[whatwg] [canvas] getContext & multiple contexts
Vladimir Vukicevic
vladimir at pobox.com
Thu Apr 29 08:44:44 PDT 2010
Hey folks,
A while ago questions came up in the WebGL WG about using a canvas with
multiple rendering contexts, and synchronization issues that arise
there. Here's our suggested change to getContext. It essentially
allows for multiple contexts but adds no synchronization primitives
other than the requirement that rendering must be visible to all
contexts (that is, that they're rendered to the same destination space).
This also adds the 'attributes' parameter which can customize the
context that's created, as defined by the context itself. WebGL has its
own context attributes object, and I'd suggest that the 2D context gain
at least an attribute to specify whether the context should be opaque or
not; but that's a separate suggestion from the below text.
- Vlad
object getContext(in DOMString contextId, in optional any attributes)
A canvas may be rendered to using one or more contexts, each named by
a string context ID. For each canvas, there is a set of zero or more
active contexts. The getContext() method is used to obtain a
particular rendering context for the canvas.
'contextId' must be a string naming a canvas rendering context to be
returned. For example, this specification defines the '2d' context,
which, if requested, will return either a reference to an object
implementing CanvasRenderingContext2D or null, if a 2D context cannot
be created at this time. Other specifications may define their own
contexts, which would return different objects.
The optional 'attributes' parameter must be either unspecified or an
object specific to the context being requested. An unspecified value
indicates a default set of attributes, as defined by the context
ID. Unknown attributes must be ignored by the context.
If getContext() is called with a context ID that the implementation
does not support, it must return null.
If there are no active contexts for the canvas, the implementation
must create the specified context for the canvas.
If a context ID that is already an active context for the canvas is
requested, then any passed attributes must be ignored, and a reference
to the existing context object must be returned.
If there are one or more active contexts and a context ID that is not
currently active is requested, it is up to the implementation to
determine whether the requested context can be used simultaneously
with all currently active canvas contexts. If simultaneous rendering
with the requested context is not possible, getContext() must return
null. Otherwise the implementation must create the specified context
for the canvas.
Certain context types may not support all combinations of
context-specific attributes. If an unsupported set of attributes is
requested during context creation, but the context ID is otherwise
compatible with all existing contexts, then the implementation must
create the new context with a set of attributes that best satisfies
those requested. The caller is responsible for using context-specific
APIs to determine whether the attributes used to create the context
satisfy the requirements of the caller's code.
If a new context is successfully created, a reference to an object
implementing the context API is returned and the new context is added
to the list of active contexts for the canvas.
If multiple rendering contexts are active, they all render to the same
canvas bitmap; they are not layered or otherwise isolated. Changes
made to the canvas bitmap with one context must be immediately visible
to any other active contexts on the canvas. The implementation must
manage synchronization issues associated with rendering with different
contexts to the same canvas. Supporting different rendering contexts
within the same canvas is not recommended due to the significant cost
of synchronization. Instead, each context API is encouraged to support
generic interoperability with other canvases. For example, the 2D
canvas API provides a drawImage method that can render the contents of
another canvas.
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