ASP.NET Web API OperationCanceledException when browser cancels the request

Question

When a user loads a page, it makes one or more ajax requests, which hit ASP.NET Web API 2 controllers. If the user navigates to another page, before these ajax requests complete, the requests are canceled by the browser. Our ELMAH HttpModule then logs two errors for each canceled request:

Error 1:

System.Threading.Tasks.TaskCanceledException: A task was canceled.
   at System.Runtime.CompilerServices.TaskAwaiter.ThrowForNonSuccess(Task task)
   at System.Runtime.CompilerServices.TaskAwaiter.HandleNonSuccessAndDebuggerNotification(Task task)
   at System.Runtime.CompilerServices.TaskAwaiter`1.GetResult()
   at System.Web.Http.Controllers.ApiControllerActionInvoker.<InvokeActionAsyncCore>d__0.MoveNext()
--- End of stack trace from previous location where exception was thrown ---
   at System.Runtime.ExceptionServices.ExceptionDispatchInfo.Throw()
   at System.Runtime.CompilerServices.TaskAwaiter.ThrowForNonSuccess(Task task)
   at System.Runtime.CompilerServices.TaskAwaiter.HandleNonSuccessAndDebuggerNotification(Task task)
   at System.Runtime.CompilerServices.TaskAwaiter`1.GetResult()
   at System.Web.Http.Controllers.ActionFilterResult.<ExecuteAsync>d__2.MoveNext()
--- End of stack trace from previous location where exception was thrown ---
   at System.Runtime.ExceptionServices.ExceptionDispatchInfo.Throw()
   at System.Runtime.CompilerServices.TaskAwaiter.ThrowForNonSuccess(Task task)
   at System.Runtime.CompilerServices.TaskAwaiter.HandleNonSuccessAndDebuggerNotification(Task task)
   at System.Web.Http.Filters.AuthorizationFilterAttribute.<ExecuteAuthorizationFilterAsyncCore>d__2.MoveNext()
--- End of stack trace from previous location where exception was thrown ---
   at System.Runtime.ExceptionServices.ExceptionDispatchInfo.Throw()
   at System.Runtime.CompilerServices.TaskAwaiter.ThrowForNonSuccess(Task task)
   at System.Runtime.CompilerServices.TaskAwaiter.HandleNonSuccessAndDebuggerNotification(Task task)
   at System.Runtime.CompilerServices.TaskAwaiter`1.GetResult()
   at System.Web.Http.Controllers.ExceptionFilterResult.<ExecuteAsync>d__0.MoveNext()

Error 2:

System.OperationCanceledException: The operation was canceled.
   at System.Threading.CancellationToken.ThrowIfCancellationRequested()
   at System.Web.Http.WebHost.HttpControllerHandler.<WriteBufferedResponseContentAsync>d__1b.MoveNext()
--- End of stack trace from previous location where exception was thrown ---
   at System.Runtime.ExceptionServices.ExceptionDispatchInfo.Throw()
   at System.Runtime.CompilerServices.TaskAwaiter.ThrowForNonSuccess(Task task)
   at System.Runtime.CompilerServices.TaskAwaiter.HandleNonSuccessAndDebuggerNotification(Task task)
   at System.Web.Http.WebHost.HttpControllerHandler.<CopyResponseAsync>d__7.MoveNext()
--- End of stack trace from previous location where exception was thrown ---
   at System.Runtime.ExceptionServices.ExceptionDispatchInfo.Throw()
   at System.Runtime.CompilerServices.TaskAwaiter.ThrowForNonSuccess(Task task)
   at System.Runtime.CompilerServices.TaskAwaiter.HandleNonSuccessAndDebuggerNotification(Task task)
   at System.Web.Http.WebHost.HttpControllerHandler.<ProcessRequestAsyncCore>d__0.MoveNext()
--- End of stack trace from previous location where exception was thrown ---
   at System.Runtime.ExceptionServices.ExceptionDispatchInfo.Throw()
   at System.Runtime.CompilerServices.TaskAwaiter.ThrowForNonSuccess(Task task)
   at System.Runtime.CompilerServices.TaskAwaiter.HandleNonSuccessAndDebuggerNotification(Task task)
   at System.Web.TaskAsyncHelper.EndTask(IAsyncResult ar)
   at System.Web.HttpApplication.CallHandlerExecutionStep.System.Web.HttpApplication.IExecutionStep.Execute()
   at System.Web.HttpApplication.ExecuteStep(IExecutionStep step, Boolean& completedSynchronously)

Looking at the stacktrace, I see that the exception is being thrown from here: https://github.com/ASP-NET-MVC/aspnetwebstack/blob/master/src/System.Web.Http.WebHost/HttpControllerHandler.cs#L413

My question is: How can I handle and ignore these exceptions?

It appears to be outside of user code...

Notes:

• I am using ASP.NET Web API 2
• The Web API endpoints are a mix of async and non-async methods.
• No matter where I add error logging, I am unable to catch the exception in user code
  • Global.asax Applicaiton_Error
  • TaskScheduler.UnobservedTaskException
  • ELMAH Error Filtering void ErrorLog_Filtering (https://code.google.com/p/elmah/wiki/ErrorFiltering)

Answer 1

This is a bug in ASP.NET Web API 2 and unfortunately, I don't think there's a workaround that will always succeed. We filed a bug to fix it on our side.

Ultimately, the problem is that we return a cancelled task to ASP.NET in this case, and ASP.NET treats a cancelled task like an unhandled exception (it logs the problem in the Application event log).

In the meantime, you could try something like the code below. It adds a top-level message handler that removes the content when the cancellation token fires. If the response has no content, the bug shouldn't be triggered. There's still a small possibility it could happen, because the client could disconnect right after the message handler checks the cancellation token but before the higher-level Web API code does the same check. But I think it will help in most cases.

David

config.MessageHandlers.Add(new CancelledTaskBugWorkaroundMessageHandler());

class CancelledTaskBugWorkaroundMessageHandler : DelegatingHandler
{
    protected override async Task<HttpResponseMessage> SendAsync(HttpRequestMessage request, CancellationToken cancellationToken)
    {
        HttpResponseMessage response = await base.SendAsync(request, cancellationToken);

        // Try to suppress response content when the cancellation token has fired; ASP.NET will log to the Application event log if there's content in this case.
        if (cancellationToken.IsCancellationRequested)
        {
            return new HttpResponseMessage(HttpStatusCode.InternalServerError);
        }

        return response;
    }
}