Firefox3.1/Server-Sent DOM Events

Overview

Add support for WhatWG's Server-Sent DOM Events HTML5.

Background links

• bug 338583 - Add support for Server-Sent DOM Events (Remote Events)
• http://www.whatwg.org/specs/web-apps/current-work/#server-sent-events - HTML5 spec for Server-sent events.
• http://br.youtube.com/watch?v=iGdPJYtMgSM - YouTube demonstration.

Security and Privacy

• What security issues do you address in your project?
  • Accessing cross domains, and events security issues.

Exported APIs

• Please provide a table of exported interfaces (APIs, ABIs, protocols, UI, etc.)
  • nsIRemoteEventSourceManager interface
  • text/event-stream protocol
  • nsIDOMRemoteEventTarget interface
  • nsIDOMHTMLEventSourceElement interface (add the eventsource tag)

• Explain the significant file formats, names, syntax, and semantics.
  • Main C++ code:
    • content/events/public/nsIRemoteEventSourceManager.h
    • content/events/src/nsRemoteEventSourceManager.cpp
    • content/events/src/nsRemoteEventSourceManager.h
    • content/html/content/src/nsHTMLEventSourceElement.cpp
    • dom/public/idl/events/nsIDOMRemoteEventTarget.idl
    • dom/public/idl/html/nsIDOMHTMLEventSourceElement.idl
  • Main test file: content/events/test/test_bug338583.html
  • Terminology:
    • Message Event or Remote Event: An actual event object that is created by the browser in response to a remote server's command
    • Remote Event Target: A DOM object that can have Remote Event Sources
    • Remote Event Source: The object which is responsible for maintaining a connection to the server and parsing events.
    • DOM Event Stream: The stream of characters a server sends to the browser to create events. Its MIME type is text/event-stream

• Are the externally visible interfaces documented clearly enough for a non-Mozilla developer to use them successfully?
  • Yes, dom/public/idl/events/nsIDOMRemoteEventTarget.idl and dom/public/idl/html/nsIDOMHTMLEventSourceElement.idl
• Does it change any existing interfaces?
  • Yes, nsPIDOMEventTarget.

Module interactions

• What other modules are used (REQUIRES in the makefile, interfaces)
  • mimetype, htmlparser, content, dom.

Data

• What data is read or parsed by this feature
  • text/event-stream
• What is the output of this feature
  • Server-sent events (Message Events)

Reliability

• What failure modes or decision points are presented to the user?
  • Failures are transparently handled and when necessary there is some information in the errors console.
• Can its files be corrupted by failures? Does it clean up any locks/files after crashes?
  • No files to corrupt.

Configuration

• Can the end user configure settings, via a UI or about:config? Hidden prefs? Environment variables?
  • No.
• Are there build options for developers? [#ifdefs, ac_add_options, etc.]
  • No.
• What are its on-going maintenance requirements (e.g. Web links, perishable data files)?
  • None.

Relationships to other projects

Are there related projects in the community? No.