   1634:     URL, and a <code>http:</code> page couldn't start workers using
                   1635:     scripts with <code>http:</code> URLs.</p>
                   1636: 
                   1637:    </li>
1.9       ihickson 1638: 
1.185     ihickson 1639:    <li><p>Create a new <code><a href="#dedicatedworkerglobalscope">DedicatedWorkerGlobalScope</a></code>
                   1640:    object. Let <var title="">worker global scope</var> be this new
                   1641:    object.</li>
1.9       ihickson 1642: 
1.115     ihickson 1643:    <li><p>Create a new <code><a href="#worker">Worker</a></code> object, associated with
1.81      ihickson 1644:    <var title="">worker global scope</var>. Let <var title="">worker</var> be this new object.</li>
1.50      ihickson 1645: 
1.185     ihickson 1646:    <li><p><span>Create a new <code>MessagePort</code> object</span>
1.192     ihickson 1647:    owned by the <span title="script's global object">global
                   1648:    object</span> of the <span title="concept-script">script</span> that
1.185     ihickson 1649:    invoked the constructor. Let this be the <var title="">outside
1.81      ihickson 1650:    port</var>.</li>
1.9       ihickson 1651: 
1.81      ihickson 1652:    <li><p>Associate the <var title="">outside port</var> with <var title="">worker</var>.</li>
1.50      ihickson 1653: 
1.185     ihickson 1654:    <li><p><span>Create a new <code>MessagePort</code> object</span>
                   1655:    owned by <var title="">worker global scope</var>. Let <var title="">inside port</var> be this new object.</li>
1.50      ihickson 1656: 
1.81      ihickson 1657:    <li><p>Associate <var title="">inside port</var> with <var title="">worker global scope</var>.</li>
1.50      ihickson 1658: 
1.81      ihickson 1659:    <li><p><span>Entangle</span> <var title="">outside port</var> and
                   1660:    <var title="">inside port</var>.</li>
1.50      ihickson 1661: 
1.81      ihickson 1662:    <li><p>Return <var title="">worker</var>, and run the following
                   1663:    steps asynchronously.</li>
1.50      ihickson 1664: 
1.204     ihickson 1665: <!-- (this is done by the "run a worker" algorithm)
1.126     ihickson 1666:    <li><p>Enable <var title="">inside port</var>'s <span>port message
1.204     ihickson 1667:    queue</span>.</p></li>
                   1668: -->
1.50      ihickson 1669: 
1.126     ihickson 1670:    <li><p>Enable <var title="">outside port</var>'s <span>port message
1.81      ihickson 1671:    queue</span>.</li>
1.50      ihickson 1672: 
                   1673:    <li>
1.51      ihickson 1674: 
1.123     ihickson 1675:     <p>Let <var title="">docs</var> be the <a href="#list-of-relevant-document-objects-to-add">list of relevant
1.192     ihickson 1676:     <code>Document</code> objects to add</a> given the <span title="script's global object">global object</span> of the <span title="concept-script">script</span> that invoked the
1.123     ihickson 1677:     constructor.</p>
                   1678: 
                   1679:    </li>
                   1680: 
                   1681:    <li>
                   1682: 
                   1683:     <p><a href="#add-a-document-to-the-worker-s-documents" title="add a document to the worker's documents">Add to
                   1684:     <var title="">worker global scope</var>'s list of <span>the
                   1685:     worker's <code>Document</code>s</span></a> the
                   1686:     <code>Document</code> objects in <var title="">docs</var>.</p>
                   1687: 
                   1688:    </li>
                   1689: 
                   1690:    <li>
                   1691: 
1.192     ihickson 1692:     <p>If the <span title="script's global object">global object</span>
1.124     ihickson 1693:     of the <span title="concept-script">script</span> that invoked the
                   1694:     constructor is a <code><a href="#workerglobalscope">WorkerGlobalScope</a></code> object (i.e. we
                   1695:     are creating a nested worker), add <var title="">worker global
                   1696:     scope</var> to the list of <a href="#the-worker-s-workers">the worker's workers</a> of the
1.192     ihickson 1697:     <code><a href="#workerglobalscope">WorkerGlobalScope</a></code> object that is the <span title="script's global object">global object</span> of the <span title="concept-script">script</span> that invoked the
1.124     ihickson 1698:     constructor.</p>
                   1699: 
                   1700:    </li>
                   1701: 
                   1702:    <li>
                   1703: 
1.115     ihickson 1704:     <p><a href="#run-a-worker">Run a worker</a> for the resulting <span>absolute
1.193     ihickson 1705:     URL</span>, with the <span>script's browsing context</span> of the
1.81      ihickson 1706:     script that invoked the method as the <var title="">owner browsing
1.232     ihickson 1707:     context</var>, with the <span>script's document</span> of the
                   1708:     script that invoked the method as the <var title="">owner
