The start() method of the MessagePort interface starts the sending of messages queued on the port. This method is only needed when using EventTarget.addEventListener; it is implied when using MessageChannel.onmessage.
Note: This feature is available in Web Workers.
Syntax
port.start()
Returns
Void.
Parameters
None.
Example
In the following code block, you can see a handleMessage handler function, run when a message is sent back to this document using onmessage:
channel.port1.onmessage = handleMessage;
function handleMessage(e) {
para.innerHTML = e.data;
}
Another option would be to do this using EventTarget.addEventListener, however, when this method is used, you need to explicitly call start() to begin the flow of messages to this document:
channel.port1.addEventListener('message', handleMessage, false);
function handleMessage(e) {
para.innerHTML = e.data;
textInput.value = '';
}
channel.port1.start();
Specifications
| Specification | Status | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| HTML Living Standard The definition of 'start()' in that specification. |
Living Standard |
Browser compatibility
The compatibility table on this page is generated from structured data. If you'd like to contribute to the data, please check out https://github.com/mdn/browser-compat-data and send us a pull request.
| Desktop | Mobile | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
start | Chrome Full support 4 | Edge Full support 12 | Firefox Full support Yes | IE Full support 10 | Opera Full support 10.6 | Safari Full support 5 | WebView Android Full support Yes | Chrome Android Full support 18 | Firefox Android No support No | Opera Android Full support 11 | Safari iOS Full support 5.1 | Samsung Internet Android Full support 1.0 |
Legend
- Full support
- Full support
- No support
- No support
