What happens when there is network request time out during AJAX request to ASP.NET MVC Action

Question

As stated in the title, i would like to know what happens when an AJAX request is sent to a controller action and, during this time, a network timeout happens for a few ms before the request is completed.

Reply from <Server IP>: bytes=32 time=31ms TTL=122
Request timed out
Reply from <Server IP>: bytes=32 time=28ms TTL=122

Considering the timeout happens only for a couple of ms, what effects would this have on my AJAX request?

This is in continuation to a problem we are facing in our application as explained in this SO question and i would like to know if they are somehow related.

I have googled for similar issues but couldn't find anything useful.

Edit: Apart from the impact on AJAX, would it affect the action method's behavior (server)?

Answer 1

Regardless of whether the timeout happens only for a couple of ms or more, the request will fail. The success callback function of your AJAX request will not be executed and the request will end with the execution of complete callback function. By default, all AJAX requests will have a timeout of 0ms (unlimited), but it will hit the default timeout of the browser.

When an AJAX request times out, the error callback function will be invoked. The second argument of this function is a string describing the type of error and in this case, it will have the value timeout. You can handle request timeouts by handling this callback function and by optionally specifying a timeout value (if not specified, works on the default value) in the AJAX request body:

$.ajax({
    ...
    timeout: 5000, //specify the timeout value in milliseconds
    error: function(jqXHR, textStatus, errorThrown) {
        if(textStatus==="timeout") {
           //code to execute when timeout occurs
        } 
    }
});​

Additionally, you can also check if the request has timed out in the complete callback function (in a similar way as shown above) by checking the second argument which is a string and it will have the value timeout if the request was timed out.

Also, note this:

The timeout period starts at the point the $.ajax call is made; if several other requests are in progress and the browser has no connections available, it is possible for a request to time out before it can be sent.

Request timeouts are usually either left at their default or set as a global default using $.ajaxSetup() rather than being overridden for specific requests with the timeout option.

I would suggest you to use an alternative HTTP/s traffic monitoring tool like fiddler to find the mystery behind the second request.

More info: jQuery ajax documentation