[API Proposal]: Use TimeSpan everywhere we use an int for seconds, milliseconds, and timeouts (Group 2+3)

[deeprobin]

Background and motivation

As discussed with @danmoseley this issue serves as a follow up for #14336 and is meant to represent the 2nd and 3rd group

API Proposal

Group 2

namespace System.IO {
    public abstract class Stream {
       public TimeSpan ReadTimeoutTimeSpan { get; set; }
       public TimeSpan WriteTimeoutTimeSpan { get; set; }
    }
}

namespace System.IO.Ports {
    public class SerialPort {
       public TimeSpan ReadTimeoutTimeSpan { get; set; }
       public TimeSpan WriteTimeoutTimeSpan { get; set; }
    }
}

namespace System.Media {
    public class SoundPlayer {
       public TimeSpan LoadTimeoutTimeSpan { get; set; } 
    }
}

namespace System.Net.NetworkInformation {
   public static class NetworkInformationTimeSpanExtensions {
       public static TimeSpan GetPacketReassemblyTimeout(this IPGlobalStatistics statistics);
       public static TimeSpan GetMaximumTransmissionTimeout(this TcpStatistics statistics);
       public static TimeSpan GetMinimumTransmissionTimeout(this TcpStatistics statistics);
   }
}

namespace System.Net.Sockets {
    public class Socket {
       public TimeSpan ReceiveTimeoutTimeSpan { get; set; }
       public TimeSpan ReceiveTimeoutTimeSpan { get; set; }
    }

    public class TcpClient {
       public TimeSpan ReceiveTimeoutTimeSpan { get; set; }
       public TimeSpan SendTimeoutTimeSpan { get; set; }
    }
}

namespace System.Timers {
    public class Timer {
       public TimeSpan IntervalTimeSpan { get; set; }
    }
}

Group 3

namespace System.Data {
    //  This would need to be a DIM.
    public interface IDbCommand {
       TimeSpan CommandTimeoutTimeSpan { get; set; }
    }

   public static class DataTimeSpanExtensions {
       public static TimeSpan GetConnectionTimeout(this IDbConnection connection);
   }

}

namespace System.Net.Sockets {
    public class LingerOption {
       public LingerOption(bool enable, TimeSpan time);
       public TimeSpan LingerTimeSpan { get; set; }
    }

    public class Socket {
       public void Close(TimeSpan timeout);
    }
}

Risks

This API does not conflict with other APIs, so I don't see any risk here.

Edit:
Changes to IDbCommand would break implementations (like SqlClient)

/cc @reflectronic
/cc @briangru
/cc @danmoseley
/cc @bartonjs

[ghost]

I couldn't figure out the best area label to add to this issue. If you have write-permissions please help me learn by adding exactly one area label.

[ghost]

Tagging subscribers to this area: @dotnet/area-meta
See info in area-owners.md if you want to be subscribed.

Issue Details

---

Background and motivation

As discussed with @danmoseley this issue serves as a follow up for #14336 and is meant to represent the 2nd group

API Proposal

namespace System.IO {
    public abstract class Stream {
       public TimeSpan ReadTimeoutTimeSpan { get; set; }
       public TimeSpan WriteTimeoutTimeSpan { get; set; }
    }
}

namespace System.IO.Ports {
    public class SerialPort {
       public TimeSpan ReadTimeoutTimeSpan { get; set; }
       public TimeSpan WriteTimeoutTimeSpan { get; set; }
    }
}

namespace System.Media {
    public class SoundPlayer {
       public TimeSpan LoadTimeoutTimeSpan { get; set; } 
    }
}

namespace System.Net.NetworkInformation {
   public static class NetworkInformationTimeSpanExtensions {
       public static TimeSpan GetPacketReassemblyTimeout(this IPGlobalStatistics statistics);
       public static TimeSpan GetMaximumTransmissionTimeout(this TcpStatistics statistics);
       public static TimeSpan GetMinimumTransmissionTimeout(this TcpStatistics statistics);
   }
}

namespace System.Net.Sockets {
    public class Socket {
       public TimeSpan ReceiveTimeoutTimeSpan { get; set; }
       public TimeSpan ReceiveTimeoutTimeSpan { get; set; }
    }

    public class TcpClient {
       public TimeSpan ReceiveTimeoutTimeSpan { get; set; }
       public TimeSpan SendTimeoutTimeSpan { get; set; }
    }
}

namespace System.Timers {
    public class Timer {
       public TimeSpan IntervalTimeSpan { get; set; }
    }
}

Risks

This API does not conflict with other APIs, so I don't see any risk here.

