Annotation of html5/workers/Overview.html, revision 1.38

1.1       ihickson    1: <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01//EN">
                      2: <!-- when publishing, change bits marked ZZZ -->
                      3: 
                      4: <html lang=en-US-x-Hixie>
                      5:  <head>
                      6:   <title>Web Workers</title>
                      7:   <link href="http://www.w3.org/StyleSheets/TR/%57%33%43-ED" rel=stylesheet
                      8:   type="text/css">
                      9:   <!-- ZZZ ED vs WD -->
                     10: 
                     11:  <body>
                     12:   <div class=head>
                     13:    <p><a href="http://www.w3.org/"><img alt=W3C height=48
                     14:     src="http://www.w3.org/Icons/w3c_home" width=72></a></p>
                     15: 
                     16:    <h1 id=web-workers>Web Workers</h1>
                     17: 
                     18:    <h2 class="no-num no-toc" id=an-accompaniment>An accompaniment
                     19:     specification for HTML5</h2>
                     20: 
                     21:    <h2 class="no-num no-toc" id=editors><!-- "W3C Working Draft" --> Editor's
1.26      ihickson   22:     Draft <!--ZZZ--> 6 August 2008</h2>
1.1       ihickson   23: 
                     24:    <dl><!-- ZZZ: update the month/day
                     25:     <dt>This Version:</dt>
                     26:     <dd><a href="http://www.w3.org/TR/2008/WD-workers-20080101/">http://www.w3.org/TR/2008/WD-workers-20080101/</a></dd>
1.2       ihickson   27:     <dt>Latest Published Version:</dt>
                     28:     <dd><a href="http://www.w3.org/TR/workers/">http://www.w3.org/TR/workers/</a></dd>
1.1       ihickson   29:  :ZZZ -->
                     30: 
                     31:     <dt>Latest Editor's Draft:
                     32: 
                     33:     <dd><a
                     34:      href="http://dev.w3.org/html5/workers/">http://dev.w3.org/html5/workers/</a></dd>
1.2       ihickson   35:     <!-- ZZZ: add the new version after it has shipped
                     36:     <dt>Previous Versions:</dt>
                     37:     <dd><a href="http://www.w3.org/TR/2008/WD-workers-20080101/">http://www.w3.org/TR/2008/WD-workers-20080101/</a>
                     38:  :ZZZ -->
1.1       ihickson   39: 
                     40:     <dt>Editors:
                     41: 
                     42:     <dd><a href="mailto:ian@hixie.ch">Ian Hickson</a>, Google, Inc.
                     43:    </dl>
                     44: 
                     45:    <p class=copyright><a
                     46:     href="http://www.w3.org/Consortium/Legal/ipr-notice#Copyright">Copyright</a>
                     47:     &#169; 2008 <a href="http://www.w3.org/"><abbr title="World Wide Web
                     48:     Consortium">W3C</abbr></a><sup>&#174;</sup> (<a
                     49:     href="http://www.csail.mit.edu/"><abbr title="Massachusetts Institute of
                     50:     Technology">MIT</abbr></a>, <a href="http://www.ercim.org/"><abbr
                     51:     title="European Research Consortium for Informatics and
                     52:     Mathematics">ERCIM</abbr></a>, <a
                     53:     href="http://www.keio.ac.jp/">Keio</a>), All Rights Reserved. W3C <a
                     54:     href="http://www.w3.org/Consortium/Legal/ipr-notice#Legal_Disclaimer">liability</a>,
                     55:     <a
                     56:     href="http://www.w3.org/Consortium/Legal/ipr-notice#W3C_Trademarks">trademark</a>
                     57:     and <a
                     58:     href="http://www.w3.org/Consortium/Legal/copyright-documents">document
                     59:     use</a> rules apply.</p>
                     60:    <!-- UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES IS THE FOLLOWING PARAGRAPH TO BE REMOVED OR EDITED WITHOUT TALKING TO IAN FIRST -->
                     61:    
                     62:    <p class="alt copyright">The <a
                     63:     href="http://www.whatwg.org/specs/web-workers/current-work/">WHATWG
                     64:     version</a> of this specification is available under a more permissive
                     65:     license.</p>
                     66:    <!-- UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES IS THE PRECEDING PARAGRAPH TO BE REMOVED OR EDITED WITHOUT TALKING TO IAN FIRST -->
                     67:    </div>
                     68: 
                     69:   <hr>
                     70: 
                     71:   <h2 class="no-num no-toc" id=abstract>Abstract</h2>
                     72: 
                     73:   <p>This specification defines an API that allows Web application authors to
                     74:    spawn background workers running scripts in parallel to their main page.
                     75:    This allows for thread-like operation with message-passing as the
                     76:    coordination mechanism.
                     77: 
                     78:   <h2 class="no-num no-toc" id=status>Status of this document</h2>
                     79:   <!-- intro boilerplate (required) -->
                     80: 
                     81:   <p><em>This section describes the status of this document at the time of
                     82:    its publication. Other documents may supersede this document. A list of
                     83:    current W3C publications and the most recently formally published revision
                     84:    of this technical report can be found in the <a
                     85:    href="http://www.w3.org/TR/">W3C technical reports index</a> at
                     86:    http://www.w3.org/TR/.</em></p>
                     87:   <!-- where to send feedback (required) -->
                     88: 
                     89:   <p>If you wish to make comments regarding this document, please send them
                     90:    to <a
                     91:    href="mailto:public-html-comments@w3.org">public-html-comments@w3.org</a>
                     92:    (<a
                     93:    href="mailto:public-html-comments-request@w3.org?subject=subscribe">subscribe</a>,
                     94:    <a
                     95:    href="http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/public-html-comments/">archives</a>)
                     96:    <!-- UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES IS THE FOLLOWING SENTENCE TO BE REMOVED OR EDITED WITHOUT TALKING TO IAN FIRST -->
                     97:    or <a href="mailto:whatwg@whatwg.org">whatwg@whatwg.org</a> (<a
                     98:    href="http://lists.whatwg.org/listinfo.cgi/whatwg-whatwg.org">subscribe</a>,
                     99:    <a
                    100:    href="http://lists.whatwg.org/pipermail/whatwg-whatwg.org/">archives</a>).
                    101:    <!-- UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES IS THE PRECEDING SENTENCE TO BE REMOVED OR EDITED WITHOUT TALKING TO IAN FIRST -->
                    102:    All feedback is welcome.</p>
                    103:   <!-- stability (required) -->
                    104: 
                    105:   <p>Implementors should be aware that this specification is not stable.
                    106:    <strong>Implementors who are not taking part in the discussions are likely
                    107:    to find the specification changing out from under them in incompatible
                    108:    ways.</strong> Vendors interested in implementing this specification
                    109:    before it eventually reaches the Candidate Recommendation stage should
                    110:    join the aforementioned mailing lists and take part in the discussions.</p>
                    111:   <!-- UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES IS THE FOLLOWING PARAGRAPH TO BE REMOVED OR EDITED WITHOUT TALKING TO IAN FIRST -->
                    112:   <!-- version history or list of changes (required) -->
                    113: 
                    114:   <p>The latest stable version of the editor's draft of this specification is
                    115:    always available on <a
                    116:    href="http://dev.w3.org/html5/workers/Overview.html">the W3C CVS
                    117:    server</a> and in the <a href="http://svn.whatwg.org/webworkers/">WHATWG
                    118:    Subversion repository</a>. The latest editor's working copy (which may
                    119:    contain unfinished text in the process of being prepared) is available <a
                    120:    href="http://www.whatwg.org/specs/web-workers/current-work/">on the WHATWG
                    121:    site</a>. Detailed change history can be obtained from the following
                    122:    locations:</p>
                    123:   <!-- UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES IS THE PRECEDING PARAGRAPH TO BE REMOVED OR EDITED WITHOUT TALKING TO IAN FIRST -->
                    124:   <!-- UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES IS THE FOLLOWING LIST TO BE REMOVED OR EDITED WITHOUT TALKING TO IAN FIRST -->
                    125: 
                    126:   <ul>
                    127:    <li>Twitter messages (non-editorial changes only): <a
                    128:     href="http://twitter.com/WHATWG">http://twitter.com/WHATWG</a>
                    129: 
                    130:    <li>Interactive Web interface: <a
                    131:     href="http://html5.org/tools/web-workers-tracker">http://html5.org/tools/web-workers-tracker</a>
                    132: 
                    133:    <li>Commit-Watchers mailing list: <a
                    134:     href="http://lists.whatwg.org/listinfo.cgi/commit-watchers-whatwg.org">http://lists.whatwg.org/listinfo.cgi/commit-watchers-whatwg.org</a>
                    135: 
                    136:    <li>Subversion interface: <a
                    137:     href="http://svn.whatwg.org/webworkers/">http://svn.whatwg.org/webworkers/</a>
                    138: 
                    139:    <li>CVS log: <a
                    140:     href="http://dev.w3.org/cvsweb/html5/workers/Overview.html">http://dev.w3.org/cvsweb/html5/workers/Overview.html</a>
                    141:   </ul>
                    142:   <!-- UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES IS THE PRECEDING LIST TO BE REMOVED OR EDITED WITHOUT TALKING TO IAN FIRST -->
                    143:   <!-- status of document, group responsible (required) -->
                    144: 
                    145:   <p>The W3C <a href="http://www.w3.org/html/wg/">HTML Working Group</a> is
                    146:    the W3C working group responsible for this specification's progress along
1.26      ihickson  147:    the W3C Recommendation track. <!--ZZZ:--> This specification is the 6
1.25      ihickson  148:    August 2008 <!--ZZZ "Working Draft"-->Editor's Draft. <!--:ZZZ--></p>
1.1       ihickson  149:   <!-- UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES IS THE PRECEDING PARAGRAPH TO BE REMOVED OR EDITED WITHOUT TALKING TO IAN FIRST -->
                    150:   <!-- relationship to other work (required) -->
                    151: 
                    152:   <p>This specification is also being produced by the <a
                    153:    href="http://www.whatwg.org/">WHATWG</a>. The two specifications are
                    154:    identical from the table of contents onwards.</p>
                    155:   <!-- UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES IS THE FOLLOWING PARAGRAPH TO BE REMOVED OR EDITED WITHOUT TALKING TO IAN FIRST -->
                    156:   <!-- UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES IS THE PRECEDING PARAGRAPH TO BE REMOVED OR EDITED WITHOUT TALKING TO IAN FIRST -->
                    157:   <!-- context and rationale (required) -->
                    158: 
                    159:   <p>This specification is intended to specify a part of the Web platform
                    160:    closely related to HTML5. It is defined in a separate document primarily
                    161:    to ease the cognitive load on reviewers.</p>
                    162:   <!-- UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES IS THE FOLLOWING PARAGRAPH TO BE REMOVED OR EDITED WITHOUT TALKING TO IAN FIRST -->
                    163:   <!-- required patent boilerplate -->
                    164: 
                    165:   <p>This document was produced by a group operating under the <a
                    166:    href="http://www.w3.org/Consortium/Patent-Policy-20040205/">5 February
                    167:    2004 W3C Patent Policy</a>. W3C maintains a <a
                    168:    href="http://www.w3.org/2004/01/pp-impl/40318/status"
                    169:    rel=disclosure>public list of any patent disclosures</a> made in
                    170:    connection with the deliverables of the group; that page also includes
                    171:    instructions for disclosing a patent. An individual who has actual
                    172:    knowledge of a patent which the individual believes contains <a
                    173:    href="http://www.w3.org/Consortium/Patent-Policy-20040205/#def-essential">Essential
                    174:    Claim(s)</a> must disclose the information in accordance with <a
                    175:    href="http://www.w3.org/Consortium/Patent-Policy-20040205/#sec-Disclosure">section
                    176:    6 of the W3C Patent Policy</a>.
