AJAX - Request Abortion and Timeout Control

Image

 

1. What is Request Abortion?

Request abortion means stopping an AJAX request before it finishes.

In simple words:

If a request is no longer needed, we cancel it instead of waiting.

This is important because:

  • Users change pages quickly

  • Search inputs change while typing

  • Slow requests waste bandwidth and time

2. What is Timeout Control?

Timeout control means:

Automatically canceling a request if it takes too long to respond.

If the server does not reply within a fixed time:

  • The request is stopped

  • An error is handled gracefully

3. Why Are These Concepts Important in AJAX?

Without abort or timeout:

  • Old requests may update the UI wrongly

  • App may feel slow or frozen

  • Network resources are wasted

These problems are very common in real applications.

4. Real-Life Example (Easy to Understand)

Search Box Scenario

User types:

a → ap → app → apple

AJAX sends requests for:

  • a

  • ap

  • app

  • apple

If older requests are not aborted:

  • Response for a may arrive after apple

  • Wrong results may appear