Most examples of registering a Service worker do so through JavaScript. For example (From MDN):
if ('serviceWorker' in navigator) {
navigator.serviceWorker.register('service-worker.js', {
scope: './'
}).then(function (registration) {
var serviceWorker;
if (registration.installing) {
serviceWorker = registration.installing;
document.querySelector('#kind').textContent = 'installing';
} else if (registration.waiting) {
serviceWorker = registration.waiting;
document.querySelector('#kind').textContent = 'waiting';
} else if (registration.active) {
serviceWorker = registration.active;
document.querySelector('#kind').textContent = 'active';
}
if (serviceWorker) {
// logState(serviceWorker.state);
serviceWorker.addEventListener('statechange', function (e) {
// logState(e.target.state);
});
}
}).catch (function (error) {
// Something went wrong during registration. The service-worker.js file
// might be unavailable or contain a syntax error.
});
} else {
// The current browser doesn't support service workers.
}
But I noticed in the Web App Manifest standard that there is a serviceworker member:
"serviceworker": {
"src": "sw.js",
"scope": "/",
"update_via_cache": "none"
}
This is the only place I've seen this referred to.
This raises two questions for me:
1 Which approach SHOULD I use? What are the trade-offs?
The declarative benefit of the manifest approach is obvious, but if I use that approach, how do I reference the registration object in order to track events similar to the script approach? (installing | waiting | active | failed).
Assuming it IS possible to reference the registration object appropriately, can it miss events? Such as finish installing before I could register an event listener to it.
2 What are the caching implications
Since the manifest would be saved in the offline cache, and this manifest would reference the service-worker script, what are the cache implications? Does the 24 hour rule still apply assuming I do NOT store the script in the offline cache? The update_via_cache member is not a simple thing to read in the spec.
It looks like it was added to the spec back in October of 2016, and there is some background discussion in the issue tracker.
My interpretation is that the use case is providing service worker bootstrapping metadata that is relevant when installing a web app via a non-browser mechanism, e.g. via an app store. I don't see any mention of that field in the guidance about Microsoft Store ingestion, though.
So... as of right now, I am not clear that any browsers honor the serviceworker field in the web app manifest, and if your concern is having a functional service worker registration for "browser" use cases, do it using JavaScript.
Your best bet for follow ups would be to ask on the web app manifest's GitHub issue tracker.
Related
Usually whenever I read a blog post about PWA's, the tutorial seems to just precache every single asset. But this seems to go against the app shell pattern a bit, which as I understand is: Cache the bare necessities (only the app shell), and runtime cache as you go. (Please correct me if I understood this incorrectly)
Imagine I have this single page application, it's a simple index.html with a web component: <my-app>. That <my-app> component sets up some routes which looks a little bit like this, I'm using Vaadin router and web components, but I imagine the problem would be the same using React with React Router or something similar.
router.setRoutes([
{
path: '/',
component: 'app-main', // statically loaded
},
{
path: '/posts',
component: 'app-posts',
action: () => { import('./app-posts.js');} // dynamically loaded
},
/* many, many, many more routes */
{
path: '/offline', // redirect here when a resource is not cached and failed to get from network
component: 'app-offline', // also statically loaded
}
]);
My app may have many many routes, and may get very large. I don't want to precache all those resources straight away, but only cache the stuff I absolutely need, so in this case: my index.html, my-app.js, app-main.js, and app-offline.js. I want to cache app-posts.js at runtime, when it's requested.
Setting up runtime caching is simple enough, but my problem arises when my user visits one of the potentially many many routes that is not cached yet (because maybe the user hasn't visited that route before, so the js file may not have loaded/cached yet), and the user has no internet connection.
What I want to happen, in that case (when a route is not cached yet and there is no network), is for the user to be redirected to the /offline route, which is handled by my client side router. I could easily do something like: import('./app-posts.js').catch(() => /* redirect user to /offline */), but I'm wondering if there is a way to achieve this from workbox itself.
So in a nutshell:
When a js file hasn't been cached yet, and the user has no network, and so the request for the file fails: let workbox redirect the page to the /offline route.
Option 1 (not always useful):
As far as I can see and according to this answer, you cannot open a new window or change the URL of the browser from within the service worker. However you can open a new window only if the clients.openWindow() function is called from within the notificationclick event.
