A Vue.js plugin to use webworkers in a simply way.
See full changelog here.
Create and use Web Workers can be cumbersome sometimes. This plugin aims to facilitate the use of Web Workers within Vue components. It is a wrapper for simple-web-worker.
yarn add vue-worker
// or
npm install vue-worker --save
Then add in main.js:
import Vue from 'vue'
import VueWorker from 'vue-worker'
Vue.use(VueWorker)
That will inject a property into Vue (and pass it to every child component), with a default name of $worker
, which can be accessed using this.$worker
inside any Vue component.
You can change that name when registering the plugin:
import VueWorker from 'vue-worker'
Vue.use(VueWorker, '$desired-name')
this
from a Vue Component. You can pass this.$data
or any variable within data
or computed
, though.Where:
- func is the function to be runned in worker
- [args] is an optional array of arguments that will be used by func
This method creates a disposable web worker, runs and returns the result of given function and closes the worker.
This method works like Promise.resolve(), but in another thread.
E.g.:
this.$worker.run(() => 'this.$worker run 1: Function in other thread')
.then(console.log) // logs 'this.$worker run 1: Function in other thread'
.catch(console.error) // logs any possible error
this.$worker.run((arg1, arg2) => `this.$worker run 2: ${arg1} ${arg2}`, ['Another', 'function in other thread'])
.then(console.log) // logs 'this.$worker run 2: Another function in other thread'
.catch(console.error) // logs any possible error
Where:
- [actions] is an optional array of objects with two fields,
message
andfunc
. Essentially, it is a messages-actions map.
If [actions] is omitted or
undefined
, the created <worker> will have no registered actions, so you’ll have to use the methodregister
before you can use the <worker>.
If you plan to reuse a <worker>, you should use this method. It creates a reusable <worker> (not a real Web Worker, more on this ahead) with determined actions to be runned through itspostMessage()
orpostAll()
methods.
E.g.:
const actions = [
{ message: 'func1', func: () => `Worker 1: Working on func1` },
{ message: 'func2', func: arg => `Worker 2: ${arg}` },
{ message: 'func3', func: arg => `Worker 3: ${arg}` },
{ message: 'func4', func: (arg = 'Working on func4') => `Worker 4: ${arg}` }
]
let worker = this.$worker.create(actions)
Where:
- <worker> is a worker created with
this.$worker.create([actions])
- message is one of the messages in [actions]
- [args] is an optional array of arguments that will be used by the function registered with message
When the function does not expect any arguments or the expected arguments have default values, [args] can be omitted safely.
When the expected arguments do not have default values, [args] should be provided.
This method works like Promise.resolve(), but in another thread.
E.g.:
const actions = [
{ message: 'func1', func: () => `Worker 1: Working on func1` },
{ message: 'func2', func: arg => `Worker 2: ${arg}` },
{ message: 'func3', func: arg => `Worker 3: ${arg}` },
{ message: 'func4', func: (arg = 'Working on func4') => `Worker 4: ${arg}` }
]
let worker = this.$worker.create(actions)
worker.postMessage('func1')
.then(console.log) // logs 'Worker 1: Working on func1'
.catch(console.error) // logs any possible error
worker.postMessage('func1', ['Ignored', 'arguments'])
.then(console.log) // logs 'Worker 1: Working on func1'
.catch(console.error) // logs any possible error
worker.postMessage('func2')
.then(console.log) // logs 'Worker 2: undefined'
.catch(console.error) // logs any possible error
worker.postMessage('func3', ['Working on func3'])
.then(console.log) // logs 'Worker 3: Working on func3'
.catch(console.error) // logs any possible error
worker.postMessage('func4')
.then(console.log) // logs 'Worker 4: Working on func4'
.catch(console.error) // logs any possible error
worker.postMessage('func4', ['Overwrited argument'])
.then(console.log) // logs 'Worker 4: Overwrited argument'
.catch(console.error) // logs any possible error
Where:
- <worker> is a worker created with
this.$worker.create([actions])
- The argument is an optional array which accepts one of the following:
- message1,… - strings containing one or more of the messages in [actions]
- {message: message1, args: [args1]},… - objects containing two fields,
message
(a message from actions) andargs
(the arguments to be used by the correspondent function)- [args1],… - arrays of arguments to be used by the registered actions.
If [message1,…] is
undefined
or no argument is given, <worker> will run all registered actions without arguments.
If [{message: message1, args: [args1]},…] or [[args1],…] is used, you should use[]
(an empty array) as [args] for the functions that does not expect arguments, or if the respective argument of your function has a default value and you want it to be used. If you use[null]
this will be the value assumed by function argument.
