detect python-xmpp timeouts

Question

I have an application which shall send xmpp messages. Those occasions are rare (sometimes none for days) but then again maybe coming in bunches. I have no use of receiving anything, I just want to send. The straight-forward approach runs into undetected timeouts. The last send() does not take place (receiver does not get anything) but returns without reporting the problem (returns a simple id as if everything worked fine). Only the next call to send() then raises an IOError('Disconnected from server.').

I could do a constant disconnect/reconnect for each message but I don't like this because sometimes this will disconnect and reconnect very often (and I don't know if servers appreciate on this multiple times in a second).

I could try the approach given as answer in this question here, but I do not really have a need for receiving the XMPP replies.

Question: Is there a simple way to detect the connection timeout before or after sending without trying to send a second message (which would spam the receiver in case everything worked fine)?

My straight-forward-approach:

import xmpp

def connectXmppClient(fromJidName, password):
  fromJid = xmpp.protocol.JID(fromJidName)
  xmppClient = xmpp.Client(fromJid.getDomain(), debug=[])
  connection = xmppClient.connect()
  if not connection:
    raise Exception("could not setup connection", fromJid)
  authentication = xmppClient.auth(
    fromJid.getNode(), password, resource=fromJid.getResource())
  if not authentication:
    raise Exception("could not authenticate")
  return xmppClient

def sendXmppMessage(xmppClient, toJidName, text):
  return xmppClient.send(xmpp.protocol.Message(toJidName, text))

if __name__ == '__main__':
  import sys, os, time, getpass
  if len(sys.argv) < 2:
    print "Syntax: xsend fromJID toJID"
    sys.exit(0)
  fromJidName = sys.argv[1]
  toJidName = sys.argv[2]
  password = getpass.getpass()
  xmppClient = connectXmppClient(fromJidName, password)
  while True:
    line = sys.stdin.readline()
    if not line:
      break
    print xmppClient.isConnected()
    id = sendXmppMessage(xmppClient, toJidName, line)
    print id

Answer 1

You need to register a disconnect handler using xmppClient.RegisterDisconnectHandler(). This lets you specify a function that will get called upon a disconnect.