TIMEOUT - set timeout

SYNOPSIS

<TIMEOUT = n>
  ... HTML to print on timeout ...
</TIMEOUT>

DESCRIPTION
The TIMEOUT directive sets a timeout (in seconds) for the execution of the Vortex script. If script execution takes longer than n seconds, the enclosed HTML is printed and the script exits. The default timeout is 30 seconds.

As it is a directive, TIMEOUT must appear before the first function in the script.

EXAMPLE

<TIMEOUT = 10>
  <H4>Time Exceeded</H4>
  Your query exceeded the time limit.
</TIMEOUT>

CAVEATS
The TIMEOUT directive was added Sep. 4 1996.

The n argument must be an integer literal, since TIMEOUT is evaluated at compile time. No Vortex commands may appear inside the TIMEOUT element.

If a timeout of -1 is given, the timeout is disabled (no time limit). This is not recommended in a web environment: multiple invocations of a time-consuming script could potentially pile up and load the server.

The execution time of a script may also be affected by a time limit the web server imposes on CGI programs: the server might kill the script before the TIMEOUT directive does. Consult your web server manual.

The script timeout can be overridden at run time with <vxcp timeout> (p. ).

Do not confuse the script timeout (<TIMEOUT> directive) with the network timeout (<urlcp timeout>) or JavaScript timeout (<urlcp scripttimeout>). The network timeout should be smaller than the script timeout (<TIMEOUT>) when fetching pages, or the script may end before the fetch error is returned.

SEE ALSO
vxcp