                   1709:     document</var>, with the <span>origin</span> of the <span>entry
1.176     ihickson 1710:     script</span> as the <var title="">owner origin</var>, and with
                   1711:     <var title="">worker global scope</var> as the global scope.</p>
1.9       ihickson 1712: 
1.81      ihickson 1713:    </li>
1.4       ihickson 1714: 
1.155     ihickson 1715:   </ol><p>This constructor must be visible when the <span>script's global
1.192     ihickson 1716:   object</span> is either a <code>Window</code> object or an object
1.186     ihickson 1717:   implementing the <code><a href="#workerutils">WorkerUtils</a></code> interface.<h4 id="shared-workers-and-the-sharedworker-interface"><span class="secno">4.7.3 </span>Shared workers and the <code><a href="#sharedworker">SharedWorker</a></code> interface</h4><pre class="idl">[<a href="#dom-sharedworker" title="dom-SharedWorker">Constructor</a>(in DOMString scriptURL, in optional DOMString name)]
1.115     ihickson 1718: interface <dfn id="sharedworker">SharedWorker</dfn> : <a href="#abstractworker">AbstractWorker</a> {
                   1719:   readonly attribute <span>MessagePort</span> <a href="#dom-sharedworker-port" title="dom-SharedWorker-port">port</a>;
1.155     ihickson 1720: };</pre><p>The <dfn id="dom-sharedworker-port" title="dom-SharedWorker-port"><code>port</code></dfn>
1.81      ihickson 1721:   attribute must return the value it was assigned by the object's
                   1722:   constructor. It represents the <code>MessagePort</code> for
1.155     ihickson 1723:   communicating with the shared worker.<p>When the <dfn id="dom-sharedworker" title="dom-SharedWorker"><code>SharedWorker(<var title="">scriptURL</var>, <var title="">name</var>)</code></dfn>
1.81      ihickson 1724:   constructor is invoked, the user agent must run the following
1.155     ihickson 1725:   steps:<ol><li><p><span title="resolve a url">Resolve</span> the <var title="">scriptURL</var> argument.</li>
1.81      ihickson 1726: 
                   1727:    <li><p>If this fails, throw a <code>SYNTAX_ERR</code>
                   1728:    exception.</li>
                   1729: 
1.159     ihickson 1730:    <li><p>Otherwise, let <var title="">scriptURL</var> be the
                   1731:    resulting <span>absolute URL</span>.</li>
                   1732: 
                   1733:    <li><p>Let <var title="">name</var> be the value of the second
1.164     ihickson 1734:    argument, or the empty string if the second argument was
                   1735:    omitted.</li>
1.159     ihickson 1736: 
1.167     ihickson 1737:    <li>
                   1738: 
                   1739:     <p>If the <span>origin</span> of <var title="">scriptURL</var> is
                   1740:     not the <span title="same origin">same</span> as the origin of the
1.216     ihickson 1741:     <span>entry script</span>, then throw a <code>SECURITY_ERR</code>
1.182     ihickson 1742:     exception.</p>
1.167     ihickson 1743: 
                   1744:     <p class="note">Thus, scripts must be external files with the same
                   1745:     scheme as the original page: you can't load a script from a <code title="">data:</code> URL or <code title="">javascript:</code>
                   1746:     URL, and a <code>http:</code> page couldn't start workers using
                   1747:     scripts with <code>http:</code> URLs.</p>
                   1748: 
                   1749:    </li>
1.9       ihickson 1750: 
                   1751:    <li>
                   1752: 
1.123     ihickson 1753:     <p>Let <var title="">docs</var> be the <a href="#list-of-relevant-document-objects-to-add">list of relevant
1.192     ihickson 1754:     <code>Document</code> objects to add</a> given the <span title="script's global object">global object</span> of the <span title="concept-script">script</span> that invoked the
1.123     ihickson 1755:     constructor.</p>
                   1756: 
                   1757:    </li>
                   1758: 
                   1759:    <li>
                   1760: 
1.50      ihickson 1761:     <p>Execute the following substeps atomically:</p>
1.9       ihickson 1762: 
1.155     ihickson 1763:     <ol><li><p>Create a new <code><a href="#sharedworker">SharedWorker</a></code> object, which will
1.115     ihickson 1764:      shortly be associated with a <code><a href="#sharedworkerglobalscope">SharedWorkerGlobalScope</a></code>
                   1765:      object. Let this <code><a href="#sharedworker">SharedWorker</a></code> object be <var title="">worker</var>.</li>
1.81      ihickson 1766: 
1.185     ihickson 1767:      <li><p><span>Create a new <code>MessagePort</code> object</span>
1.192     ihickson 1768:      owned by the <span title="script's global object">global
                   1769:      object</span> of the script that invoked the method. Let this be
1.123     ihickson 1770:      the <var title="">outside port</var>.</li>
1.81      ihickson 1771: 
