Provide a way to set timeout on requests made by box-node-sdk

[chenbauer]

Is your feature request related to a problem? Please describe.

Currently the sdk sets no default timeout and provides no official configuration option to limit the request timeout. From @cypress/request documentation regarding timeouts:

Most requests to external servers should have a timeout attached, in case the server is not responding in a timely manner. Without a timeout, your code may have a socket open/consume resources for minutes or more.

During a recent Box outage our application requests were blocked by calls made by the sdk, which by default, retries 5 times before failing. We will reduce number of retries (which is configurable) but would also like a way to limit the request timeout.

Describe the solution you'd like

It would be great if we could set timeout per request (specifically for us - getAppUserTokens), but being able to set it globally in configure is also helpful.
Currently only uploadRequestTimeoutMS is officially supported -
https://rawgit.com/box/box-node-sdk/main/docs/jsdoc/global.html#UserConfigurationOptions

Describe alternatives you've considered

This is our current workaround -

this.boxSdk.configure({
            numMaxRetries: 2,
            request: { timeout: 2000 },
        });

Thanks!

[arjankowski]

Hi @chenbauer, thanks for reporting.

We've created a Jira ticket on our side (SDK-3597), and together with the SDK team, we'll establish a schedule related to this feature.

However, I would like to confirm whether adding a timeout field in the configuration, which, when set, will be used in every request, meets your requirements?

Regards,
Artur

[chenbauer]

Hi @arjankowski, thanks for the quick response!

If it's possible to make it configurable on the request level, it would be preferable for us; Otherwise, we'll achieve that by setting it right before the call we want it for, using configure, and then revert it.. (unless that approach won't work?)

Best,
Chen

[arjankowski]

Adding a timeout at the configuration level would align us with the existing uploadTimeout, and this solution should address your issues. Nevertheless, we will also see how adding it at the request level would look.

Regards,
Artur