ChromeWorker

Summary

If you're developing privileged code, and would like to create a worker that can use js-ctypes to perform calls to native code, you can do so by using ChromeWorker instead of the standard Worker object. It works exactly like a standard Worker, except that it has access to js-ctypes via a global ctypes object available in the global scope of the worker. Examples of ChromeWorker's using js-ctypes are availabe on Github and are linked to from the See Also section below. To use a postMessage with callback version of ChromeWorker that features promises, see PromiseWorker.

Addons must use absolute URLs to load their workers, and those URLs have to be using a chrome:// or resource:// protocol (file:// is not accepted.) Addons that wish to use file:// URLs must first register a resource replacement path, using code like this:

var fileuri = Services.io.newFileURI(file);
Services.io.getProtocolHandler("resource").
              QueryInterface(Ci.nsIResProtocolHandler).
              setSubstitution("my-cool-addon", fileuri);
  var worker = new Worker("resource://my-cool-addon/worker.js");

More references:

• You can use ChromeWorker from JavaScript code modules. See Using workers in JavaScript code modules for details.
• You can use ChromeWorker modules in ChromeWorkers.
• See Using web workers for examples and details.

See Also

• Using web workers
• Using workers in JavaScript code modules
• Worker
• SharedWorker
• Web Workers specification
• WorkerGlobalScope
• GitHub :: ChromeWorker - A fully working demo addon using js-ctypes from a chrome worker. Uses WinAPI example.
• PromiseWorker
  • GitHub :: PromiseWorker - Shows how to uses promises as an twist on postMessage feature of ChromeWorker