1.115     ihickson 1772:      <li><p>Assign <var title="">outside port</var> to the <code title="dom-SharedWorker-port"><a href="#dom-sharedworker-port">port</a></code> attribute of <var title="">worker</var>.</li>
1.81      ihickson 1773: 
1.164     ihickson 1774:      <li><p>Let <var title="">worker global scope</var> be
                   1775:      null.</li>
                   1776: 
                   1777:      <li><p>If <var title="">name</var> is not the empty string and
                   1778:      there exists a <code><a href="#sharedworkerglobalscope">SharedWorkerGlobalScope</a></code> object whose
                   1779:      <a href="#dom-workerglobalscope-closing" title="dom-WorkerGlobalScope-closing">closing</a> flag
                   1780:      is false, whose <code title="dom-WorkerGlobalScope-name">name</code> attribute is
                   1781:      exactly equal to <var title="">name</var>, and whose <code title="dom-WorkerGlobalScope-location"><a href="#dom-workerglobalscope-location">location</a></code> attribute
                   1782:      represents an <span>absolute URL</span> with the <span>same
                   1783:      origin</span> as <var title="">scriptURL</var>, then let <var title="">worker global scope</var> be that
                   1784:      <code><a href="#sharedworkerglobalscope">SharedWorkerGlobalScope</a></code> object.</li>
                   1785: 
                   1786:      <li><p>Otherwise, if <var title="">name</var> is the empty string
                   1787:      and there exists a <code><a href="#sharedworkerglobalscope">SharedWorkerGlobalScope</a></code> object
                   1788:      whose <a href="#dom-workerglobalscope-closing" title="dom-WorkerGlobalScope-closing">closing</a>
                   1789:      flag is false, and whose <code title="dom-WorkerGlobalScope-location"><a href="#dom-workerglobalscope-location">location</a></code> attribute
1.237     ihickson 1790:      represents an <span>absolute URL</span> that is exactly equal to
                   1791:      <var title="">scriptURL</var>, then let <var title="">worker
                   1792:      global scope</var> be that <code><a href="#sharedworkerglobalscope">SharedWorkerGlobalScope</a></code>
                   1793:      object.</li>
1.164     ihickson 1794: 
1.9       ihickson 1795:      <li>
                   1796: 
1.164     ihickson 1797:       <p>If <var title="">worker global scope</var> is not null, then
                   1798:       run these steps:</p>
1.81      ihickson 1799: 
1.164     ihickson 1800:       <ol><li><p>If <var title="">worker global scope</var>'s <code title="dom-WorkerGlobalScope-location"><a href="#dom-workerglobalscope-location">location</a></code>
1.81      ihickson 1801:        attribute represents an <span>absolute URL</span> that is not
1.159     ihickson 1802:        exactly equal to <var title="">scriptURL</var>, then throw a
                   1803:        <code>URL_MISMATCH_ERR</code> exception and abort all these
                   1804:        steps.</li>
1.81      ihickson 1805: 
                   1806:        <li><p>Associate <var title="">worker</var> with <var title="">worker global scope</var>.</li>
                   1807: 
1.185     ihickson 1808:        <li><p><span>Create a new <code>MessagePort</code>
                   1809:        object</span> owned by <var title="">worker global
                   1810:        scope</var>. Let this be the <var title="">inside
                   1811:        port</var>.</li>
1.81      ihickson 1812: 
                   1813:        <li><p><span>Entangle</span> <var title="">outside port</var>
                   1814:        and <var title="">inside port</var>.</li>
                   1815: 
                   1816:        <li><p>Return <var title="">worker</var> and perform the next
                   1817:        step asynchronously.</li>
1.9       ihickson 1818: 
1.81      ihickson 1819:        <li><p>Create an event that uses the <code>MessageEvent</code>
1.115     ihickson 1820:        interface, with the name <code title="event-connect">connect</code>, which does not bubble, is
1.118     ihickson 1821:        not cancelable, has no default action, has a <code title="dom-MessageEvent-data">data</code> attribute whose value
                   1822:        is the empty string and has a <code title="dom-MessageEvent-ports">ports</code> attribute whose
                   1823:        value is an array containing only the newly created port, and
                   1824:        <span>queue a task</span> to dispatch the event at <var title="">worker global scope</var>.</li>
1.43      ihickson 1825: 
1.123     ihickson 1826:        <li>
                   1827: 
                   1828:         <p><a href="#add-a-document-to-the-worker-s-documents" title="add a document to the worker's documents">Add to
                   1829:         <var title="">worker global scope</var>'s list of <span>the
                   1830:         worker's <code>Document</code>s</span></a> the
                   1831:         <code>Document</code> objects in <var title="">docs</var>.</p>
