Re: Canceling a HTTP request

I would phrase it differently: there is no general way to cancel
effects of a request once a portion of a request message has left the
client. Certain servers may start acting before receiving the request
body or even before receiving complete request headers. Specifics
would depend on the server and what it is that you actually want to
cancel, of course.

Even if you control the client and the server, it is probably
impossible to know for sure that the client did not cancel! HTTP
intermediaries will prevent you from relying on TCP properties such as
reliable delivery. David's suggestion to redesign the interface is
probably the only option.

Alex.


On Mon, 20 Oct 2003, David Morris wrote:

>
>
> Your understanding is correct. There is no way to cancel an HTTP request
> once the complete request has been sent. Closing the connection abandons
> results which may have been completed. For various reasons including
> network latencies and design of the HTTP server, it is likely that the
> application running within the HTTP server will never be aware that the
> connection was closed.
>
> Any application which depends on the user's ability to cancel a request
> once sent probably needs to be redesigned. For example, the user could be
> engaged in a 'two phase commit'-like interaction where the action must be
> confirmed by a second web transaction. Application design issues are
> probably beyond the scope of this list. I'm willing to clarify my comments
> off line but actual design assistance is what I do for a living so I won't
> be able to volunteer a lot of help.
>
> Dave Morris
>
> On Mon, 20 Oct 2003, Charumathy Venkatraman wrote:
>
> > Hi,
> > I'm new to HTTP and I have a basic question.
> > My HTTP client will issue GET and POST requests to a HTTP 1.1 server. There
> > is a requirement from the caller to be able to cancel both GET and POST. My
> > understanding is that the only way to cancel the transaction is to close the
> > socket before the transaction completes. Is that correct? Will the server
> > automatically discard the data (in case of POST) when this is done?
> >
> > Thanks,
> > Charu.
> >
>
>

Received on Monday, 20 October 2003 12:57:10 UTC