Option 2 (hardest):
You could use the WindowClient.navigate method within the activate event of the service worker however is a bit trickier as you still need to check if the file requested exists in the cache or not.
Option 3 (easiest & hackiest):
Otherwise, you could respond with a new Request object to the offline page:
const cacheOnly = new workbox.strategies.CacheOnly();
const networkFirst = new workbox.strategies.NetworkFirst();
workbox.routing.registerRoute(
/\/posts.|\/articles/,
async args => {
const offlineRequest = new Request('/offline.html');
try {
const response = await networkFirst.handle(args);
return response || await cacheOnly.handle({request: offlineRequest});
} catch (error) {
return await cacheOnly.handle({request: offlineRequest})
}
}
);
and then rewrite the URL of the browser in your offline.html file:
<head>
<script>
window.history.replaceState({}, 'You are offline', '/offline');
</script>
</head>
The above logic in Option 3 will respond to the requested URL by using the network first. If the network is not available will fallback to the cache and even if the request is not found in the cache, will fetch the offline.html file instead. Once the offline.html file is parsed, the browser URL will be replaced to /offline.
I am new to Service Workers, and have had a look through the various bits of documentation (Google, Mozilla, serviceworke.rs, Github, StackOverflow questions). The most helpful is the ServiceWorkers cookbook.
Most of the documentation seems to point to caching entire pages so that the app works completely offline, or redirecting the user to an offline page until the browser can redirect to the internet.
What I want to do, however, is store my form data locally so my web app can upload it to the server when the user's connection is restored. Which "recipe" should I use? I think it is Request Deferrer. Do I need anything else to ensure that Request Deferrer will work (apart from the service worker detector script in my web page)? Any hints and tips much appreciated.
Console errors
The Request Deferrer recipe and code doesn't seem to work on its own as it doesn't include file caching. I have added some caching for the service worker library files, but I am still getting this error when I submit the form while offline:
Console: {"lineNumber":0,"message":
"The FetchEvent for [the form URL] resulted in a network error response:
the promise was rejected.","message_level":2,"sourceIdentifier":1,"sourceURL":""}
My Service Worker
/* eslint-env es6 */
/* eslint no-unused-vars: 0 */
/* global importScripts, ServiceWorkerWare, localforage */
importScripts('/js/lib/ServiceWorkerWare.js');
importScripts('/js/lib/localforage.js');
//Determine the root for the routes. I.e, if the Service Worker URL is http://example.com/path/to/sw.js, then the root is http://example.com/path/to/
var root = (function() {
var tokens = (self.location + '').split('/');
tokens[tokens.length - 1] = '';
return tokens.join('/');
})();
//By using Mozilla’s ServiceWorkerWare we can quickly setup some routes for a virtual server. It is convenient you review the virtual server recipe before seeing this.
var worker = new ServiceWorkerWare();
//So here is the idea. We will check if we are online or not. In case we are not online, enqueue the request and provide a fake response.
//Else, flush the queue and let the new request to reach the network.
//This function factory does exactly that.
function tryOrFallback(fakeResponse) {
//Return a handler that…
return function(req, res) {
//If offline, enqueue and answer with the fake response.
if (!navigator.onLine) {
console.log('No network availability, enqueuing');
return enqueue(req).then(function() {
//As the fake response will be reused but Response objects are one use only, we need to clone it each time we use it.
return fakeResponse.clone();
});
}
//If online, flush the queue and answer from network.
console.log('Network available! Flushing queue.');
return flushQueue().then(function() {
return fetch(req);
});
};
}
//A fake response with a joke for when there is no connection. A real implementation could have cached the last collection of updates and keep a local model. For simplicity, not implemented here.
worker.get(root + 'api/updates?*', tryOrFallback(new Response(
JSON.stringify([{
text: 'You are offline.',
author: 'Oxford Brookes University',
id: 1,
isSticky: true
}]),
{ headers: { 'Content-Type': 'application/json' } }
)));
//For deletion, let’s simulate that all went OK. Notice we are omitting the body of the response. Trying to add a body with a 204, deleted, as status throws an error.
worker.delete(root + 'api/updates/:id?*', tryOrFallback(new Response({
status: 204
})));
//Creation is another story. We can not reach the server so we can not get the id for the new updates.