                   1832: 
                   1833:        </li>
                   1834: 
1.124     ihickson 1835:        <li>
                   1836: 
1.192     ihickson 1837:         <p>If the <span title="script's global object">global
                   1838:         object</span> of the <span title="concept-script">script</span>
1.124     ihickson 1839:         that invoked the constructor is a
                   1840:         <code><a href="#workerglobalscope">WorkerGlobalScope</a></code> object, add <var title="">worker global scope</var> to the list of <a href="#the-worker-s-workers">the
                   1841:         worker's workers</a> of the <code><a href="#workerglobalscope">WorkerGlobalScope</a></code>
1.192     ihickson 1842:         object that is the <span title="script's global object">global
                   1843:         object</span> of the <span title="concept-script">script</span>
1.124     ihickson 1844:         that invoked the constructor.</p>
                   1845: 
                   1846:        </li>
                   1847: 
1.81      ihickson 1848:        <li><p>Abort all these steps.</li>
1.9       ihickson 1849: 
1.155     ihickson 1850:       </ol></li>
1.9       ihickson 1851: 
1.185     ihickson 1852:      <li><p>Create a new <code><a href="#sharedworkerglobalscope">SharedWorkerGlobalScope</a></code>
                   1853:      object. Let <var title="">worker global scope</var> be this new
                   1854:      object.</li>
1.9       ihickson 1855: 
1.81      ihickson 1856:      <li><p>Associate <var title="">worker</var> with <var title="">worker global scope</var>.</li>
1.9       ihickson 1857: 
1.115     ihickson 1858:      <li><p>Set the <code title="dom-SharedWorkerGlobalScope-name"><a href="#dom-sharedworkerglobalscope-name">name</a></code> attribute of
1.81      ihickson 1859:      <var title="">worker global scope</var> to <var title="">name</var>.</li>
1.9       ihickson 1860: 
1.185     ihickson 1861:      <li><p><span>Create a new <code>MessagePort</code> object</span>
1.81      ihickson 1862:      owned by <var title="">worker global scope</var>. Let <var title="">inside port</var> be this new object.</li>
1.9       ihickson 1863: 
1.81      ihickson 1864:      <li><p><span>Entangle</span> <var title="">outside port</var> and
                   1865:      <var title="">inside port</var>.</li>
1.9       ihickson 1866: 
1.155     ihickson 1867:     </ol></li>
1.28      ihickson 1868: 
1.123     ihickson 1869:    <li><p>Return <var title="">worker</var> and perform the remaining
                   1870:    steps asynchronously.</li>
1.18      ihickson 1871: 
1.81      ihickson 1872:    <li><p>Create an event that uses the <code>MessageEvent</code>
1.118     ihickson 1873:    interface, with the name <code title="event-connect">connect</code>, which does not bubble, is not
1.115     ihickson 1874:    cancelable, has no default action, has a <code title="dom-MessageEvent-data">data</code> attribute whose value is
1.118     ihickson 1875:    the empty string and has a <code title="dom-MessageEvent-ports">ports</code> attribute whose value
                   1876:    is an array containing only the newly created port, and <span>queue
                   1877:    a task</span> to dispatch the event at <var title="">worker global
                   1878:    scope</var>.</li>
1.26      ihickson 1879: 
                   1880:    <li>
1.46      ihickson 1881: 
1.123     ihickson 1882:     <p><a href="#add-a-document-to-the-worker-s-documents" title="add a document to the worker's documents">Add to
                   1883:     <var title="">worker global scope</var>'s list of <span>the
                   1884:     worker's <code>Document</code>s</span></a> the
                   1885:     <code>Document</code> objects in <var title="">docs</var>.</p>
                   1886: 
                   1887:    </li>
                   1888: 
                   1889:    <li>
                   1890: 
1.192     ihickson 1891:     <p>If the <span title="script's global object">global object</span>
1.124     ihickson 1892:     of the <span title="concept-script">script</span> that invoked the
                   1893:     constructor is a <code><a href="#workerglobalscope">WorkerGlobalScope</a></code> object, add <var title="">worker global scope</var> to the list of <a href="#the-worker-s-workers">the
                   1894:     worker's workers</a> of the <code><a href="#workerglobalscope">WorkerGlobalScope</a></code>
1.192     ihickson 1895:     object that is the <span title="script's global object">global
                   1896:     object</span> of the <span title="concept-script">script</span>
1.124     ihickson 1897:     that invoked the constructor.</p>
                   1898: 
                   1899:    </li>
                   1900: 
                   1901:    <li>
                   1902: 
1.159     ihickson 1903:     <p><a href="#run-a-worker">Run a worker</a> for <var title="">scriptURL</var>,
1.193     ihickson 1904:     with the <span>script's browsing context</span> of the script that