                    177: 
                    178:   <h2 class="no-num no-toc" id=contents>Table of contents</h2>
                    179:   <!--begin-toc-->
                    180: 
                    181:   <ul class=toc>
                    182:    <li><a href="#introduction"><span class=secno>1. </span>Introduction</a>
                    183:     <ul class=toc>
1.4       ihickson  184:      <li><a href="#tutorial"><span class=secno>1.1 </span>Tutorial</a>
1.29      ihickson  185:       <ul class=toc>
                    186:        <li><a href="#a-background"><span class=secno>1.1.1 </span>A
1.32      ihickson  187:         background number-crunching worker</a>
1.31      ihickson  188: 
                    189:        <li><a href="#a-worker"><span class=secno>1.1.2 </span>A worker for
                    190:         updating a client-side database</a>
1.33      ihickson  191: 
                    192:        <li><a href="#worker"><span class=secno>1.1.3 </span>Worker used for
                    193:         backgroud I/O</a>
1.34      ihickson  194: 
                    195:        <li><a href="#shared"><span class=secno>1.1.4 </span>Shared
                    196:         workers</a>
                    197: 
                    198:        <li><a href="#granting"><span class=secno>1.1.5 </span>Granting
                    199:         capabilities</a>
                    200: 
                    201:        <li><a href="#delegation"><span class=secno>1.1.6
                    202:         </span>Delegation</a>
1.29      ihickson  203:       </ul>
1.1       ihickson  204: 
1.22      ihickson  205:      <li><a href="#conformance"><span class=secno>1.2 </span>Conformance
1.1       ihickson  206:       requirements</a>
                    207:       <ul class=toc>
1.22      ihickson  208:        <li><a href="#dependencies"><span class=secno>1.2.1
1.1       ihickson  209:         </span>Dependencies</a>
                    210:       </ul>
                    211: 
1.22      ihickson  212:      <li><a href="#terminology"><span class=secno>1.3 </span>Terminology</a>
1.4       ihickson  213:     </ul>
                    214: 
1.12      ihickson  215:    <li><a href="#infrastructure"><span class=secno>2.
                    216:     </span>Infrastructure</a>
1.4       ihickson  217:     <ul class=toc>
1.26      ihickson  218:      <li><a href="#the-workerglobalscope"><span class=secno>2.1 </span>The
                    219:       <code>WorkerGlobalScope</code> interface</a>
1.4       ihickson  220: 
1.15      ihickson  221:      <li><a href="#base-urls"><span class=secno>2.2 </span>Base URLs and
                    222:       origins of workers</a>
                    223: 
                    224:      <li><a href="#the-queue"><span class=secno>2.3 </span>The queue of
1.4       ihickson  225:       events</a>
                    226: 
1.15      ihickson  227:      <li><a href="#the-workers"><span class=secno>2.4 </span>The worker's
1.9       ihickson  228:       ports</a>
                    229: 
1.15      ihickson  230:      <li><a href="#processing"><span class=secno>2.5 </span>Processing
1.4       ihickson  231:       model</a>
1.12      ihickson  232: 
1.15      ihickson  233:      <li><a href="#creating"><span class=secno>2.6 </span>Creating
1.12      ihickson  234:       workers</a>
1.1       ihickson  235:     </ul>
                    236: 
1.12      ihickson  237:    <li><a href="#apis-available"><span class=secno>3. </span>APIs available
                    238:     to workers</a>
1.26      ihickson  239:     <ul class=toc>
                    240:      <li><a href="#importing"><span class=secno>3.1 </span>Importing scripts
                    241:       and libraries</a>
                    242: 
                    243:      <li><a href="#apis-defined"><span class=secno>3.2 </span>APIs defined in
                    244:       other specifications</a>
                    245: 
                    246:      <li><a href="#interface"><span class=secno>3.3 </span>Interface objects
                    247:       and constructors</a>
1.34      ihickson  248: 
                    249:      <li><a href="#worker0"><span class=secno>3.4 </span>Worker locations</a>
                    250:       
1.26      ihickson  251:     </ul>
1.4       ihickson  252: 
1.1       ihickson  253:    <li class=no-num><a href="#references">References</a>
                    254: 
                    255:    <li class=no-num><a href="#acknowledgements">Acknowledgements</a>
                    256:   </ul>
                    257:   <!--end-toc-->
                    258: 
                    259:   <hr>
                    260: 
                    261:   <h2 id=introduction><span class=secno>1. </span>Introduction</h2>
                    262: 
1.4       ihickson  263:   <h3 id=tutorial><span class=secno>1.1 </span>Tutorial</h3>
1.1       ihickson  264: 
                    265:   <p><em>This section is non-normative.</em>
                    266: 
1.29      ihickson  267:   <p>There are a variety of uses that workers can be put to. The following
                    268:    subsections show various examples of this use.
                    269: 
                    270:   <h4 id=a-background><span class=secno>1.1.1 </span>A background
1.32      ihickson  271:    number-crunching worker</h4>
1.29      ihickson  272: 
                    273:   <p><em>This section is non-normative.</em>
                    274: 
                    275:   <p>The simplest use of workers is for performing a computationally
                    276:    expensive task without interrupting the user interface.
                    277: 
1.32      ihickson  278:   <p>In this example, the main document spawns a worker to (na&iuml;vely)
1.29      ihickson  279:    compute prime numbers, and progressively displays the most recently found
                    280:    prime number.
                    281: 
                    282:   <p>The main page is as follows:
                    283: 
                    284:   <pre>&lt;!DOCTYPE HTML>
                    285: &lt;html>
                    286:  &lt;head>
                    287:   &lt;title>Worker example: Computation&lt;/title>
                    288:  &lt;/head>
                    289:  &lt;body>
                    290:   &lt;p>The highest prime number discovered so far is: &lt;output id="result">&lt;/output>&lt;/p>
                    291:   &lt;script>
                    292:    var worker = createWorker('worker.js');
                    293:    worker.onmessage = function (event) {
                    294:      document.getElementById('result').textContent = event.message;
                    295:    };
                    296:   &lt;/script>
                    297:  &lt;/body>
                    298: &lt;/html></pre>
                    299: 
                    300:   <p>The <code title=dom-WorkerFactory-createWorker><a
                    301:    href="#createworker">createWorker()</a></code> method call creates a
                    302:    worker and returns a <code>MessagePort</code> object, which is used to
                    303:    communicate with the worker. That object's <code
                    304:    title=dom-MessagePort-onmessage>onmessage</code> event handler attribute
                    305:    allows the code to receive messages from the worker.
                    306: 
                    307:   <p>The worker itself is as follows:
                    308: 
                    309:   <pre>var n = 1;
                    310: search: while (true) {
                    311:   n += 1;
                    312:   for (var i = 2; i &lt;= Math.sqrt(n); i += 1)
                    313:     if (n % i == 0)
                    314:      continue search;
                    315:   // found a prime!
                    316:   port.postMessage(n);
                    317: }</pre>
                    318: 
                    319:   <p>The bulk of this code is simply an unoptimised search for a prime
                    320:    number. To send a message back to the page, the <code
1.30      ihickson  321:    title=dom-WorkerGlobalScope-port><a href="#port">port</a></code> variable
                    322:    (defined automatically when the worker is created) is used to post a
                    323:    message when a prime is found.
1.29      ihickson  324: 
                    325:   <p><a href="http://www.whatwg.org/demos/workers/primes/page.html">View this
                    326:    example online</a>.
1.4       ihickson  327: 
1.31      ihickson  328:   <h4 id=a-worker><span class=secno>1.1.2 </span>A worker for updating a
                    329:    client-side database</h4>
                    330: 
                    331:   <p><em>This section is non-normative.</em>
                    332: 
                    333:   <p>In this example, the main document spawns a worker whose only task is to
                    334:    listen for notifications from the server, and, when appropriate, either
                    335:    add or remove data from the client-side database.
                    336: 
                    337:   <p>Since no communication occurs between the worker and the main page, the
                    338:    main page can start the worker by just doing:
                    339: 
                    340:   <pre>&lt;script>
                    341:  createWorker('worker.js');
                    342: &lt;/script></pre>
                    343: 
                    344:   <p>The worker itself is as follows:
                    345: 
                    346:   <pre>var server = new WebSocket('ws://whatwg.org/database');
                    347: var database = utils.openDatabase('demobase', '1.0', 'Demo Database', 10240);
                    348: server.onmessage = function (event) {
                    349:   // data is in the format "command key value"
                    350:   var data = event.message.split(' ');
                    351:   switch (data[0]) {
                    352:     case '+':
                    353:      database.transaction(function(tx) {
                    354:        tx.executeSql('INSERT INTO pairs (key, value) VALUES (?, ?)', data[1], data[2]);
                    355:      });
                    356:     case '-':
                    357:      database.transaction(function(tx) {
                    358:        tx.executeSql('DELETE FROM pairs WHERE key=? AND value=?', data[1], data[2]);
                    359:      });
                    360:   }
                    361: };</pre>
                    362: 
                    363:   <p>This connects to the server using the <code>WebSocket</code> mechanism
                    364:    and opens the local database (which, we presume, has been created
                    365:    earlier). The worker then just listens for messages from the worker and
                    366:    acts on them as appropriate, forever (or until the main page is closed).
                    367: 
                    368:   <p><a
                    369:    href="http://www.whatwg.org/demos/workers/database-updater/page.html">View
                    370:    this example online</a>. (This example will not actually function, since
                    371:    the server does not actually exist and the database is not created by this
                    372:    sample code.)
                    373: 
1.33      ihickson  374:   <h4 id=worker><span class=secno>1.1.3 </span>Worker used for backgroud I/O</h4>
                    375: 
                    376:   <p><em>This section is non-normative.</em>
                    377: 
                    378:   <p>In this example, the main document uses two workers, one for fetching
                    379:    stock updates for at regular intervals, and one for fetching performing
                    380:    search queries that the user requests.
                    381: 
                    382:   <p>The main page is as follows:
                    383: 
                    384:   <pre>&lt;!DOCTYPE HTML>
                    385: &lt;html>
                    386:  &lt;head>
                    387:   &lt;title>Worker example: Stock ticker&lt;/title>
                    388:   &lt;script>
                    389:    // TICKER
                    390:    var symbol = 'GOOG'; // default symbol to watch
                    391:    var ticker = createWorker('ticker.js');
                    392:    ticker.postMessage(symbol);
                    393: 
                    394:    // SEARCHER
                    395:    var searcher = createWorker('searcher.js');
                    396:    function search(query) {
                    397:      searcher.postMessage(query);
                    398:    }
                    399: 
                    400:    // SYMBOL SELECTION UI
                    401:    function select(newSymbol) {
                    402:      symbol = newSymbol;
                    403:      ticker.postMessage(symbol);
                    404:    }
                    405:   &lt;/script>
                    406:  &lt;/head>
                    407:  &lt;body>
                    408:   &lt;p>&lt;output id="symbol">&lt;/output> &lt;output id="value">&lt;/output>&lt;/p>
                    409:   &lt;script>
                    410:    ticker.onmessage = function (event) {
                    411:      var data = event.message.split(' ');
                    412:      document.getElementById('symbol').textContent = data[0];
                    413:      document.getElementById('value').textContent = data[1];
                    414:    };
                    415:   &lt;/script>
                    416:   &lt;p>&lt;label>Search: &lt;input type="text" oninput="search(this.value)">&lt;/label>&lt;/p>
                    417:   &lt;ul id="results">&lt;/ul>
                    418:   &lt;script>
                    419:    searcher.onmessage = function (event) {
                    420:      var data = event.message.split(' ');
                    421:      var results = document.getElementById('results');
                    422:      while (results.hasChildNodes()) // clear previous results
                    423:        results.removeChild(results.firstChild);
                    424:      for (var i = 0; i &lt; data.length; i += 1) {
                    425:        // add a list item with a button for each result
                    426:        var li = document.createElement('li');
                    427:        var button = document.createElement('button');
                    428:        button.value = data[i];
                    429:        button.type = 'button';
                    430:        button.onclick = function () { select(this.value); };
                    431:        button.textContent = data[i];
                    432:        li.appendChild(button);
                    433:        results.appendChild(li);
                    434:      }
                    435:    };
                    436:   &lt;/script>
                    437:   &lt;p>(The data in this example is not real. Try searching for "Google" or "Apple".)&lt;/p>
                    438:  &lt;/body>
                    439: &lt;/html></pre>
                    440: 
                    441:   <p>Messages are queued until the <code
                    442:    title=handler-MessagePort-onmessage>onmessage</code> handler is set, so
                    443:    even if it takes a while for the message handler to be attached, no data
                    444:    is lost.
