Web/API/AbstractWorker

The AbstractWorker interface of the Web Workers API is an abstract interface that defines properties and methods that are common to all types of worker, including not only the basic Worker, but also ServiceWorker and SharedWorker. As an abstract class, you don't directly interact with AbstractWorker.

Properties

The AbstractWorker interface doesn't inherit any properties.

Event handlers

AbstractWorker.onerror: An EventListener which is invoked whenever an ErrorEvent of type error bubbles through the worker.

Methods

The AbstractWorker interface doesn't implement or inherit any methods.

Example

As an abstract interface, you won't directly use AbstractWorker in your code. Instead, you'll interact with either Worker or SharedWorker, both of which inherit the properties of AbstractWorker.

This code snippet demonstrates the creation of a new Worker using the Worker() constructor; it also shows how to then send a message to the worker.

var myWorker = new Worker('worker.js');

first.onchange = function() {
  myWorker.postMessage([first.value, second.value]);
  console.log('Message posted to worker');
}

The worker's code is loaded from the file "worker.js". This code assumes that there's an <input> element represented by first; an event handler for the change event is established so that when the user changes the value of first, a message is posted to the worker to let it know.

You can find more examples on the MDN Web Docs GitHub repository:

Basic dedicated worker example ([[../../../../../../mdn.github.io/simple-web-worker/index|run dedicated worker]]).
Basic shared worker example ([[../../../../../../mdn.github.io/simple-shared-worker/index|run shared worker]]).

Specifications

Specification	Status	Comment
HTML Living StandardThe definition of 'AbstractWorker' in that specification.	Living Standard	No change from Unknown.

Browser compatibility

Update compatibility data on GitHub

	Desktop						Mobile
	Chrome	Edge	Firefox	Internet Explorer	Opera	Safari	Android webview	Chrome for Android	Firefox for Android	Opera for Android	Safari on iOS	Samsung Internet
`AbstractWorker`	Chrome Full support 4	Edge Full support 12	Firefox Full support 3.5	IE Full support 10	Opera Full support 10.6	Safari Full support 4	WebView Android Full support 4.4	Chrome Android Full support 18	Firefox Android Full support 4	Opera Android Full support 11	Safari iOS Full support 5.1	Samsung Internet Android Full support 1.0
`onerror`	Chrome Full support 4	Edge Full support 12	Firefox Full support 3.5	IE Full support 10	Opera Full support 10.6	Safari Full support 4	WebView Android Full support 4.4	Chrome Android Full support 18	Firefox Android Full support 4	Opera Android Full support 11	Safari iOS Full support 5.1	Samsung Internet Android Full support 1.0

Legend

Full support: Full support