squadron

• Various optimizations
• Remove deprecated artefacts (breaking change)

• Remove deprecated artefacts.
• Add build options to control internal + cross-worker logging and travel time.
• Regroup tests to reduce the number of test files and minimize time spent compiling them.

• send() optimization: for non-cancellable tasks, synchronously return the future when the channel is already up and running. Otherwise, return the result asynchronously via ForwardCompleter.
• Use Stopwatch instead of Timestamp for worker stats.
• Improved tests.

• Add Squadron.disableBrowserCache to force browsers into reloading the code of Workers. When set to true, Squadron will append a query parameter to the Worker URL, passing a random number that should prevent browsers from using the cache.
• Add version parameter to SquadronService annotation. This parameter is used by squadron_builder to include the version as a query parameter in the generated Worker URI. See also https://github.com/d-markey/squadron_builder/issues/40.

• Deprecate localWorker in favor of sharedService and LocalWorkerClient in favor of WorkerClient. See squadron_builder and https://github.com/d-markey/squadron/issues/75.
• Add Channel.closed, which returns a Future<void> that completes when the channel is closed. This is the same future as the one returned by Channel.close().

• Support sending Dart DateTime / JS Date instances to/from Workers.
• Fix warnings from pub.dev.

Fixes a memory leak on native platforms

• Expose the count of active connections via the worker's stats.
• Added tests from https://github.com/d-markey/squadron/pull/71 to check for memory leaks. Credits go to https://github.com/jpohhhh, thanks!
• Properly close ForwardStreamController on VM to avoid memory leaks -- fixes https://github.com/d-markey/squadron/issues/70.

• Fix warnings from pub.dev.

Worker pools: keep it easy on the event loop

• Be less aggressive on task scheduling in Worker pools. When synchronously submitting many tasks to the pool, the _schedule synchronous method was systematically called and would block the event loop. This version uses a timer to avoid flooding the pool's scheduler.

• New feature: annotation for generating code of local Workers
• New feature: marshaling context

• Move stats management out of Worker into a specialized class.
• Breaking change: removed WorkerStat.status.
• Remove accessors to ConcurrencySettings properties in WorkerPool.
• Update tests.

• Implement serialization contexts to ser-/deser-ialize while retaining object identities. For instance, when calling a service method myServiceMethod(x, x), previous versions of Squadron would serialize x twice, resuling in two different instances on the receiving end. Using ContextAwareConverter, x can be serialized only once and the same serialized representation of x would be used for the second argument. Note that this also supports serialization of graph of objects, including those with cyclical references.
• Local services can now be plain Dart classes -- squadron_builder will take care of generating the operations map. No need de derive from WorkerService anymore.
• New annotation for squadron_builder: SquadronService.local() to indicate the service may run as a local service; localWorker to be applied on parameters used to pass a local service on to a worker (only supported for start requests); withContext parameter to SquadronMethod to force use of a marshaling context when ser-/deser-ializing to/from that service method.

• Implement jsify/dartify-like functions to handle conversion between Dart / JavaScript. The implementation supports arbitrary Maps, Lists and Sets, as well as BigInts.
• When converting a message to JS, the list of transferable objects is populated at the same time if required.
• Reworked tests & activate Wasm tests.
• Reworked test Web console (CSS by ChatGPT).

• Fix IWorker.terminate() to make sure worker termination is really immediate.

• Fix a bug where streaming operations in workers are not cancelled if the worker has been stopped before the subscription is cancelled.
• Update unit tests.
• Update examples.

• Add IWorker.terminate() to enable immediate termination of workers and worker pools.
• Refactor tests + browser test console + add unit tests for thread termination.

• Handle weird case where int is received as JSString when worker was compiled to Web Assembly. Fixes https://github.com/d-markey/squadron_builder/issues/23.

• Remove DirectCastConverter and use CastConverter instead. Fixes https://github.com/d-markey/squadron_builder/issues/22.
• Remove method Converter.td<T>() for handling typed data. Instead, conversion should be based on TypedDataMarshaler<T>, combined with Squadron.converter when necessary (eg. when the typed data list is nested in a map / list).