                    445: 
                    446:   <p>The two workers use a common library for performing the actual network
                    447:    calls. This library is as follows:
                    448: 
                    449:   <pre>function get(url) {
                    450:    try {
                    451:      var xhr = new XMLHttpRequest();
                    452:      xhr.open('GET', url, false);
                    453:      xhr.send();
                    454:      return xhr.responseText;
1.34      ihickson  455:    } catch (e) {
1.33      ihickson  456:      return ''; // turn all errors into empty results
                    457:    }
                    458: }</pre>
                    459: 
                    460:   <p>The stock updater worker is as follows:
                    461: 
                    462:   <pre>importScript('io.js');
                    463: var timer;
                    464: var symbol;
                    465: function update() {
                    466:   port.postMessage(symbol + ' ' + get('stock.cgi?' + symbol));
                    467:   timer = setTimeout(update, 10000);
                    468: }
                    469: port.onmessage = function (event) {
                    470:   if (timer)
                    471:     clearTimeout(timer);
                    472:   symbol = event.message;
                    473:   update();
                    474: };</pre>
                    475: 
                    476:   <p>The search query worker is as follows:
                    477: 
                    478:   <pre>importScript('io.js');
                    479: port.onmessage = function (event) {
                    480:   port.postMessage(get('search.cgi?' + event.message));
                    481: };</pre>
                    482: 
1.36      ihickson  483:   <p><a href="http://www.whatwg.org/demos/workers/stocks/page.html">View this
1.33      ihickson  484:    example online</a>.
                    485: 
1.34      ihickson  486:   <h4 id=shared><span class=secno>1.1.4 </span>Shared workers</h4>
                    487: 
1.36      ihickson  488:   <p><em>This section is non-normative.</em>
                    489: 
                    490:   <p>In this example, multiple windows (viewers) can be opened that are all
                    491:    viewing the same map. All the windows share the same map information, with
                    492:    a single worker coordinating all the viewers. Each viewer can move around
                    493:    idependently, but if they set any data on the map, all the viewers are
                    494:    updated.
                    495: 
                    496:   <p>The main page isn't interesting, it merely provides a way to open the
                    497:    viewers:
                    498: 
                    499:   <pre>&lt;!DOCTYPE HTML>
                    500: &lt;html>
                    501:  &lt;head>
                    502:   &lt;title>Workers example: Multiviewer&lt;/title>
                    503:   &lt;script>
                    504:    function openViewer() {
                    505:      window.open('viewer.html');
                    506:    }
                    507:   &lt;/script>
                    508:  &lt;/head>
                    509:  &lt;body>
                    510:   &lt;p>&lt;button type=button onclick="openViewer()">Open a new
                    511:   viewer&lt;/button>&lt;/p>
                    512:   &lt;p>Each viewer opens in a new window. You can have as many viewers
                    513:   as you like, they all view the same data.&lt;/p>
                    514:  &lt;/body>
                    515: &lt;/html></pre>
                    516: 
                    517:   <p>The viewer is more involved:
                    518: 
                    519:   <pre>&lt;!DOCTYPE HTML>
                    520: &lt;html>
                    521:  &lt;head>
                    522:   &lt;title>Workers example: Multiviewer viewer&lt;/title>
                    523:   &lt;script>
                    524:    var worker = createNamedWorker('worker.js', 'core');
                    525: 
                    526:    // CONFIGURATION
                    527:    function configure(event) {
                    528:      if (event.message.substr(0, 4) != 'cfg ') return;
                    529:      var name = event.message.substr(4).split(' ', 1);
                    530:      // update display to mention our name is name
                    531:      document.getElementsByTagName('h1')[0].textContent += ' ' + name;
                    532:      // no longer need this listener
                    533:      worker.removeEventListener('message', configure, false);
                    534:    }
                    535:    worker.addEventListener('message', configure, false);
                    536: 
                    537:    // MAP
                    538:    function paintMap(event) {
                    539:      if (event.message.substr(0, 4) != 'map ') return;
                    540:      var data = event.message.substr(4).split(',');
                    541:      // display tiles data[0] .. data[8]
                    542:      var canvas = document.getElementById('map');
                    543:      var context = canvas.getContext('2d');
                    544:      for (var y = 0; y &lt; 3; y += 1) {
                    545:        for (var x = 0; x &lt; 3; x += 1) {
                    546:          var tile = data[y * 3 + x];
                    547:          if (tile == '0')
                    548:            context.fillStyle = 'green';
                    549:          else 
                    550:            context.fillStyle = 'maroon';
                    551:          fillRect(x * 50, y * 50, 50, 50);
                    552:        }
                    553:      }
                    554:    }
                    555:    worker.addEventListener('message', paintMap, false);
                    556: 
                    557:    // PUBLIC CHAT
                    558:    function updatePublicChat(event) {
                    559:      if (event.message.substr(0, 4) != 'txt ') return;
                    560:      var name = event.message.substr(4).split(' ', 1);
                    561:      var message = event.message.substr(4 + length(name) + 1);
                    562:      // display "&lt;name> message" in public chat
                    563:      var dialog = document.getElementById('public');
                    564:      var dt = document.createElement('dt');
                    565:      dt.textContent = name;
                    566:      dialog.appendChild(dt);
                    567:      var dd = document.createElement('dd');
                    568:      dd.textContent = message;
                    569:      dialog.appendChild(dd);
                    570:    }
                    571:    worker.addEventListener('message', updatePublicChat, false);
                    572: 
                    573:    // PRIVATE CHAT
                    574:    function startPrivateChat(event) {
                    575:      if (event.message.substr(0, 4) != 'msg ') return;
                    576:      var name = event.message.substr(4).split(' ', 1);
                    577:      var port = event.port;
                    578:      // display a private chat UI
                    579:      var ul = document.getElementById('private');
                    580:      var li = document.createElement('li');
                    581:      var h3 = document.createElement('h3');
                    582:      h3.textContent = 'Private chat with ' + name;
                    583:      li.appendChild(h3);
                    584:      var dialog = document.createElement('dialog');
                    585:      var addMessage = function(name, message) {
                    586:        var dt = document.createElement('dt');
                    587:        dt.textContent = name;
                    588:        dialog.appendChild(dt);
                    589:        var dd = document.createElement('dd');
                    590:        dd.textContent = message;
                    591:        dialog.appendChild(dd);
                    592:      };
                    593:      port.onmessage = function (event) {
                    594:        addMessage(name, event.message);
                    595:      };
                    596:      li.appendChild(dialog);
                    597:      var form = document.createElement('form');
                    598:      var p = document.createElement('p');
                    599:      var input = document.createElement('input');
                    600:      input.size = 50;
                    601:      p.appendChild(input);
                    602:      p.appendChild(document.createTextNode(' '));
                    603:      var button = document.createElement('button');
                    604:      button.textContent = 'Post';
                    605:      p.appendChild(button);
                    606:      form.onsubmit = function () {
                    607:        port.postMessage(input.value);
                    608:        addMessage('me', input.value);
                    609:        input.value = '';
                    610:        return false;
                    611:      };
                    612:      form.appendChild(p);
                    613:      li.appendChild(form);
                    614:    }
                    615:    worker.addEventListener('message', startPrivateChat, false);
                    616: 
                    617:    function init() {
                    618:      // begin receiving messages (messages are queued until you
                    619:      // either set worker.onmessage or call worker.start())
                    620:      worker.start();
                    621:    }
                    622:   &lt;/script>
                    623:  &lt;/head>
                    624:  &lt;body onload="init()">
                    625:   &lt;h1>Viewer&lt;/h1>
                    626:   &lt;h2>Map&lt;/h2>
                    627:   &lt;p>&lt;canvas id="map" height=150 width=150>&lt;/canvas>&lt;/p>
                    628:   &lt;p>
                    629:    &lt;button type=button onclick="worker.postMessage('mov left')">Left&lt;/button>
                    630:    &lt;button type=button onclick="worker.postMessage('mov up')">Up&lt;/button>
                    631:    &lt;button type=button onclick="worker.postMessage('mov down')">Down&lt;/button>
                    632:    &lt;button type=button onclick="worker.postMessage('mov right')">Right&lt;/button>
                    633:    &lt;button type=button onclick="worker.postMessage('set 0')">Set 0&lt;/button>
                    634:    &lt;button type=button onclick="worker.postMessage('set 1')">Set 1&lt;/button>
                    635:   &lt;/p>
                    636:   &lt;h2>Public Chat&lt;/h2>
                    637:   &lt;dialog id="public">&lt;/dialog>
                    638:   &lt;form onsubmit="worker.postMessage('txt ' + message.value); message.value = ''; return false;">
                    639:    &lt;p>
                    640:     &lt;input type="text" name="message" size="50">
                    641:     &lt;button>Post&lt;/button>
                    642:    &lt;/p>
                    643:   &lt;/form>
                    644:   &lt;h2>Private Chat&lt;/h2>
                    645:   &lt;ul id="private">&lt;/ul>
                    646:  &lt;/body>
                    647: &lt;/html></pre>
                    648: 
                    649:   <p>There are several key things worth noting about the way the viewer is
                    650:    written.
                    651: 
                    652:   <p><strong>Multiple listeners</strong>. Instead of a single message
                    653:    processing function, the code here attaches multiple event listeners, each
                    654:    one performing a quick check to see if it is relevant for the message. In
                    655:    this example it doesn't make much difference, but if multiple authors
                    656:    wanted to collaborate using a single port to communicate with a worker, it
                    657:    would allow for independent code instead of changes having to all be made
                    658:    to a single event handling function.
                    659: 
                    660:   <p>Because event listeners are registered using <code
                    661:    title="">addEventListener()</code> instead of <code
                    662:    title=handler-MessagePort-onmessage>onmessge</code>, the events remain
                    663:    queued until the <code title=dom-MessagePort-start>start()</code> method
                    664:    is called on the message port, in the <code title="">init()</code>
                    665:    function called from the <code title=handler-onload>onload</code> handler.
                    666: 
                    667:   <p>Registering event listeners in this way also allows you to unregister
                    668:    specific listeners when you are done with them, as is done with the <code
                    669:    title="">configure()</code> method in this example.
