How to cancel/abort jQuery AJAX request?

I've an AJAX request which will be made every 5 seconds. But the problem is before the AJAX request if the previous request is not completed I've to abort that request and make a new request.

My code is something like this, how to resolve this issue?

$(document).ready(
    var fn = function(){
        $.ajax({
            url: 'ajax/progress.ftl',
            success: function(data) {
                //do something
            }
        });
    };

    var interval = setInterval(fn, 500);
);

The jquery ajax method returns a XMLHttpRequest object. You can use this object to cancel the request.

The XMLHttpRequest has a abort method, which cancels the request, but if the request has already been sent to the server then the server will process the request even if we abort the request but the client will not wait for/handle the response.

The xhr object also contains a readyState which contains the state of the request(UNSENT-0, OPENED-1, HEADERS_RECEIVED-2, LOADING-3 and DONE-4). we can use this to check whether the previous request was completed.

$(document).ready(
    var xhr;
    
    var fn = function(){
        if(xhr && xhr.readyState != 4){
            xhr.abort();
        }
        xhr = $.ajax({
            url: 'ajax/progress.ftl',
            success: function(data) {
                //do something
            }
        });
    };

    var interval = setInterval(fn, 500);
);

When you make a request to a server, have it check to see if a progress is not null (or fetching that data) first. If it is fetching data, abort the previous request and initiate the new one.

var progress = null

function fn () {    
    if (progress) {
        progress.abort();
    }
    progress = $.ajax('ajax/progress.ftl', {
        success: function(data) {
            //do something
            progress = null;
        }
    });
}

I know this might be a little late but i experience similar issues where calling the abort method didnt really aborted the request. instead the browser was still waiting for a response that it never uses. this code resolved that issue.

 try {
        xhr.onreadystatechange = null;
        xhr.abort();
} catch (e) {}

Why should you abort the request?

If each request takes more than five seconds, what will happen?

You shouldn't abort the request if the parameter passing with the request is not changing. eg:- the request is for retrieving the notification data. In such situations, The nice approach is that set a new request only after completing the previous Ajax request.

$(document).ready(

    var fn = function(){

        $.ajax({
            url: 'ajax/progress.ftl',
            success: function(data) {
                //do something
            },

            complete: function(){setTimeout(fn, 500);}
        });
    };

     var interval = setTimeout(fn, 500);

);

jQuery: Use this as a starting point - as inspiration. I solved it like this: (this is not a perfect solution, it just aborts the last instance and is WIP code)

var singleAjax = function singleAjax_constructor(url, params) {
    // remember last jQuery's get request
    if (this.lastInstance) {
        this.lastInstance.abort();  // triggers .always() and .fail()
        this.lastInstance = false;
    }

    // how to use Deferred : http://api.jquery.com/category/deferred-object/
    var $def = new $.Deferred();
    
    // pass the deferrer's request handlers into the get response handlers
    this.lastInstance = $.get(url, params)
        .fail($def.reject)         // triggers .always() and .fail()
        .success($def.resolve);    // triggers .always() and .done()
    
    // return the deferrer's "control object", the promise object
    return $def.promise();
}


// initiate first call
singleAjax('/ajax.php', {a: 1, b: 2})
    .always(function(a,b,c) {console && console.log(a,b,c);});

// second call kills first one
singleAjax('/ajax.php', {a: 1, b: 2})
    .always(function(a,b,c) {console && console.log(a,b,c);});
    // here you might use .always() .fail() .success() etc.

You can use jquery-validate.js . The following is the code snippet from jquery-validate.js.

// ajax mode: abort
// usage: $.ajax({ mode: "abort"[, port: "uniqueport"]});
// if mode:"abort" is used, the previous request on that port (port can be undefined) is aborted via XMLHttpRequest.abort()

var pendingRequests = {},
	ajax;
// Use a prefilter if available (1.5+)
if ( $.ajaxPrefilter ) {
	$.ajaxPrefilter(function( settings, _, xhr ) {
		var port = settings.port;
		if ( settings.mode === "abort" ) {
			if ( pendingRequests[port] ) {
				pendingRequests[port].abort();
			}
			pendingRequests[port] = xhr;
		}
	});
} else {
	// Proxy ajax
	ajax = $.ajax;
	$.ajax = function( settings ) {
		var mode = ( "mode" in settings ? settings : $.ajaxSettings ).mode,
			port = ( "port" in settings ? settings : $.ajaxSettings ).port;
		if ( mode === "abort" ) {
			if ( pendingRequests[port] ) {
				pendingRequests[port].abort();
			}
			pendingRequests[port] = ajax.apply(this, arguments);
			return pendingRequests[port];
		}
		return ajax.apply(this, arguments);
	};
}

So that you just only need to set the parameter mode to abort when you are making ajax request.

Ref:https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/jquery-validate/1.14.0/jquery.validate.js

Create a function to call your API. Within this function we define request callApiRequest = $.get(... - even though this is a definition of a variable, the request is called immediately, but now we have the request defined as a variable. Before the request is called, we check if our variable is defined typeof(callApiRequest) != 'undefined' and also if it is pending suggestCategoryRequest.state() == 'pending' - if both are true, we .abort() the request which will prevent the success callback from running.

// We need to wrap the call in a function
callApi = function () {

    //check if request is defined, and status pending
	if (typeof(callApiRequest) != 'undefined'
		&& suggestCategoryRequest.state() == 'pending') {

        //abort request
		callApiRequest.abort()

	}

    //define and make request
	callApiRequest = $.get("https://example.com", function (data) {

		data = JSON.parse(data); //optional (for JSON data format)
        //success callback

	});
}

Your server/API might not support aborting the request (what if API executed some code already?), but the javascript callback will not fire. This is useful, when for example you are providing input suggestions to a user, such as hashtags input.

You can further extend this function by adding definition of error callback - what should happen if request was aborted.

Common use-case for this snippet would be a text input that fires on keypress event. You can use a timeout, to prevent sending (some of) requests that you will have to cancel .abort().

You should also check for readyState 0. Because when you use xhr.abort() this function set readyState to 0 in this object, and your if check will be always true - readyState !=4

$(document).ready(
    var xhr;

    var fn = function(){
        if(xhr && xhr.readyState != 4 && xhr.readyState != 0){
            xhr.abort();
        }
        xhr = $.ajax({
            url: 'ajax/progress.ftl',
            success: function(data) {
                //do something
            }
        });
    };

    var interval = setInterval(fn, 500);
);