May 6, 2011 08:39 GMT  ·  By

A new application programming interface prototype will be added to Microsoft’s HTML5 Labs in the coming weeks. Introduced in December 2010, the HTML5 Labs are an online hub designed for developers to participate actively in prototyping the future of the web, with a focus on HTML5, of course.

Just the past month the software giant launched FileAPI, growing the number of web standards prototypes on the site which initially featured IndexedDB and WebSockets.

Now, Claudio Caldato, Principal Program Manager, Interoperability Strategy Team reveals that the Redmond company plans the addition of yet another API.

“Coming next is the Media Capture API prototype, a draft specification that defines HTML form enhancements to provide access to the audio, image and video capture capabilities of a device. The first release of the prototype includes Audio capabilities only, but we plan to add video support shortly after the release of the first version,” Caldato added.

The Media Capture API comes as a response to the work done to integrate speech technology in HTML5. Of course, this particular API is about more than just speech.

Until web developers will have the new Media Capture API prototype to play with, they can test the latest update to FileAPI.

Microsoft provided an API for representing file objects in web applications in April 2011, and per the HTML5 Labs refresh policy, the application programing interface is evolving rapidly. This particular update is related to changed behavior in File.slice.

“The slice method previously had different semantics, which differed from both Array.prototype.slice and String.prototype.slice [ECMA-262]. This difference was an oversight which has been corrected in this edition of the specification,” Caldato said.

“Some user agents implemented the previous semantics, notably Firefox 4, Chrome 10, and Opera 11. These user agents have agreed to vendor-prefix their slice implementations in subsequent releases.”