• Squadron.converter should be modifiable but it was declared final: implement getter and setter.
• Interested artefacts can register callbacks with Squadron.onConverterChanged() to be notified after the converter has been updated.

• Implement specific marshaler for TypedData (used by squadron_builder >= 6.1.0).

• Breaking change: the connection channel is provided to caller before the service is installed (when the service is mixed in with ServiceInstaller); if service installation fails, the channel is closed and the caller is notified with an error and an endOfStream response.
• Change token type to CancelationToken in LocalWorkerClient.send().
• Add support for annotating service classes to be used as local workers.

Major version with Web Assembly support

• Use DirectCastConverter on native platforms.

• Update documentation.

• Fix wasm compatibility issues reported by pub.dev.

• /!\ BREAKING CHANGES /!\
• Merged worker_monitor into worker_runner.
• Removed SerializeWith annotation.
• Removed custom cancelation token implementations and switched to package:cancelation_token.
• Removed custom logger implementations and switched to package:logger for logging.
• Reworked the Squadron singleton.
• Worker methods send() and stream() are no longer generic: they return Future<dynamic> and Stream<dynamic>. It is now the user responsibility to ensure service arguments and return values are properly handled in terms of Dart type. One major caveat comes from Web Assembly, where Dart int values sent from one side are received as Dart double values on the other side. To help with conversions, Squadron provides converters and selects the proper converter depending on the runtime platform, so you can "cast" values on either side of the service call (see Squadron.converters in squadron_singleton.dart). The recommendation is to use squadron_builder to generate the code for your workers -- it will take care of casting and marshaling.
• Reworked unit tests, and made unit tests cover VM, JS/JS and JS/Wasm scenarios. Wasm/JS and Wasm/Wasm are not unit tested yet.
• Published the test console to enable testing of all combinations.
• Also published the test coverage report.

• Reworked exception deserializer management to protect from multiple registrations and allow for deregistration. See https://github.com/d-markey/squadron/issues/27#issuecomment-1717452323.
• Added support for installable/uninstallable worker services. If a service needs to take action after the worker thread has started or before it is stopped, it should extend or implement ServiceInstaller and provide one or both of install() / uninstall(). These methods will be called on platform thread setup/teardown. See https://github.com/d-markey/squadron/issues/29#issuecomment-1719682340.

• Removed stdout_logger.dart because it imports dart:io which made pub.dev revoke the support for Web platforms.

• BREAKING CHANGE: Removed squadron_service.dart, squadron_worker.dart and squadron_local_worker.dart libraries: import only squadron.dart instead.
• Added check to verify Web worker entry point exists upon error.
• Reorganized source code.
• Added topics and funding to pubspec.

• Add unit test raising a 'Null check operator used on a null value' exception when cancelling a streaming service method + stopping the worker.
• Fix 'Null check operator used on a null value' exception when cancelling a streaming service method + stopping the worker.

• Fix 'marshal' typo -- provide a compatibility layer to mark as deprecated all versions using 'marshall' and mark these artefacts as deprecated. They will eventually be removed.
• PlatformWorkerHook and EntryPoint aliases now return FutureOr<void>.

• Use DateTime.now().toUtc() instead of DartTime.timestamp() which is available starting from Dart 3 only. Fixes https://github.com/d-markey/squadron/issues/22.

• Make WorkerRequest and WorkerResponse aliases of List to minimize serialization overhead. Replace previous WorkerRequest and WorkerResponse implementations with extension methods. This may be a breaking change.
• Add EntryPoint and PlatformWorker typedefs to enforce type safety across runtime platforms. EntryPoint and PlatformWorker should both resolve to dynamic in the IDE. At compile time, they should resolve to the concrete types according to the platform (ie. String and Worker from dart:html for Web platforms, FutureOr<void> Function(List) and Isolate on native platforms). This should help prevent issues such as https://github.com/d-markey/squadron/issues/17.
• Provide access to platform worker instance upon initialization. See https://github.com/d-markey/squadron/issues/20.