//No problem, just say we accept the creation and we will process it later, as soon as we recover connectivity.
worker.post(root + 'api/updates?*', tryOrFallback(new Response(null, {
status: 202
})));
//Start the service worker.
worker.init();
//By using Mozilla’s localforage db wrapper, we can count on a fast setup for a versatile key-value database. We use it to store queue of deferred requests.
//Enqueue consists of adding a request to the list. Due to the limitations of IndexedDB, Request and Response objects can not be saved so we need an alternative representations.
//This is why we call to serialize().`
function enqueue(request) {
return serialize(request).then(function(serialized) {
localforage.getItem('queue').then(function(queue) {
/* eslint no-param-reassign: 0 */
queue = queue || [];
queue.push(serialized);
return localforage.setItem('queue', queue).then(function() {
console.log(serialized.method, serialized.url, 'enqueued!');
});
});
});
}
//Flush is a little more complicated. It consists of getting the elements of the queue in order and sending each one, keeping track of not yet sent request.
//Before sending a request we need to recreate it from the alternative representation stored in IndexedDB.
function flushQueue() {
//Get the queue
return localforage.getItem('queue').then(function(queue) {
/* eslint no-param-reassign: 0 */
queue = queue || [];
//If empty, nothing to do!
if (!queue.length) {
return Promise.resolve();
}
//Else, send the requests in order…
console.log('Sending ', queue.length, ' requests...');
return sendInOrder(queue).then(function() {
//Requires error handling. Actually, this is assuming all the requests in queue are a success when reaching the Network.
// So it should empty the queue step by step, only popping from the queue if the request completes with success.
return localforage.setItem('queue', []);
});
});
}
//Send the requests inside the queue in order. Waiting for the current before sending the next one.
function sendInOrder(requests) {
//The reduce() chains one promise per serialized request, not allowing to progress to the next one until completing the current.
var sending = requests.reduce(function(prevPromise, serialized) {
console.log('Sending', serialized.method, serialized.url);
return prevPromise.then(function() {
return deserialize(serialized).then(function(request) {
return fetch(request);
});
});
}, Promise.resolve());
return sending;
}
//Serialize is a little bit convolved due to headers is not a simple object.
function serialize(request) {
var headers = {};
//for(... of ...) is ES6 notation but current browsers supporting SW, support this notation as well and this is the only way of retrieving all the headers.
for (var entry of request.headers.entries()) {
headers[entry[0]] = entry[1];
}
var serialized = {
url: request.url,
headers: headers,
method: request.method,
mode: request.mode,
credentials: request.credentials,
cache: request.cache,
redirect: request.redirect,
referrer: request.referrer
};
//Only if method is not GET or HEAD is the request allowed to have body.
if (request.method !== 'GET' && request.method !== 'HEAD') {
return request.clone().text().then(function(body) {
serialized.body = body;
return Promise.resolve(serialized);
});
}
return Promise.resolve(serialized);
}
//Compared, deserialize is pretty simple.
function deserialize(data) {
return Promise.resolve(new Request(data.url, data));
}
var CACHE = 'cache-only';
// On install, cache some resources.
self.addEventListener('install', function(evt) {
console.log('The service worker is being installed.');
// Ask the service worker to keep installing until the returning promise
// resolves.
evt.waitUntil(precache());
});
// On fetch, use cache only strategy.
self.addEventListener('fetch', function(evt) {
console.log('The service worker is serving the asset.');
evt.respondWith(fromCache(evt.request));
});
// Open a cache and use `addAll()` with an array of assets to add all of them
// to the cache. Return a promise resolving when all the assets are added.
function precache() {
return caches.open(CACHE).then(function (cache) {
return cache.addAll([
'/js/lib/ServiceWorkerWare.js',
'/js/lib/localforage.js',
'/js/settings.js'
]);
});
}
// Open the cache where the assets were stored and search for the requested
// resource. Notice that in case of no matching, the promise still resolves
// but it does with `undefined` as value.
function fromCache(request) {
return caches.open(CACHE).then(function (cache) {
return cache.match(request).then(function (matching) {
return matching || Promise.reject('no-match');
});
});
}
Here is the error message I am getting in Chrome when I go offline:
(A similar error occurred in Firefox - it falls over at line 409 of ServiceWorkerWare.js)
ServiceWorkerWare.prototype.executeMiddleware = function (middleware,
request) {
var response = this.runMiddleware(middleware, 0, request, null);
response.catch(function (error) { console.error(error); });
return response;
};
this is a little more advanced that a beginner level. But you will need to detect when you are offline or in a Li-Fi state. Instead of POSTing data to an API or end point you need to queue that data to be synched when you are back on line.