/cc @reflectronic
/cc @briangru
/cc @danmoseley
/cc @bartonjs

Author:	deeprobin
Assignees:	-
Labels:	api-suggestion, area-Meta, untriaged
Milestone:	-

[deeprobin]

@danmoseley Should I outsource the SqlClient specific stuff to the SqlClient repo or will the API still be discussed in this repo?

[GSPP]

With respect to SqlConnectionStringBuilder: Does the SQL Server connection string even support non-second timeouts? I believe not, and this would then not be a faithful representation of a connection string. Using TimeSpan here would suggest a feature that isn't there, with very rough emulation (rounding to seconds).

[deeprobin]

@Wraith2 You do quite a lot in the SqlClient. Do you know anything about it?

[Wraith2]

The TDS spec is remarkably cagey about it. Timers are an implementation detail or the client or server and apart from some defaults being in seconds it makes no comment about resolution minimum or maximums.
To the best of my knowledge all current durations in the client library are expressed in seconds but there's no absolute reason that this needs to be the case. I expect that this will continue o be the case.

Adding a timespan wouldn't be harmful and would possibly be an extension of functionality iff client libraries chose to use a higher resolution. I would not expect Microsoft.Data.SqlClient to do that for quite a long time but faster moving libraries like Npgqsl and MySqlConnector to do so if their protocols support higher resolutions. You'd probably want to ask @roji and @bgrainger

[roji]

Using TimeSpan here would suggest a feature that isn't there, with very rough emulation (rounding to seconds).

I don't do think there's some value in allowing TimeSpan representations even where non-second timeouts aren't supported: there's no doubt as to the unit (where the meaning of current int properties is completely implicit), and it allows specifying timeouts in larger units, e.g. minutes (though that's not likely to be very useful).

Simply adding a DIM IDbCommand.CommandTimeoutTimeSpan doesn't seem very useful - users would need to explicitly cast to IDbCommand in order to make use of it. However, we could also add CommandTimeoutTimeSpan to DbCommand, which is the abstract base class for most ADO.NET command implementations. The default implementation could simply convert the TimeSpan to seconds (and back), and throw if sub-second intervals are specified. Providers which support sub-second intervals would be able to override the property.

What happens with connection string builders (e.g. SqlConnectionStringBuilder) is obviously provider-specific, and each provider can do what's appropriate. If such a property is added, I'd also advise throwing (and not rounding) for unsupported values (e.g. timeouts which don't round to whole second intervals), just like with DbCommand.CommandTimeoutTimeSpan.

Since System.Data.SqlClient is in maintenance-mode, I think any SqlClient-specific additions would probably make sense in Microsoft.Data.SqlClient rather than in System.Data.SqlClient.

/cc @ajcvickers

[danmoseley]

I don't think there's some value

@roji can you clarify, I can't tell whether you mean there's value or not based on the rest of what you wrote.

[roji]

@danmoseley sorry, there was some editing happening there - I do think there's some value there.

[GSPP]

I'm very much for supporting sub-second timeouts (and especially getting rid of the tradition of using integers to represent time - we are not C in 1990). If such configurations are exposed, though, this should go hand in hand with actually supporting it.

I believe that SQL Server timeouts are implemented mostly as client-side timeouts. The client sends an "attention" which is a cancellation request. I'm not sure the server ever times out anything (maybe with Resource Governor or with a concurrent KILL command).

Actual support would entail new connection string syntax and internal timer support. If this can't be done then I don't know if the feature is a good idea.

Throwing in case of non-second-integral timeouts seems problematic: Time can involve floating point math and you can end up with a timeout of 2.99999999 seconds. It's also non-discoverable. On the other hand, rounding to the nearest second (or rounding up) can drop a lot of precision for small values, and can be a pit of failure, too. I currently don't see a good way to do this.

If the TimeSpan capability was added to IDbCommand directly, then it would seem like an appropriate trade-off to make. But then, SqlCommand maybe should implement that interface member explicitly to hide it by default.

