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javascriptweb-workersharedarraybuffer

Can you store a JS object in a SharedArrayBuffer?

I need to share an object between a client side application and a web worker and I heard about SharedArrayBuffers. This is what I'd like to do.

main.js

let myWorker = new Worker('/worker.js')
let mySab = new SharedArrayBuffer(1024)
let myObj = { foo: 'bar', bar: 'foo' }
// Save 'myObj' to 'mySab'
worker.postMessage(sab)

worker.js

self.onmessage = (e) => {
    let myObj = BLANK // Get 'myObj' from SharedArrayBuffer
}

Is this possible? The examples I've seen of ShareArrayBuffers only ever save numbers in the buffer. Any help is appreciated!

Solution

  • No, SharedArrayBuffers only store binary data. You can only send copies of objects via the built-in postMessage function.

    Sources:

    https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/Global_Objects/SharedArrayBuffer

    https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/Web_Workers_API/Using_web_workers