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up vote 3 down vote favorite

I apologize if this is a RTFM question, but I couldn't find this in the docs.

How can I set the timeout of the preemptive link?

For example:

Button["TestShort", Pause[1]; Print["Result"], Method -> "Preemptive"]
Button["TestLong", Pause[10]; Print["Result"], Method -> "Preemptive"]

Clicking on TestLong times out on my system.

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Something like Button["TestLong", TimeConstrained[Pause[5]; Print["Result5"], 2, Print@"Failed"], Method -> "Preemptive"] ? – belisarius Oct 17 '12 at 14:17
Not sure if I understand the question – belisarius Oct 17 '12 at 14:18
@belisarius The Preemptive method has a certain timeout. I would like to know what the time limit is and how can I set it. – Ajasja Oct 17 '12 at 14:22
@belisarius Your snippet above always prints Failed – Ajasja Oct 17 '12 at 14:23
@belisarius Sorry for the confusion, DynamicEvaluationTimeout was set to 5 on my system. – Ajasja Oct 17 '12 at 19:46
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2 Answers

up vote 7 down vote accepted

In the Option Inspector, there's CellOptions → Evaluation Options → DynamicEvaluationTimeout which contains that timeout.

As stated in the docs, the value can also be set programmatically using (for this session only):

SetOptions[$FrontEndSession, {DynamicEvaluationTimeout->20.}]

or permanently using

SetOptions[$FrontEnd, {DynamicEvaluationTimeout->20.}]
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@Mr.Wizard: no I think it's there since version 6, but not hardly documented (it is mentioned in tutorial/IntroductionToDynamic) – Albert Retey Oct 18 '12 at 12:03
@Albert thank you, I did not know. – Mr.Wizard♦ Oct 18 '12 at 12:12
@Mr.Wizard: ... and I didn't notice it finally became officially documented and supported in version 8, so thanks for your comment, anyway :-) – Albert Retey Oct 18 '12 at 12:14
up vote 3 down vote

Instead of increasing DynamicEvaluationTimeout globally, it is also possible to just do so locally, e.g. with something like that (as the default is 6, this would timeout with the default setting...):

Style[Button["TestLong", Pause[7]; Print["Result"], 
 Method -> "Preemptive"], DynamicEvaluationTimeout -> 8]

I would, if ever possible, only change such defaults as local as possible: there are good reasons why you want dynamic calculations passed via the preemptive link to timeout. I would also rethink the design of your GUI as in general I believe it's better to use something like Method -> "Queued" instead of tweaking the evaluation timeout: if something takes a long time, it's probably not well fitted to be triggered through the preemptive link...

As far as I can see, the option DynamicEvaluationTimeout exists und seems to works since at least version 6.0.2, but was only documented in version 8 as being new.

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