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Dart: implementing HttpClient.timeout causing advanced patterns in Asynchronous Calls

πŸ‘€ Views: 20 πŸ’¬ Answers: 1 πŸ“… Created: 2025-06-30
dart http asynchronous Dart

I've searched everywhere and can't find a clear answer. I'm performance testing and I'm working on a project and hit a roadblock. I'm stuck on something that should probably be simple. I tried several approaches but none seem to work. I'm working on a Dart application that makes HTTP requests using the `HttpClient` class, and I've run into an scenario with the timeout handling. My intention is to have each request timeout after 5 seconds, but I've noticed that some requests are completing well beyond this duration, causing unexpected behavior in my application. Here's a simplified version of my code: ```dart import 'dart:io'; Future<void> fetchData() async { final client = HttpClient(); try { final request = await client.getUrl(Uri.parse('https://example.com/data')); request.timeout = Duration(seconds: 5); final response = await request.close(); await for (var contents in response.transform(utf8.decoder)) { print(contents); } } catch (e) { print('behavior: $e'); } finally { client.close(); } } ``` The question seems to be that even with the `timeout` set, I'm still able to receive responses that take longer than 5 seconds. Sometimes, I get a timeout behavior as expected, but other times, the response is just delayed. I've also tried wrapping the `request.close()` in a `Future.any` with a timeout, but that didn't help either. Here’s what I tried: ```dart await Future.any([request.close(), Future.delayed(Duration(seconds: 5))]); ``` This approach resulted in a `TimeoutException`, but it didn't solve the original question of the request completing late. Is there a specific method or best practice for ensuring that my requests adhere strictly to the defined timeout? Am I missing some configuration or is there a known scenario with the `HttpClient` timeout handling? I'm using Dart SDK version 2.14.4. Any insights or workarounds would be greatly appreciated! This is part of a larger web app I'm building. What am I doing wrong? This is part of a larger API I'm building. Any help would be greatly appreciated! This is part of a larger API I'm building. Is there a better approach? I'm coming from a different tech stack and learning Dart. I'm open to any suggestions. I'd really appreciate any guidance on this. I'm on Linux using the latest version of Dart.