                    670: 
                    671:   <p>Finally, the worker:
                    672: 
                    673:   <pre>
                    674: var nextName = 0;
                    675: function getNextName() {
                    676:   // this could use more friendly names
                    677:   // but for now just return a number
                    678:   return nextName++;
                    679: }
                    680: 
                    681: var map = [
                    682:  [0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0],
                    683:  [1, 1, 0, 1, 0, 1, 1],
                    684:  [0, 1, 0, 1, 0, 0, 0],
                    685:  [0, 1, 0, 1, 0, 1, 1],
                    686:  [0, 0, 0, 1, 0, 0, 0],
                    687:  [1, 0, 0, 1, 1, 1, 1],
                    688:  [1, 1, 0, 1, 1, 0, 1],
                    689: ];
                    690: 
                    691: function wrapX(x) {
                    692:   if (x &lt; 0) return wrapX(x + map[0].length);
                    693:   if (x >= map[0].length) return wrapX(x - map[0].length);
                    694:   return x;
                    695: }
                    696: 
                    697: function wrapY(y) {
                    698:   if (y &lt; 0) return wrapY(y + map.length);
                    699:   if (y >= map[0].length) return wrapY(y - map.length);
                    700:   return y;
                    701: }
                    702: 
                    703: function sendMapData(viewer) {
                    704:   var data = '';
                    705:   for (var y = viewer.y-1; y &lt;= viewer.y+1; y += 1) {
                    706:     for (var x = viewer.x-1; x &lt;= viewer.x+1; x += 1) {
                    707:       if (data != '')
                    708:         data += ',';
                    709:       data += map[y][x];
                    710:     }
                    711:   }
                    712:   viewer.port.postMessage('map ' + data);
                    713: }
                    714: 
                    715: var viewers = {};
                    716: onconnect = function (event) {
                    717:   event.port._name = getNextName();
                    718:   event.port._data = { port: event.port, x: 0, y: 0, };
                    719:   viewers[event.port._name] = event.port._data;
                    720:   event.port.postMessage('cfg ' + name);
                    721:   event.port.onmessage = getMessage;
                    722:   sendMapData(event.port._data);
                    723: };
                    724: 
                    725: function getMessage(event) {
                    726:   switch (event.message.substr(0, 4)) {
                    727:     case 'mov ':
                    728:       var direction = event.message.substr(4);
                    729:       var dx = 0;
                    730:       var dy = 0;
                    731:       switch (direction) {
                    732:         case 'up': dy = -1; break;
                    733:         case 'down': dy = 1; break;
                    734:         case 'left': dx = -1; break;
                    735:         case 'right': dx = 1; break;
                    736:       }
                    737:       event.target._data.x = wrapX(event.target._data.x + dx);
                    738:       event.target._data.y = wrapY(event.target._data.y + dy);
                    739:       sendMapData(event.target._data);
                    740:       break;
                    741:     case 'set ':
                    742:       var value = event.message.substr(4);
                    743:       map[event.target._data.y][event.target._data.x] = value;
                    744:       for (var viewer in viewers)
                    745:         sendMapData(viewers[viewer]);
                    746:       break;
                    747:     case 'txt ':
                    748:       var name = event.target._name;
                    749:       var message = event.message.substr(4);
                    750:       for (var viewer in viewers)
                    751:         viewers[viewer].port.postMessage('txt ' + name + ' ' + message);
                    752:       break;
                    753:     case 'msg ':
                    754:       var party1 = event._data;
                    755:       var party2 = viewers[event.message.substr(4).split(' ', 1)];
                    756:       if (party2) {
                    757:         var channel = new MessageChannel();
                    758:         party1.port.postMessage('msg ' + party2.name, channel.port1);
                    759:         party2.port.postMessage('msg ' + party1.name, channel.port2);
                    760:       }
                    761:       break;
                    762:   }
                    763: }</pre>
                    764: 
                    765:   <p><strong>Connecting to multiple pages</strong>. Instead of using the
1.37      ihickson  766:    <code title=dom-WorkerGlobalScope-port><a href="#port">port</a></code>
                    767:    global variable in the worker, the script uses the <code
                    768:    title=handler-WorkerGlobalScope-onconnect><a
                    769:    href="#onconnect">onconnect</a></code> event listener to listen for
                    770:    multiple connections.
1.36      ihickson  771: 
                    772:   <p><strong>Direct channels</strong>. When the worker receives a "msg"
                    773:    message from one viewer naming another viewer, it sets up a direct
                    774:    connection between the two, so that the two viewers can communicate
                    775:    directly without the worker having to proxy all the messages.
                    776: 
                    777:   <p><a href="http://www.whatwg.org/demos/workers/multiviewer/page.html">View
                    778:    this example online</a>.
1.34      ihickson  779: 
                    780:   <h4 id=granting><span class=secno>1.1.5 </span>Granting capabilities</h4>
                    781: 
1.36      ihickson  782:   <p><em>This section is non-normative.</em>
                    783: 
1.35      ihickson  784:   <p class=big-issue>...
1.34      ihickson  785: 
                    786:   <h4 id=delegation><span class=secno>1.1.6 </span>Delegation</h4>
                    787: 
1.36      ihickson  788:   <p><em>This section is non-normative.</em>
                    789: 
1.35      ihickson  790:   <p class=big-issue>...
1.34      ihickson  791: 
1.22      ihickson  792:   <h3 id=conformance><span class=secno>1.2 </span>Conformance requirements</h3>
1.1       ihickson  793: 
                    794:   <p>All diagrams, examples, and notes in this specification are
                    795:    non-normative, as are all sections explicitly marked non-normative.
                    796:    Everything else in this specification is normative.
                    797: 
                    798:   <p>The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", <!--"SHALL", "SHALL
                    799:   NOT",-->
                    800:    "SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and "OPTIONAL" in the
                    801:    normative parts of this document are to be interpreted as described in
                    802:    RFC2119. For readability, these words do not appear in all uppercase
                    803:    letters in this specification. <a href="#refsRFC2119">[RFC2119]</a></p>
                    804:   <!-- XXX but they should be
                    805:   marked up -->
                    806: 
                    807:   <p>Requirements phrased in the imperative as part of algorithms (such as
                    808:    "strip any leading space characters" or "return false and abort these
                    809:    steps") are to be interpreted with the meaning of the key word ("must",
                    810:    "should", "may", etc) used in introducing the algorithm.
                    811: 
                    812:   <p>Some conformance requirements are phrased as requirements on attributes,
                    813:    methods or objects. Such requirements are to be interpreted as
                    814:    requirements on user agents.
                    815: 
                    816:   <p>Conformance requirements phrased as algorithms or specific steps may be
                    817:    implemented in any manner, so long as the end result is equivalent. (In
                    818:    particular, the algorithms defined in this specification are intended to
                    819:    be easy to follow, and not intended to be performant.)
                    820: 
                    821:   <p>The only conformance class defined by this specification is user agents.
                    822: 
                    823:   <p>User agents may impose implementation-specific limits on otherwise
                    824:    unconstrained inputs, e.g. to prevent denial of service attacks, to guard
                    825:    against running out of memory, or to work around platform-specific
                    826:    limitations.
                    827: 
1.22      ihickson  828:   <h4 id=dependencies><span class=secno>1.2.1 </span>Dependencies</h4>
1.1       ihickson  829: 
                    830:   <p>This specification relies on several other underlying specifications.
                    831: 
                    832:   <dl>
                    833:    <dt>HTML5
                    834: 
                    835:    <dd>
                    836:     <p>Many fundamental concepts from HTML5 are used by this specification.
                    837:      <a href="#refsHTML5">[HTML5]</a></p>
                    838: 
                    839:    <dt>ECMAScript
                    840: 
                    841:    <dd>
                    842:     <p>This specification is intended to be used with JavaScript as the
                    843:      scripting language. <a href="#refsJS">[JS]</a></p>
                    844: 
                    845:    <dt>WebIDL
                    846: 
                    847:    <dd>
                    848:     <p>The IDL blocks in this specification use the semantics of the WebIDL
                    849:      specification. <a href="#refsWebIDL">[WebIDL]</a></p>
                    850:   </dl>
                    851: 
1.22      ihickson  852:   <h3 id=terminology><span class=secno>1.3 </span>Terminology</h3>
1.1       ihickson  853: 
                    854:   <p>For simplicity, terms such as <em>shown</em>, <em>displayed</em>, and
                    855:    <em>visible</em> might sometimes be used when referring to the way a
                    856:    document is rendered to the user. These terms are not meant to imply a
                    857:    visual medium; they must be considered to apply to other media in
                    858:    equivalent ways.
                    859: 
1.4       ihickson  860:   <p>The construction "a <code title="">Foo</code> object", where <code
                    861:    title="">Foo</code> is actually an interface, is sometimes used instead of
                    862:    the more accurate "an object implementing the interface <code
                    863:    title="">Foo</code>".
1.1       ihickson  864: 
                    865:   <p>The term DOM is used to refer to the API set made available to scripts
                    866:    in Web applications, and does not necessarily imply the existence of an
                    867:    actual <code>Document</code> object or of any other <code>Node</code>
                    868:    objects as defined in the DOM Core specifications. <a
                    869:    href="#refsDOM3CORE">[DOM3CORE]</a>
                    870: 
                    871:   <p>A DOM attribute is said to be <em>getting</em> when its value is being
                    872:    retrieved (e.g. by author script), and is said to be <em>setting</em> when
                    873:    a new value is assigned to it.
                    874: 
                    875:   <p>If a DOM object is said to be <dfn id=live>live</dfn>, then that means
                    876:    that any attributes returning that object must always return the same
                    877:    object (not a new object each time), and the attributes and methods on
                    878:    that object must operate on the actual underlying data, not a snapshot of
                    879:    the data.
                    880: 
1.12      ihickson  881:   <h2 id=infrastructure><span class=secno>2. </span>Infrastructure</h2>
1.4       ihickson  882: 
1.26      ihickson  883:   <h3 id=the-workerglobalscope><span class=secno>2.1 </span>The <code><a
                    884:    href="#workerglobalscope">WorkerGlobalScope</a></code> interface</h3>
1.4       ihickson  885: 
                    886:   <pre
1.26      ihickson  887:    class=idl>[NoInterfaceObject] interface <dfn id=workerglobalscope>WorkerGlobalScope</dfn> {
                    888:   // core worker features
                    889:   readonly attribute <a href="#workerglobalscope">WorkerGlobalScope</a> <a href="#self" title=dom-WorkerGlobalScope-self>self</a>;
1.34      ihickson  890:   readonly attribute <a href="#workerlocation">WorkerLocation</a> <a href="#location" title=dom-WorkerGlobalScope-location>location</a>;
1.26      ihickson  891:   readonly attribute DOMString <a href="#name" title=dom-WorkerGlobalScope-name>name</a>;
                    892:   readonly attribute boolean <a href="#closing" title=dom-WorkerGlobalScope-closing>closing</a>;
                    893:   void <a href="#close" title=dom-WorkerGlobalScope-close>close</a>();
                    894: 
                    895:   // other APIs
                    896:   readonly attribute WorkerUtils <a href="#utils" title=dom-WorkerGlobalScope-utils>utils</a>;
1.9       ihickson  897: 
                    898:   // event handler attributes
1.26      ihickson  899:            attribute <span>EventListener</span> <a href="#onconnect" title=handler-WorkerGlobalScope-onconnect>onconnect</a>;
                    900:            attribute <span>EventListener</span> <a href="#onunload" title=handler-WorkerGlobalScope-onunload>onunload</a>;
1.4       ihickson  901: };</pre>
                    902: 
1.26      ihickson  903:   <p>The <dfn id=self
                    904:    title=dom-WorkerGlobalScope-self><code>self</code></dfn> attribute must
                    905:    return the <code><a href="#workerglobalscope">WorkerGlobalScope</a></code>
                    906:    object itself.
1.9       ihickson  907: 
1.34      ihickson  908:   <p>The <dfn id=location
                    909:    title=dom-WorkerGlobalScope-location><code>location</code></dfn> attribute
                    910:    must return the <code><a href="#workerlocation">WorkerLocation</a></code>
                    911:    object created for the <code><a
                    912:    href="#workerglobalscope">WorkerGlobalScope</a></code> object when the
                    913:    worker was created. It represents the <span>absolute URL</span> of the
                    914:    script that was used to initialize the worker.
