Timeout and Abort in the .NET Engine

This article explains how to use timeout and abort for report cancellation in the embedded .NET Engine.

Overview

The .NET API exposes per-report cancellation controls:

• Report.Timeout (seconds)
• Report.Abort()

These are instance-scoped. If many reports run concurrently, setting timeout or abort on one report instance does not stop other reports.

Timeout Behavior

Use Report.Timeout to set a runtime limit.

• 0 means no timeout.
• Timeout throws net.windward.xmlreport.TimeoutException with mode TIMEOUT.

Precedence and Call Order

Timeout is honored regardless of whether it is set before or after ProcessSetup().

Order of precedence:

1. Report.Timeout
2. report.timeout configuration property

If both are set, Report.Timeout wins.

Abort Behavior

Use Report.Abort() to cancel a running report from another thread.

• Abort() signals cancellation and returns immediately.
• The running report exits at the next checkpoint.
• Abort throws net.windward.xmlreport.TimeoutException with mode ABORT.

Bounded Observation

Timeout and abort are checked across long-running phases such as data processing, parsing, layout, chart handling, and output building.

Cancellation is cooperative and checkpoint-based rather than forceful thread termination.

.NET Usage Example

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.IO;
using System.Threading;
using net.windward.api.csharp;
using WindwardInterfaces.net.windward.api.csharp;

public class DotNetTimeoutAbortExample
{
    public static void Main()
    {
        Report.Init();

        using (var template = File.OpenRead("template.docx"))
        using (var output = File.Open("report.pdf", FileMode.Create))
        {
            Report report = new ReportPdf(template, output);

            // API timeout has highest precedence over report.timeout config property.
            report.Timeout = 30;

            report.ProcessSetup();

            var providers = new Dictionary<string, IReportDataSource>();
            // providers.Add("", yourDatasource);

            var abortThread = new Thread(() =>
            {
                Thread.Sleep(5000);
                report.Abort();
            });
            abortThread.IsBackground = true;
            abortThread.Start();

            try
            {
                report.ProcessData(providers);
                report.ProcessComplete();
            }
            catch (net.windward.xmlreport.TimeoutException ex)
            {
                if (ex.getMode() == net.windward.xmlreport.TimeoutException.TIMEOUT)
                {
                    Console.WriteLine("Report timed out");
                }
                else if (ex.getMode() == net.windward.xmlreport.TimeoutException.ABORT)
                {
                    Console.WriteLine("Report aborted");
                }
                throw;
            }
        }
    }
}

Logging and Diagnostics

The engine logs timeout and abort observations to help identify where cancellation was requested and where it was observed.

Best Practices

• Prefer Report.Abort() and Report.Timeout over Thread.Abort().
• Do not share one report instance across multiple unrelated jobs.
• Catch timeout exceptions and distinguish TIMEOUT from ABORT.
• Keep resource cleanup in finally blocks for output streams and data connections.