worky

An EventEmitter like interface for web-workers.

Demo

Click here or the image below to check out a live example.

Installation

Include the worky.min.js (or worky.js) into your page:

<script src="path/to/worky.min.js"></script>

This creates the Worky global.

Usage

To understand this, you must know what web workers are.

Main thread (window)

This is how you use Worky in the main thread:

var worker = new Worky("some-worker.js");
worker.on("eventName", function (some, data) {
    /* do something with data coming from the worker thread */
});
worker.emit("someEvent", and, some, data);

Basically, you can emit and listen (for) things to/from the worker.

Worker thread

When you are inside of the worker thread, you have to import the worky.js script.

importScript("path/to/worky.js");
 
var worker = Worky();
worker.on("someEvent", function (and, some, data) {
   /* do something with data coming from the main thread*/
});
worker.emit("eventName", some, data);

Documentation

EventEmitter()

Creates a new EventEmitter instance. This is exposed via Worky.EventEmitter.

Return

• EventEmitter The EventEmitter instance.

_on(ev, fn)

The core on method. By default on is the same with _on. However, on can be rewritten, but _on is still the same.

Params

• String ev: The event name.
• Function fn: The listener function.

Return

• EventEmitter The EventEmitter instance.

_emit(ev)

Emits the passed arguments. By default emit is the same with _emit. However, emit can be rewritten, but _emit is still the same.

Usage:

// Using arguments - this is the convenient way
worker.emit("eventName", 42, { some: "object" }, "foo");
 
// Internally, this method is used:
worker.emit({
    event: "eventName"
  , args: [42, { some: "object" }, "foo"]
});

Params

• String|Worky.Message ev: The event name or a Worky.Message object.

Return

• EventEmitter The EventEmitter instance.

Worky(script)

Creates or initializes a web worker. This is inherited from the EventEmitter class.

Usage:

// In the main thread (window)
var worker = new Worky("some-worker.js");
 
// In the worker thread (some-worker.js)
var worker = new Worky();

Params

• String|Worker script: The worker script url or the worker object itself.

Return

• Worky The Worky instance.

Worky.Receiver()

Creates the onmessage handler. This method is used internally.

Return

• Function The receiver handler which calls the core _emit function.

Worky.Emitter()

Creates the emit handler. This method is used internally.

Return

• Function The emitter handler which calls the postMessage function.

Worky.Message(args)

Creates a new Message instance

Params

• Arguments args: The arguments pseudo-array.

Return

• Worky.Message The Message instance containing the following fields:
• event (String): The event name.
• args (Array): An array of elements representing the event data.

How to contribute

Have an idea? Found a bug? See how to contribute.

License

See the LICENSE file.