1.26      ihickson  915: 
                    916:   <p>The <dfn id=name
                    917:    title=dom-WorkerGlobalScope-name><code>name</code></dfn> attribute must
                    918:    return the value it was assigned when the <code><a
                    919:    href="#workerglobalscope">WorkerGlobalScope</a></code> object was created
                    920:    by the "<a href="#run-a">run a worker</a>" algorithm. If it has a value
                    921:    that isn't the empty string, its value represents the name that can be
                    922:    used to obtain a reference to the worker using the <code
                    923:    title=dom-WorkerFactory-createNamedWorker><a
1.11      ihickson  924:    href="#createnamedworker">createNamedWorker()</a></code> method.
1.6       ihickson  925: 
1.4       ihickson  926:   <p>The <dfn id=closing
1.26      ihickson  927:    title=dom-WorkerGlobalScope-closing><code>closing</code></dfn> attribute
                    928:    must return false until it is set to true by one of the algorithms in the
1.19      ihickson  929:    processing model section below.
1.4       ihickson  930: 
1.9       ihickson  931:   <p>The following are the <span>event handler DOM attributes</span> that
                    932:    must be supported by objects implementing the <code><a
1.26      ihickson  933:    href="#workerglobalscope">WorkerGlobalScope</a></code> interface:
1.9       ihickson  934: 
                    935:   <dl>
1.20      ihickson  936:    <dt><dfn id=onconnect
1.26      ihickson  937:     title=handler-WorkerGlobalScope-onconnect><code>onconnect</code></dfn>
1.9       ihickson  938: 
                    939:    <dd>
                    940:     <p>Must be invoked whenever a <code
1.26      ihickson  941:      title=event-WorkerGlobalScope-connect>connect</code> event is targeted
                    942:      at or bubbles through the <code><a
                    943:      href="#workerglobalscope">WorkerGlobalScope</a></code> object.
1.9       ihickson  944: 
                    945:    <dt><dfn id=onunload
1.26      ihickson  946:     title=handler-WorkerGlobalScope-onunload><code>onunload</code></dfn>
1.9       ihickson  947: 
                    948:    <dd>
                    949:     <p>Must be invoked whenever a <code title=event-unload>unload</code>
                    950:      event is targeted at or bubbles through the <code><a
1.26      ihickson  951:      href="#workerglobalscope">WorkerGlobalScope</a></code> object.
1.9       ihickson  952:   </dl>
                    953: 
1.26      ihickson  954:   <p>The <dfn id=utils
                    955:    title=dom-WorkerGlobalScope-utils><code>utils</code></dfn> attribute must
                    956:    return the <code><a href="#workerutils">WorkerUtils</a></code> object
                    957:    created for the <code><a
                    958:    href="#workerglobalscope">WorkerGlobalScope</a></code> object when the
                    959:    worker was created.
                    960: 
1.30      ihickson  961:   <p>In addition to the above members, the <a href="#success" title="worker
                    962:    creation succeeded">worker creation success steps</a> add a <dfn id=port
                    963:    title=dom-WorkerGlobalScope-port><code>port</code></dfn> property to the
                    964:    object.
                    965: 
1.15      ihickson  966:   <h3 id=base-urls><span class=secno>2.2 </span>Base URLs and origins of
                    967:    workers</h3>
                    968: 
                    969:   <p>The <span>base URL</span> of a <span>URL</span> passed to an API in a
1.34      ihickson  970:    worker is the <span>absolute URL</span> given that the worker's <code
                    971:    title=dom-WorkerGlobalScope-location><a
                    972:    href="#location">location</a></code> attribute represents.
1.15      ihickson  973: 
1.25      ihickson  974:   <p>Both the <span>origin</span> and <span>effective script origin</span> of
                    975:    scripts running in workers are the <span>origin</span> of the
1.34      ihickson  976:    <span>absolute URL</span> given that the worker's <code
                    977:    title=dom-WorkerGlobalScope-location><a
                    978:    href="#location">location</a></code> attribute represents.
1.15      ihickson  979: 
                    980:   <h3 id=the-queue><span class=secno>2.3 </span>The queue of events</h3>
1.4       ihickson  981: 
1.26      ihickson  982:   <p>Each <code><a href="#workerglobalscope">WorkerGlobalScope</a></code>
                    983:    object is asssociated with a <dfn id=queue>queue of events</dfn>, which is
                    984:    initially empty.
1.4       ihickson  985: 
                    986:   <p>An event in the queue can be a DOM event or a timeout callback.
                    987: 
1.8       ihickson  988:   <p>All asynchronous callbacks and events that would be called or dispatched
                    989:    in the worker must be added to the worker's queue, with the "<a
                    990:    href="#run-a">run a worker</a>" processing model below taking care of
                    991:    actually calling the callbacks or dispatching the events.
                    992: 
1.26      ihickson  993:   <p>Once the <code><a
                    994:    href="#workerglobalscope">WorkerGlobalScope</a></code>'s <code
                    995:    title=dom-WorkerGlobalScope-closing><a href="#closing">closing</a></code>
1.8       ihickson  996:    attribute is set to true, the queue must discard anything else that would
                    997:    be added to it. Effectively, once the <code
1.26      ihickson  998:    title=dom-WorkerGlobalScope-closing><a href="#closing">closing</a></code>
1.8       ihickson  999:    attribute is true, timers stop firing, notifications for all pending
                   1000:    asynchronous operations are dropped, etc.
                   1001: 
1.15      ihickson 1002:   <h3 id=the-workers><span class=secno>2.4 </span>The worker's ports</h3>
1.9       ihickson 1003: 
                   1004:   <p>Workers communicate with other workers and with <span title="browsing
                   1005:    context">browsing contexts</span> through <span title="channel
                   1006:    messaging">message channels</span> and their <code>MessagePort</code>
                   1007:    objects.
                   1008: 
1.26      ihickson 1009:   <p>Each <code><a href="#workerglobalscope">WorkerGlobalScope</a></code>
                   1010:    <var title="">worker</var> has a list of <dfn id=the-workers0>the worker's
1.9       ihickson 1011:    ports</dfn>, which consists of all the <code>MessagePort</code> objects
                   1012:    that are entangled with another port and that have one (but only one) port
1.26      ihickson 1013:    owned by <var title="">worker</var>. This list includes all the
                   1014:    <code>MessagePort</code> objects that are in events pending in the <a
                   1015:    href="#queue">queue of events</a>.
1.9       ihickson 1016: 
1.17      ihickson 1017:   <hr>
                   1018: 
1.38    ! ihickson 1019:   <p>A worker is said to be a <dfn id=permissible>permissible worker</dfn> if
        !          1020:    either:
        !          1021: 
        !          1022:   <ul>
        !          1023:    <li>at some point past or present a <code>MessagePort</code> owned by the
        !          1024:     worker was entangled with a <code>MessagePort</code> <var
        !          1025:     title="">p</var> whose owner is a <code>Window</code> object whose
        !          1026:     <span>active document</span> is the <code>Document</code> that was that
        !          1027:     <span>browsing context</span>'s <span>active document</span> when <var
        !          1028:     title="">p</var> was created, and that <code>Document</code> is
        !          1029:     <span>fully active</span>, or
        !          1030: 
        !          1031:    <li>at some point past or present a <code>MessagePort</code> owned by the
        !          1032:     worker was entangled with a <code>MessagePort</code> owned by another
        !          1033:     worker that is currently a <a href="#permissible">permissible worker</a>.
        !          1034:   </ul>
        !          1035: 
        !          1036:   <hr>
        !          1037: 
        !          1038:   <p>A worker is said to be a <dfn id=protected>protected worker</dfn> if
        !          1039:    either:
        !          1040: 
        !          1041:   <ul>
        !          1042:    <li>it has outstanding timers, database transactions, or network
        !          1043:     connections, and is a <a href="#permissible">permissible worker</a>, or:
        !          1044: 
        !          1045:    <li>there is a <a href="#protected">protected worker</a> that at some
        !          1046:     point past or present owned a <code>MessagePort</code> that was entangled
        !          1047:     with a <code>MessagePort</code> owned by this worker.
        !          1048:   </ul>
        !          1049: 
        !          1050:   <hr>
1.17      ihickson 1051: 
1.38    ! ihickson 1052:   <p>A worker is said to be an <dfn id=active>active needed worker</dfn> if
        !          1053:    either:
1.17      ihickson 1054: 
                   1055:   <ul>
1.38    ! ihickson 1056:    <li>the worker is a <a href="#protected">protected worker</a>, or
        !          1057: 
        !          1058:    <li>at least one of the <a href="#the-workers0">the worker's ports</a> is
        !          1059:     entangled with a <code>MessagePort</code> <var title="">p</var> whose
        !          1060:     owner is a <code>Window</code> object whose <span>active document</span>
        !          1061:     is the <code>Document</code> that was that <span>browsing
        !          1062:     context</span>'s <span>active document</span> when that
        !          1063:     <code>MessagePort</code> <var title="">p</var> was created, and that
        !          1064:     <code>Document</code> is <span>fully active</span>, or
1.17      ihickson 1065: 
                   1066:    <li>at least one of the <a href="#the-workers0">the worker's ports</a> has
1.26      ihickson 1067:     an entangled <code>MessagePort</code> owned by a <code><a
                   1068:     href="#workerglobalscope">WorkerGlobalScope</a></code> object that is
1.38    ! ihickson 1069:     itself an <a href="#active">active needed worker</a>.
1.17      ihickson 1070:   </ul>
                   1071: 
                   1072:   <hr>
                   1073: 
1.38    ! ihickson 1074:   <p>A worker is said to be a <dfn id=suspendable>suspendable worker</dfn> if
        !          1075:    it is not an <a href="#active">active needed worker</a> but either:
1.17      ihickson 1076: 
                   1077:   <ul>
1.38    ! ihickson 1078:    <li>at least one of the <a href="#the-workers0">the worker's ports</a> has
        !          1079:     an entangled <code>MessagePort</code> owned by a <code>Window</code>
        !          1080:     object, or
1.17      ihickson 1081: 
                   1082:    <li>at least one of the <a href="#the-workers0">the worker's ports</a> has
1.26      ihickson 1083:     an entangled <code>MessagePort</code> owned by a <code><a
                   1084:     href="#workerglobalscope">WorkerGlobalScope</a></code> object that is
1.38    ! ihickson 1085:     itself a <span>needed worker</span>.