1.159     ihickson 1905:     invoked the method as the <var title="">owner browsing
1.232     ihickson 1906:     context</var>, with the <span>script's document</span> of the
                   1907:     script that invoked the method as the <var title="">owner
                   1908:     document</var>, with the <span>origin</span> of the <span>entry
1.176     ihickson 1909:     script</span> as the <var title="">owner origin</var>, and with
                   1910:     <var title="">worker global scope</var> as the global scope.</p>
1.26      ihickson 1911: 
1.60      ihickson 1912:    </li>
1.81      ihickson 1913: 
1.155     ihickson 1914:   </ol><p>This constructor must be visible when the <span>script's global
1.192     ihickson 1915:   object</span> is either a <code>Window</code> object or an object
1.155     ihickson 1916:   implementing the <code><a href="#workerutils">WorkerUtils</a></code> interface.<p>The <span>task source</span> for the tasks mentioned above is the
                   1917:   <span>DOM manipulation task source</span>.<h2 id="apis-available-to-workers"><span class="secno">5 </span>APIs available to workers</h2><pre class="idl">[Supplemental, NoInterfaceObject]
1.150     ihickson 1918: interface <dfn id="workerutils">WorkerUtils</dfn> {
                   1919:   void <a href="#dom-workerglobalscope-importscripts" title="dom-WorkerGlobalScope-importScripts">importScripts</a>(in DOMString... urls);
1.210     ihickson 1920:   readonly attribute <a href="#workernavigator">WorkerNavigator</a> <a href="#dom-worker-navigator" title="dom-worker-navigator">navigator</a>;
1.150     ihickson 1921: };
1.184     ihickson 1922: <a href="#workerutils">WorkerUtils</a> implements <span>WindowTimers</span>;</pre><p>The DOM APIs (<code>Node</code> objects, <code>Document</code>
1.81      ihickson 1923:   objects, etc) are not available to workers in this version of this
1.155     ihickson 1924:   specification.<h3 id="importing-scripts-and-libraries"><span class="secno">5.1 </span>Importing scripts and libraries</h3><p>When a script invokes the <dfn id="dom-workerglobalscope-importscripts" title="dom-WorkerGlobalScope-importScripts"><code>importScripts(<var title="">urls</var>)</code></dfn> method on a
1.115     ihickson 1925:   <code><a href="#workerglobalscope">WorkerGlobalScope</a></code> object, the user agent must run the
1.155     ihickson 1926:   following steps:<ol><li><p>If there are no arguments, return without doing
1.81      ihickson 1927:    anything. Abort these steps.</li>
                   1928: 
                   1929:    <li><p><span title="resolve a url">Resolve</span> each
                   1930:    argument.</li>
                   1931: 
                   1932:    <li><p>If any fail, throw a <code>SYNTAX_ERR</code>
                   1933:    exception.</li>
                   1934: 
                   1935: <!--
1.67      ihickson 1936:    <li><p>If any of the resulting <span title="absolute URL">absolute
                   1937:    URLs</span> have an <span>origin</span> that is not the <span
                   1938:    title="same origin">same</span> as the origin of the script that
1.182     ihickson 1939:    invoked the method, then throw a <code>SECURITY_ERR</code>
                   1940:    exception.</p></li>
1.67      ihickson 1941: -->
1.26      ihickson 1942: 
                   1943:    <li>
1.81      ihickson 1944: 
1.45      ihickson 1945:     <p>Attempt to <span>fetch</span> each resource identified by the
1.194     ihickson 1946:     resulting <span title="absolute URL">absolute URLs</span>, from
1.216     ihickson 1947:     the <span>entry script</span>'s <span>origin</span>.</p> <!-- not
1.176     ihickson 1948:     http-origin privacy sensitive -->
1.81      ihickson 1949: 
                   1950:    </li>
1.26      ihickson 1951: 
                   1952:    <li>
                   1953: 
1.81      ihickson 1954:     <p>For each argument in turn, in the order given, starting with
                   1955:     the first one, run these substeps:</p>
1.26      ihickson 1956: 
1.155     ihickson 1957:     <ol><li>
1.26      ihickson 1958: 
1.81      ihickson 1959:       <p>Wait for the fetching attempt for the corresponding resource
                   1960:       to complete.</p>
1.60      ihickson 1961: 
1.81      ihickson 1962:       <p>If the fetching attempt failed, throw a
                   1963:       <code>NETWORK_ERR</code> exception and abort all these
                   1964:       steps.</p>
1.45      ihickson 1965: 
1.186     ihickson 1966:       <p>If the attempt succeeds, then convert the script resource to
                   1967:       Unicode by assuming it was encoded as UTF-8, to obtain its <var title="">source</var>.</p>
1.85      ihickson 1968: 
                   1969:       <p>Let <var title="">language</var> be JavaScript.</p>
1.61      ihickson 1970: 
1.115     ihickson 1971:       <p class="note">As with the worker's script, the script here is
1.81      ihickson 1972:       always assumed to be JavaScript, regardless of the MIME