• Enable support of Dart 3.
• Breaking change: use List instead of Map for serialization of worker request/response.

• Downgrade meta version to ^1.8.0 to match flutter_test requirements (fix for https://github.com/d-markey/squadron/issues/18).

• Ensure uniqueness of cancellation token IDs across workers (breaking change for classes implementing/deriving from CancellationToken: id is now a String).

• Downgrade meta version to ^1.8.0 to match flutter_test requirements.
• Fix pool scheduler algorithm to ensure worker availability before dispatching tasks.

• Add UseLogger annotation to have package squadron_builder generate the associated code in worker threads.

• Add notifications when a worker is added or removed. Interested components can register listeners (callbacks) for these notifications.
• Disable automatic log-forwarding between workers and their parents. It is possible to restore this behaviour manually by using [ParentSquadronLogger] as a logger during initialization of the platform worker.
• Split logging logic between message formatting vs. emitting.

• Rename SquadronSerializer to SquadronMarshaller.
• Update dev dependencies.

• WorkerResponse: if result is an Iterable but not a List, call toList() to get results before serializing the response back to the caller.
• SerializeWith: annotation used to indicate how to marshal data to/from a service running in a Worker. See also SquadronSerializer class.

• CancellationToken: provide Future<bool> isCancelled({bool throwIfCancelled = false}) to make it easier to check cancellation token status in worker services.

• ValueWrapper: check future hasn't already completed before calling complete() or completeError().

• Add baseUrl parameter to SquadronService annotation.

• Now with annotations to support code generation. To be used with package squadron-builder.

• Breaking changes: all deprecated artefacts have been removed.
• Breaking change: LocalSquadronLogger has been deleted.
• Breaking change: the args and token arguments of methods send() and stream() are now named argument.
• Breaking change: removed the optional id parameter that was passed to Worker constructors.
• Breaking change: disabled message inspection for Web channels. In previous versions, Squadron would inspect each piece of data exchanged via _JsChannels to identify objects whose ownership must be transfered to the receiving end (the transfer argument in postMessage). However most of the time, the request / response objects are usually made of List, Map, and base types, all of which can cross thread boundaries "as-is". This behavior is now controlled by optional parameters inspectRequest and inspectResponse of methods Worker.execute() and Worker.stream(), defaulting to false thus disabling message inspection. Passing true will activate message inspection for request and/or response and will be necessary when the message contains an object whose ownership must be transfered to the receiving end, typicaly a MessagePort. Basic testing found message transfer time improvement around ~5-10% for large payloads, e.g. a List containing many Map items (note that in Web scenarios, JSON serialization could prove a more efficient alternative). It should have little to no effect on smaller messages. Start requests will always be processed with inspectRequest = true and inspectResponse = true.
• Fixed issue with workers on native platforms: ensure all ReceivePorts are closed upon Isolate termination.
• Support logging accross workers (which made LocalSquadronLogger obsolete).
• Added support to reset the Squadron singleton.
• Reworked examples & unit tests.

• Breaking changes: all deprecated artefacts have been removed.
• Breaking change: LocalSquadronLogger has been deleted.
• Breaking change: the args and token arguments of methods send() and stream() are now named argument.
• Breaking change: removed the optional id parameter that was passed to Worker constructors.
• Breaking change: disabled message inspection for Web channels. In previous versions, Squadron would inspect each piece of data exchanged via _JsChannels to identify objects whose ownership must be transfered to the receiving end (the transfer argument in postMessage). However most of the time, the request / response objects are usually made of List, Map, and base types, all of which can cross thread boundaries "as-is". This behavior is now controlled by optional parameters inspectRequest and inspectResponse of methods Worker.execute() and Worker.stream(), defaulting to false thus disabling message inspection. Passing true will activate message inspection for request and/or response and will be necessary when the message contains an object whose ownership must be transfered to the receiving end, typicaly a MessagePort. Basic testing found message transfer time improvement around ~5-10% for large payloads, e.g. a List containing many Map items (note that in Web scenarios, JSON serialization could prove a more efficient alternative). It should have little to no effect on smaller messages. Start requests will always be processed with inspectRequest = true and inspectResponse = true.
• Fixed issue with workers on native platforms: ensure all ReceivePorts are closed upon Isolate termination.
• Support logging accross workers (which made LocalSquadronLogger obsolete).
• Added support to reset the Squadron singleton.
• Reworked examples & unit tests.