When using [[args1],…], you MUST input the same number of arguments as registered actions, even if some action doesn’t accept any arguments! In that case use a[]
, as stated above. See examples below.
If [{message: message1, args: [args1]},…] is used, every object must contain the fieldsmessage
andargs
.
This method works like Promise.all(), but in another thread.
E.g.:
const actions = [
{ message: 'func1', func: () => `Worker 1: Working on func1` },
{ message: 'func2', func: arg => `Worker 2: ${arg}` },
{ message: 'func3', func: arg => `Worker 3: ${arg}` },
{ message: 'func4', func: (arg = 'Working on func4') => `Worker 4: ${arg}` }
]
let worker = this.$worker.create(actions)
worker.postAll()
.then(console.log) // logs ['Worker 1: Working on func1', 'Worker 2: undefined', 'Worker 3: undefined', 'Worker 4: Working on func4']
.catch(console.error) // logs any possible error
worker.postAll(['func1', 'func3'])
.then(console.log) // logs ['Worker 1: Working on func1', 'Worker 3: undefined']
.catch(console.error) // logs any possible error
worker.postAll([{ message: 'func1', args: [] }, { message: 'func3', args: ['Working on func3'] })
.then(console.log) // logs ['Worker 1: Working on func1', 'Worker 3: Working on func3']
.catch(console.error) // logs any possible error
worker.postAll([[], ['Working on func2'], ['Working on func3'], []])
.then(console.log) // logs ['Worker 1: Working on func1', 'Worker 2: Working on func2', 'Worker 3: Working on func3', 'Worker 4: Working on func4']
.catch(console.error) // logs any possible error
worker.postAll([[], ['func2'], ['func3'], ['Overwriting default value of arg on func4']])
.then(console.log) // logs ['Worker 1: Working on func1', 'Worker 2: func2', 'Worker 3: func3', 'Worker 4: Overwriting default value of arg on func4']
.catch(console.error) // logs any possible error
Where:
- <worker> is a worker created with
this.$worker.create([actions])
- action is an object with two fields,
message
andfunc
- [actions] is an array of objects, and each object is an action, as defined above
You can use action or [actions], but not both at the same time.
E.g.:
const initialActions = [
{ message: 'func1', func: () => 'Working on func1' }
]
let worker = this.$worker.create(initialActions)
worker.postAll()
.then(console.log) // logs ['Working on func1']
.catch(console.error) // logs any possible error
// registering just one action
worker.register({ message: 'func2', func: () => 'Working on func2' })
worker.postAll()
.then(console.log) // logs ['Working on func1', 'Working on func2']
.catch(console.error) // logs any possible error
// registering multiple actions
worker.register([
{ message: 'func3', func: () => 'Working on func3' },
{ message: 'func4', func: () => 'Working on func4' }
])
worker.postAll()
.then(console.log) // logs ['Working on func1', 'Working on func2', 'Working on func3', 'Working on func4']
.catch(console.error) // logs any possible error
Where:
- <worker> is a worker created with
this.$worker.create([actions])
- message is one of the messages in [actions]
- [messages] is an array containing one or more messages, and each message is a message, as defined above
You can use message or [messages], but not both at the same time.
E.g.:
const initialActions = [
{ message: 'func1', func: () => 'Working on func1'},
{ message: 'func2', func: () => 'Working on func2'},
{ message: 'func3', func: () => 'Working on func3'},
{ message: 'func4', func: () => 'Working on func4'}
]
let worker = this.$worker.create(initialActions)
worker.postAll()
.then(console.log) // logs ['Working on func1', 'Working on func2', 'Working on func3', 'Working on func4']
.catch(console.error) // logs any possible error
// unregistering just one action
worker.unregister('func2')
worker.postAll()
.then(console.log) // logs ['Working on func1', 'Working on func3', 'Working on func4']
.catch(console.error) // logs any possible error
// unregistering multiple actions
worker.unregister(['func3', 'func1'])
worker.postAll()
.then(console.log) // logs ['Working on func4']
.catch(console.error) // logs any possible error
You may be thinking: “How do I terminate those reusable workers if there’s no close()
or terminate()
methods?”
Well, when you create a reusable worker, you don’t receive a real Web Worker.
Instead, you get an object which holds the given messages-actions map, and when you call postMessage()
or postAll()
it will, under the hood, call run()
with the correspondent functions.
So, to “terminate” a “worker” when it is not needed anymore, you can just do:
let worker = this.$worker.create(actions)
// use the worker
worker = null