---

With respect to the usefulness of sub-second timeouts: I personally never needed it... But I know that some systems are under tight latency constraints. They'd rather fail than be delayed. 1 second can be an eternity for a computer system. SELECT NULL takes about 0.25ms on SQL Server. Querying a single small row by primary key from memory takes far below 1ms.

[Clockwork-Muse]

Throwing in case of non-second-integral timeouts seems problematic: Time can involve floating point math and you can end up with a timeout of 2.99999999 seconds.

This is why I loathe the current api that takes double for adding units to TimeSpan (and others) - it absolutely shouldn't be. The number should be understood to be an exact base-10 representation, and it should be parsed as such - it's represented in TimeSpan that way, after all.

Querying a single small row by primary key from memory takes far below 1ms.

The query time is almost never the problem; it's usually network related (either the network itself, or things like serialization of the results).

[Wraith2]

If the TimeSpan capability was added to IDbCommand directly, then it would seem like an appropriate trade-off to make. But then, SqlCommand maybe should implement that interface member explicitly to hide it by default.

Any additions to Microsoft.Data.SqlClient will take considerable time regardless of difficulty. There is not likely to be a net7.0 build so the earliest this would get in is likely 8 which is 18+ months away.

[danmoseley]

Any additions to Microsoft.Data.SqlClient will take considerable time regardless of difficulty. There is not likely to be a net7.0 build so the earliest this would get in is likely 8 which is 18+ months away.

That's interesting. I thought shipping faster was one of the key reasons we forked off M.D.SC (along with ability to break API perhaps)

[Wraith2]

Being outside runtime makes that possible. Unfortunately small team with a big backlog means that anything new will take time. See the area owner's notes in #51836 (comment) for the basis of my information.

[deeprobin]

@ericstj
Should we outsource the SqlClient specific to an external issue and mark the part for the BCL + runtime libraries as api-ready-for-review?

[ericstj]

Yes, that sounds like a good plan. The SqlClient API requests can go to https://github.com/dotnet/SqlClient/ as you suggested before.

[deeprobin]

@ericstj See dotnet/SqlClient#1156 dotnet/SqlClient#1602.
Can you label this issue with api-ready-for-review?

[tarekgh]

General comment about naming here, I am not a fan of specifying the type TimeSpan in the property names. Should we use some other term? something like Precise? so, we can have something like ReadPreciseTimeout?

Also, in System.Data, looks the library System.Data.Common is targeting the latest .NET versions. I guess we are ok to extend the interface IDbCommand. Just wanted to mention that to be conscious about that just in case in the future if decide to support more targeting.

[tarekgh]

tagging some more people for awareness: @dotnet/ncl @dotnet/area-system-io @dotnet/area-microsoft-win32 @dotnet/area-system-runtime @ajcvickers @DavoudEshtehari @David-Engel

[mattjohnsonpint]

Question about some of the proposed APIs that are properties with setters. What happens if there's a conflict?

For example:

var client = new TcpClient
{
    ReceiveTimeout = 5000,
    ReceiveTimeoutTimeSpan = TimeSpan.FromMinutes(10)
};

Which one wins?

[tarekgh]

I guess the last set is the winner. I can see the confusion though when you do ReceiveTimeoutTimeSpan and try to get ReceiveTimeout after that, there can be some truncation if we try to do the conversion. The doc would need clarify the behavior.

[Wraith2]

there can be some truncation if we try to do the conversion. The doc would need clarify the behavior.

Channelling tanner here, the rounding/truncation method should be specified if possible. It would be confusing if some providers round up and others down or throw.

[tarekgh]

Channelling tanner here, the rounding/truncation method should be specified if possible. It would be confusing if some providers round up and others down or throw.

All proposed APIs here are non-virtual. So, the implementation of the new APIs can decide the truncation method and we can document it. The only exception is the System.Data.IDbCommand though.

[ericstj]

Question about some of the proposed APIs that are properties with setters. What happens if there's a conflict?

I guess the last set is the winner.

Yes, that's what I would assume. All of these are just a different view over the existing storage. @bartonjs touched on this here #64860 (comment)

[bartonjs]

The general consensus is that the need for two properties (and the TimeSpan suffix) is probably as much of a detractor to the user experience as the benefit of having clear units for the timeout.

Since this is only for a small number of types, and there's not a whole lot of benefit, we think the answer is to just not make the same mistake in the future and let what we have be what we have.

The individual area owners are highly encouraged to make sure that the <summary> text for each of these properties makes the unit very clear.