How to Handle Ajax Errors - Thread effect of Ajax Request (
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An Ajax request behaves like a JavaScript thread. While the request is going on, execution of the JavaScript code in the flow of the code carries on, below the statement of the Ajax request. You may want the statements below the Ajax request to use the result (downloaded text) of the Ajax request. The problem is, you may never know when the request will be complete (when the text is completely downloaded). By the time the request is complete, the statements below the request statement would have been executed (without the downloaded text).
If it is possible for you to use the Ajax result (downloaded text) in the onreadystatechange method of the Ajax text, to do so. This is the best way to avoid the conflict.
If you really must use the Ajax result in the statements below that of the Ajax request, then you should have a while-loop below the Ajax request that will be looping and checking to see if the text has been downloaded, before execution of the statements below the Ajax request continues. The xmlHttp.onreadystatechange method should have a statement to indicate to the while-loop if the required result has been received.
Response is taking longer than it should
Here I show you haw to handle the situation when the response is taking longer than it should. The thing to do here is to abort the Ajax request when you believe it has taken too long. You will need to determine, however, how long is too long.
The Ajax object has the method called abort(). This function is used to abort the Ajax request. When the request is aborted, the readyState property is reset to zero and nothing is downloaded; you do not need to worry about the readyState or status properties. The following code segment, typed below the Ajax procedure, aborts the Ajax request after five seconds:
function abortAjax()
{
xmlHttp.abort();
}
setTimeout("abortAjax()", 5000);
Conclusion
It is not possible to give a clear-cut answer to any of the questions asked in the introduction of the article. There are conditions under which, if you click the Reload button, you will get what you want. There are also conditions when this will not be helpful. Always have the readyState and status property. This will clarify many problems. Do not forget the thread effect of the Ajax request. I showed you in the last section above how to avoid possible conflict.
