The new 2.0 version of the Nuget Package for the Azure WebJobs SDK, released on February 28, contained a neat little item that I wish had existed six months ago: the ability to set a Visibility Timeout on a queue message without having to implement a custom Queue Processor.
What’s a Visibility Timeout?
A visibility timeout determines what happens when an Azure WebJob throws an unhandled exception while processing a queue message. When such an event occurs, the message is thrown back onto the queue for a re-try, but is left in an “invisible” state for a period of time. The message will not be processed again by the WebJob until the timeout has elapsed. When a WebJob fails to process a queue message and throws an unhandled exception five times (configurable), the message is thrown onto the “poison queue”.
By setting a value for the VisibilityTimeout, you are banking that whatever condition that caused the failure will be rectified by the time the job runs again.
In my case, I am creating Office 365 SharePoint subwebs beneath a root web, meaning the root web must be completely provisioned before the subweb can be created. Since it takes about ten minutes (more or less) to create a site collection, the ten minute value seemed about right. And the documentation seems to imply that the default timeout value is indeed ten minutes. But in practice, my job would just fail spectacularly five times in a row and shuttle off to the poison queue before I even knew what hit it.
Configuring the Timeout
Prior to v2.0 of the Azure WebJobs SDK, you needed to create a custom QueueProcessorFactory, create a class derived from QueueProcessor, and hook it all up in your WebJob’s configuration object. I’d show you an example, but it’s pointless, because there is now an easier way.
To implement the timeout, first make sure your project’s Nuget package for Microsoft.Azure.WebJobs is updated to version 2.0.0. Then in your Main() method, just set a value for the VisibilityTimeout on the config.Queues object:
(Yes, I know I’ve committed the cardinal sin of displaying code in a screen shot, but hey, it’s one line.)
Now, create an Azure WebJob, process a message, and throw an unhandled exception. In your Queue Explorer in Visual Studio, you’ll see that your messages are there, but not visible. After the timeout elapses they’ll be picked up and processed again.
derekgusoff 