1.17      ihickson 1086:   </ul>
                   1087: 
1.15      ihickson 1088:   <h3 id=processing><span class=secno>2.5 </span>Processing model</h3>
1.4       ihickson 1089: 
1.6       ihickson 1090:   <p>When a user agent is to <dfn id=run-a>run a worker</dfn> named <var
1.7       ihickson 1091:    title="">name</var> for a script with <span>URL</span> <var
                   1092:    title="">url</var>, a browsing context <var title="">owner browsing
                   1093:    context</var> and a <code>Document</code> <var title="">owner
                   1094:    document</var>, it must run the following steps in a completely separate
                   1095:    and parallel execution environment:
1.4       ihickson 1096: 
                   1097:   <ol>
                   1098:    <li>
1.7       ihickson 1099:     <p>Attempt to <span>fetch</span><!-- XXX --> the resource identified by
                   1100:      <var title="">url</var>.</p>
                   1101: 
                   1102:     <p>If the attempt fails, then abort these steps and invoke the <a
1.34      ihickson 1103:      href="#worker1" title="worker creation failed">error handling steps</a>
1.7       ihickson 1104:      defined by the algorithm that called this one.</p>
                   1105: 
                   1106:     <p>If the attempt succeeds, then let <var title="">script</var> be the
                   1107:      resource that was obtained.</p>
                   1108: 
                   1109:     <p class=note>As with <code>script</code> elements, the MIME type of the
                   1110:      script is ignored. Unlike with <code>script</code> elements, there is no
                   1111:      way to override the type. It's always assumed to be JavaScript.</p>
                   1112:     <!-- XXX people will complain about
                   1113:     this. I guess we might want to examine the MIME type... -->
                   1114:     
                   1115: 
                   1116:    <li>
1.26      ihickson 1117:     <p>Create a new <code><a
                   1118:      href="#workerglobalscope">WorkerGlobalScope</a></code> object, <var
                   1119:      title="">worker</var>.</p>
1.4       ihickson 1120: 
                   1121:    <li>
1.26      ihickson 1122:     <p>Set the <code title=dom-WorkerGlobalScope-name><a
1.19      ihickson 1123:      href="#name">name</a></code> attribute of <var title="">worker</var> to
1.6       ihickson 1124:      the value of <var title="">name</var>.</p>
                   1125: 
                   1126:    <li>
1.34      ihickson 1127:     <p>Create a new <code><a href="#workerlocation">WorkerLocation</a></code>
                   1128:      object for the <code title=dom-WorkerGlobalScope-location><a
                   1129:      href="#location">location</a></code> attribute of <var
                   1130:      title="">worker</var>, representing <var title="">url</var>.</p>
                   1131: 
                   1132:    <li>
1.26      ihickson 1133:     <p>Create a new <code><a href="#workerutils">WorkerUtils</a></code>
                   1134:      object for the <code title=dom-WorkerGlobalScope-utils><a
1.34      ihickson 1135:      href="#utils">utils</a></code> attribute of <var title="">worker</var>.</p>
1.26      ihickson 1136: 
                   1137:    <li>
1.4       ihickson 1138:     <p>Let <var title="">script</var>'s <span>script execution context</span>
                   1139:      (and thus also <span>global object</span>) be <var
1.19      ihickson 1140:      title="">worker</var>.</p>
1.4       ihickson 1141: 
                   1142:    <li>
                   1143:     <p>Let <var title="">script</var>'s <span>script browsing context</span>
                   1144:      be <var title="">owner browsing context</var>.</p>
                   1145: 
                   1146:    <li>
                   1147:     <p>Let <var title="">script</var>'s <span>script document context</span>
                   1148:      be <var title="">owner document</var>.</p>
                   1149: 
                   1150:    <li>
1.9       ihickson 1151:     <p>Invoke the <a href="#success" title="worker creation
                   1152:      succeeded">success steps</a> defined by the algorithm that called this
1.17      ihickson 1153:      one.</p>
                   1154: 
                   1155:     <p class=note>This will usually add an event to the <a
1.28      ihickson 1156:      href="#queue">queue of events</a> and set the <code
1.30      ihickson 1157:      title=dom-WorkerGlobalScope-port><a href="#port">port</a></code>
                   1158:      property on the <var title="">worker</var> object. If it does, that
                   1159:      event will have a <code>MessagePort</code> and thus the list of <a
1.17      ihickson 1160:      href="#the-workers0">the worker's ports</a> will not be empty. If it
1.19      ihickson 1161:      doesn't, then the next step will set the <var title="">worker</var>
1.26      ihickson 1162:      object's <code title=dom-WorkerGlobalScope-closing><a
1.17      ihickson 1163:      href="#closing">closing</a></code> attribute to true.</p>
                   1164: 
                   1165:    <li>
1.28      ihickson 1166:     <p><strong>Closing orphan workers</strong>: Start monitoring <var
1.38    ! ihickson 1167:      title="">worker</var>, such that as soon as the worker stops being
        !          1168:      either an <a href="#active">active needed worker</a> or a <a
        !          1169:      href="#suspendable">suspendable worker</a>, the <var
        !          1170:      title="">worker</var> object's <code
        !          1171:      title=dom-WorkerGlobalScope-closing><a
1.17      ihickson 1172:      href="#closing">closing</a></code> attribute is set to true.</p>
1.9       ihickson 1173: 
                   1174:    <li>
1.28      ihickson 1175:     <p><strong>Suspending workers</strong>: Start monitoring <var
                   1176:      title="">worker</var>, such that whenever the <var title="">worker</var>
                   1177:      object's <code title=dom-WorkerGlobalScope-closing><a
1.26      ihickson 1178:      href="#closing">closing</a></code> attribute is false and the worker is
1.38    ! ihickson 1179:      a <a href="#suspendable">suspendable worker</a>, the user agent suspends
        !          1180:      execution of script in that worker until such time as either the <code
        !          1181:      title=dom-WorkerGlobalScope-closing><a
1.26      ihickson 1182:      href="#closing">closing</a></code> attribute switches to true or the
1.38    ! ihickson 1183:      worker stops being a <a href="#suspendable">suspendable worker</a>.</p>
1.7       ihickson 1184: 
                   1185:    <li>
                   1186:     <p>Run <var title="">script</var> until it either returns, fails to catch
                   1187:      an exception, or gets prematurely aborted by the "<a href="#kill-a">kill
                   1188:      a worker</a>" algorithm below.</p>
                   1189: 
                   1190:     <p class=note>If the script gets aborted by the "<a href="#kill-a">kill a
                   1191:      worker</a>" algorithm, then that same algorithm will cause there to only
                   1192:      be a single event in the <a href="#queue">queue of events</a> at the
1.28      ihickson 1193:      next step, namely the <code title=message-unload>unload</code> event.</p>
1.4       ihickson 1194: 
                   1195:    <li>
1.9       ihickson 1196:     <p><i>Event loop</i>: Wait until either there is an event in the <a
1.4       ihickson 1197:      href="#queue">queue of events</a> associated with <var
1.19      ihickson 1198:      title="">worker</var> or the <var title="">worker</var> object's <code
1.26      ihickson 1199:      title=dom-WorkerGlobalScope-closing><a
                   1200:      href="#closing">closing</a></code> attribute is set to true.</p>
1.4       ihickson 1201: 
                   1202:    <li>
                   1203:     <p>Dispatch the oldest event or callback in the <a href="#queue">queue of
1.9       ihickson 1204:      events</a>, if any. The handling of this event or the execution of this
                   1205:      callback might get prematurely aborted by the "<a href="#kill-a">kill a
1.8       ihickson 1206:      worker</a>" algorithm below.</p>
1.4       ihickson 1207: 
                   1208:    <li>
                   1209:     <p>If there are any more events in the <a href="#queue">queue of
1.19      ihickson 1210:      events</a> or if the <var title="">worker</var> object's <code
1.26      ihickson 1211:      title=dom-WorkerGlobalScope-closing><a
                   1212:      href="#closing">closing</a></code> attribute is set to false, then jump
                   1213:      back to the step above labeled <i>event loop</i>.</p>
1.4       ihickson 1214: 
                   1215:    <li>
                   1216:     <p class=big-issue>timers, intervals, XMLHttpRequests, database
1.28      ihickson 1217:      transactions, etc, must be killed; ports must be unentangled</p>
1.4       ihickson 1218:   </ol>
                   1219: 
                   1220:   <hr>
                   1221: 
                   1222:   <p>When a user agent is to <dfn id=kill-a>kill a worker</dfn>, it must run
                   1223:    the following steps in parallel with the worker's main loop (the "<a
                   1224:    href="#run-a">run a worker</a>" processing model defined above):
                   1225: 
                   1226:   <ol>
                   1227:    <li>
                   1228:     <p>Create an <code>Event</code> object with the event name <code
                   1229:      title=event-unload>unload</code>, which does not bubble and is not
                   1230:      cancelable, and add it to the worker's <code><a
1.26      ihickson 1231:      href="#workerglobalscope">WorkerGlobalScope</a></code> object's <a
1.8       ihickson 1232:      href="#queue">queue of events</a>, targetted at the <code><a
1.26      ihickson 1233:      href="#workerglobalscope">WorkerGlobalScope</a></code> object itself.
1.28      ihickson 1234:    </li>
                   1235:    <!-- XXX shouldn't add one if closing is
                   1236:    already true, assuming unload has already been added to the queue
                   1237:    (?) -->
1.4       ihickson 1238: 
                   1239:    <li>
1.26      ihickson 1240:     <p>Set the worker's <code><a
                   1241:      href="#workerglobalscope">WorkerGlobalScope</a></code> object's <code
                   1242:      title=dom-WorkerGlobalScope-closing><a
1.8       ihickson 1243:      href="#closing">closing</a></code> attribute to true.
                   1244: 
                   1245:    <li>
                   1246:     <p>Wait a user-agent-defined amount of time. If the "<a href="#run-a">run
                   1247:      a worker</a>" processing model defined above immediately starts running
1.28      ihickson 1248:      event listeners registered for the <code
                   1249:      title=event-unload>unload</code> event, this time should not be zero
                   1250:      &mdash; the idea is that the <code title=event-unload>unload</code>
                   1251:      event can be used to clean up when shutting down unexpectedly.
1.4       ihickson 1252: 
                   1253:    <li>
                   1254:     <p>If there are any events in the <a href="#queue">queue of events</a>
                   1255:      other than the <code title=event-unload>unload</code> event that this
                   1256:      algorithm just added, discard them without dispatching them.
                   1257: 
                   1258:    <li>
                   1259:     <p>If the <code title=event-unload>unload</code> event that this
                   1260:      algorithm just added hasn't yet been dispatched, then abort the script
                   1261:      currently running in the worker.
                   1262: 
                   1263:    <li>
                   1264:     <p>Wait a user-agent-defined amount of time.
                   1265: 
                   1266:    <li>
                   1267:     <p>Abort the script currently running in the worker (if any script is
                   1268:      running, then it will be a handler for the <code
                   1269:      title=event-unload>unload</code> event).
                   1270:   </ol>
                   1271: 
1.19      ihickson 1272:   <p>User agents may invoke the "<a href="#kill-a">kill a worker</a>"
                   1273:    processing model on a worker at any time, e.g. in response to user
                   1274:    requests, in response to CPU quota management, or when a worker stops
1.38    ! ihickson 1275:    being an <a href="#active">active needed worker</a> if the worker
        !          1276:    continues executing even after its <code
        !          1277:    title=dom-WorkerGlobalScope-closing><a href="#closing">closing</a></code>
        !          1278:    attribute was set to true.
1.19      ihickson 1279: 
1.8       ihickson 1280:   <hr>
                   1281: 
                   1282:   <p>When a script invokes the <dfn id=close
1.26      ihickson 1283:    title=dom-WorkerGlobalScope-close><code>close()</code></dfn> method on a
                   1284:    <code><a href="#workerglobalscope">WorkerGlobalScope</a></code> object,
                   1285:    the user agent must run the following steps:
1.8       ihickson 1286: 
                   1287:   <ol>
                   1288:    <li>
                   1289:     <p>Create an <code>Event</code> object with the event name <code
                   1290:      title=event-unload>unload</code>, which does not bubble and is not
                   1291:      cancelable, and add it to the <code><a
1.26      ihickson 1292:      href="#workerglobalscope">WorkerGlobalScope</a></code> object's <a
1.8       ihickson 1293:      href="#queue">queue of events</a>, targetted at the <code><a
1.26      ihickson 1294:      href="#workerglobalscope">WorkerGlobalScope</a></code> object itself.
1.8       ihickson 1295: 
                   1296:    <li>
1.26      ihickson 1297:     <p>Set the worker's <code><a
                   1298:      href="#workerglobalscope">WorkerGlobalScope</a></code> object's <code
                   1299:      title=dom-WorkerGlobalScope-closing><a
1.8       ihickson 1300:      href="#closing">closing</a></code> attribute to true.
                   1301: 
                   1302:    <li>
                   1303:     <p>For each <code>MessagePort</code> object that is entangled with
1.26      ihickson 1304:      another port and that has one (but only one) port whose owner is the
                   1305:      <code><a href="#workerglobalscope">WorkerGlobalScope</a></code> object
                   1306:      on which the method was invoked, run the following substeps:</p>
1.8       ihickson 1307: 
                   1308:     <ol>
                   1309:      <li>
                   1310:       <p>Unentangle the two ports.