1.170     ihickson 1973:       type.</p>
1.61      ihickson 1974: 
1.81      ihickson 1975:      </li>
1.26      ihickson 1976: 
1.81      ihickson 1977:      <li>
1.26      ihickson 1978: 
1.81      ihickson 1979:       <p><span>Create a script</span>, using <var title="">source</var> as the script source and <var title="">language</var> as the scripting language, using the
1.189     ihickson 1980:       same global object, browsing context, URL character encoding,
                   1981:       base URL, and script group as the <span title="concept-script">script</span> that was created by the
1.115     ihickson 1982:       worker's <a href="#run-a-worker">run a worker</a> algorithm.</p>
1.81      ihickson 1983: 
1.115     ihickson 1984:       <p>Let the newly created <span title="concept-script">script</span> run until it either
1.81      ihickson 1985:       returns, fails to parse, fails to catch an exception, or gets
1.115     ihickson 1986:       prematurely aborted by the "<a href="#kill-a-worker">kill a worker</a>" or
                   1987:       "<a href="#terminate-a-worker">terminate a worker</a>" algorithms defined above.</p>
1.26      ihickson 1988: 
1.199     ihickson 1989:       <p>If it failed to parse, then throw an ECMAScript
                   1990:       <code>SyntaxError</code> exception and abort all these
                   1991:       steps. <a href="#refsECMA262">[ECMA262]</a></p>
1.63      ihickson 1992: 
1.81      ihickson 1993:       <p>If an exception was raised or if the script was prematurely
                   1994:       aborted, then abort all these steps, letting the exception or
                   1995:       aborting continue to be processed by the script that called the
1.115     ihickson 1996:       <code title="dom-WorkerGlobalScope-importScripts"><a href="#dom-workerglobalscope-importscripts">importScripts()</a></code>
1.81      ihickson 1997:       method.</p>
                   1998: 
1.115     ihickson 1999:       <p>If the "<a href="#kill-a-worker">kill a worker</a>" or "<a href="#terminate-a-worker">terminate a
1.81      ihickson 2000:       worker</a>" algorithms abort the script then abort all these
                   2001:       steps.</p>
                   2002: 
                   2003:      </li>
                   2004: 
1.155     ihickson 2005:     </ol></li>
1.152     ihickson 2006: 
1.210     ihickson 2007:   </ol><h3 id="the-workernavigator-object"><span class="secno">5.2 </span>The <code><a href="#workernavigator">WorkerNavigator</a></code> object</h3><p>The <dfn id="dom-worker-navigator" title="dom-worker-navigator"><code>navigator</code></dfn> attribute
1.115     ihickson 2008:   of the <code><a href="#workerutils">WorkerUtils</a></code> interface must return an instance of
1.210     ihickson 2009:   the <code><a href="#workernavigator">WorkerNavigator</a></code> interface, which represents the
                   2010:   identity and state of the user agent (the client):<pre class="idl">interface <dfn id="workernavigator">WorkerNavigator</dfn> {};
                   2011: <a href="#workernavigator">WorkerNavigator</a> implements <span>NavigatorID</span>;
                   2012: <a href="#workernavigator">WorkerNavigator</a> implements <span>NavigatorOnLine</span>;</pre><p>Objects implementing the <code><a href="#workernavigator">WorkerNavigator</a></code> interface
                   2013:   also implement the <code>NavigatorID</code> and
                   2014:   <code>NavigatorOnLine</code> interfaces.
1.205     ihickson 2015:   
1.226     ihickson 2016:   <a href="#refsHTML">[HTML]</a>
1.205     ihickson 2017:   
1.210     ihickson 2018:   <p>This <code><a href="#workernavigator">WorkerNavigator</a></code> interface must not exist if the
                   2019:   interface's <span>relevant namespace object</span> is a
                   2020:   <code>Window</code> object. <a href="#refsWEBIDL">[WEBIDL]</a><h3 id="apis-defined-in-other-specifications"><span class="secno">5.3 </span>APIs defined in other specifications</h3><p>The <code title="dom-opendatabase">openDatabase()</code> and
1.115     ihickson 2021:   <code title="dom-opendatabase-sync">openDatabaseSync()</code>
1.200     ihickson 2022:   methods are defined in the Web SQL Database specification. <a href="#refsWEBSQL">[WEBSQL]</a><h3 id="interface-objects-and-constructors"><span class="secno">5.4 </span>Interface objects and constructors</h3><p>There must be no interface objects and constructors available in
1.192     ihickson 2023:   the global scope of scripts whose <span>script's global
                   2024:   object</span> is a <code><a href="#workerglobalscope">WorkerGlobalScope</a></code> object except for
1.155     ihickson 2025:   the following:<ul><li><p><code>XMLHttpRequest</code> and all interface objects and
1.81      ihickson 2026:    constructors defined by the XMLHttpRequest specifications, except
                   2027:    that the <span>document response entity body</span> must always be
1.160     ihickson 2028:    null. The <span><code>XMLHttpRequest</code> base URL</span> is the