• Rewritten streaming implementations (fix for https://github.com/d-markey/squadron/issues/8).
• Added unit tests.

• Implemented a LocalLogger to have Web workers log messages from the main window (effectively logging via Dart debugger if present).
• Removed import of dart:isolate from _worker_runner.dart.
• Made coverage a dev dependency.
• Added a tool to extract coverage metrics during Github Dart workflow.
• Updates badges to include coverage metrics and platform info.

• Fixed streaming from LocalWorker.
• Added tests for LocalWorker.
• Improved cancellation handling.
• Added tests to improve test coverage.

• Implemented LocalWorker, a worker-like class living in the same thread as its owner and available for inter-worker messaging. For instance, in a Flutter app, instantiating a LocalWorker in the main thread enables other workers to (indirectly) call Flutter APIs that are otherwise not available in the context of a secondary thread.
• LocalWorker uses the same concepts and approach as Workers, such as the operations map and the WorkerService interface.

• Document types and release mode (special thanks to SwissCheese5).
• More error handling at communication points.
• Use lower log levels for internal Squadron log messages.
• Added test coverage.

• Document the new logging feature.
• Make sendRequest() async in browser Channel (implementation closer to that of native Channel).
• Add a timestamp to pool workers to record the time when it was assigned its last task.
• Sort pool workers to distribute tasks to those that have the largest capacity and the oldest timestamp.
• Add command property to WorkerException.
• Reorganized the test folder.
• Recompiled test Web workers.

• Added a logging mechanism to facilitate debugging Squadron's internals.
• Reworked connection flow between main program and worker.
• Reworked task scheduling.
• Fixed issue https://github.com/d-markey/squadron/issues/3.
• Added tests for logging and workers failing to initialize.

• Implemented cancellation token to enable worker task notification that cancellation has occured.
• Implemented TimeOutToken, CancellableToken and CompositeToken.
• Updated README.md.
• Added unit tests.

• Several minor changes (some possibly breaking changes but easy to fix).
• Split library into squadron_service.dart (worker services only), squadron_worker.dart (worker services and workers without pool) vs. squadron.dart (worker services, workers and pools).
• Split Channel into Channel (used to send a WorkerRequest) and WorkerChannel (used to send a WorkerResponse).
• Added ConcurrencySettings to eventually replace minWorkers, maxWorkers and maxParallel.
• Added WorkerPool.execute() (will eventually replace WorkerPool.compute()).
• Added WorkerPool.scheduleTask() to schedule a ValueTask. Result will be accessible from future ValueTask.value.
• Added WorkerPool.scheduleStream() to schedule a StreamTask. Results will be accessible from stream StreamTask.stream.
• ValueTask and StreamTask provide information on task execution (eg. status, wait time, execution time...).
• Added WorkerPool.cancel() to support worker task cancellation.
• Updated README.md.
• Added unit tests.

• Split library into squadron_service.dart (worker services only), squadron.dart (worker services and workers without pool) vs. squadron_pool.dart (worker services, workers and pools).
• Moved connect() and process() from Worker to WorkerService.
• Provided the run() function to facilitate implementation of platform workers.
• Adapted tests and examples.
• Updated README.md.

• Single test code base for both platforms.
• Added BitCoin service to test live network access from workers (courtesy of coindesk.com).
• Added PiDigits service (related to https://github.com/d-markey/squadron/issues/1).
• Retaining attempts based on manually operating a browser to run tests in /web (different test code base) and /test/browser-tests (same test code base).

• Remove dependency on js package.