[webkit-dev] Implementing the <device> element

[Adam Bergkvist]

Hi,

On 2011-02-09 22:10, Leandro Graciá Gil wrote:
> So, does that mean that a WebCore platform-independent code is going 
> to determine if a new device handler should be created? I think that 
> some UAs may like to, for example, keep a track of trusted pages for 
> specific types of devices to determine if such a handler should be 
> created. And that is not likely to be implemented in the same way by 
> all the different platforms even if they intend to perform a set of 
> basic common security steps. I completely agree with you that the 
> behaviour should be consistent across platforms, especially the 
> security and privacy aspects, but I don't think that forcing the 
> common code to use available device lists is the way to do it. If we 
> want a consistent behaviour we should ask for it in the specification 
> and leave the implementation specific details open, not the other way around.
>

Yes, the platform independent code in the device element will determine
if a selection has been made, or altered, in the list of available devices
Provided by the platform. Before passing it to the device element, the
list can be filtered by the platform to exclude some entries for whatever
reason. Selections can also be automatically applied without showing the
Device selector based on, e.g., stored preferences. The device element
will examine the list for selection changes to determine if a new device
handler should be created (and a change event dispatched).

Consider the following example:
1. The user clicks the device element button and a list of devices is
   presented.
2. The user selects a webcam in the list and clicks OK.
*A new Stream is created*
3. The user once again clicks the device element button and the list
   is presented with the webcam selected from before.
4. The user clicks OK.
*No new Stream is created*
5. The user once again clicks the device element button and the list
   is presented with the webcam selected from before.
6. The user selects a microphone in the list and clicks OK.
*A new Stream is created*

This is the behavior that should be consistent between ports.

> One important point that a selection-based design misses is that 
> potentially many devices, if not all, will require exclusive access to 
> them. Let me give a example. We have two different pages with device 
> elements. First, a user selects some device (e.g. a microphone) in the 
> first page, but the page makes no use of it for the moment and hence 
> the real connection is not performed. Minutes later and without 
> closing the first page, the same user selects the same device from 
> before on the second device element (if you have only one microphone 
> and an average user this could be very easy to happen) but this page 
> also makes no use for it at that moment. What happens if for example 
> the first page starts making use of the device and causes the 
> connections on the second page to fail? This is almost for sure not 
> the behaviour that the user is expecting or wanting.
>

It will be up to the device handler API (e.g. Stream) and its potential
consumers to handle any errors that may occur. Exclusiveness for certain
types of devices being one type of error. Another error occurs when a
peripheral device is disconnected while in use. Even if you have
established a "connection" to the device via the device element,
handling such an error in the device handler API is still required since
it is not possible to revoke a device handler instance.

If we again take <input type=file> and the File API as a model, there you
select a filename from a list and get a File object that represents the
file. The file itself can be removed from disk but the File object still
exists. When you then attempt to use a FileReader on the File it will fail.

Regarding exclusiveness for Stream objects, we don't have that limitation
in our implementation. It is possible to select the same webcam in several
device elements.

> Yes, you're right on this. I pointed out in my last email that I don't 
> think that there is any problem in having some platform specific code 
> in WebCore as long as any platform can choose to use it or to easily 
> delegate this task to its own WebKit implementation. Sorry if my 
> proposed class diagram mentioned communicating with WebKit as it's not 
> necessarily the case. We have already fixed this for the new diagrams.
>

Do you see anything in our implementation that could not be easily
delegated? As I said before, I would be happy to make any changes that
would be required to implement the platform specific parts for Chromium.

BR
Adam