[FX.php List] Server is busy...please try again

[Tim 'Webko' Booth]

Dear Jonathan,

> Thanks for the reply.
>
> Let me be a little more clear...I WANT the message to display, both  
> alerting the customer that there was a problem, and giving them the  
> option to try again or come back later. Either of these is better  
> than a browser timeout.

*But* in order to work out if the server is busy, there has to be a  
request of some sort - and if it's busy, then that request will  
timeout, so no message...

At least, I think that's what will happen... And am happy to be shown  
to be incorrect.

Cheers

Webko
>
> Jonathan
>
> At 11:47 AM +1100 11/9/10, Tim 'Webko' Booth wrote:
>> Dear Jonathan;
>>
>>> Hi folks.
>>>
>>> "Server is busy...please try again".
>>>
>>> You might see this message on a sophisticated airlines reservation  
>>> web site, but not if a Filemaker web server is too busy or has a  
>>> problem. The browser just times out.  This can be a real problem  
>>> if a multi-step operation fails to finish before the time out.
>>>
>>> I need to install a fix for this eventuality for one client. My  
>>> plan is to set a flag in an existing customer record before  
>>> starting the operation and then resetting the flag upon  
>>> completion. Any flags that remain set indicate a potential  
>>> problem. This is possible when you are editing an existing  
>>> record.  I am going to do that straight away.
>>>
>>> NOTE: We have learned (the hard way) that the answer is *not* to  
>>> increase the browser expiration time. When there is a web server  
>>> problem, the last thing you want to do is stack up queries that  
>>> don't expire.  This *will* crash the web server if it hasn't  
>>> already done so.
>>>
>>> But back to the "Server is busy...please try again" option....
>>>
>>> Would this involve having one server talking to a second server  
>>> where the first server can return the friendly message before the  
>>> browser times out?  Or, is this a job for javascript?  Has anyone  
>>> done this before? I'm sure that it is commonplace in many  
>>> industries, but is not in my bag of tricks yet.
>>
>> The problem is that XML engine is single-threaded, as far as I know.
>>
>> On a multi-connection database (like mySQL) you can check how many  
>> connections, and then redirect to a Busy page if it's over a  
>> certain number [1]...
>>
>> When there is only one connection, then a long request will clog it  
>> for all the requests after as well.
>>
>> I can't think of a way to test easily without being part of the  
>> issue, as it would then be another request, stuck behind the long- 
>> running one... Happy to see if anyone else has an idea about  
>> accomplishing this.
>>
>> Cheers
>>
>> Webko
>>
>> [1] the main reason our heaviest use systems are hybrid FM/mySQL,  
>> so we can do something with excess requests - and mySQL can handle  
>> a *lot* more requests in a given time period.
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>
>
> -- 
> Jonathan Schwartz
> Exit 445 Group
> jonathan at exit445.com
> http://www.exit445.com
> 415-370-5011
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Tim 'Webko' Booth :: Niche IT Pty Ltd, Sydney, Australia
[e] tim at nicheit.com.au :: [m] 0418 993 306