README.md

web-worker

<!-- create and run web-worker with the inline code. -->
<web-worker id="worker" last-message="{{reply}}">
  <script type="text/js-worker">
    onmessage = function(e) {
      postMessage(e.data.a + e.data.b);
    };
  </script>
</web-worker>

<!-- data-binded div to show msg from worker -->
<div>1 + 2 = <b>[[reply]]</b></div>

<!-- button to run function -->
<button onclick="javascript:document.querySelector('#worker').postMessage({a: 1, b: 2});">Calculate 1+2</button>

Installation

bower install --save PolymerVis/web-worker

Documentation and demos

More examples and documentation can be found at web-worker webcomponents page.

Disclaimers

PolymerVis is a personal project and is NOT in any way affliated with Polymer or Google.

web-worker

web-worker is a Polymer 2.0 element to provide an easy way to data-bind with a web worker-based task. Compute-intensive tasks are usually done on a web worker to prevent blocking of the UI thread.

Quick start

Create a web worker

Creating a web worker from a URL.

<web-worker url="some_script.js"></web-worker>

Creating a web worker through script attribute.

<web-worker script="postMessage('hello!');"></web-worker>

Creating a web worker from inline code.

<web-worker>
  <script type="text/js-worker">
    postMessage('hello!');
  </script>
</web-worker>

Message from web worker

Data-bind to the last message/reply from the worker with the last-message attribute.

<web-worker last-message="{{reply}}">
  <script type="text/js-worker">
    postMessage('hello!');
  </script>
</web-worker>

Or listen to the message event.

<web-worker on-message="onReply">
  <script type="text/js-worker">
    postMessage('hello!');
  </script>
</web-worker>

Message to web worker

You can post a message to the worker with postMessage function or through one of the 3 message attributes (text-to-worker, object-to-worker, or array-to-worker).

postMessage function

var ele = document.createElement('web-worker'); // create web-worker element
ele.url = 'some_script.js'; // set url to worker script
ele.postMessage('hello!') // return a Promise to the next message from worker
  .then(reply => console.log(reply));

Data-binding to text-to-worker, object-to-worker, or array-to-worker

<web-worker url="some_script.js"
  text-to-worker="hello"
  last-message="{{reply}}"></web-worker>

Running ad-hoc functions

You can wrap a function and execute it in a once-off web worker with executeFnOnce. This function must be stateless and has no external dependencies, as the function and arguments are serialized and executed in the worker context.

document.createElement('web-worker')  // create web-worker element
  .executeFnOnce((a, b) => a + b, a, b) // serialized function and run in worker
  .then(sum => alert(a + ' + ' + b + ' = ' + sum)); // return a Promise to the output

Running ad-hoc jobs

You can execute once-off web workers with executeUrlOnce.

     document.createElement('web-worker')
       .executeUrlOnce('echo.js', 'hello')
       .then(msg => console.log('msg'));

Development

Unit testing

npm test