"timeout" setting not work in webread function

Hi:

I use parallel loop to grab data using "webread" , I set up the timeout option to be 10 seconds,

options = weboptions;
options.Timeout = 10;

then use command like below:

timeCost=[];
parfor i=1:1:1e4
    tic
    webReadTmp=webread(command,options);
    timeCost(i)=toc;
end

I use "timeCost" variable to record the time needed for each webread operation. however I notice there are some webread cost more than 30 second, which means the "timeout" setting is not working here.

is there any mistake with my command?

Thanks!

Yu

Answer 1

[Debadipto]

Hi @Yu,

The "Timeout" setting here specifies the maximum duration to wait for an initial response from the server after sending a request, not an estimate of how long it will take to receive the full response. If the server responds within the timeout duration, you will receive the response; otherwise, a timeout error occurs. It is a safeguard to prevent waiting indefinitely for a response.

In summary, the timeout does not estimate the response time but sets a limit on how long you are willing to wait for a response.

For the definition of "Timeout", please refer to the following MATLAB documentation:

https://www.mathworks.com/help/matlab/ref/weboptions.html#:~:text=Timeout%20%E2%80%94%20Time%20out%20connection%20duration