update timeout middleware with warnings

Author: aldas

cookbook/timeouts/server.go

@@ -12,16 +12,16 @@ func main() {
 	// Echo instance
 	e := echo.New()
 
-	// Middleware
-	e.Use(middleware.TimeoutWithConfig(middleware.TimeoutConfig{
-		Timeout: 5 * time.Second,
-	}))
-
-	// Route => handler
-	e.GET("/", func(c echo.Context) error {
+	// Handler with timeout middleware
+	handlerFunc := func(c echo.Context) error {
 		time.Sleep(10 * time.Second)
 		return c.String(http.StatusOK, "Hello, World!\n")
+	}
+	middlewareFunc := middleware.TimeoutWithConfig(middleware.TimeoutConfig{
+		Timeout:      30 * time.Second,
+		ErrorMessage: "my custom error message",
 	})
+	e.GET("/", handlerFunc, middlewareFunc)
 
 	// Start server
 	e.Logger.Fatal(e.Start(":1323"))

website/content/guide/http_server.md

@@ -82,7 +82,7 @@ func main() {
 
 ## Auto TLS Server with Let’s Encrypt
 
-See [Auto TLS Recipe](/cooobook/auto-tls#server)
+See [Auto TLS Recipe](/cookbook/auto-tls#server)
 
 ## HTTP/2 Cleartext Server (HTTP2 over HTTP)
 

website/content/middleware/timeout.md

@@ -8,48 +8,62 @@ description = "Timeout middleware for Echo"
 
 Timeout middleware is used to timeout at a long running operation within a predefined period.
 
+When timeout occurs, and the client receives timeout response the handler keeps running its code and keeps using resources until it finishes and returns!
+
+> Timeout middleware is a serious performance hit as it buffers all responses from wrapped handler. Do not set it in front of file downloads or responses you want to stream to the client.
+
+Timeout middleware is not a magic wand to hide slow handlers from clients. Consider designing/implementing asynchronous 
+request/response API if (extremely) fast responses are to be expected and actual work can be done in background
+Prefer handling timeouts in handler functions explicitly
+
 *Usage*
 
-`e.Use(middleware.Timeout())`
+`e.GET("/", handlerFunc, middleware.Timeout())`
 
 ## Custom Configuration
 
 *Usage*
 
 ```go
+// Echo instance
 e := echo.New()
-e.Use(middleware.TimeoutWithConfig(middleware.TimeoutConfig{
-  Skipper: Skipper,
-  ErrorHandler: func(err error, e echo.Context) error {
-      // you can handle your error here, the returning error will be 
-      // passed down the middleware chain
-      return err
-  },
-  Timeout: 30*time.Second,
-}))
+
+handlerFunc := func(c echo.Context) error {
+    time.Sleep(10 * time.Second)
+    return c.String(http.StatusOK, "Hello, World!\n")
+}
+middlewareFunc := middleware.TimeoutWithConfig(middleware.TimeoutConfig{
+    Timeout: 30 * time.Second,
+    ErrorMessage: "my custom error message",
+})
+// Handler with timeout middleware
+e.GET("/", handlerFunc, middlewareFunc)
 ```
 
 ## Configuration
 
 ```go
 // TimeoutConfig defines the config for Timeout middleware.
-TimeoutConfig struct {
-    // Skipper defines a function to skip middleware.
-    Skipper Skipper
-    // ErrorHandler defines a function which is executed for a timeout
-    // It can be used to define a custom timeout error
-    ErrorHandler TimeoutErrorHandlerWithContext
-    // Timeout configures a timeout for the middleware, defaults to 0 for no timeout
-    Timeout time.Duration
-}
-```
+type TimeoutConfig struct {
+	// Skipper defines a function to skip middleware.
+	Skipper Skipper
 
-*TimeoutErrorHandlerWithContext* is responsible for handling the errors when a timeout happens
-```go
-// TimeoutErrorHandlerWithContext is an error handler that is used 
-// with the timeout middleware so we can handle the error 
-// as we see fit
-TimeoutErrorHandlerWithContext func(error, echo.Context) error
+	// ErrorMessage is written to response on timeout in addition to http.StatusServiceUnavailable (503) status code
+	// It can be used to define a custom timeout error message
+	ErrorMessage string
+
+	// OnTimeoutRouteErrorHandler is an error handler that is executed for error that was returned from wrapped route after
+	// request timeouted and we already had sent the error code (503) and message response to the client.
+	// NB: do not write headers/body inside this handler. The response has already been sent to the client and response writer
+	// will not accept anything no more. If you want to know what actual route middleware timeouted use `c.Path()`
+	OnTimeoutRouteErrorHandler func(err error, c echo.Context)
+
+	// Timeout configures a timeout for the middleware, defaults to 0 for no timeout
+	// NOTE: when difference between timeout duration and handler execution time is almost the same (in range of 100microseconds)
+	// the result of timeout does not seem to be reliable - could respond timeout, could respond handler output
+	// difference over 500microseconds (0.5millisecond) response seems to be reliable
+	Timeout time.Duration
+}
 ```
 
 *Default Configuration*
@@ -58,6 +72,64 @@ TimeoutErrorHandlerWithContext func(error, echo.Context) error
 DefaultTimeoutConfig = TimeoutConfig{
     Skipper:      DefaultSkipper,
     Timeout:      0,
-    ErrorHandler: nil,
+    ErrorMessage: "",
+}
+```
+
+## Alternatively handle timeouts in handlers
+
+```go
+func main() {
+    e := echo.New()
+
+    doBusinessLogic := func(ctx context.Context, UID string) error {
+        // NB: Do not use echo.JSON() or any other method that writes data/headers to client here. This function is executed
+        // in different coroutine that should not access echo.Context and response writer
+
+        log.Printf("uid: %v\n", UID)
+        //res, err := slowDatabaseCon.ExecContext(ctx, query, args)
+        time.Sleep(10 * time.Second) // simulate slow execution
+        log.Print("doBusinessLogic done\n")
+        return nil
+    }
+
+    handlerFunc := func(c echo.Context) error {
+        defer log.Print("handlerFunc done\n")
+
+        // extract and validate needed data from request and pass it to business function
+        UID := c.QueryParam("uid")
+
+        ctx, cancel := context.WithTimeout(c.Request().Context(), 5 * time.Second)
+        defer cancel()
+        result := make(chan error)
+        go func() { // run actual business logic in separate coroutine
+            defer func() { // unhandled panic in coroutine will crash the whole application
+                if err := recover(); err != nil {
+                    result <- fmt.Errorf("panic: %v", err)
+                }
+            }()
+            result <- doBusinessLogic(ctx, UID)
+        }()
+
+        select { // wait until doBusinessLogic finishes or we timeout while waiting for the result
+        case <-ctx.Done():
+            err := ctx.Err()
+            if err == context.DeadlineExceeded {
+                return echo.NewHTTPError(http.StatusServiceUnavailable, "doBusinessLogic timeout")
+            }
+            return err // probably client closed the connection
+        case err := <-result: // doBusinessLogic finishes
+            if err != nil {
+                return err
+            }
+        }
+        return c.NoContent(http.StatusAccepted)
+    }
+    e.GET("/", handlerFunc)
+
+    s := http.Server{Addr: ":8080", Handler: e}
+    if err := s.ListenAndServe(); err != http.ErrServerClosed {
+        log.Fatal(err)
+    }
 }
 ```