                   1311: 
                   1312:      <li>
                   1313:       <p>At the next available opportunity, after any scripts have finished
                   1314:        executing<!-- XXX queue -->, <span>fire a simple event</span> called
                   1315:        <code title=event-unload>unload</code> at the other port (the one
1.26      ihickson 1316:        whose owner is not the <code><a
                   1317:        href="#workerglobalscope">WorkerGlobalScope</a></code> object on which
                   1318:        the <code title=dom-WorkerGlobalScope-close><a
1.8       ihickson 1319:        href="#close">close()</a></code> method was called).
                   1320:     </ol>
                   1321:   </ol>
                   1322: 
1.15      ihickson 1323:   <h3 id=creating><span class=secno>2.6 </span>Creating workers</h3>
1.5       ihickson 1324: 
                   1325:   <pre
1.26      ihickson 1326:    class=idl>[NoInterfaceObject] interface <dfn id=workerfactory>WorkerFactory</dfn> {
                   1327:   <span>MessagePort</span> <a href="#createworker" title=dom-WorkerFactory-createWorker>createWorker</a>(in DOMString scriptURL);
                   1328:   <span>MessagePort</span> <a href="#createnamedworker" title=dom-WorkerFactory-createNamedWorker>createNamedWorker</a>(in DOMString name, in DOMString scriptURL);
1.5       ihickson 1329: };</pre>
                   1330: 
1.26      ihickson 1331:   <p>Objects that implement the <code>Window</code> and <code><a
                   1332:    href="#workerutils">WorkerUtils</a></code> interfaces must also implement
                   1333:    the <code><a href="#workerfactory">WorkerFactory</a></code> interface.
1.5       ihickson 1334: 
1.9       ihickson 1335:   <hr>
                   1336: 
1.11      ihickson 1337:   <p>When the <dfn id=createworker
1.26      ihickson 1338:    title=dom-WorkerFactory-createWorker><code>createWorker(<var
1.11      ihickson 1339:    title="">scriptURL</var>)</code></dfn> method is invoked, the user agent
                   1340:    must run the following steps:
1.9       ihickson 1341: 
                   1342:   <ol>
                   1343:    <li>
                   1344:     <p><span title="resolve a url">Resolve</span> the <var
                   1345:      title="">scriptURL</var> argument.
                   1346: 
                   1347:    <li>
                   1348:     <p>If this fails, throw a <code>SYNTAX_ERR</code> exception.
                   1349: 
                   1350:    <li>
                   1351:     <p>If the <span>origin</span> of the resulting <span>absolute URL</span>
                   1352:      is not the <span title="same origin">same</span> as the origin of the
                   1353:      script that invoked the method, then throw a <span>security
                   1354:      exception</span>.
                   1355: 
                   1356:    <li>
                   1357:     <p><a href="#create">Create a worker</a> from the resulting
                   1358:      <span>absolute URL</span> whose name is the empty string.
                   1359: 
                   1360:    <li>
                   1361:     <p>Return the <code>MessagePort</code> object returned from the <a
                   1362:      href="#create">create a worker</a> algorithm.
                   1363:   </ol>
                   1364: 
                   1365:   <hr>
                   1366: 
1.11      ihickson 1367:   <p>When the <dfn id=createnamedworker
1.26      ihickson 1368:    title=dom-WorkerFactory-createNamedWorker><code>createNamedWorker(<var
1.11      ihickson 1369:    title="">name</var>, <var title="">scriptURL</var>)</code></dfn> method is
1.9       ihickson 1370:    invoked, the user agent must run the following steps:
                   1371: 
                   1372:   <ol>
                   1373:    <li>
                   1374:     <p><span title="resolve a url">Resolve</span> the <var
                   1375:      title="">scriptURL</var> argument.
1.4       ihickson 1376: 
1.9       ihickson 1377:    <li>
                   1378:     <p>If this fails, throw a <code>SYNTAX_ERR</code> exception.
                   1379: 
                   1380:    <li>
                   1381:     <p>If the <span>origin</span> of the resulting <span>absolute URL</span>
                   1382:      is not the <span title="same origin">same</span> as the origin of the
                   1383:      script that invoked the method, then throw a <span>security
                   1384:      exception</span>.
                   1385: 
                   1386:    <li>
                   1387:     <p>If the <var title="">name</var> argument is the empty string, <a
                   1388:      href="#create">create a worker</a> from the resulting <span>absolute
                   1389:      URL</span>, whose name is the empty string, and return the
                   1390:      <code>MessagePort</code> object returned from the <a
                   1391:      href="#create">create a worker</a> algorithm. Then, abort these steps.
                   1392: 
                   1393:    <li>
1.26      ihickson 1394:     <p>If there exists a worker whose <code
                   1395:      title=dom-WorkerGlobalScope-closing><a
1.9       ihickson 1396:      href="#closing">closing</a></code> attribute is false, whose <code
1.26      ihickson 1397:      title=dom-WorkerGlobalScope-name><a href="#name">name</a></code>
                   1398:      attribute is exactly equal to the <var title="">name</var> argument, and
1.34      ihickson 1399:      whose <code title=dom-WorkerGlobalScope-location><a
                   1400:      href="#location">location</a></code> attribute represents an
                   1401:      <span>absolute URL</span> that has the <span>same origin</span> as the
                   1402:      resulting <span>absolute URL</span>, then run these substeps:</p>
1.9       ihickson 1403: 
                   1404:     <ol>
                   1405:      <li>
1.34      ihickson 1406:       <p>If that worker's <code title=dom-WorkerGlobalScope-location><a
                   1407:        href="#location">location</a></code> attribute represents an
                   1408:        <span>absolute URL</span> that is not exactly equal to the resulting
                   1409:        <span>absolute URL</span>, then throw a <code>URL_MISMATCH_ERR</code>
                   1410:        exception and abort these steps. <span class=big-issue>code 19</span>
1.9       ihickson 1411: 
                   1412:      <li>
                   1413:       <p><span>Create a new <code>MessagePort</code> object</span> owned by
                   1414:        the <span>script execution context</span> of the script that invoked
                   1415:        the method.
                   1416: 
                   1417:      <li>
                   1418:       <p>Return that port.
                   1419: 
                   1420:      <li>
1.20      ihickson 1421:       <p>Asynchronously, <a href="#connect" title="connect to a
                   1422:        worker">connect</a> to this preexisting worker, with the newly created
1.9       ihickson 1423:        port.
                   1424:     </ol>
                   1425: 
                   1426:     <p>Otherwise, <a href="#create">create a worker</a> from the resulting
                   1427:      <span>absolute URL</span>, whose name is the value of the <var
                   1428:      title="">name</var> argument, and return the <code>MessagePort</code>
                   1429:      object returned from the <a href="#create">create a worker</a>
                   1430:      algorithm.</p>
                   1431:   </ol>
                   1432: 
                   1433:   <hr>
                   1434: 
                   1435:   <p>The steps to <dfn id=create>create a worker</dfn> from a
                   1436:    <span>URL</span> <var title="">url</var> and whose name is <var
                   1437:    title="">name</var>, in the context of a method call, are as follows:
                   1438: 
                   1439:   <ol>
                   1440:    <li>
                   1441:     <p><span>Create a new <code>MessagePort</code> object</span> owned by the
                   1442:      <span>script execution context</span> of the script that invoked the
                   1443:      method.
                   1444: 
                   1445:    <li>
                   1446:     <p>Return that port.
                   1447: 
                   1448:    <li>
                   1449:     <p>In a parallel execution context (i.e. a separate thread or process or
                   1450:      equivalent construct), <a href="#run-a">run a worker</a> named <var
                   1451:      title="">name</var> for the script with <span>URL</span> <var
                   1452:      title="">url</var>, with the <span>script browsing context</span> of the
                   1453:      script that invoked the method as the <var title="">owner browsing
                   1454:      context</var> and with the <span>script document context</span> of the
                   1455:      script that invoked the method as the <var title="">owner
                   1456:      document</var>.</p>
                   1457: 
                   1458:     <p>If that algorithm invokes the steps for <dfn id=success title="worker
1.20      ihickson 1459:      creation succeeded">success steps</dfn>, then <a href="#connect"
                   1460:      title="connect to a worker">connect</a> to this new worker, with the
1.28      ihickson 1461:      newly created port, and if that algorithm returns a second new port,
1.30      ihickson 1462:      then add a new property <code title=dom-WorkerGlobalScope-port><a
                   1463:      href="#port">port</a></code> on the new worker's <code><a
                   1464:      href="#workerglobalscope">WorkerGlobalScope</a></code> object, whose
                   1465:      value is the <code>MessagePort</code> object return by the <a
1.28      ihickson 1466:      href="#connect">connect to a worker</a> algorithm.</p>
1.9       ihickson 1467: 
1.34      ihickson 1468:     <p>Otherwise, if the <dfn id=worker1>worker creation failed</dfn>, then
1.33      ihickson 1469:      at the next available opportunity, after any scripts have finished
1.9       ihickson 1470:      executing<!-- XXX queue -->, <span>fire a simple event</span> called
                   1471:      <code title=event-error>error</code> at the newly created port.</p>
                   1472:   </ol>
                   1473: 
                   1474:   <hr>
                   1475: 
1.20      ihickson 1476:   <p>The steps to <dfn id=connect>connect to a worker</dfn> given a
1.9       ihickson 1477:    <code>MessagePort</code> object <var title="">port</var> are as follows:
                   1478: 
                   1479:   <ol>
                   1480:    <li>
                   1481:     <p>If <var title="">port</var> would have been garbage collected, or if
1.26      ihickson 1482:      the <span>active document</span> of the owner of <var
1.9       ihickson 1483:      title="">port</var> is no longer the same <code>Document</code> object
                   1484:      as when <var title="">port</var> was created, then do nothing. Abort
                   1485:      these steps. If the worker was just created, it'll get killed
                   1486:      immediately.</p>
                   1487: 
                   1488:    <li>
                   1489:     <p><span>Create a new <code>MessagePort</code> object</span> owned by the
1.26      ihickson 1490:      <code><a href="#workerglobalscope">WorkerGlobalScope</a></code> of the
                   1491:      worker.
1.9       ihickson 1492: 
                   1493:    <li>
                   1494:     <p><span>Entangle</span> this newly created port and the port <var
                   1495:      title="">port</var> that was passed to these steps.
                   1496: 
                   1497:    <li>
                   1498:     <p>At the next available opportunity, after any scripts have finished
                   1499:      executing<!-- XXX queue -->, <span>fire a simple event</span> called
                   1500:      <code title=event-load>load</code> at <var title="">port</var>.
                   1501: 
                   1502:    <li>
                   1503:     <p>Create an event that uses the <code>MessageEvent</code> interface,
1.20      ihickson 1504:      with the name <code title=event-connect>connect</code>, which does not
1.9       ihickson 1505:      bubble, is cancelable, has no default action, has a <code
                   1506:      title=dom-MessageEvent-data>data</code> attribute whose value is the
                   1507:      empty string and has a <code
                   1508:      title=dom-MessageEvent-messagePort>messagePort</code> attribute whose
                   1509:      value is the newly created port, and add it to the worker's <code><a
1.26      ihickson 1510:      href="#workerglobalscope">WorkerGlobalScope</a></code> object's <a
1.9       ihickson 1511:      href="#queue">queue of events</a>, targetted at the <code><a
1.26      ihickson 1512:      href="#workerglobalscope">WorkerGlobalScope</a></code> object itself.
1.28      ihickson 1513: 
                   1514:    <li>
                   1515:     <p>Return the newly created port.
