Set the timeout - Ethernet Shield library

Question

Does anyone know if you can set the time for the timeout Ethernet Shield library? Let me explain:

I created a very simple function (below) that attempts to connect to an address if it is not accessible returns 0 if it is available returns 1. Problem is that when the site is not available, the microcontroller is waiting for an answer for a long time, wanted to reduce it.

uint8_t ping(const char* address)
{
 EthernetClient http;
 if(http.connect(address, 80)) {
 http.stop();
 return 1;
 }
 else 
 return 0;
}

Answer 1

In the stream class there is a setTimeout(ms) function. e.g.

String str;
Serial.setTimeout(5000) ;
str = Serial.readStringUntil('\r');

Where this does timeout the initial connection attempt in http.connect(). Whereas I found it also important to timeout each line, as a web page may not disconnect at the end or not send anything.

int httpGetHeaders() {
 String request, response;
 int result = 0;
 long startOfHttpResponseTime;
 client.setTimeout(1000) ;
 response = "";
 inHeaders = true;
 startOfHttpResponseTime = millis();
 while((client.connected()) && inHeaders && ((long)(millis() - startOfHttpResponseTime) < HTTP_RESPONSE_TIMEOUT)) {
 String header = client.readStringUntil('\n');
 header.trim(); // trim off white spaces including CR and LF at end.
 Serial.print(F("head[")); 
 Serial.print(header.length()); 
 Serial.print(F("]:\"")); 
 Serial.print(header);
 Serial.println(F("\"")); 
 if (!header.length()) { // first blank line indicates end of headers
 inHeaders = false;
 Serial.println(F("No longer in Headers")); 
 }
 else {
 if (header.startsWith("HTTP")) {
 Serial.println(F("HTTP Found")); 
 int firstspace = header.indexOf(" ");
 result = header.substring(firstspace + 1, header.indexOf(" ", firstspace + 1)).toInt();
 Serial.print(F("result = ")); 
 Serial.println(result); 
 }
 }
 }
 Serial.print(F("Result code = "));
 Serial.println(result);
 return result;
}

You may want to review the whole code at https://github.com/lansing-makers-network/StatusBotArduino/blob/master/StatusBotArduino.ino I have reduced the connection to a sequence of commands that can be used consectutively in the desired order to meet different needs. The above is just to read a headers response.