This is what the Background Sync API should help with. However, it is not supported across the board just yet. Plus Safari.........
So maybe a good strategy is to persist your data in IndexedDB and when you can connect (background sync fires an event for this) you would then POST the data. It gets a little more complex for browsers that don't support service workers (Safari) or don't yet have Background Sync (that will level out very soon).
As always design your code to be a progressive enhancement, which can be tricky, but worth it in the end.
Service Workers tend to cache the static HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and image files.
I need to use PouchDB and sync it with CouchDB
Why CouchDB?
CouchDB is a NoSQL database consisting of a number of Documents
created with JSON.
It has versioning (each document has a _rev
property with the last modified date)
It can be synchronised with
PouchDB, a local JavaScript application that stores data in local
storage via the browser using IndexedDB. This allows us to create
offline applications.
The two databases are both “master” copies of
the data.
PouchDB is a local JavaScript implementation of CouchDB.
I still need a better answer than my partial notes towards a solution!
Yes, this type of service worker is the correct one to use for saving form data offline.
I have now edited it and understood it better. It caches the form data, and loads it on the page for the user to see what they have entered.
It is worth noting that the paths to the library files will need editing to reflect your local directory structure, e.g. in my setup:
importScripts('/js/lib/ServiceWorkerWare.js');
importScripts('/js/lib/localforage.js');
The script is still failing when offline, however, as it isn't caching the library files. (Update to follow when I figure out caching)
Just discovered an extra debugging tool for service workers (apart from the console): chrome://serviceworker-internals/. In this, you can start or stop service workers, view console messages, and the resources used by the service worker.
I am trying to install a ServiceWorker for a simple, yet old, Django web app. I started working with the example read-through caching example from the Chrome team
This works well but isn't ideal because I want to update the cache, if needed. There are two recommended ways to do this based on reading all the other service-worker answers here.
Use some server-side logic to know when the stuff you show has updated and then update your service worker to change what is precached. This is what sw-precache does, for example.
Just update the cache version in the service worker JS file (see comments in the JS file on the caching example above) whenever resources you depend on update.
Neither are great solutions for me. First, this is a dumb, legacy app. I don't have the application stack that sw-precache relies on. Second, someone else updates the data that will be shown (it is basically a list of things with a details page).
I wanted to try out the "use cache, but update the cache from network" that Jake Archibald suggested in his offline cookbook but I can't quite get it to work.
My original thinking was I should just be able to return the cached version in my service worker, but queue a function that would update the cache if the network is available. For example, something like this in the fetch event listener
// If there is an entry in cache, return it after queueing an update
console.log(' Found response in cache:', response);
setTimeout(function(request, cache){
fetch(request).then(function(response){
if (response.status < 400 && response.type == 'basic') {
console.log("putting a new response into cache");
cache.put(request, response);
}
})
},10, request.clone(), cache);
return response;
But this doesn't work. The page gets stuck loading.
whats wrong with the code above? Whats the right way to get to my target design?
It sounds like https://jakearchibald.com/2014/offline-cookbook/#stale-while-revalidate is very close to what you're looking for
self.addEventListener('fetch', function(event) {
event.respondWith(
caches.open('mysite-dynamic').then(function(cache) {
return cache.match(event.request).then(function(response) {
var fetchPromise = fetch(event.request).then(function(networkResponse) {
// if we got a response from the cache, update the cache
if (response) {
cache.put(event.request, networkResponse.clone());
}
return networkResponse;
});
// respond from the cache, or the network
return response || fetchPromise;
});
})
);
});
On page reload you can refresh your service worker with new version meanwhile old one will take care of request.
