Added timeout option to abort the request before the response starts …

…responding

README.md

@@ -43,6 +43,7 @@ The first argument is an options object. The only required option is uri, all ot
 * `encoding` - Encoding to be used on response.setEncoding when buffering the response data.
 * `pool` - A hash object containing the agents for these requests. If omitted this request will use the global pool which is set to node's default maxSockets.
 * `pool.maxSockets` - Integer containing the maximum amount of sockets in the pool.
+* `timeout` - Integer containing the number of milliseconds to wait for a request to response before aborting the request	
 
 The callback argument gets 3 arguments. The first is an error when applicable (usually from the http.Client option not the http.ClientRequest object). The second in an http.ClientResponse object. The third is the response body buffer.
 

main.js

@@ -211,6 +211,7 @@ Request.prototype.request = function () {
     options.req = options.httpModule.request(options, function (response) {
       options.response = response;
       if (setHost) delete options.headers.host;
+      if (options.timeout && options.timeoutTimer) clearTimeout(options.timeoutTimer);
 
       if (response.statusCode >= 300 && 
           response.statusCode < 400  && 
@@ -277,6 +278,13 @@ Request.prototype.request = function () {
       }
     })
 
+    if (options.timeout) {
+      options.timeoutTimer = setTimeout(function() {
+          options.req.abort();
+          options.emit("error", "ETIMEDOUT");
+      }, options.timeout);
+    }
+
     options.req.on('error', clientErrorHandler);
   }  
 

tests/test-timeout.js

@@ -0,0 +1,84 @@
+var server = require('./server')
+  , events = require('events')
+  , stream = require('stream')
+  , assert = require('assert')
+  , request = require('../main.js')
+  ;
+
+var s = server.createServer();
+var expectedBody = "waited";
+var remainingTests = 5;
+
+// Request that waits for 200ms
+s.on('/timeout', function (req, resp) {
+  setTimeout(function(){
+    resp.writeHead(200, {'content-type':'text/plain'})
+    resp.write(expectedBody)
+    resp.end()    
+  }, 200);
+});
+
+// Scenario that should timeout
+var shouldTimeout = {
+  url: s.url + "/timeout",
+  timeout:100
+}
+
+request(shouldTimeout, function (err, resp, body) {
+   assert.ok(err == "ETIMEDOUT");
+   checkDone();
+})
+
+
+// Scenario that shouldn't timeout
+var shouldntTimeout = {
+  url: s.url + "/timeout",
+  timeout:300
+}
+
+request(shouldntTimeout, function (err, resp, body) {
+   assert.ok(!err);
+   assert.ok(expectedBody === body)
+   checkDone();
+})
+
+// Scenario with no timeout set, so shouldn't timeout
+var noTimeout = {
+  url: s.url + "/timeout"
+}
+
+request(noTimeout, function (err, resp, body) {
+   assert.ok(!err);
+   assert.ok(expectedBody === body)
+   checkDone();
+})
+
+// Scenario with a negative timeout value, should be treated a zero or the minimum delay
+var negativeTimeout = {
+  url: s.url + "/timeout",
+  timeout:-1000
+}
+
+request(negativeTimeout, function (err, resp, body) {
+  assert.ok(err == "ETIMEDOUT");
+  checkDone();
+})
+
+// Scenario with a float timeout value, should be rounded by setTimeout anyway
+var floatTimeout = {
+  url: s.url + "/timeout",
+  timeout: 100.76
+}
+
+request(floatTimeout, function (err, resp, body) {
+  assert.ok(err == "ETIMEDOUT");
+  checkDone();
+})
+
+function checkDone() {
+  if(--remainingTests == 0) {
+    s.close();
+    console.log("All tests passed.");    
+  }
+}
+