                   2029:    <span>script's base URL</span>; the
                   2030:    <span><code>XMLHttpRequest</code> origin</span> is the script's
                   2031:    <span>origin</span>. <a href="#refsXHR">[XHR]</a></li>
1.81      ihickson 2032: 
1.205     ihickson 2033:    <li><p>The interface objects and constructors defined by this
                   2034:    specification.</li>
1.119     ihickson 2035: 
1.205     ihickson 2036:    <li><p>Constructors defined by specifications that explicitly say
                   2037:    that they should be visible when the <span>script's global
                   2038:    object</span> is a <code><a href="#dedicatedworkerglobalscope">DedicatedWorkerGlobalScope</a></code>, a
                   2039:    <code><a href="#sharedworkerglobalscope">SharedWorkerGlobalScope</a></code>, or an object implementing the
                   2040:    <code><a href="#workerutils">WorkerUtils</a></code> interface; the interfaces of any objects
                   2041:    with such constructors; and the interfaces of any objects made
                   2042:    accessible through APIs exposed by those constructors or made
                   2043:    accessible through interfaces to be implemented by any objects that
                   2044:    are themselves accessible to scripts whose <span>script's global
                   2045:    object</span> implements the <code><a href="#workerutils">WorkerUtils</a></code>
                   2046:    interface.</li>
                   2047: 
                   2048:   </ul><p class="note">These requirements do not override the requirements
                   2049:   defined by the Web IDL specification, in particular concerning the
                   2050:   visibility of interfaces annotated with the <code title="">[NoInterfaceObject]</code> extended attribute.<h3 id="worker-locations"><span class="secno">5.5 </span>Worker locations</h3><pre class="idl">interface <dfn id="workerlocation">WorkerLocation</dfn> {
1.115     ihickson 2051:   readonly attribute DOMString <a href="#dom-workerlocation-href" title="dom-WorkerLocation-href">href</a>;
                   2052:   readonly attribute DOMString <a href="#dom-workerlocation-protocol" title="dom-WorkerLocation-protocol">protocol</a>;
                   2053:   readonly attribute DOMString <a href="#dom-workerlocation-host" title="dom-WorkerLocation-host">host</a>;
                   2054:   readonly attribute DOMString <a href="#dom-workerlocation-hostname" title="dom-WorkerLocation-hostname">hostname</a>;
                   2055:   readonly attribute DOMString <a href="#dom-workerlocation-port" title="dom-WorkerLocation-port">port</a>;
                   2056:   readonly attribute DOMString <a href="#dom-workerlocation-pathname" title="dom-WorkerLocation-pathname">pathname</a>;
                   2057:   readonly attribute DOMString <a href="#dom-workerlocation-search" title="dom-WorkerLocation-search">search</a>;
                   2058:   readonly attribute DOMString <a href="#dom-workerlocation-hash" title="dom-WorkerLocation-hash">hash</a>;
1.155     ihickson 2059: };</pre><p>A <code><a href="#workerlocation">WorkerLocation</a></code> object represents an <span>absolute
                   2060:   URL</span> set at its creation.<p>The <dfn id="dom-workerlocation-href" title="dom-WorkerLocation-href"><code>href</code></dfn>
1.81      ihickson 2061:   attribute must return the <span>absolute URL</span> that the object
1.155     ihickson 2062:   represents.<p>The <code><a href="#workerlocation">WorkerLocation</a></code> interface also has the complement
1.163     ihickson 2063:   of <span>URL decomposition IDL attributes</span>, <dfn id="dom-workerlocation-protocol" title="dom-WorkerLocation-protocol"><code>protocol</code></dfn>,
1.115     ihickson 2064:   <dfn id="dom-workerlocation-host" title="dom-WorkerLocation-host"><code>host</code></dfn>, <dfn id="dom-workerlocation-port" title="dom-WorkerLocation-port"><code>port</code></dfn>, <dfn id="dom-workerlocation-hostname" title="dom-WorkerLocation-hostname"><code>hostname</code></dfn>,
                   2065:   <dfn id="dom-workerlocation-pathname" title="dom-WorkerLocation-pathname"><code>pathname</code></dfn>,
                   2066:   <dfn id="dom-workerlocation-search" title="dom-WorkerLocation-search"><code>search</code></dfn>,
                   2067:   and <dfn id="dom-workerlocation-hash" title="dom-WorkerLocation-hash"><code>hash</code></dfn>. These must
1.163     ihickson 2068:   follow the rules given for URL decomposition IDL attributes, with the
1.115     ihickson 2069:   <span title="concept-uda-input">input</span> being the
1.81      ihickson 2070:   <span>absolute URL</span> that the object represents (same as the
1.115     ihickson 2071:   <code title="dom-WorkerLocation-href"><a href="#dom-workerlocation-href">href</a></code> attribute), and
                   2072:   the <span title="concept-uda-setter">common setter action</span>
1.205     ihickson 2073:   being a no-op, since the attributes are defined to be readonly.