1.9       ihickson 1516:   </ol>
1.7       ihickson 1517: 
1.12      ihickson 1518:   <h2 id=apis-available><span class=secno>3. </span>APIs available to workers</h2>
                   1519: 
1.26      ihickson 1520:   <pre
                   1521:    class=idl>[NoInterfaceObject] interface <dfn id=workerutils>WorkerUtils</dfn> {
1.27      ihickson 1522:   boolean <a href="#importscript" title=dom-WorkerGlobalScope-importScript>importScript</a>(in DOMString url);
1.26      ihickson 1523:   readonly attribute <span>Storage</span> <a href="#localstorage" title=dom-localStorage>localStorage</a>;
                   1524:   <span>Database</span> <a href="#opendatabase" title=dom-opendatabase>openDatabase</a>(in DOMString name, in DOMString version, in DOMString displayName, in unsigned long estimatedSize);
                   1525:   void <a href="#shownotification" title=dom-showNotification>showNotification</a>(in DOMString title, in DOMString subtitle, in DOMString description);
                   1526:   void <a href="#shownotification" title=dom-showNotification>showNotification</a>(in DOMString title, in DOMString subtitle, in DOMString description, in VoidCallback onclick);
                   1527: };</pre>
1.18      ihickson 1528: 
1.12      ihickson 1529:   <p>Objects that implement the <code><a
1.26      ihickson 1530:    href="#workerutils">WorkerUtils</a></code> interface must also implement
1.12      ihickson 1531:    the following interfaces:
                   1532: 
                   1533:   <ul>
1.26      ihickson 1534:    <li>The <code>WindowTimers</code> interface
1.12      ihickson 1535: 
1.26      ihickson 1536:    <li>The <code>EventTarget</code> interface
1.12      ihickson 1537: 
1.26      ihickson 1538:    <li>The <code><a href="#workerfactory">WorkerFactory</a></code> interface,
                   1539:     as noted earlier in this specification
1.12      ihickson 1540:   </ul>
                   1541: 
1.23      ihickson 1542:   <p class=big-issue>Need to define a sync database API.
                   1543: 
                   1544:   <p class=big-issue>May need to define a browser sniffing API (like
                   1545:    window.navigator).</p>
1.18      ihickson 1546:   <!-- XXX ApplicationCache -->
                   1547:   <!-- XXX a way to set cookies on the URL for the script -->
1.24      ihickson 1548:   <!-- XXX debugging: void log(in DOMString s); // log to console -->
                   1549:   <!-- XXX debugging: onerror -->
1.13      ihickson 1550: 
1.18      ihickson 1551:   <hr>
1.13      ihickson 1552: 
1.18      ihickson 1553:   <p>The DOM APIs (<code>Node</code> objects, <code>Document</code> objects,
                   1554:    etc) are not available to workers in this version of this specification.
1.13      ihickson 1555: 
1.26      ihickson 1556:   <h3 id=importing><span class=secno>3.1 </span>Importing scripts and
                   1557:    libraries</h3>
                   1558: 
1.27      ihickson 1559:   <p>When a script invokes the <dfn id=importscript
                   1560:    title=dom-WorkerGlobalScope-importScript><code>importScript(<var
1.26      ihickson 1561:    title="">url</var>)</code></dfn> method on a <code><a
                   1562:    href="#workerglobalscope">WorkerGlobalScope</a></code> object, the user
                   1563:    agent must run the following steps:
                   1564: 
                   1565:   <ol>
                   1566:    <li>
                   1567:     <p><span title="resolve a url">Resolve</span> the <var title="">url</var>
                   1568:      argument.
                   1569: 
                   1570:    <li>
                   1571:     <p>If this fails, throw a <code>SYNTAX_ERR</code> exception.
                   1572: 
                   1573:    <li>
                   1574:     <p>If the <span>origin</span> of the resulting <span>absolute URL</span>
                   1575:      is not the <span title="same origin">same</span> as the origin of the
                   1576:      script that invoked the method, then throw a <span>security
                   1577:      exception</span>.
                   1578: 
                   1579:    <li>
                   1580:     <p>Attempt to <span>fetch</span><!-- XXX --> the resource identified by
                   1581:      the resulting <span>absolute URL</span>.</p>
                   1582: 
                   1583:     <p>If the attempt fails, return false and abort these steps.</p>
                   1584: 
                   1585:     <p>If the attempt succeeds, then let <var title="">script</var> be the
                   1586:      resource that was obtained.</p>
                   1587: 
                   1588:     <p class=note>As with the initial script, the script here is always
                   1589:      assumed to be JavaScript, regardless of the MIME type.</p>
                   1590:     <!-- XXX -->
                   1591: 
                   1592:    <li>
                   1593:     <p>Let <var title="">script</var>'s <span>script execution
                   1594:      context</span>, <span>script browsing context</span>, and <span>script
                   1595:      document context</span> be the same as for the script that was executed
                   1596:      by the <a href="#run-a">run a worker</a> processing model for this
                   1597:      worker.</p>
                   1598: 
                   1599:    <li>
                   1600:     <p>Run <var title="">script</var> until it either returns, fails to catch
                   1601:      an exception, or gets prematurely aborted by the "<a href="#kill-a">kill
                   1602:      a worker</a>" algorithm above.</p>
                   1603: 
                   1604:     <p>If an exception was raised or if the script was prematurely aborted,
                   1605:      then abort these steps, letting the exception or aborting continue to be
                   1606:      processed by the script that called the <code
1.27      ihickson 1607:      title=dom-WorkerGlobalScope-importScript><a
                   1608:      href="#importscript">importScript()</a></code> method.</p>
1.26      ihickson 1609: 
                   1610:     <p>Otherwise, return true.</p>
                   1611:   </ol>
                   1612: 
                   1613:   <h3 id=apis-defined><span class=secno>3.2 </span>APIs defined in other
                   1614:    specifications</h3>
                   1615: 
1.27      ihickson 1616:   <p>The <dfn id=localstorage
1.26      ihickson 1617:    title=dom-localStorage><code>localStorage</code></dfn>, <dfn
                   1618:    id=opendatabase title=dom-opendatabase><code>openDatabase()</code></dfn>
                   1619:    must act as defined for the APIs with the same names on the
                   1620:    <code>Window</code> object in the HTML5 specification, with the exception
                   1621:    that where the API would use the <span>origin</span> of the <span>active
                   1622:    document</span> of the <span>browsing context</span> of the
                   1623:    <code>Window</code> object on which the method was supposedly invoked, it
                   1624:    must instead use the <span>origin</span> of the script that invoked the
                   1625:    method. <a href="#refsHTML5">[HTML5]</a>
                   1626: 
                   1627:   <p>The <dfn id=shownotification
                   1628:    title=dom-showNotification><code>showNotification()</code></dfn> methods
                   1629:    must act as defined for the APIs with the same names on the
                   1630:    <code>Window</code> object in the HTML5 specification. <a
                   1631:    href="#refsHTML5">[HTML5]</a>
                   1632: 
                   1633:   <h3 id=interface><span class=secno>3.3 </span>Interface objects and
                   1634:    constructors</h3>
                   1635: 
                   1636:   <p>There must be no interface objects and constructors available in the
                   1637:    global scope of scripts whose <span>script execution context</span> is a
                   1638:    <code><a href="#workerglobalscope">WorkerGlobalScope</a></code> object
                   1639:    except for the following:
                   1640: 
                   1641:   <ul>
                   1642:    <li>
                   1643:     <p><code>XMLHttpRequest</code> and all interface objects and constructors
                   1644:      defined by the XMLHttpRequest specifications, except that the
                   1645:      <span>document response entity body</span> must always be null. <a
                   1646:      href="#refsXHR">[XHR]</a>
                   1647: 
                   1648:    <li>
                   1649:     <p>The <code>WebSocket</code> interface object and constructor.
                   1650: 
                   1651:    <li>
                   1652:     <p>The <code>MessageChannel</code> interface object and constructor.
                   1653:   </ul>
                   1654: 
1.34      ihickson 1655:   <h3 id=worker0><span class=secno>3.4 </span>Worker locations</h3>
                   1656: 
                   1657:   <pre
                   1658:    class=idl>[NoInterfaceObject] interface <dfn id=workerlocation>WorkerLocation</dfn> {
                   1659:   readonly attribute DOMString <a href="#href" title=dom-WorkerLocation-href>href</a>;
                   1660:   readonly attribute DOMString <a href="#protocol" title=dom-WorkerLocation-protocol>protocol</a>;
                   1661:   readonly attribute DOMString <a href="#host" title=dom-WorkerLocation-host>host</a>;
                   1662:   readonly attribute DOMString <a href="#hostname" title=dom-WorkerLocation-hostname>hostname</a>;
                   1663:   readonly attribute DOMString <a href="#port0" title=dom-WorkerLocation-port>port</a>;
                   1664:   readonly attribute DOMString <a href="#pathname" title=dom-WorkerLocation-pathname>pathname</a>;
                   1665:   readonly attribute DOMString <a href="#search" title=dom-WorkerLocation-search>search</a>;
                   1666:   readonly attribute DOMString <a href="#hash" title=dom-WorkerLocation-hash>hash</a>;
                   1667: };</pre>
                   1668: 
                   1669:   <p>A <code><a href="#workerlocation">WorkerLocation</a></code> object
                   1670:    represents an <span>absolute URL</span> set at its creation.
                   1671: 
                   1672:   <p>The <dfn id=href title=dom-WorkerLocation-href><code>href</code></dfn>
                   1673:    attribute must return the <span>absolute URL</span> that the object
                   1674:    represents.
                   1675: 
                   1676:   <p>The <code><a href="#workerlocation">WorkerLocation</a></code> interface
                   1677:    also has the complement of <span>URL decomposition attributes</span>, <dfn
                   1678:    id=protocol title=dom-WorkerLocation-protocol><code>protocol</code></dfn>,
                   1679:    <dfn id=host title=dom-WorkerLocation-host><code>host</code></dfn>, <dfn
                   1680:    id=port0 title=dom-WorkerLocation-port><code>port</code></dfn>, <dfn
                   1681:    id=hostname title=dom-WorkerLocation-hostname><code>hostname</code></dfn>,
                   1682:    <dfn id=pathname
                   1683:    title=dom-WorkerLocation-pathname><code>pathname</code></dfn>, <dfn
                   1684:    id=search title=dom-WorkerLocation-search><code>search</code></dfn>, and
                   1685:    <dfn id=hash title=dom-WorkerLocation-hash><code>hash</code></dfn>. These
                   1686:    must follow the rules given for URL decomposition attributes, with the
                   1687:    <span title=concept-uda-input>input</span> being the <span>absolute
                   1688:    URL</span> that the object represents (same as the <code
                   1689:    title=dom-WorkerLocation-href><a href="#href">href</a></code> attribute),
                   1690:    and the <span title=concept-uda-setter>common setter action</span> being a
                   1691:    no-op, since the attributes are defined to be readonly. <a
                   1692:    href="#refsHTML5">[HTML5]</a>
                   1693: 
1.1       ihickson 1694:   <h2 class=no-num id=references>References</h2>
                   1695: 
                   1696:   <p class=big-issue>This section will be written in a future
                   1697:    draft.<!--XXX-->
                   1698: 
                   1699:   <h2 class=no-num id=acknowledgements>Acknowledgements</h2>
                   1700:   <!-- ACKS -->
                   1701: 
1.26      ihickson 1702:   <p>Thanks to Aaron Boodman, Jonas Sicking, Maciej Stachowiak, Mike Smith,
                   1703:    and Philip Taylor for their useful and substantial comments.
1.4       ihickson 1704: 
                   1705:   <p>Huge thanks to the whole Gears team, who pioneered this technology and
                   1706:    whose experience has been a huge influence on this specification.

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