Is there any way for the restlet application (server-side) to detect that the HTTP request (client-side) has terminated prematurely? (For example, either due to the client aborting or timing out.)
Here is the scenario -- imagine a restlet application that exposes a resource that supports POST. This resource allows a lengthy representation to be sent from the client in the POST request body. For example, lets say the resource models a "container" and the POST method allows clients to load a (potentially large) dataset into this "container". Now imagine that the resource implementation uses a relational data store to persist records that are POSTed, but persistence is a non-trivial operation that includes validation and various side-effects. Therefore, it might take 5 minutes to complete a POST operation for a dataset with half a million records. However, lets say that the implementation uses application server memory and batching techniques, so that only 10% of the total time (30 seconds) is used to send the actual POST body over the wire from client to server. The rest of the time, the client waits for a response while the server processes the request (the data persistence operation). Lets include two constraints: the solution must be synchronous, and the restlet application is running in a servlet container. OK -- back to the question: Is there a way for the server to detect that the client aborted or timed out, while the server was processing the POST request (and therefore not reading from the socket)? For example, lets say the client is curl, and the user becomes impatiant and hits "Control-C". Any ideas for how to code this? Here's something I read that makes me worried: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/155243/why-is-it-impossible-without-attem pting-i-o-to-detect-that-tcp-socket-was-grace Thanks, - Lu ------------------------------------------------------ http://restlet.tigris.org/ds/viewMessage.do?dsForumId=4447&dsMessageId=1229165