Once everything is done and no page is using old service worker, It will using newer version of service worker.
this.addEventListener('fetch', function(event){
event.responseWith(
caches.match(event.request).then(function(response){
return response || fetch(event.request).then(function(resp){
return caches.open('v1').then(function(cache){
cache.put(event.request, resp.clone());
return resp;
})
}).catch(function() {
return caches.match('/sw/images/myLittleVader.jpg');
});
})
)
});
I recommend you to walk through below link for detailed functionality
https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/Service_Worker_API/Using_Service_Workers
We create service workers by
navigator.serviceWorker.register('sw.js', { scope: '/' });
We can create new Workers without an external file like this,
var worker = function() { console.log('worker called'); };
var blob = new Blob( [ '(' , worker.toString() , ')()' ], {
type: 'application/javascript'
});
var bloburl = URL.createObjectURL( blob );
var w = new Worker(bloburl);
With the approach of using blob to create ServiceWorkers, we will get a Security Error as the bloburl would be blob:chrome-extension..., and the origin won't be supported by Service Workers.
Is it possible to create a service worker without external file and use the scope as / ?
I would strongly recommend not trying to find a way around the requirement that the service worker implementation code live in a standalone file. There's a very important of the service worker lifecycle, updates, that relies on your browser being able to fetch your registered service worker JavaScript resource periodically and do a byte-for-byte comparison to see if anything has changed.
If something has changed in your service worker code, then the new code will be considered the installing service worker, and the old service worker code will eventually be considered the redundant service worker as soon as all pages that have the old code registered and unloaded/closed.
While a bit difficult to wrap your head around at first, understanding and making use of the different service worker lifecycle states/events are important if you're concerned about cache management. If it weren't for this update logic, once you registered a service worker for a given scope once, it would never give up control, and you'd be stuck if you had a bug in your code/needed to add new functionality.
One hacky way is to use the the same javascript file understand the context and act as a ServiceWorker as well as the one calling it.
HTML
<script src="main.js"></script>
main.js
if(!this.document) {
self.addEventListener('install', function(e) {
console.log('service worker installation');
});
} else {
navigator.serviceWorker.register('main.js')
}
To prevent maintaining this as a big file main.js, we could use,
if(!this.document) {
//service worker js
importScripts('sw.js');
else {
//loadscript document.js by injecting a script tag
}
But it might come back to using a separate sw.js file for service worker to be a better solution. This would be helpful if one'd want a single entry point to the scripts.
Is there any way to fetch user’s phone number in Firefox OS?
If so, any help would be appreciated.
According to Mozilla's app permissions page, there is an permission called "phonenumberservice" but there is no information about it. Anyway, the permision is listed under the "Internal (Certified) app permissions", which means that, when available, it can only be used by "system-level apps and default apps created by Mozilla/operators/OEMs".
With Firefox 2.0 you should be able to use Mobile Identity API:
https://wiki.mozilla.org/WebAPI/MobileIdentity
https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1021594
I believe the permission is:
"permissions": {
"mobileid": {} }
And it is privileged.
So, as #Jason said, the Mobile Identity API provides this capability, and not just for certified, but for privileged applications. So it is no longer just for OEMs.
The Mozilla Wiki site shows the API:
dictionary MobileIdOptions {
boolean forceSelection = false;
};
partial interface Navigator {
Promise getMobileIdAssertion(optional MobileIdOptions options);
};
The site also provides a sample code skeleton for this:
function verifyAssertion(aAssertion) {
// Make use of the remote verification API
// and return the verified msisdn.
// NB: This is necessary to make sure that the user *really* controls this phone number!
}
// Request a mobile identity assertion and force the chrome UI to
// allow the user to change a possible previous selection.
navigator.getMobileIdAssertion({ forceSelection: true })
.then(
(assertion) => {
verifyAssertion(assertion)
.then(
(msisdn) => {
// Do stuff with the msisdn.
}
);
},
(error) {
// Process error.
};
);
For this to work, you need to add the mobileid permission in the manifest file, for example like this (I made up the description):
"permissions": {
"mobileid": {
"description": "Required for sending SMS for two factor authentication",
"access": "readonly"
}
}
PS: I made this answer, because most answers are outdated, and the one that isn't, does not contain all useful information.
References:
App Manifest Documentation
Firefox Remote Verification