                   2074:   
1.226     ihickson 2075:   <a href="#refsHTML">[HTML]</a>
1.205     ihickson 2076:   
1.209     ihickson 2077:   <p>The <code><a href="#workerlocation">WorkerLocation</a></code> interface must not exist if the
                   2078:   interface's <span>relevant namespace object</span> is a
1.226     ihickson 2079:   <code>Window</code> object. <a href="#refsWEBIDL">[WEBIDL]</a><h2 class="no-num" id="references">References</h2><!--REFS--><p>All references are normative unless marked "Non-normative".</p><!-- Dates are only included for standards older than the Web,
                   2080:   because the newer ones keep changing. --><dl><dt id="refsDOMCORE">[DOMCORE]</dt>
1.153     ihickson 2081:    <dd><cite><a href="http://www.w3.org/TR/DOM-Level-3-Core/">Document
                   2082:    Object Model (DOM) Level 3 Core Specification</a></cite>, A. Le
                   2083:    Hors, P. Le Hegaret, L. Wood, G. Nicol, J. Robie, M. Champion,
1.226     ihickson 2084:    S. Byrnes. W3C.</dd>
1.153     ihickson 2085:    <!--
                   2086:    <dd><cite><a href="http://simon.html5.org/specs/web-dom-core">Web
1.226     ihickson 2087:    DOM Core</a></cite>, S. Pieters. W3C.</dd>
1.153     ihickson 2088:    -->
                   2089: 
1.152     ihickson 2090:    <dt id="refsDOMEVENTS">[DOMEVENTS]</dt>
                   2091:    <!--
                   2092:    <dd><cite><a
                   2093:    href="http://www.w3.org/TR/DOM-Level-3-Events/">Document Object
                   2094:    Model (DOM) Level 3 Events Specification</a></cite>,
1.226     ihickson 2095:    B. H&ouml;hrmann, P. Le Hegaret, T. Pixley. W3C.</dd>
1.152     ihickson 2096:    -->
                   2097:    <dd><cite><a href="http://dev.w3.org/2006/webapi/DOM-Level-3-Events/html/DOM3-Events.html">Document
                   2098:    Object Model (DOM) Level 3 Events Specification</a></cite>,
1.226     ihickson 2099:    D. Schepers. W3C.</dd>
1.152     ihickson 2100: 
                   2101:    <dt id="refsECMA262">[ECMA262]</dt>
                   2102:    <dd><cite><a href="http://www.ecma-international.org/publications/standards/Ecma-262.htm">ECMAScript
1.226     ihickson 2103:    Language Specification</a></cite>. ECMA.</dd>
1.152     ihickson 2104: 
1.226     ihickson 2105:    <dt id="refsHTML">[HTML]</dt>
                   2106:    <dd><cite><a href="http://www.whatwg.org/specs/web-apps/current-work/">HTML</a></cite>,
                   2107:    I. Hickson. WHATWG.</dd>
1.152     ihickson 2108: 
1.154     ihickson 2109:    <dt id="refsRFC2119">[RFC2119]</dt>
                   2110:    <dd><cite><a href="http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc2119.txt">Key words for use in
1.226     ihickson 2111:    RFCs to Indicate Requirement Levels</a></cite>, S. Bradner. IETF.</dd>
1.154     ihickson 2112: 
                   2113:    <dt id="refsWEBIDL">[WEBIDL]</dt>
                   2114:    <!--
                   2115:    <dd><cite><a href="http://www.w3.org/TR/WebIDL/">Web
1.226     ihickson 2116:    IDL</a></cite>, C. McCormack. W3C.</dd>
1.154     ihickson 2117:    -->
                   2118:    <dd><cite><a href="http://dev.w3.org/2006/webapi/WebIDL/">Web
1.226     ihickson 2119:    IDL</a></cite>, C. McCormack. W3C.</dd>
1.154     ihickson 2120: 
1.230     ihickson 2121:    <dt id="refsWEBSQL">[WEBSQL]</dt>
                   2122:    <dd><cite><a href="http://dev.w3.org/html5/webdatabase/">Web SQL
                   2123:    Database</a></cite>, I. Hickson. W3C.</dd>
                   2124: 
1.152     ihickson 2125:    <dt id="refsXHR">[XHR]</dt>
                   2126:    <!--
                   2127:    <dd><cite><a href="http://www.w3.org/TR/XMLHttpRequest/">The XMLHttpRequest
1.226     ihickson 2128:    Object</a></cite>, A. van Kesteren. W3C.</dd>
1.152     ihickson 2129:    -->
1.160     ihickson 2130:    <dd><cite><a href="http://dev.w3.org/2006/webapi/XMLHttpRequest-2/"><code>XMLHttpRequest</code></a></cite>,
1.226     ihickson 2131:    A. van Kesteren. W3C.</dd>
1.152     ihickson 2132: 
1.221     ihickson 2133:   </dl><h2 class="no-num" id="acknowledgements">Acknowledgements</h2><!-- ACKS --><p>Thanks to
1.81      ihickson 2134: 
                   2135:   Aaron Boodman,
1.155     ihickson 2136:   &#1040;&#1083;&#1077;&#1082;&#1089;&#1077;&#1081; &#1055;&#1088;&#1086;&#1089;&#1082;&#1091;&#1088;&#1103;&#1082;&#1086;&#1074; (Alexey Proskuryakov),
1.81      ihickson 2137:   Anne van Kesteren,
                   2138:   Ben Turner,
                   2139:   Dmitry Titov,
1.96      ihickson 2140:   Drew Wilson,
1.97      ihickson 2141:   Jeremy Orlow,
1.81      ihickson 2142:   Jonas Sicking,
                   2143:   Justin James,
                   2144:   Kevin Hakanson,
                   2145:   Maciej Stachowiak,
                   2146:   Michael Nordman,
                   2147:   Mike Smith,
                   2148: 
                   2149:   and
                   2150: 
                   2151:   Philip Taylor
                   2152: 
1.155     ihickson 2153:   for their useful and substantial comments.<p>Huge thanks to the whole Gears team, who pioneered this
1.81      ihickson 2154:   technology and whose experience has been a huge influence on this
1.155     ihickson 2155:   specification.

Webmaster