RE: [JDEV] Multiple logins

[Matthew Miller]

Title: RE: [JDEV] Multiple logins

I must agree with Jens on this one, or at least partly:  I think clients need to auto-reconnect (at the user's preference), but the libraries that clients are built on top of should NOT attempt an auto-reconnect.  Let the client code handle an auto-reconnect, not the library.  This said, better (formatted?) (stream-level) error-reporting is necessary.

 

Just more of my change here, though... (-:

 

Matt

  -----Original Message-----
From: Colin Madere [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
Sent: Thursday, May 24, 2001 9:45 AM
To: '[EMAIL PROTECTED]'
Subject: RE: [JDEV] Multiple logins

Just FYI to everyone, this is a feature, not a bug (the connect/disconnect flip-flop problem is just an unfortunate side-effect).  With the internet as flakey as it is due to many variables (not the least of which is the DDoS attacks related by Jer) I think auto-reconnect is a must.

I DO like the idea that a client should only do this if it didn't get a proper disconnect notice, but that's something that client developers should handle :)  I think a more verbose stream:error would be great and using codes (for non-english speakers AND so programmatic behavior can be set up) is an excellent idea.

Colin

-----Original Message-----
From: Jens Alfke [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
Sent: Thursday, May 24, 2001 11:26 AM
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Re: [JDEV] Multiple logins

IMHO, if a client is disconnected by the server [receives an <error> and </stream>] it should not automatically attempt to reconnect. There is probably some good reason it was disconnected, and this thread illustrates one of the dangers of automatic reconnects. It'd be better to put up a dialog box with "Reconnect" and "Cancel" buttons and let the user decide. (Having a meaningful error code and message to display in the dialog would be even better, of course.)

In the event of a network-level disconnect, where the stream isn't properly closed, automatic reconnect might still be a good idea. It would help if the client could use some kind of OS-specific functionality* to determine whether the network is still up or not - if I unplug the Ethernet from my laptop I don't want the client to start an infinite series of reconnect attempts, nor do I want it to start dialing the phone to my ISP without my intervention.

-Jens

* In the case of Mac OS 9 there's an OTTCPWillDial function that's described in some tech note, and in Mac OS X there's a System Configuration framework which is not yet documented but whose [open] source can be found in Darwin.